1:72 AH-1G Vietnam Cobra "Dr. Oldsmobile" WIP - FINISHED! on page 2

Hi Pawel,

I tried to take a lot of pictures of my Cobras when I was in the Army and so I wouldn't forget the tail numbers and use for model building references in the future, but I can't find or remember what the last digit of my AH-1S(Mod) serial number was. I think it was 15293, or 15294. We had 6 AH-1S(Mod) Cobras in C Company 228th AHB and we looked at the maintenace records from birth once and two of them came off the assembly line back to back as G models, served in Vietnam, were shot down same week so they were like twins that followed each other around the world and ended back up in Texas re-built as S(Mod)s. One of the twins was deemed mine, but we worked on all 6 in our company.

I do know the AH-1P I crewed was 0-22697. A picture of it is in Mike Verier's book Cobra the attack helicopter, page 51, bottom picture. I have some really good pictures of it while we did maintenance on it in the desert.

Funny you mention the interior canopy yellow lines, I've skipped these on all my previous models because its such a pain in the rear to paint and was going to try cutting thin strips of left over yellow decals and give that a try. I'd like to make some custom decals for this and the canopy jettison molding on the interior canopy on the S(Mod), P, E and F versions.

I to am finishing up the interiors on Special Hobby's 1/72 S(Mod) and 1/48 G model. I like to work on a couple kits at once. I figure if I'm building one kit, might as well build two and save painting sessions in the spray booth. :)

If you build another cobra after a G model and want to put the canopy jettion system in and the Helmet Sight System (HSS) in, I can share the manual drawings for these of what it looks like. My last kit I scratch built both pilot and co-pilot's HSS rails. Every kit leaves these out. Eduards 1/48 PE for the G model has the HSS XM128 box in their kit though and used thin chrome wire for the HSS rails. 

Looks like I'll have to set up a Photo Bucket account and start positing pictures. What do you use posting pictures in the forum?

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom!

Thanks for the serial numbers, I'll try to look 'em up browsing Vietnam photos, like I wrote I find it fascinating how those snakes changed over all the years.

Cutting strips of decal is my go-to method for working inside the canopy (and not only for that), but my take on it is I take leftover clear decal film and paint a portion of it the colour I need, then I cut thin strips (or other shapes) and apply them where needed.

I also work on two or three kits at a time - sometimes it's the same type (like I did building my Loaches), most of the time something completely different to be able to take a break from one model to another.

Detail pictures or drawing s are always welcome, at least in my threads - but the G cobra used the pantograph sight, right?

What do I use for posting pictures? As it happens I'm renting a server that I use for hosting my web page, and I also use to store my pictures where I can link to. Please check out that web page: www.vietnam.net.pl - go to "Exhibits" to see my Vietnam era models.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your models - Have a nice day

Paweł

Hello!

As usual with me it took a long time, but I have finally outfitted the insides of the canopy. I made the framing with a clear decal that was painted first, then cut to stripes of the right width - the gray ones are about 1,5mm wide, the yellow ones are about 0,7mm wide. I have also added the door handles with 0,5mm wire put through holes drilled in the canopy. I have also added some details from the MPM PE sheet - those were glued with white glue. Amont them are the canopy release handles Tom mentioned - those are extremely tiny, hard to see even in those brutal close-ups. I think it's time for the photos now:

I think it's about time to close the cabin up - thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Nice job on the canopy.  It looks great.

Hi Pawel,

Looks pretty good. Now I wished I put put yellow strips on my interior canopy myself but I already scratch built and installed the helmet sight system (HSS) rails and cables on the interior side of the top canopy. The AH-1S(Mod) had a black interior so the yellow border would have really popped against the black interior. I'm doing canopy doors open to to match my 1/48 scale kit I just finished. I think I'll do the yellow strips on my 1/48 AH-1G though , I'm almost done with the cockpit and canopy pieces are primed and interior painted already so I probably get to that this weekend.

The vaccum form canopy looks good to. I've always wished kit manufactures would just inject the frame and make thin vaccum formed clear pieces instead of injecting one big thick piece, but thats wishful thinking, unless I made my own kits. :)

Oh, I was going to tell you, I confirmed what the serial number was of my AH-1S(Mod) cobra was. I was looking at some of my Army pictures for interior references for color and wear patterns and I had my magnifying headset on and low and behold the radio call sign placard was visable in a shadow on the instument panel on the left side. It was serial number 15641, built in 1967 and I searched google and found out was in the 7/17 calvary, C Troop, 1st Calvary division. Sure enough the two brothers I told you about S/N 15642 was also in the 7/17 Cav C Troop in Vietnam. I also googled another serial number 68-15139 I took at Fort Eustis Virgina training and it's one of the famous Cobras "Squatter Swatter", apparently there were two named that. Microscale makes decals for it but I can't find them on e-bay so I might just make them.

