Helicopter Group Build 2009

Here's the scene of the crime:

Here's my very significant transfer of Shekels for a Cobra Co. set of goodies:

Rotors:

I'm in, and want to do this right.

It's all for a Marine I knew. I am interested in any photo -46 resources.

Bill

John, Nice work on the CH-37.

Jeremy, the Hind is coming along nicely.

Klaus and Polak, 

I've added some pics to my Whiskey folder, including pics of the new exhaust.  Can be found at http://public.fotki.com/lewbud/helicopters/ah-1w-1/ah-1w/   Hope ya'll can use 'em.

Welcome Helo 53!      I can't wait to see the progress on your Super Frelon.

Everyone is making good progress... nice to see.

The only thing I have to show is a color change. I lightened up some sand color with white and sprayed it on. When she's nice and dry, I'll try to rub down some of the sand until I get that nice blue primer to show through. Then onto the green and so forth and so on. It doesn't look it, but I still have alot of work to do on this old gal.

I am getting closer to finishing mine...last night I got al the glass installed, the pilots finished, the roof panel installed, and the rotors installed...pics to come soon...

Justin

 Hi Ray and Bondoman ;

This is my first group build and I'm very gratefull for the invitation .

I hope your builds are coming along nicely .

I didn't have any plastic polish to improve the canopy , so I just used some toothpaste and kitchen paper towel . After 5 minutes of rubbing , I then dipped the canopy into some Pledge-one-go [Future] ; It did come out a little better , so I'll leave it at that .

Next I cut open the side cabin door and then added strip plastic around the door opening edges . The kit only comes with cyclic control levers , so I had some spare collective pitch levers from a Revell Huey kit to use . The direction control pedals are rather ordinary looking , so I would like replace them with something better . I was wondering if anyone had any cockpit pic's of the Super Frelon to help me out .

Thank's for posting the IDF Super Frelon pic Bondoman , from what I can tell the boarding ladder looks very similar to what you see on the Mil Mi-8/17 Hip's ; I was thinking of borrowing one from one of Mi-8 kits .

The color scheme is interesting , the few pic's I have seen of the Super Frelon that have the same engine exhaust outlets like my kit , are either like the pic you posted [Blue and Brown over Grey] or the Sand , Tan , Light Green over pale Blue/Grey . Maybe I may need to consider one of these two paint finish options .

I was also thinking of adding some rear cabin seating but I only have some seats from an old Revell Seaking Helicopter kit and I havn't as yet come across any interior pic's , searching around google .

Anyway later this evening I'll airbrush the two fuselage halves , floor and roof pieces along with the cockpit seats , control levers and consol and once the paint is dry I'll add the cabin windows .

                                        Kind regards John .

John(Helo53): That's going to be a nice model and here's another suggestion for a color scheme:

6 Day War in the blue and brown over light gray.

John,

  Sorry, I thought you knew the GB was going on. Guys you better watch out, John can build em almost as fast as I can get parts cut from the tree!  Seriously though, good to have you on board, John.

    Ray

jeaton01 wrote:

John, you are more than welcome to join in with the Super Frelon.  Did Mach 2 do a better job than usual on the clear parts?  They are rough in all the Mach 2 kits I have. I'll add you to the first page list, welcome aboard.

 Thank's John ;

I have been reading through the 19 pages of this helicopter group build and the models and workmanship going on is amazing .

John , your CH-37 Mojave looks awesome .

I waited untill I got the call-up before I started anything , so here is my first couple of pic's of the Mach 2 Super Frelon canopy .

 I've only just started to remove some of the larger pieces from the "chunky sprue" , you really need side cutters as a hobby knife just wont do .

Anyway I found a pic on the web from an Israeli Museum site of the Super Frelon , hopfully mine will look something like this one .

Thank's again for letting me join in , I'll start searching around the sprue pieces for all the cockpit parts and post another pic tomorrow .

                                                           John .

John, you are more than welcome to join in with the Super Frelon.  Did Mach 2 do a better job than usual on the clear parts?  They are rough in all the Mach 2 kits I have.

