"Battle for Mogadishu" ***COMPLETE*** 24oct09

see what ya miss when your not around chris!!!

Ok, so if I understand your rambling ...

You like the larger building. The smaller building is just what you said ... a cutaway. If I understand you right, the cutaway's walls should extend out to the edges of the base?

I can see your point about turning the building around as that would make more sense for the "momentum" of the helo. But, I'm not going to add in insurgent figures. As stated before, I want the helo and the SF figures to be the focus, not to try and tell a complex story. If I turn the building around, I'm just going to addin a "wall" on the open side and probably would paint that black. The rest of the building would be painted as mentioned before, but would now be out of the viewers primary line of sight.

I don't know ... I think that I need to "sleep on it" for awhile. I'm not any where near needing the base just yet, and either way, its not going to change anything in regards to the helo and the figures.

 

Well... (haha yeah sorry about the rambling) I do like the smaller building's look better, I think the big building would have taken away from the helo and the fighters. I think though if you had cut away the floor though, it doesn't make as much sense (in my head anyway) to have the helo over top of the cutaway (although, now that I think about it, with the cutaway facing away from the viewer, it maker a little more sense that it's just a way for you to get the smaller base to help the helo be more of the focus...)

hmmm

I understand what you're saying about blocking the wall off and painting it black as if it was part of the edge of the base, if that's what you'd do if you turned it around, I say how about you go ahead and leave it the way you set it up now. I do like the smaller building footprint, and if the viewer isn't expecting to turn the base around and look into the underside and see furniture and a living room etc. then if you painted the whole interior black, it would just be an elaborate base extension, not a cutaway view like I had thought.

Here's the picture incase you still wanted it, but it sounds like you knew what I was going on about.



I just misunderstood, I thought the cutaway was for the purposes of allowing an interior building view, but now I’m assuming it was so you could support the helo and the main action over a hint at a landing sight. Makes sense!

I like it, minimalistic and simple- just took me writing this post to figure it out

chris if he turns it around...he would need to make the cutaway roof longer/larger. with the "lip" like it is the helo wouldnt try and make a landing so close! i get what your trying to get him to do but...i think the way he has it is ok.

scott, again, dont change it based on our comments necessarily.  i get more now than i did. you are not going for a "damaged" look but a small section of the building look. nothing wrong with what a have and the best part is...its really simple. i do think ya see what i meant b4 about people expecting you to be able to build (all the time) something amazing!!! ya give a dog steak it aint gonna want dog food!!! yeah, why make it any more complicated if you dont have too. keep it as is and work on it as you have planned. i think your on the right track!!

Yeah, I agree camo, I had misunderstood. Thought it was a cutaway for an inside view, but yeah, I like it as is: small base- more of a mount for the helo than a building. I like it, and I think it should be displayed as intended from the "finished" side of the building so you can see all the mortar lines in the brick and the battle damage.

I just wanted an excuse to doodle cartoons right? hahaha

modelchasm wrote:

... you don't wear tights do you!?! ...

The problem is not wearing tights, it's the underpants that go over it!!!

Enough comic-fun; you build is proceeding very well and the detail you had the cance to add, really makes the difference.

As for the building I agree that too big a building would detract from the helo and the figures.
Let me toss in this idea: how about representing only the roof section, sort of a base for the scene?

Avus wrote:

...how about representing only the roof section, sort of a base for the scene?

If I understand you correctly, you're suggesting to do away with the wooden base altogether and using the building's roof as the base for the whole thing. Hmm ... sounds like an idea, but I've got a little more work that I want to do on the partial building before I change my mind again. (ie, I still need to add on the tile roof section, one of which I'm planning on collapsing, so I'll need to add in a little structure as well.)

Anyway, I'm getting closer to working on the base, as the helo is coming along nicely. Will be posting some more update pics here shortly.

Now its my turn to be confused.

You are having them land on the roof of a partially collapsed building?  Too much charge to blow the door? lol

No .... No .... (dang it Chris! ... see what you started!!!!)

ITS A CUTAWAY!!!! ...... A CUT ... AWAY!!!!

ahhhh chris...ya having a hard day today arent ya. mine was all in fun. im sure scott's are too but...!

modelchasm wrote:

Avus wrote: ...how about representing only the roof section, sort of a base for the scene? If I understand you correctly, you're suggesting to do away with the wooden base altogether and using the building's roof as the base for the whole thing.

Wasn't quite what I meant, but never mind. I reconsidered what I suggested: keeping only the roof section would be too little to understand there's a building underneath.

scott what you have is fine. i just like the "style" of the first one but since as you stated the building isnt the focus anyway the second one you made will be just as good. ya got to take my words with a grain of salt. just ask manny...all i did was ask a question about a sling on a rifle and all hell broke loose for a few postings. something with the way i present my words i guess . i seem to ride in on trouble when all i want is to gallup.... j/k i obviously dont want to start anything with anyone.  just seems to happen that way.

You're fine, Camo ... really. Its a dicussion that would have come up later on anyway. Plus, I like people with blatant opinions. They are the same people who get the job done ....

Anyway ... I liked the style of the old building as well, but don't worry. I plan on covering the cutaway with the spackle and scribing the brick & detail into this one as well. What else did you like about it?

If you go back and look at the "inspiration" picture, you'll notice some boards, etc scattered on the roof top. I'm planning on adding in some detail like that just so the roof top isn't BLAH from the lack of detail.