Sorry to chatter on, I was going to ask you about your vaccum form canopy and how you made it?

I also looked at the US Army Painting and Marking manual TM 55-1500-345-23 for the interior yellow strips on both doors for the AH-1 and the spec says they are 0.5 inches wide and the color is FS33538. It looks like a standard insignia yellow for color.

1/72 Scale= (0.007 inches/0.176 mm) wide.

1/48 Scale = (0.010 inches/0.026 mm) wide.

A couple quick notes with the Special Hobby G kit before you paint the exterior, remove and fill the pitot tube port on the upper left side of the rotor tower. The G model's pitot tube was on the nose and wasn't moved to the rotor tower until the TSU for the TOW missiles was mounted on the nose on all models after the G series. The G series also had 2 options for the landing light. If you use the clear nose tip landing light, get rid of and fill the landing light on the bottom behind the M28 turret and vice versa if you use a solid nose tip, then use the landing light on the bottom behind the turret.

Also early G models deployed in Vietnam did not have Environmental Control Units (ECS) installed. This cooled down the cockpit especially in the hot environments. I’m not sure when they switched over, and/or modified old cobras, however you can easily tell if its installed or not by if there is a circular vent on the left side panel right behind the pilots canopy. No vent, no ECU if you wanted to depict a early G model, especially one with the tail rotor on the left side.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello eveybody!

Gino - thanks a lot for your kind words!

Tom - I don't think that would work (with that vacuum inserts on an injected frame) - the edges of the glass are most critical and almost never look good. I'm an advocate for large clear parts - like on the Huey I think the entire front should be transparent, that would give us a nice Huey at last. Recently it looks like the industry is slowly getting there.

By the way, like I wrote - the vacu canopy I used here wasn't made by me, it's a product of a Czech company called MH Models, and I like it a lot. BUT I made a machine for making vacu canopies and I also made some - you can read about the machine here:

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/23/t/151922.aspx

Good info on the serial numbers - and yeah, "Squatter Swatter" is one of the more well known Vietnam Cobras.

OK, so my yellow strips are a couple of 0.1mm wider than they should be...

Good info on the variants - my Cobra will have the tail rotor on the left side, but have a solid nose tip and the landing light behind the turret. The kit doesn't tell you to put the pitot on the rotor pylon, but I just checked - the place to mount it is really there, I will fill that and sand it flush - thanks for pointing that out!

Thanks a gain for the comments and have a nice day

Paweł

That's impressive work, especially for that scale. Very nice.

BK

Hi Pawel,

Hi Pawel:

 Listen, I need you to send me your address there in Poland. I want to send the funds for the "Mossie" before they are spent! Please Make sure you do not omit any info on the return address. I want it to get to you before Christmas!! Doc

Hello everybody!

It's been some time and other projects somehow got the priority over this one... But now I'm back. One thing that bothered me about the Special Hobby kit was that the Emerson TAT turret is meant to be glued in place - this makes it harder to paint, but also makes it prone to damage should anybody want to "turn it" by the guns, so I was pondering a way to make the turret movable, but also removable for painting. Initially I thought about using a polycap, but then it dawned on me there's a cooler option - LEGOs! And so I've located a damaged LEGO axle and a surplus wheel:

I have cut out the axle stub, filed it round and installed it in a hole drilled in the nose bottom. I have also removed the tire from the wheel and I have cut it down so that it fits inside the turret:

The whole affair fits nicely and can be rotated and removed for painting:

I hope to get on with building it now - most of the things are actually done, it's mainly paint and decals now, so let's see... Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

That's awesome and I have to admire the modeling creativity to repurpose something. It's my excuse to people when asked why did save this or that is because I could use it on a model someday, that's why.

I usually use brass mini-gun barrels or tubes for the 40mm barrel and use that empty space of the M28A1 turret and fill it with poster putty and acts as a good holding material for the barrles and then glue it into a fixed forward position. The TAT101 turret only had 1 center gun.

