Helicopter Group Build 2009

Would you guys accept a late entry? I have a Revell Longbow Apache which I have just started to build. It'll be only the 4th model I've ever built, and my first whirlybird, so don't expect anything special! Just looking for a GB to give me a bit of incentive - however if anyone can point me to any earlier builds of this kit I can use as reference I'd be very grateful (please not I don't have an airbrush, so this will be rattle can and paintbrush)

 Cheers

 chris

Aaronw wrote:

Figures, I step away for a bit and here comes Helo53, joining in and finishing, and its not even some shake and bake kit.       The Super Frelon looks great. Funny that the SH-3 is so rare down there, I run into them quite often in the US. Of course I guess we are probably the target market for them. It is exactly the same kit as the Japanese HSS-2 kit except for the decals, if that kit is more common. The Hind is looking nice too, although I agree the camo does remind me of bath tub non-slip flowers. I did manage to sneak in a little time at the bench, I've got the UH-19 all decaled up, just have a few little bits to finish and then it will be done. I'll try to get it into the photo booth tonight.

 Thank's for the compliments on my Super Frelon Aaronw and everyone else , I'm looking forward to seeing your H-19 build . It is interesting what you say about the availability of the Sikorsky version of the Seaking but I'll come back to that in a minute .

First off , I may have egg on my face in regards to my "dinner plate" rotor droop method . After sitting my seaking rotors out in the 100 degree temps for a couple of days , I didn't really achieve much of a droop at all . So now I've tried the alternative method of placing them on a flat surface and using coins to raise the tips up while holding down the center with a barbell collar . Hopfully this should work as well

Anyway I've never been able to figure out why the Fujimi Seaking kits are so difficult to buy in my neck of the woods , earlier this year I picked up two Fujimi Westland Seaking kits from Tower Hobbies there in the U.S .

The kits are identical to the sikorsky version , so I bought some VIP Seaking decals from www.hawkeyemodels.com.au . Each set has a choice of three options , so I bought 3 sets

Some changes need to be made to the side cabin door [two small windows instead of one large one] also the door needs to fit flush against the fuselage [it no longer slides open] . Also I need to figure out how to scratch-build some of those Auxiliary Power Plant [APP] that sit on the starboard sponson .

It's also strange that even in 1/48 scale the Sikorsky Seaking is hard to find . Back in 1992 I did find a Hasegawa 1/48 HSS-2B Seaking . I built the kit and scrounge around to find some U.S markings to put on her but I didn't have a lot of spare decals back then . I've since stripped the hand brushed paint finish off and pulled the Seaking apart to rebuild her .

I've had to make new cabin and cockpit windows from clear sheet plastic [the original clear parts were stained with hobby glue] . This is as far as I've gotten with the rebuild .

I picked up a 1/48 Revell Seaking kit about a year ago and that kit has alternative "low-viz" markings I could use on the Hasegawa seaking , however the Ice/FOD shield that came with the Hasegawa kit is different to the one the U.S.Navy uses , so I may have to leave it off the rebuild version .

I'm certainly looking forward to having a U.S.Navy Seaking in my display cabinet after all these years , Ive already made a place for her on the top shelf at eye level , front and center .

                                          John .

Figures, I step away for a bit and here comes Helo53, joining in and finishing, and its not even some shake and bake kit.    

The Super Frelon looks great. Funny that the SH-3 is so rare down there, I run into them quite often in the US. Of course I guess we are probably the target market for them. It is exactly the same kit as the Japanese HSS-2 kit except for the decals, if that kit is more common.

The Hind is looking nice too, although I agree the camo does remind me of bath tub non-slip flowers.

I did manage to sneak in a little time at the bench, I've got the UH-19 all decaled up, just have a few little bits to finish and then it will be done. I'll try to get it into the photo booth tonight.

Jeremy, yes, I do work in an autobody shop, and what work I do on the choppers is not really as prestigious as it sounds...it is mainly just sanding...alot of sanding!  Thnk you for the kind words regarding my Flak 88!  It is indeed 1/35, it is the kit from Dragon.  It seemed that there were a million pieces in that kit, but it built up very quick!

Now, for some pics!

