Helicopter Group Build 2009

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Yee Haw!!! I finally finished something!

This is the Hobby Boss AH-1S kit with Joseph Osborne's Sky Soldiers decals. Joseph's set is sized for the Hasegawa kit so I decided to be the guinea pig using the HB kit. Everything went on perfectly except the first stripe decal which goes from the top of the tail to the front of the stabilizers. You will need to trim the portion running parallel with the fuselage by about 1/8 inch. I learned this the hard way on the first one. Even after laying the decal next to the model, I wasn't sure just what was needed till I tried to place it. Anyway, once the issue was resolved, the rest of the decals went down just as the directions indicate. I really like Joseph's stuff.
As for the kit, it is mostly OOB. The upper wire cutter is PE. I also added the supports from hobby wire for both the upper and lower wire cutters. I did not install the ADS boom as it has been removed from the current Sky Soldiers cobras. Brock (Turbine Surgeon) told me they interfered with the pilot's vision during the airshows. Also, I left off the disco ball as that is also missing from the Sky soldiers cobras. Since I didn't have a smoke pod and Joseph doesn't make one in 1/72, I used the 19 shot pods inboard and 7 shot pods outboard. I am pretty sure i have actually seen this configuration on a sky Soldiers cobra, but I can't find the pic to save my soul. I painted the "rockets" silver as they would certainly be dummies if the real aircraft carried them. Most pics I have seen show the pods unloaded. I replaced the 20mm cannon and rotor mast with parts from a Fujimi AH-1S kit. The kit gun is really bad as the barrels are all molded together with no gap between them and the kit rotor mast just seemed off somehow.  The real Sky Soldiers birds also do not have the skid fairings and have a light attached to the cross tubes, but I just didn't feel like going there!   All in all this is a great little kit though and I plan to build another. Believe it or not, this is my first finished Cobra. Now on to the Hueys!
Comments and criticisms welcome (and probably needed).
Ray 

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From Models

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From Models

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From Models

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From Models

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From Models

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Hi ray

I like the Sky Soldiers AH-1Cobra , the glossy black finish really suits the Cobra .

I've been thinking of back-ordering Hasegawa's 1/72 AH-1F Sky Soldiers Cobra kit . Their priced around $42.00 here in Australia and there's two cobra helicopters in the box . Compared to Hobbyboss's AH-1F at $28.00 and then I would have to buy the aftermarket Sky Soldiers decals , I think the Hasegawa offering might suit me .

It was interesting how you mentioned about leaving off the ADS boom , Hasegawa probably don't mention that , they usually only change the decal sheet with a seperate decal placement guide and the original instructions are provided for the build .

I was also looking at your Italeri/Hobbyboss UH-1B Huey comparison builds and I must admit , your a hundred times better than me when it comes to dry-brushing/highliting instrument consol/panels ; Even the Cobra cockpit knobs and dials look really good .

I've tried really small pointy brush's , even toothpicks , looking through a magnifier and it still comes out terrible , what's your technique/secret ???

Anyway great Cobra build

                                                           John .

John,

  I would never have gotten the Hobby Boss kit except for the $9.99 sale at Squadron.  Now I'm kicking myself for not getting more.  they are back up to $22 now.

  I have no idea about the Hasegawa kit as I refuse to pay that price, even for two kits with decals.  However, the Sky Soldiers did have the ADS boom early on as evidenced by at least one photo I have seen so it's not totally inaccurate to have them.  By teh way, anyone know if the Has kit comes with the smoke generators?

  My technique for painting anything is nothing like the true experts I see around here, but here's what i did.  

   I use Vallejo acrylics as I find they work best for me.  First,  I spray the panel with Mr. Surfacer 1200.  I find this gray looks great as the interior color on older Hueys.  Next I painted the cowling and raised details black.  I follow that with a random pattern of buttons in white and with an almost empty brush I tap inside each instrument face to get a tiny bit of color.  Finally, i follow up with a few randomly scattered red switches and buttons.  sometimes i overpaint a white one just for more contrast.  I also put a couple of tiny dots of red on the cyclic to mimic the red buttons on the real thing.  finally, I put small squares and rectangles of red in the approximate locals of the real data plates.  I used to be obsessed with where every instrument was and what not, but I have come to realize that in 1/72, it's really just the illusion that matters and not the reality.  At least that's my take.  I think the red data plates really set off the panel though.  I use the smallest brush I can find for this, but it's really nothing special.  