Back to our yellow canopy door interior strip topic, I'm finishing up on a 1/48 AH-1P using the Fujimi Q-8 kit. I found the easiest was to cut thin yellow masking tape and stick it to the inside of the canopy. I applied a few careful coats of yellow paint over the top of the tape to yellow it up and the tape acted as a great staight surface and came out pretty well. I'm doing the same for the gray prima cord explosive canopy jettison, but this was introduce after the G model cobra. I may use your copper wire method for the door handles since this kit doesn't have any.

Before you paint your kit, where you going to put screens over your engine intakes?

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom, thanks a lot for your comments!

As for the screens I have them in my PE parts sheet, but in the photo I have it looks like the screens aren't there and I decided not to fit them on my model. If you have some photos to convince me otherwise please post them here it's not too late!

And otherwise I have my model ready for paint. Apart from the armament I didn't fit the nose probe, landing light and the tail skid. I took some photos before masking off the canopy and ass soon as I have an oportunity I'll try to paint this cobra:

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

Ya, I can't find any pictures with the outboard inlet screens over the coregated screens, maybe leave them off then. Those engine intake screens were actually hinged doors that opened up whenever engine temperature increased and the self cleaned themselves of anthing blocking them, usually dead grass. The S(Mod) cobras and on got rid of the cowl intake screen for an open cowl intake, but had circular screens around the engine intake. Still had to clean dead grass off them all the time. 

Not sure if this the way to post pictures on this sight, but I found some on Flickr. If you look close there are 3 rectangle pieces that are the screen frames. The last one has the cowl open and the wiring is to the intake screen door. the screen is over the louvers.

Bell AH-1 Cobra | shelbj7w1 | Flickr

I ususually make my own screens from a very fine mesh screen along with the oil cooler screen on the left side, the tower intake and the engine cooling exit screen under the exhaust and above the tail rotor drive shaft. That one is the pain in the rear to make.

Special Hobby's 1/48 Hi-tech kit has the outer intake screen to use as a template if you ever build that kit, trace or scan the screens before you use them so you can make them on another AH-1G in the future. Otherwise you'll have to buy another Hi-Tech kit.

I usually break the tail stinger and pitot probes off if I don't save them fo the very end as well, especaily the tail stinger so you can get a good painted surface on the tailstinger cover. However, I didn't listen to myself with this AH-1P I just finished tonight. I glued it on before painting, and as I put the final clear coat on, I spun it around on my turn table in my spray booth, I noticed it didn't have a tail stinger anymore and it was no where in sight. Turns out it broke off and lodged into the spray booth filter. Argh.

Looking forward to seeing your cobra painted.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom!

Thanks a lot for your comment and for the photos.

I think they are worth re-posting:

Could you please help me with one antenna? I'm talking about the large blade antenna mounted on the underside just behind the skids. It turns out I didn't get it, or maybe I lost that antenna. I wanted to ask you first, what antenna is that, maybe you can tell me it's official name and if it's period-correct for Vietnam. Then I would like to ask you to take your special hobby model and take the basic measurements of said antenna for me (how tall and how wide that antenna is, in millimeters if I may...) - with those I think I can scratchbuild a replacement.

I've already put some primer on my Cobra and I'm fixin' to do some OD painting soon!

Thabks in advance for your help, have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

Sorry for the delayed response, I was at the Seattle IPMS show yesterday. I took 2nd and 3rd place, ironically not the Cobras, but they did get Honorable Commendation. The CH-47D took 2nd and H-21 took 3rd. 

That blade antenna mounted at the 7 O'clockish position on the tailboom behind the aft skid cross tube is the UHF-VHF Antenna AT-1108/ARC. It’s also just aft of ADF Sense Antenna which is that black bottom panel on all Cobras. The UHF-VHF antenna was installed in that position on certain G, Q and all S(Mod) Cobras below via Maintenance Work Order MWO 55-1520-221-30/17. The P, E and F Cobras had a different UHF-VHF antenna and location which looked like a boomerang.

AH-1G Config. D, s/n 68-15000 through 68-17113  and 69-16410 through 69-16447. 

AH-1G Config. E, s/n 70-15936 through 70-16105.