First, the apache:

The last chopper I did work on, an EMS helo:

jmabx wrote:

Avus wrote: ... because your Hind is OUTSTANDING! After seeing your work Klaus, that means alot coming from you! Thanks!

You're more than welcome, Jeremy, but don't get carried away ...

John, your Frelon looks great!

stickpusher you're off to a good start!

Here's what I managed to get done this weekend.



Actually it's not a difficult thing to do, it's just tedious. Currently I've finished sanding and have to add the rivets and other detail that "disaapeard in the sanding process.
I hope to get this one done so next WE I can do the same on the other helo.

Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Avus wrote:

... because your Hind is OUTSTANDING!

After seeing your work Klaus, that means alot coming from you! Thanks!

Justin - I checked out your 88mm and I gotta say... man is that thing cool! Nice work on it. What scale is it? 1/35?  BTW - You must be pretty excited about working on the helicopter stuff... I sure would be. Do you work at an auto body shop? That may sound like a stupid question but I've been in the car business my whole life so if there is another type of body shop, I'm ignorant to it.

John (Helo 53) - Your Super Frelon looks great! It also looks BIG! I might have said this before, but I love the blue in that paint scheme... just such an odd color combination. I got my blades glued to the rotor head and once that dries up overnight, I'm going to give your plate trick a try... except i'm going to try it with an artificial sun.    Wish me luck!

stikpusher - Nice save on the mount! Looks like your putting her together pretty fast.

Ray - Thanks for the compliments on the Hind! What are you building this time? We need progress pics!

John,

   great work there! I love the cammo.

Stikpusher,

   Nice start on the 58.

 Ray

Here are the frst pics

Cockpit

tail boom w/missing tail rotor mount

tail boom w/ new scratch built tail rotor mount

jeaton01 wrote:

John, it's hard to tell that Super Frelon started life as a Mach 2 kit, well done!  On a schedule as well, you could get work with the movies!  The blades look just right, and the paint on them is really nice.  One ting I do notice that we do is all the blades are evenly spaced, I probably did that on my CH-37 too, where if I remember right the blades usually are off a little in spacing on a fully articulated head.  On the CH-37 they had enough freedon of travel in lead-lag to balance out if one blade was lost.  An Oklahoma Guard CH-37 was lost when the crew took off after landing due to losing a blade, and the helicopter got out of balance and broke up.  Probably not a good decision on the crew's part. Front page is being updated.

Thank's Boss .

I actually enjoyed the Super Frelon build ; It's a shame the kits are so expensive , I paid $51.70 for the kit and as much as I would like to build two more , their just not really worth the asking price .

It was also interesting about the main rotor's not being evenly spaced on a fully articulated rotor head , it always great to learn new facts about helicopters .

The Fujimi Seaking is coming along nicely , as you mentioned before John , the kit almost falls together itself , certainly a nice change from using superglue and clamps to get fuselage halves to join up evenly .

I'll post some progress pic's tomorrow

                                            John .

John, it's hard to tell that Super Frelon started life as a Mach 2 kit, well done!  On a schedule as well, you could get work with the movies!  The blades look just right, and the paint on them is really nice.  One ting I do notice that we do is all the blades are evenly spaced, I probably did that on my CH-37 too, where if I remember right the blades usually are off a little in spacing on a fully articulated head.  On the CH-37 they had enough freedon of travel in lead-lag to balance out if one blade was lost.  An Oklahoma Guard CH-37 was lost when the crew took off after landing due to losing a blade, and the helicopter got out of balance and broke up.  Probably not a good decision on the crew's part.

Front page is being updated.

 I've finished my 1/72 IDF Israeli SA-321G Super Frelon .

I'm really happy with how everything turned out , at the last minute I decided to add the .50 cal machine gun , I found this pic in one of my IDF reference books .

Thanks for all the words of encouragment guy's with this build and it's all steam ahead on my Sikorsky SH-3D Seaking .

Thank's to imageshack for hosting my pic's and thank's for looking .

                                              John .

 With Fujimi's Seaking rotor hub , there is a small bluge on top [Hydraulic oil reservoir] which prevents the rotor hub sitting flat on the plate ; So I placed a couple of metal washers under the hub first .