I'll add you to the first page list, welcome aboard.

 Hi jeaton01

I didn't realize that there was a "Helicopter Group Build" going on and if it's not too late , I respectfully ask permission to join in with everyone else .

It certainly would be an honour and quite a 'feather in my cap' to earn a group build badge .

If it's okay to join up at this late stage , I'm keen for a bit of a challenge , so I thought I would give the 1/72 Mach 2 SA-321 Super Frelon , helicopter kit a go .

With Mach 2's vague single instuction sheet , it will sure make things interesting trying to identify which parts go where ???

I would like to build her straight out of the box , with the exception of cutting open the side cabin door and adding a boarding ladder .

The paint finish would be overall brown for the Israeli IDF .

So I kindly ask if I can join in and I'm more than happy to post progress pic's of my build

                       Kind regards John .

Another update. I've decided to make a conversion on one of the helos and build the infamous "turned exhausts". Guess what kind of books I've been reading recently?



This is a sketch of what I should get in the end:

And this is what I'm talking about:

Nice work Polak.

To tone down the bright green try a wash with dark green or even black and a dry brush with the base color. Once done give it a coat of matt varnish as john suggests.

Here's a tiny update: finished the seats ... well, almost. Looking at the pictures I realized I have to touch up the "ears" with a little black.

Hi

Here's update from me guys. I am quite happy with the result except color of the seats, it just seems to be to bright, it does not looks that bright for real but on photos looks like candy well thats's something I will have to correct.

and the test fit:)

hope you guys liked it.

jmabx wrote:

jeaton01 wrote: Menacing to those who worked on and flew it, if not to the enemy That's great! That CH-37 is something to look at! Like a girl I went to high school with...

jeaton01 wrote:

Menacing to those who worked on and flew it, if not to the enemy

That's great!

Good lookin' build, John!   Planning on another?

That CH-37 is something to look at! Like a girl I went to high school with... not really pretty but not really ugly and you couldn't take your eyes off of her because you knew you were going to look at her just right and she would be perfect... and she never was so you kept on looking... torture!

I am almostthere with the 'hog...working on these thingsduring the week is pretty much impossible, and after the trick or treating is done tomorrow, the wife will be going to a party, which leaves me with my little guy, who in turn, goesto bed at8:30, so tomorrow evening...here I come!

Justin

Thanks polak and John!

Your interior is just as good, if not even better, than mine polak. Great work!

John, your CH-37 looks wonderful!
I still would like to see one in at least 1/48. Immagine a small dio with a Willys loading or unloading from the ramp ...

I've been kinda shy about piping in lately as I am WAY behind with my Huey build, but I had to pipe in a say what a wonderful job you guys are doing.  I really like the CH-37.  How can a helicopter be so dang ugly and yet so appealing at the same time!

      Ray

Nice work, polak and Avus.  I'm afraid my CH-37 just doesn't have the interior detail you guys are doing so well.  But then my eyes couldn't see it in 1/72 scale and if it were in 1/35 I'd have to build a new room to display it.

I'm calling this one done, and it does evoke what a CH-37 looks like.  Menacing to those who worked on and flew it, if not to the enemy, though they did do time in Viet Nam until the Skycrane and Chinooks were available for heavy lift.  I think Special Hobby did a fine job of capturing the shapes and the fit was pretty good.  The cockpit assembly was too wide for the fuselage, especially at the seat tops.  As usual I did not use all of the PE parts, to fiddly and unlikely to be seen if they are on, like all the climbing handles.  I know they are there on the real thing but I can't see them in most photos.  Assembly was made more difficult by weak instructions as to placement and no definite fits on complex assemblies where errors can become additive.  And then I lost two of the augmentor tubes and had to make a two part mold and cast replacements in order to bring things to a timely close. 

Hi

modelchasm - nice little bird, I think that AH-6 will my next build

Klaus - I hope that my Cobra is going to be just a little good looking as yours.