If you see a G model cobra that doesn't have the UH-VHF antenna on the lower tailboom, then it's located in the upper rotor pylon behind the pilot's canopy. Those are config A,B and C AH-1G Cobras which are;

AH-1G Config. A, s/n 66-15249 through 66-15257

AH-1G Config. B, s/n 66-15258 through 66-15357

AH-1G Config. C s/n 67-15450 through 67-15869

If you have the 1/72 SH722283 kit its piece 125 and SH72076 (M35 gun) its piece 129. Look in the plastic bag before you scratch build one. I usually find tiny parts still in the bag that fell off the sprue. Wait, how funny is this?, I was looking for it myself to measure for you on the 1/72 kit and couldn't find mine either. The sprue illustrations don't even show Part 129 but there is a note that says "*) in initial batches part no.129 is loose, not in frame A."  Look for it on sprue A where the right fuselage half was on the sprue. It’s in the same location on sprue A (no.125) for the SH722283 kit.

If you still can't find it and need to scratch build one, use the 1/48 scale dimensions and scale down to 1/72. The 1/48 should be more accurate to and please check my math conversions to.

The 1/48 kit antenna is (0.30in/7.62mm) long, (0.22in/5.6mm) wide at the tailboom side and (0.15in/3.81mm) wide at the tip and is (0.025in/0.635mm) thick. The tip tapers less on the foward side like a wing. I estimate it only tapers back at the tip (0.02in/0.51mm) on the forward side and (0.05in/1.27mm) on the rear side of the antenna tip.

1/72 conversion: If the 1/48 scale was (0.30in/7.62mm) long, the real one was (0.30in/7.62mm) x 48 = (14.4in/365.76mm) long in full scale.

1/72 scale =

Length (0.2in/5.08mm). 

Width @ tailboom mount (0.146in/3.92mm)

Width @ antenna tip (0.1in/2.54mm)

Thickness (0.0167in/0.423mm)

At tip taper Leading edge (0.013in/0.34mm)

At tip taper Trailing edge (0.03in/0.85mm)

I hope that was correct....

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom!

Congratulations and please don't forget to post the photos of your work on the forums here, I'd love to see your award-winnig models!

And thank you very much for the info concerning the antenna - I couldn't dream of a more detailed  answer to this one. Now I have to check if my chopper is in the S/N range of that MWO and recalculate the dimensions you posted, but those are minor points now.

In the meantime I got some paint on my model. I started with a Motip spray primer of a funny colour:

In some places I experimentally removed some of the primer - in those places you see the plastic color shining through. Then I painted the shadows with Humbrol 66:

The final coat is Humbrol 155:

Now I have to let it dry throughly. On top of that there will be some colour - orange tail stabilizer tops, or the black anti-glare panel on the nose.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

Was the antenna on Sprue A?

Just me, I'd put it on anyways regardless the s/n you're doing since the kit has the recessed mount for it. If not you'd have to fill and sand the mount port.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello!

Tom - no, I have the early sprues without the antenna. I think I must have lost it somewhere... I'll scratchbuild it using the dimensions you sent me and everythng's going to be all right...

And in the meantime I have painted the elevator tops orange, and the anti glare panel and the ADF panel dark grey, I have also painted some exhaust grime on the tail. Here's how everything looks like now:

Now I have to gloss it to prepare for decals...

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

Coming along nicely.  The paint looks good.

Hi Pawel,

Got to love the Cobra.

What type/brand of paint did you use? Acrylic, Enamel, Lacquer..., looks great.

Tom

Hello!

Gino - thanks a lot, I'm glad you like it!

Tom - like I wrote before for the main colours I'm using Humbrol, so that would be enamels, thinned with something like turpentine. That funny orange is a Games Wokshop acrylic paint - I took it because those paints are covering so well, I managed to put that orange on in one pass on dark background - there re not so many paints that can do that!

Thanks again and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel, sorry, I re-read your previous post and forgot you said you used Humbrol paints. I usually end up mixing my oranges using yellow and red until I get the shade of orange I want since there are so many pre-mixed shades out there.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello!

It took some time, but now I have decals on, sandwitched between two layers of future. It's obnoxiously glossy, but at least I hope I have no silvering:

Now I think about lightening it a little with oils and of course a flat clear coat.

Thanks for looking and have a nice day

Paweł

That's sharp! I really like that shade of green. Looks the part!

Hi Pawel,

Did you make the 4-4-2 decals or where did you find them, they look great.

I'm looking for 1/72 AH-1G decals for the AZ Models 3 in 1 joy pack set. Three cobras in 1 box however the kits don't come with decals. I have 3 of those joy pack kits so need to make 9 sets. I tried making some with my inkjet but turned out terrible so I might pick up a color laser printer whenever I get to those kits.