With the mercury nudging the century mark these past couple of days , normal summer weather , "despite the media carrying-on about the end of the world" ; It's perfect for placing the rotors outside and I'll check on them every hour or so to see how their working out .

                                John .

BTW , as a last minute addition I've decided to add a .50 cal machine gun to the side cabin door on the the super Frelon . I should get her finished later today .

Jeremy,

  The Hind is very very nice!  I really like that paintjob.

      Ray

oh yeah, I forgot to mention...I have been working on the 1:1 subject of our group build.  I work for a bodyshop, and we recently picked up an account with a company called SEI America, who are a subcontracted company for Agusta Helicopters from Italy.  I am (I think I mentioned it before,but)repairing and painting interiors for corporate helos and medivac helos...the past two days, I have been repairing the result of too much force and too much flexibility on the part of the installers, over in the assembly bays (the flight line) and see aircraft in many stages of assembly.  I have to go over again today, so I will try to get some more pics...

Justin

jeremy, I have already completed the build portion on my 88mm flak cannon, but I picked up the Tamiya 37mm four barrel flak cannonreally cheap, so I thought Iwould throw that in with my 88.  I did complete the build on the 37mm, and have begun construction on the Apache...pics to come later tonight...

 Helo53...I thought that was a barbell collar...thats agreat idea!

Justin

Wow! Great!
I'm talking about the 88 not your Hind, of course.

... because your Hind is OUTSTANDING!

The faded color turned out marvelous and the overall look is amazing! Great work.

Jeremy ;

I guess I'm fortunate in my location [Sydney] , our winter months aren't very cold and now summer is coming along , nice warm weather . We certainly don't have the weather extreme's you guy's have in the Northern Hemisphere .

With the rotor blade droop , the "slight" bend in the rotors needs to be only where the dumb bell collar is sitting . If the blades bend too much in the center or out towards the ends , it doesn't look right .

I do remember another FSM member trying the same technique but I think he may of used a oven on very low heat . My only concern is what I mentioned above , that is the rotor blades end up with too much of a bend in the middle and out near the ends , probably more like a curve .  

Perhaps the best thing to do , is try it with a set of inexpensive rotor blades first and see if you like the results , I'm about to try it again with my Fujimi Seaking rotors so I'll post a pic shortly . I hope this helps...

                           John . 

Klaus - I cringed just a little looking at your last picture!

John (Helo 53) - How did you get the blades to droop in the plate? You just left them in the sun? I don't think there is enough sun or warm temps this time of year in my neck of the woods. Any other recommendations? I like the plate method because it looks like the bend will be uniform across all blades.

jeaton01 wrote:

Jeremy, I'm way past senility, I'm retired! I did fix the misnaming though, check the offending post!

Glad you take it well... and you're the boss around these parts so you can refer to me by any name you want. That Klaus though... we need to get his act together! Styrene dust (does it make dust?) is getting to his brain I think!

Justin - I'm going to keep an eye out for you Flak cannon... they are cool! Went to a WWII reenactment back in October and got to see a functional 88mm Flak cannon in action. BOOM! This is me trying to claim her as my own

Update!

Sorry all my updates look pretty much the same but I'm excited about the way the old Hind is looking and I want to share.

I gave the panel lines a wash, coat of Testors flat, added a few doo-dads and unmasked her.

If you see anything that could be done differently with the fuselage, please let me know.

Keep up the good work guys!

I will be starting on the Apache in short time, after I finish a 37 mm Flak cannon for the anti aircraft group build, with pics to come!

Justin

Thanks Jeremy and John.
By the way John, I'm sure there's a rule somewhere that doesn't allow a second entry until I'm not done with my first one!
Man, you're fast!

In the meantime I've cut one of my helos in two:



Suddently I feel a pain at my heart!

jeaton01 wrote:

Well, I'll have to check the code book first, to see if an SH-3D is permitted.....Oh yes there it is, go ahead. I'll get the front page updated.  Should be a fun build after the Mach 2 Super Frelon.  Thanks for the interest in the GB, makes it all fun.

 Thank's Boss

I'll start on the Seaking today .

Also not to confuse anyone with all the other Helicopter builds I have going ; I know I posted a pic previously on getting a nice rotor blade droop , so I tried it again with two sets of main rotors from Lindberg's HH-3E Jolly Green Giant kits .

