Helicopter Group Build 2009

I didn't realize how big those power eggs are... looks like alot of weight to be hanging off the side. Almost looks like two giant fists.

I'm glad to see her coming together! Lookin' good.  

Jeremy, yes, the nacelles are large.  They seem a lot larger when the engines are running, especially a few feet off the ground in a hover.  The noise was stupendous, and if there is any loose gravel you best stand behind something.  On the other hand, if you need to do anything to the engines you sincerely wish there was more room inside the nacelle.  The right chip detector plug  was one example.  I always wished for another elbow when I pulled that to inspect and clean it.

Here she is after another 5 or 6 hours work.  Doesn't look like I've done anything, but I have done the preliminary work on mounting the rotor head, fit and glued the canopy, installed the cockpit, fit the two nose doors after painting the inside interior green as they are all clear parts, and then masked the windows off.   The cockpit was a very tight fit.  The reason I installed the cockpit after the canopy is because the canopy was just a bit narrow.  I superglued one side, cured it, and then pushed the other side in to the right position and tacked it with super glue.  Fits well now.  The clear parts are very thin.

Glad to see some progress on the CH-37, I've really wanted to see one of these built, it is such an unusual helicopter. I'm hoping to get to mine as a winter project in a few months.

I did get a little more done on the UH-19, the floats are quite fiddly, they want to spread apart and tend to go pigeon toed. I finally set them between two metal squares to hold them in place unil the glue dried.

Next step should be the decals.

I almost forgot, as a bonus the Skycrane.

The cockpit is not very detailed, many kits in this scale leave out the collective, but this didn't even include the cyclic. As far as I can tell this kit first came out in 1969 so I guess it is a plus it even included an interior. I found a pic of the cockpit and made up the controls from styrene rod. Unfortunately I goofed and put the cyclics in backwards, but I don't think that will be too obvious once its all closed up. 

Great work on your 37 John. It's one of the "old-time-helos" that has the "coolest" look to me. If they only made one in 1/48 or even 1/35 scale ...

On the other hand the H-19  is not so cool to me, but your work is great, Aaron. And that Skycrane looks very promising.

I spent the WE doing the most annoying thing our hobby requires: sanding and filling! If you're interested I'll post pictures of the result in my next post.

Aaronw - The UH-19 is coming along nicely and the Skycrane is a cool treat!

John - I know that I'm not finished with the Hind yet but I picked up this kit for el cheapo and wanted to know if it would be a suitable subject for a second build.

Don't know how well she fits in... kinda half helicopter, half airplane.

Looks like a... uh... interesting build.

Wellll,,OK Jeremy.  Actually I'd like to see one of those built up.  The nmf framing around all that glass should be fun.  Go for it, though the purists may complain it is a gyroplane it's close enough for me.

Klaus, where would you put a 1/35 CH-37?  That would be a 24 1/2 in rotor diameter. In 1/72 it's already 12 inches.  It would look good though, wouldn't it!

Did a little more today, fiddley stuff.  The tailplane is mounted on some struts, I sorta made it look like the pictures I have, the instructions are indefinite at least as I understood them  (or don't?).  The aux fuel tanks were way longer than they shold be, but they got the ends shaped pretty well so I sawed 1 1/4 inches out of the middle and they look about right after sanding out the middle joint so the curve is right.  The tank mount pylon and struts are also on but I forgot to photo that.

Thanks John!

I thought the XV-1 looked pretty neat and the kit was super cheap (there's a reason for that)... it just screams 1950's. How cool is that?

Nice work on the tailplane. It looks nice and delicate... that would have turned into a disaster in my (un)capable hands. I can't believe how much you had to cut out of the aux tanks.

I meant to comment earlier on the fact that you worked on the CH-37s. I love to hear stories like yours about how these beasts were loud and cramped and would pound you with flying debris. Probably wasn't the greatest gig in the world for you at the time, but for a young(er) fella like me, it all sounds so romantic. "Those must have been the days" as they say. I'll never even get to see one of those things in action let alone work on one. Hearing stories like that from you, or anyone else, puts a great big smile on my face and sends me to daydream land.

Well... I decided to pidder around with the XV-1 a little. What few pieces there were to the cockpit looked out of scale to each other. The box claims this kit is 1/32 scale but the instructions say 1/30 scale... who knows, who cares.  

I added some fiddley bits and stuff to the cockpit to add some interest when peaking inside and to try and scale everything up together. The rear seat sat way too low so I raised it and the front seat was oh so tiny so I enlarged it. I also shaved off the molded on collective and glue a spare part in it's place. There was no regular control stick but the box art clearly shows some guy holding onto one for dear life so I threw some scrap together and carved a handle from sprue. The only other thing I will be adding is wiring for the instrument panel... after I throw some paint on.

I couldn't find any interior pictures of this thing so I'm kinda making it up as I go. The instructions say to paint the interior light blue but I'm thinking more light grey. What do you folks think? Is light grey a proper 50's era helo interior color?

Initial test fit of the fuselage was pretty bad... I expected that though. I'm not going too crazy with this kit but maybe I'll clean up the body a little... very rough texture to it. This thing is gonna be great!

I would go for interior green or light grey, maybe look at some other McDonnell airplane of the period.  It is going to be an interesting model, that's for sure.  How well do the clear parts fit?  Might do to fit the nose part before gluing the fuselage halves to get the best fit there.

jeaton01 wrote:

Might do to fit the nose part before gluing the fuselage halves to get the best fit there.

Thanks for the tip John... I'll definitely go that route as the nose glass has a pretty shady fit. The rest of the glass pops right into place and looks to be trouble free.

Jeremy,

  Some inspiration courtesy of the Army Aviation Museum.  By the way, your progress so far looks great!

    Ray