I wanted a project, and for my sins, they gave me one... (HH-3E Jolly Green Giant build thread)

Update time!!

Finally managed to get back to doing more of this bird on Sunday.  Just the main rotors to finish and a coat of matt varnish over all of it.

New camera also so my photos should be better than they were when using my mobile phone camera.  Although I'm still not satisfied, I have much to learn about photographing models...

I left the door in place where it is (it's only tamiya taped in) but I'll glue that to the outside of the fuselage in an open position eventually, and add a crew man in the door and some crew men in the cockpit.  Although now I've realised I've put all the windows in, and I planned to rob the pair of M60's from my 1/72 Italeri Black Hawk kit to put on this heli, and that requires the window opposite the door to be open.  Doh!!

Not too happy with my wheels though, I couldn't get the white rims to be 100% circular.  I even tried putting some blu-tack in the middle of the wheels to mask them off and then did the tyres with black.  Ho hum.

The decals worked very well for decals that were made circa '69.  Very impressed with those.  Although even with 2-3 coats of future under them they seem to have the outline still visible (silvered?).  Grr!!

Managed to "rescue" the front canopy, but I'm not 100% happy with it.  My painting of the frame on the canopy was a bit substandard and I could have done better, I should have masked it off with tamiya tape and been more careful.  But it's not bad considering it's got a massive glue mark on the bottom in the middle (not shown in pics below, check pics on previous pages to see how I messed that up).

Looking good.

I've found that old decals silver like crazy. Even with setting solution. Especially with all those rivets. You are noticing you're mistakes and learning, so don't be too hard on yourself. ( I'm my worst own critic also!) You've done better at some of these things than I would have. Is that some "gap-i-osus" I see on your canopy left lower? I'd like to know a good fix for that myself. Keep up the good work. Bob

Thanks.  The gap(s) are because I had the crazy idea of putting in some mechanical parts (not just a motor, but a full RC kit) so I've made it so the fuselage comes apart but is secured via magnets.  The canopy is only held on via a magnet and you can see the gap behind the air intakes on that side, the other side I filled the gap because the air intake part is fixed to the other half of the fuselage.

I won't be putting in those mechanical parts now as I can't afford, nor justify, the cost.  Any future models I build will be completely static models, apart from main rotors where they've been designed to rotate.

I may at some point glue the canopy down and/or glue the fuselage halves together though and fill in any further gaps where possible, although I think that might be asking for more trouble now.

I know what you mean about rivets.  The decal on the top of the tail fin came off due to the bumpy nature of the riveted surface - I had to reattach it using several further coats of future.

R.M. Oh my own "DUH" moment there. I missed the R.C. nature of your build. Sometimes I skim and should read! Still cool in my book. Bob

Very good looking helicopter! Never built one of those before myself, looks like a fun kit! Thanks for posting!

Great job on the kit.