Don't forget the anti-slip paint on the wings.   I used to mask and spray paint them on, but now I just mask and hand paint them on using Mr. Hobby 500 surfacer for 1/48 scale and then give it texture with a short bristle brush and then paint them black and worn tire shades, or darker gray blotches.

Mr. Hobby1000 and acrylic paint works to for smaller scales. That anti-slip coating was hand brushed on since it was a thick epoxy with sand. The top wing surface was the most abused area so don’t be afraid to go nuts weathering it. Engine oil, hydraulic fluid, fuel, swash plate grease, dirt, blood, tobacco spit, you name it. Well, the blood was just on one of my cobras and it was my own blood. Short story is a piece of safety wire punctured a vein in my hand and sprayed blood all over the place like a garden hose. It was messy.

Thanks,

Tom

O - thanks a lot for your kind words! Glad you like it.

Tom - good info, as always! I thought about the walkways on the wings, but I can't really make them out on the photo of the real thing (please see the original post). But to be sure I did some additional research, and here's what I've found:

Looks like the paint is worn all the way through, and maybe there is a small patch of antislip there, put also painted olive, and not black. So what I'm going to do is put more extra weathering on the wings to show the wear you're talking about, but I'm not painting any extra walkways there.

On my newer incarnation of the 442 I made the walkways by painting some clear decal black, then I cut apropriate shapes out and applied the walkways as a decal. Saved me a lot of masking!

As for the decals - they are my design, and I had them printed by a small company that does that here in Poland. If you like them, I could order a copy for you.

OK, so now I try to get a nice flat finish on my Cobra. Please stay tuned and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

Where in Poland do you live? My ancestors come from Wrzoski, just West of Opole. They moved in 1848 so I won't ask you if you know them, . I always want to visit Poland someday.

Hello Tom!

I couldn't help thinking about those walkways and I decided to step it up a little and so I put little patches of antislip, made of fine sandpaper, on top of the wings and painted some right-to-primer wear around. I also installed the turret, tail rotor, anti-collision light, 20mm cannon and nose probe. I've also put some oil paints and flat clear on. Here's how it lok s like now:

That's a good catch with the intake louvers. I didn't notice it at first.

If you're doing factory fresh markings, then there's not much room for "going to town" here... Maybe a stencil sheet would be the right thing for you? I think I've seen them somehwhere. Other than that I'll try to help you if you need something special. I've even made a font for serial numbers and "UNITED STATES ARMY" inscriptions.

Poland is still a nice place to visit, even if our government is working to change it... I personally live close to the city of Poznań - that's in the middle of the road from Berlin to Warsaw.

OK, I will try to finish my model now - please stay  tuned and have a nice day

Paweł

Hi Pawel,

Wow, that is one nice looking Cobra. I like your color modulations especially the tail and wings. You also got the tail rotor color correct. 

I did notice 2 minor items with the Special Hobby kit that I had to correct on my G kits. Special Hobby made their G model kits upgradeable to the S(Mod) with the TOW missile package. When Bell upgraded to the TOW missile system, they referred to these early models as a Q standard, and thus named it a S(Mod) from then on.

Some S(Mod) features shouldn't be used on the G model though. One item is the G model's pitot tube was on the nose, which you have correct, but remember to fill and sand smooth the S(Mod) pitot tube port on the upper left rotor tower. The other item is wire strike protection wasn't added until the S(Mod) which included a cable cutter on top of the canopy. I think Special hobby has 2 center canopy pieces and use the smooth top for the G. That rectangle divot on the top of the center canopy piece is for a cable cutter. My S(Mod) in the 1st calvary did not have the wire strike protection mod so I always use the G model canopy center piece, or fill and sand that divot. 

Floyd Werner of Werner Wing's makes 1/48 scale stencils which are some of the best. They are made by Cartograf and are nice and thin and lay down great. I think I bought his entire supply though. I have so many kits and by the time I get to the 1/72 ones, I'll probably just make my own. My 1st attempt didn't turn out to great.

Great job on 4-4-2. Can't wait to see it finished.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom!

Now you mention two cool bits to correct on a G-model, but it's too late to correct them on mine... Oh well, I'll watch for those on another one I want to build.

In the meantime you don't have to wait no more - Dr. Oldsmobile is completed!

Without further ado, here are the pictures:

Many thanks for my dear friends from this forum for following the build and encouraging me! I'd love to hear yout thoughts on how this one turned out. Thanks in advance and have a nice day!

Paweł