Helicopter Group Build 2009

Thanks John, I picked up the kit yesterday along with decals and can't wait to get started.  Although 1/72 isn't my normal scale it still looks like a very nice little kit.

Here's a pic of (hopefully) what she'll look like when finished.

If you guys still have a seat for a helicopter newbie I would like to partake in the GB with Hasegawa's 1/72 AH-64 Longbow Apache OOB. Thanks,

Joe

darson wrote:

I'm feverishly working to finish two GB's and have put off three more till Fall as this looks to be starting with a bang.

Unfortunately the kit doesn't come with hellfires as neither France or Germany use them, so it looks like I'll be raiding the spares box.

Cheers

Hi Darren,

That looks awfully like something I photographed at Avalon several years ago. I remember a sales shoot-out between the Eurocopter and the Redhawk from South Africa, and the Eurocopter sales rep in the main pavillion, smiling all over his face, telling me they had just closed a deal with the Aus government... Um, maybe I better read back in this thread!

Mike

Mike I have no idea where that picture was taken as I just "liberated" it from the internet, although you are probably right in that it was taken at Avalon.  The chopper that I'll be modeling is ARH (Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter) 007 which is the third Aussie assembled Tiger.

All, well ladies and gents by my Southern Hemisphere calendar it July 1st here so tonight when I get home from work I'll be making a start on the Tiger

Cheers

darson wrote:

All, well ladies and gents by my Southern Hemisphere calendar it July 1st here so tonight when I get home from work I'll be making a start on the Tiger

Darn... head start!

I've been sitting at the work bench for the last few minutes wondering how mad my wife would get if I moved the clocks forward a few hours. I'm so excited to start that my eye lid is twitching.

At least I've got a jump on everyone on the west coast of the U.S. and Canada!

If you couldn't tell from my last post, I'm pretty excited to start this build. This will be my first group build and the first helicopter I've built.

I picked up this kit a few months ago because it was cheap (spousal requirement) and looked absolutely menacing. When jeaton01 decided to start this group build, I couldn't resist!

I had planned on building this kit OOB to keep it simple but upon opening it for inspection, I realized that it could really use some improvement. I did some research and it turns out that Cobra Company is the place to be for helicopter needs. I made a quick order and in no time flat I've got some resin in the mailbox.

Sooo... I spent the first day of my build cleaning and prepping some resin. This is a very nice set and I hope I can do it justice.

Can't wait to see everyone's build progress!

jmabx, here are a cpl inspirational pics for you.

jmabx wrote:

If you couldn't tell from my last post, I'm pretty excited to start this build. This will be my first group build and the first helicopter I've built. I picked up this kit a few months ago because it was cheap (spousal requirement) and looked absolutely menacing. When jeaton01 decided to start this group build, I couldn't resist! I had planned on building this kit OOB to keep it simple but upon opening it for inspection, I realized that it could really use some improvement. I did some research and it turns out that Cobra Company is the place to be for helicopter needs. I made a quick order and in no time flat I've got some resin in the mailbox. Sooo... I spent the first day of my build cleaning and prepping some resin. This is a very nice set and I hope I can do it justice. Can't wait to see everyone's build progress!

jmabx,

These might help when you get ready to start http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/helicopters/mi-24-hind-1/   If you need more, I got plenty.  Just haven't uploaded them all yet. Got plenty o pit pics as well.

LeopardMan - nice pics... wish I was talented enough to paint one up like the hawk, eagle, bird, whatever it is!

lewbud - Thanks for the help! I will definitely use those pictures. Do you have any of the crew cabin? I need to start on it so I can fit the resin cockpit and would like to add some more detail inside.

I've started my Dragon/Panda Huey for the GB and will try to get pics up as soon as I find a place to store them & figure out how to post them, once I have the pictures taken!

I'm working on the cockpit, what else, and the pilots so I can get the 2 halves together as soon as possible.

Happy 4th of July to all Americans reading this!

Pam

jmabx,

You got it.  Will have them up by this weekend.  Will let you know.  If you search for it, Hasegawa made a kit of the Hind with the hind (deer looking thing) on the side.