My cockpit is nearly ready for painting, after taking the pictures I spotted two things that I have to fix  (marked red circles).

Thanx for watching.

Thanks Jeremy and Scott!

I made some (little) progress painting yesterday, not worth showing though.

Klaus ... those seats are SICK!!!!! Looking forward to seeing more ....

blkhwk .... thanks for the compliments. I appreciate it. Hopefully, I'll be able to make some of those touch-ups I wanted to do soon. Post more pics if I can ...

blkhwkmatt wrote:

I have not taken any pics yet, but will do so before I begin to paint it.

Me needum pictures...  

Klaus - That's some mighty fine work there!

To take a break from all that sanding, I started painting the seats and IP. Both are not complete yet.

Really love the little bird dio - congrats on the bronze!!

The -37 is begining to look like an army helo, only seen one at the museum at Rucker.

Good trick on the colored primer, might have to file that one away for when I get to my 1/35th hind.

 As for me, I have been busy sprucing up the engine and transmission bays of my UH-1C as per some ref photos and a few other inspiring builds.  I have not taken any pics yet, but will do so before I begin to paint it. 

Polak, I can hear you on the seat belts. I had to make them for two birds!
Your Cobra looks good so far.

As I said "Over There" in the Dio- section: Scott, you're the man! Congratulations on your bronze (should have been gold to me) and I'm glad that I could help you out.

John your're 37 is coming along splendidly. The work behind the meshes was worth the while: they look great.

Very smart, Jeremy. Looking forward to see the effect on your wornd and torn helo.

Scott - That is a truely impressive dio! Congrats on the bronze... I think it's worth the gold all day long!    I love the way it looks like it's coming in for a landing and the way the rotor blades are bent up like they're pulling the weight of the helicopter. Nice!

John - She's starting to look pretty good... well... as good as a CH-37 can look I guess.

Polak - That sure is alot of work for a seatbelt. I sure don't want to try that. 

Not a whole lot to show you and definitely nothing impressive like has been seen so far here, but some work on the Hind. I know she looks the same as before but I got the canopy faired into the rest of the fuselage and she's completely covered in primer.

My reason for the blue primer (MM Russian underside blue) is that I want to get the worn out look of the paint on this helicopter... notice the blue primer showing through.

Now, I'm not building this helicopter or doing this paint scheme but I like the way it looked. Even though the pictures show a static display helicopter, I think it will make for an interesting look for a well used and abused operational Hind.

Here are some progress photos on the CH-37.  I made custom decals to mark this one as 0-50643, which was one of the aircraft in my unit.  I was going to do 40999 but I goofed and used too light a shade of OD, ANA 613, which fortunately is just right for how the helicopters were painted in 1970 or so.  When I put some Future on, which usually darkens OD a lot, I realised I should have used Tamiya OD, like I did on my 1/72 CH-34, or I guess I did, it came out well as a dark gloss OD used earlier on the CH-37.  What a memory.  All's well that ends well, I guess.  So now I have a spare set of decals for 40999 which I only have pictures of in the early scheme.  Whatever, as they say.

I think I found a reasonable way to get some depth on the various screens on the bird, especially the big engine pod screens.  I washed them with a very thin wash of Floquil old silver which was I guess a little risky since it is enamel on enamel, but it worked fine and settled in deeper than an acrylic wash would.  I did about five passes, wiping the excess off with a Q-tip each time, and then went over it with a dark brown/black combination, again enamel and very thin.  After that I repainted all the framing on the screens.   On the real thing you can see right through the screens, at some angles right on through to daylight, as well as many colors on the engine accessories and the exhaust manifolds which wind through like spaghetti on their way to the exhaust plenum chambers above the oil coolers on the nacelle bottoms.

The cockpit is too wide at the seat backs once all the PE is put in, next time I'll try to fit the seats in more toward the middle, which will take some trimming.  You can see where the seat frames push against the cockpit glass if you are rude enough to look that close.

It's starting to smell like hydraulic fluid.