Good luck and don't worry, your stuff looks great to me!  I wish I had your speed as well.  You can build a helo before i finish cutting the parts from the sprues!

    Ray

Nice build, Ray.  I tried to reply earlier but I must have pushed the wrong button.  I have updated the first page with your Cobra.

Nothing like cutting it close!  I just finished these two about 10 minutes ago.  All I have left to do is clear coat the decals.  This is the Italeri and Hobby Boss kits build OOB with custom decals form Joseph Osborne at Fireball Modelworks. these aren't the best shots, but I'm too tired to take more.  Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!

    Ray

Happy New Year, Ray.  Looking good, but of course we do need some more beauty shots for the twins.

Those are two fantastic BRAVO's , Ray ;

I like the U.S Army trainning scheme the orange panels break up the overall olive drab .

BTW , doesn't the Helicopter GB run until January 31 or did I miss read the build time ?

I've had to re-airbrush the SeaKing , I original used Tamiya XF-2 white and XF-20 medium grey , however I wasn't happy with the color , the white was too white and the grey too dark , usually I airbrush with Gunze Sangyo acrylics and the local hobby shops were out of H-316 and H315 ; However I finally tracked some down and I just finished re-painting today . The decals will go on in a couple of day's , so hopfully by next week she will be finished .

Ray those are two "BEAUT BRAVO'S"

                                                                        John .

Very nice helos, Ray!

I always loved to see the "Go Army" scheme on the F-Cobras.

Also the side-by-side buidl of the two husey was interesting to follow.

Again: great work!

Thanks guys.  You are right about the GB, John.  i just didn't pay close enough attention!  Oh well, I really wanted to finish those two in 2009 and I did.  Now I can take my time with the final finish.  I'll get beauty shots up in the next week or so.  going to the folks for New Years.

   Ray

Nice choppers Ray, I particularly like the UH-1B trainers. OD and international orange seems like such an odd combination (make up your mind, do you want to hide or stand out  ) but it works for me.

Aaron,

   Thanks!  Well in many cases you will see that the nose compartment cover and cabin doors are the only international orange parts.  In those cases it makes sense because those parts can be switched or repainted easily to get the helo ready for deployment if necessary.  However, the bird I built has a big chunk of the cabin roof orange as well.  I'm assuming that the OD was also used because the Army had lots of it!

    Ray

Well done Ray! 

Jeremy,

  Thanks. I'll get proper pics up soon.

     Ray

Ok guys I will not have my Cobra finished before the deadline due to that broken canopy. I will finish it later on when I get somehow the replacement part. I wrote a topic on helicopter forum, maybe someone has the spare part or left from old model. There's no point for me to keep the badge neither.

Good luck for the rest of you guys.

Polak, keep the badge, and post some pictures to the build whenever you get it done.  You've been a great participant and that is what it's all about.

Hi Boss , [jeaton01]

I realize it's the 11th hour for this group build but I was hoping for a two month extension .

I'm almost ready to decal the Fujimi SH-3D SeaKing after a month of messing around trying to airbrush the exhaust engine housing flat black and it never came out the way I wanted it too ; The same with the small round engine twin engine inlets just above the cabin roof , it seems I just cant mask a nice round section around the engine inlets to spray them flat black , after repeated attempts of airbrushing black and then white to cover each failed attempt , I may have to try and paint the inlets flat black by hand . As for the exhaust area , I'll do what Hasegawa offer in their 1/48 version and cut the shape I need from some solid black decal paper .

All this stuffing around has ment my USCG helo's haven't even made it into the spray booth yet , which has got me all cranky and uptight at my lack of progress , I should also mention that I'm half way through a Airfix 1/72 B-1B Lancer and this kit is a absolute nightmare , I lost count the number of hours I've spent puttying and sanding just about everything thats needs to be glued together on the B-1B , with only  95 pieces to the kit , I thought I would breeze through this large bird in two weeks..... "man was I wrong"

I know I tend to have quite a few projects going on at the same time but suddenly everything has almost stalled , I turn around 360 degrees and I've got unfinished builds everywhere

I'm reasonably confident I can get my 2009 helicopter builds finished by March 31, 2010....

Kind regards

                               John.

Sounds fine to me, John.   I'll adjust the front page for a new end date.  Thanks for the continued interest.

Wuhhh...??? We're supposed to finish??? Oh, ok then get to it elves.

Yeah, BillyBondo, what did you expect, McBoeing to build it for you?