Right now though, I'm working on the pilots. I was planning on priming them this morning, but I ended up late last night cutting some legs IOT reposition them. I'm also trying to figure out how to scratch visors to go on the helmets. It may not be the most effecient way, but I'm going to hold off on the "riders" until I get the helo almost completed. I don't need them IOT complete it, so I'm just going to keep runnin'. I was also going to go w/ tan flight suits for the pilots ... would this be correct for this time period? I mean the movie has the pilots wearing them, but then again .... we know how Hollywood is. If they're not being blatantly incorrect, they're being blatantly gay!

yeah, i KNEW you would add the details to the roof...that was a "gimme"! as far as me "telling it like it is" that's not the message i want to convey. whatever though...if you are refering to the 2nd building about what else i like...its simple for one (that's VERY important ), and ya just did a good job. i can picture it already and i know (i think) where your gonna take it (scary eh? ).

For sure the blackhawk pilots wore tan, I'd assume that the uniform was standard with the littlebird pilots too...

 

http://dishmodels.ru/gshow.htm?p=428&lng=E

Look at the second picture.

 

HTH,

Austin

Thanks for the link, Ark ... that BH is sick!

I thought I'd post some ***UPDATE*** pics before the weekend started up.....

I've mostly been working on the two pilots figures this morning ... cleaning up some flashing, fills gaps, and scratching .... but just a bit. Here are the figs before priming.

The pilot:

The co-pilot:

The heads:

Here's the SF guys that will be riding the benches that someone cast for me .... (Thanks again!) Haven't even begun to clean these up yet ... maybe later this weekend.

Here's the work that I've gotten done since tearing the model apart. It's pretty much ready to go back together, minus a couple fo washes and weathering to the interior. Once that's done, I'll be finishing up the pilots and getting them in. Then sealing everything back up, masking off the interior and spraying it w/ Future in preparation for decals, etc, etc, etc. Doesn't sound like much, but I'm in no hurry. Anyways ...

I've gotten a little more since pics were taken, but I'll post those later. Let me know what you think. Thanks again for following ...

 

 

hey, nice job! will that pilot seat well with the sidearm? just curious. and who is "fills gaps"?? (never mind ). coming along nicely.

"Fills Gaps" .... I was thinking of changing my screen name. HAHA....

I was thinking about that sidearm too .... It sits fine with the seats, but I was wondering if I shouldn't have put it up on his chest? But then again, I was worried about it getting in the way of the seat harness ...

I'm not an expert on flying thingies, but I can tell you have to break in a pair of boots! Rrrr.... Might need some "expert" opinion on this one!?!

ok i figured you'd check b4 gluing so no big deal. glad it fits. and yeah, i suppose your screwed either way if ya put on the chest or otherwise!

I don't know? Is it wrong one way or the other?

nope!

It definitively was worth onpening up again: look at all the corrections you were able to make.

Regarding the sidearm, I looked through my references and it appears that in 1993 the 160th pilots didn't use side arms (neither on legs nor chest). They had a MP-5A3 or A5 for personal defence stowed in some misterious place on the helo.

Hope this doesn't qualify me as an expert since I'm not one; let's say I'm an enthusiast!

HTH

Thanks, Avus .... I'll take your word as expert ... enough! HAHA.

I know that Blackhawk pilots kept their M4s up above the dash, so I'm guessing that's where the MP5's went ..... but where in the (^%(*&^%)(#*^%(&^!!!!! ..... do you keep an MP5 in the little bird. Let alone, two of them! Rrrrrr ..... The only place that I see is one little spot next to the co-pilot btwn the seat and the console. The pilot's side has the collective there, so I don't know what to do there.

Thanks for your help, Avus.

Maybe they put them next to the upright part of the seats. In the kit there seems to be enough room there. thats where i put a CAR-15 in my Loach

hmm... good point. Maybe I can fashion some kind of strap from masking tape so that it looks like its supposed to go there. The only other place I can think of/ see is possibly strapped to the side of the front console.

We'll see what I come up with....

Awesome update... very nice interior- only thing, any way you can make that fire extinguisher look less... red plastic chunk? Not a huge thing, it’s just one never really sees accurate looking fire extinguishers in tanks or helos and I think if you could give it like a little “instruction panel” and maybe make it look more metallic somehow it’d be reaaal sweet.

From what I recall from the book, at one point during the famous firefight, some of the LB copilots were actually shooting their MP5s out the window, they'd also be flying low in the street and a few times the main rotors nicked the buildings. I think the leg holster is a nice touch, and I like what you did with the folded belt strap. As for the MP5s- I think between the seat and the consol sounds somewhat familiar, it's been a long time since I read the book though and it was back in 9th grade so I'm way rusty. I'm not sure if there were two MP5s per LB or if there was only the one- all I know is they jammed frequently, the weapon needed a lot of maintenance and sand got everywhere over there and the 9mm 30(?) round stick mags are so small that they had at least 3 in the bird +1 in the gun...

I think. Again, I haven’t read that book in a while and I don’t know how 100% Mark Bowden was... So don't know if that helps lol and sorry for the confusion on the roof cutaway

The SF guys look like they’ll go together easy enough, but also 4 of a kind, I’m looking forward to seeing how you make them your own custom creations- those pilots sure do look great- nice work on the visors!!

Thanks for those points, Chris.

Yes, I have more plans for the extinguisher. Nothing has been washed or weathered yet, and I'm getting ready to add in a few decals. I'm having to work a little slower w/ this build as since I don't normally do stuff like this, I don't want to screw up again. I think I used up 8 of my 9 lives when I seperated the fuse. halves.

Thanks for the information about the MP5s. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with that, but I'll figure something out.

As far as the casted "riders" all looking the same .... common' Chris! You know me better than that! HAHA!!!

Thanks again for the points ... right on line w/ what I've got goin.

haha I do know you better than that- glad to hear the SF guys'll be getting their own MC-special. I can understand what you're saying about the 8 out of 9 lives, I still can't believe you were able to pull that surgery off, the inside of the bird looks great too so I'm glad it worked.