Thanks lewbud... that will really help! Kinda wondered what a Hind was anyway!

Fiddling around tonight and I figured that the inside is going to look so nice that maybe I should try to bring the outside up to snuff. I searched through my FSM collection to find some good tips. In the end , I came up with my own modeling technique... I like to call it "why the hell did I even bother"

The raised panel lines were bothering me and I know this helicopter is a rivet monster but I don't think I'm capable of recreating that look. So instead, I decided to try scribing some panel lines to replace those of the raised variety.

After about 2 square inches of that, I was done... enough! Then I decided that I didn't like these grab handles:

I decided to carve them out and I figure I'll use some thin wire or styrene to recreate the handles.

That's all for tonight... I'll be busy the next couple of days (party time) so we will see what I can get accomplished on Sunday.

Happy 4th of July!

I have made a good start on the Tiger and have managed to paint the cockpit and pilots seats although in 72nd scale there is not a heck of a lot of detail there.

The canopy has been dipped in Future to clear it up because it was quite foggy (if you know what I mean) when I took it out of the pack.

I'll take some pics tonight but as the pit is dark grey and NATO Black there is not much you can see.

Pam, excuse my ignorance but what uniform is that you are wearing in your Avatar pic?  Also, posting pics is easy, just upload them into your Photobucket or Imageshack account and then copy the URL of the photo you want.  Now when posting on FSM in the Message box you will see a tree image icon (it's too the left of the Smiles icon), click that then paste the full URL of your photo into the Image URL section and just click Insert.

Cheers

Yippee! Things got started!

Your Hind looks promising, jmabx!
Should you change your mind about making rivets, consider using a rivetting tool and dymo-tape: it's a rather easy technique which gives great results.

As for me I started removing thecasting-blocks from the resin aftermarket parts.

Since I have two Cobras in my stash I was toying with the idea of making a "twin"-build. What do you think, should I give it a try?
One would be a Super Cobra from HML/A-775 in "digital camouflage" and the other one in the standard two-tone gray with a sharkmouth or a cobra from HML/A-167.

jmabx -- I have the same Hind in my stash (Monogram issue) and will be very interested to see her built. I've got into scribing mode lately, I can't abide raised panel lines anymore, which means all my classic Monograms are candidates for a great deal of work before I can stick one thing to another... Probably a case of AMS! Don't be too discouraged, your rescribing looks excellent, and a super-fine drill bit in a pinvice will create recessed rivets. I was going to use slivers of .020" rod for the big bolt-heads around the external applique armor for the Hind-E version which I was considering doing as a scratch conversion.

I won MRC's 1:35th scale AH-1W on eBay this morning for a very sweet price, awakening memories of photographing this bird at Avalon Airshow in '97 and '99. I'm tempted... I just have nowhere to put a big model like that!

Mike

Ok, here we go. I am slowly reving up to get this baby started. As always it will be OOB. I try to keep WIP pics going.

Darren,

That is me in my 1973 US Navy uniform!!! I guess it was the womens dress blues as at that time women could not wear the men's jumper uniforms.

Pam

John,

Don't know what an unk is, but whatever it is it will be 1/72.

Buddy, I don't know what an unk is either, but I'm sure it has been kitted in 1/72.

Justin, the list is updated with the AH-64 added.

I did a little work on my CH-37 tonight, not a lot.  I have a project I have to get done before I get too far into it.  It's great to see the good start so many are making, that is what makes a group build work well and be fun.

 HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

To all my American Finescale friends

Like Darson said! (Echoes from Aus)

And have the aliens arrived yet?

Mike

ok,my dream of an easy build has gone right out the door...

this is why you do a test fit

the kit instructions are terrible which is why i did the dry run, only to find that the cockpit floor is too long if put in the right place and this means none of the front glass will fit,if you get it in so that the front glass will fit the bulkhead would be about 18 inches too far back on the real heli..... i wont mention the amount of gaps i'm gonna have to fill aound the bulkhead... 

paul