Well, I got one done, but unfortunately, the Apache will have to wait for warmer weather...as my paint booth and build area are located in my unheated and uninsulated garage...I will keep this page updated as I build on...

Justin

I'm slowly getting things together and ever closer to finishing ; Although after nearly two months of starting these Helo's , I really should of had them all finished by now .

Anyway the Fujimi SH-3D SeaKing is ready to decal , I also built the other Fujimi SeaKing in my stash , she is the SH-3H version .

The Italeri H04S-3 is coming along okay along with the Hobbyboss H-34D which is ready for masking ; Both these birds will have USCG paint schemes and markings

The Hobbyboss HH-60J Jayhawk is 100 times better than Italeri's HH-60 kit , I was just disappointed that Hobbyboss dont include decals for the instrument and consol panels . I'm hopless at drybrushing so the front section is airbrushed flat black and I'll leave it  at that .

                                            John .

You've got your own factory over there. I don't know how you can keep up with all of 'em.

I am still chugging along here slowly. I decided to try something different and handbrush this kit. I first used Model Master  Olive drab,a nd then did a top coat of Polly Scale OD which gave it a more brownish shade. After I paint the nose black and the stabilizers red I will add a gloss coat and be ready for decals.

It's good to see the activity.  I'm sorta getting the urge to do another.  Drug out an Italeri H-19 only to find the cockpit window is missing for one side.  Guess I'll try to find or make a vacform replacement.  The styrene ones have that coke bottle effect anyway.

That's bad luck about your H-19 having a window missing , john .

One of my HO4S-3 [H-19] kits had broken main landing gear struts , one of the broken parts was floating loose in the box the other had disappeared completely . The only thing that saved the kit and the $20 spent was that the italeri H-19A with the 'hot dog' floats also comes with the standard main landing gear on the sprue . I did send a request with a pic of the broken/missing parts to italeri but unfortunately I never received a reply . Perhaps you may have better success getting a replacement side window .

If stikpusher hadn't mentioned he's bird was hand brush painted , I would have thought it was airbrushed ; A very nice smooth finish indeed .

I wanted to add some seat belts to the cockpit seats of my birds , does anyone know of a easy technique , I've heard some modelers just use narrow strips of masking tape , I tried that and it just looks like masking tape stuck on the seats , obvisiously I'm not doing it right .

Anyone have any suggestions , a lot of my builds have stalled because I'm struggling highliting 1/72 cockpit consols and adding seatbelts to seats

Most of the time I just cheat and get some Eduard PE belts, they make sets for different countries with multiple sets so it's not so expensive.  I have seen belts made from the foil from wine bottles and bits of fine wire that looked pretty good.  On larger scales I sometimes use a fiberglass fabric tape used to wrap aircraft wiring, but it would be pretty coarse weave for 1/72.

Thanks about the paint, Helo. Some alternate methods for seat belts are lead foil, paper, or medical tape. bucked\s can be PE or scratch built from wire.

Here are a couple shots of here now. Almost ready for a gloss coat and decals.

I'm finally ready to start masking the two Coast Guard birds , my progress has been a little slow but usually when I get to this stage , I get excited about finishing the builds .

Unfortunatly I'm not at all happy with my efforts on the HH-60J Jayhawk

Airbrushing the front cockpit flat black just isn't good enough , You can't see any detail at all.

I've ordered another Hobbyboss HH-60J along with some PE for the SH-60B and I'll start again .

Thank's for the tip on making seatbelts john and stikpusher , I ordered  the Detailing Model Aircraft book from FSM and there is some info on making seatbelts etc .

So I'll get busy masking the HO4S-3 and the H-34 , I have quite a few birds to mask and paint over the next few day's .

                                                                        John .

Well , I'm having one of those months where nothing seems to be working out .

It seems that when ever I get close to finishing anything for the USCG , I fail miserably .

I went to mask the cockpit rear window on the H04S-3 and it came unglued and I had to pull one of the fuselage halves apart to re-fix it back in position . With the H-34 , Hobbyboss molded the rotors with the droop upside down , I tried correcting this by glueing the rotors to the hub and then clamping the rotors to a dinner plate and placing them outside however three of the blades broke off the hub and one blade snapped in half .

I have some Italeri UH-34J Seahorses in my stash , maybe I'll take the Hobbyboss bent gear legs and use them on the Italeri kit and start again .

                                                                                                           John .

Looks like a bad day at Black Rock, John!