I think it makes a plain looking set of rotors look a little better ; I just thought I would post a couple of additional pic's for reference purpose .

Now it's back to the Super Frelon and the "Holy Grail" of helicopter kits the Sikorsky SH-3D Seaking ........ ooooooh , I'm already giddy about this one

                               Kind regards John .

Jeremy, I'm way past senility, I'm retired!  I did fix the misnaming though, check the offending post!.

Ray, I have added the UH-1's to the front page.  Things are going so fast even a youngster might find it hard to keep track!

Well, I'll have to check the code book first, to see if an SH-3D is permitted.....Oh yes there it is, go ahead.

I'll get the front page updated.  Should be a fun build after the Mach 2 Super Frelon.  Thanks for the interest in the GB, makes it all fun.

 Ray , That's bad luck about your UH-1V Huey build but a comparision build between Italeri and Hobbyboss 'Bravo' Huey's sounds interesting .

I also like the unusal camouflage scheme on your Hind Jeremy

And Klaus , I just can't believe all that plastic surgery your doing on your Cobra , your skills sir are absolutly amazing .

If it's not against the rules , I was wondering if it's okay to add a second build to the Helicopter GB .

I've had a Fujimi , Sikorsky SH-3D/H Seaking in my stash since May 2002 . These kits are so hard to find that I have been too afraid to build mine in case I messed it up

Well much to my suprise I picked up a second one recently , so I'm really excited about finally getting around to adding a U.S Navy Seaking to my display cabinet .

I would like to build her as an SH-3D version of HS-2 with the American flag on the fuselage sides . It would be a Straight out of the box build with lot's of progress pic's along the way .

Probably a nice 14 day project...

I'll wait for the official go ahead from the boss [jeaton] first .

                               Kind regards John .

John - Love the dark blue in that paint scheme. Reminds me of a USAAF P-36 I built with dark blue, olive drab and light grey camo... strange combo.  

Klaus - Our fearless group leader, John, referred to me by someone else's name also. I expect that from him because he is very old... maybe approaching senility even.

If you keep up this cutting and slicing, we're gonna have to start calling you Sgt Slaughter! I sure hope you can fix them up all nice without them looking like Frankenstein...

With all the work you're doing, those Cobras will be a sight to see!

Your Hind is amazing, Jonathan, Jonas, Jeremy! That faded color effect turned out brilliantly.

Wow, John! Already done?! Looks good!

Weekly update: finished TSU, will ad some wires maybe, fixed skids and started planning canopy.
Here are pics:





Last picture shows how to improve the canpoy: the green is the supposed correct shape (got it from a scan of Squadron's walkaround) and red is the actual shape.
Not much of a difference, but still in need of a correction.

I'm comitted to cutting the fuselages in two during the week, so stay tuned for slaugher-pictures!

I told you guys, John is the fastest helo builder I have ever seen. Nice work on the cammo, John.  I haven't been commenting regularly like I should, but the other builds are looking great as well.  I love the retro cammo on the Hind! All the snakes seem to be coming along great as well.  I fear that I'll never get the UH-1V done by Christmas, but I might sneak in with a couple of 1/72 Hueys if that is OK.  Gonna do a buildoff between the Italeri and Hobby Boss UH-1B's.

    Ray

Your Hind is looking superb jmabx .

Just a quick update on my Super Frelon progress .

I airbrushed the underside of the Frelon light gray and when that dried I masked and srayed the sides and top brown .

When it comes to masking for camouflage pattens , I like to use 'Blue-Tack' , it's used for sticking posters on the wall etc , it's non greasy , so I just pull small pieces from the strip and roll it into little lengths of spaghetti and place it onto the fuselage sides .

I then cut small pieces of tamiya masking tape and cover the area I wish to stay brown .

I realize it's not the fastest way to airbrush camouflage finishes but I'm happy doing it this way .

After the blue color dried , I gave the Helo and allthe other parts a few light coats of tamiya clear .

Tomorrow I'll add some black wash to the engine inlet screens and other recesses and then decaling and add all the bits and pieces .

My next post should be the finished bird .

Thank's for looking...

                                 Kind regards John .

Things are going to get lively soon...

The thought of all those rockets got me excited.