Helicopter Group Build 2009

Guys - I'm a bit of a helicopter kit newbie ( although I've flown plenty ).

 Where would I start if I wanted to buid a civilian Bell 205, with th ebig pontoon floats ? Any ideas?

regards

Hi Simon,

I assume you have seen that great profile in the latest ModelArt magazine being a Melbourne lad!

Well if you are building 1/72 then you are in luck. Hawkeye Models Australia here in Canberra have just reissued their pontoon set in 1/72. You probably won't find it on the website but if you email them they will know what you are talking about. It is designed for the Hasegwaw or Revell kit I believe.

I have a set of the pontoons for a RAAF Huey but am going to get another set for that lovely looking civil bird.

If it is any other scale you will have to ask the other knowledgeable Helo gents on this forum.

regards

Justinryan215 wrote:

jmabx...the Hind is looking AAwesome!  Ever since I saw Red Dawn, I have loved that chopper.  I my just have to build one myself!

Thanks for the comment, Justin! Red Dawn was a cool movie. I was pretty young when it came out (maybe 10) but it grabbed my attention. I read somewhere that the Hinds in the movie were some other helicopter with a nose grafted on to make it look like a Hind. Pretty neat!

If you're thinking of building the Hind in 1/48... I say go for it! The kit is cheap and it's pretty big too. Makes you feel like you got alot for your money.  Hopefully you don't have the fit issues I had but the way my projects seem to be going lately, I just don't know how to glue them together! User kg4kpg built a nice Revell Hind  (see it here) and it doesn't look like he had any problems with it. Sadly, nobody showed any interest in it.

Enough of that!

Now I see the effect you were going for on the interior. Looks way better than that shiny old silver. Very nice!  I can't wait to see her with some color on... she's gonna look great. I was thinking about trying your kit if I can handle a second one for this group build. Keep us posted!

Here's where I sit with a second coat of primer on the girl. Need to touch-up the area where the wings meet the body and the mount for the IR jammer. Kept that last one a secret from all of ya!  

jmabx...I am about the same age as you...born in '78, and remember watching that movie on VHS, recorded from HBO free preview!  As for the fit issues, I think that might just be a Revell thing, because the huey hog has some problems.  I havent gotten much done to 'er, because my little guy has wanted to push hot wheels Monster Truck around the floor with daddy...a bit more important than gluing and sanding plastic in my opinion!

As soon as I am able, I will get a bit more done!

Keep up the good work!

Justin

Sorry folks... I'm enjoying myself!

The Hind in Red Dawn was a modified Puma. They used a similarly modified Puma for a Hind in one of the Rambo movies as well.

jmabx, your Hind is starting to shape up nicely. I've been wanting to get the Hobbyboss Hind, but I really need more display space before I can build one (or the Mi-26 I keep eyeballing). My current display area is filling up and only has room for one or two more small helos.

Well its been crazy at work but I finally got a chance to get some pics of the UH-19A.

I must have set something wrong on the camera, it is kind of grainy and the color is a little washed out but I think you get the point here.

"The belly of the beast"

Looks real nice so far, Aaronw!

If you get the camera straightened out, I would love to see some closer shots. 1/72 looks so tiny! I really like the way the seats came out. 

I forgot I had taken some pics using the manual setting outside (trying to get some 1-1 helicopter pics with the rotors turning, on the auto setting it stops the rotors), I reset the light balance for daylight instead of tungston which boogered up the color.

Really not a whole lot of detail inside, and you can't see much once its closed up making additional detailing a waste of time. I can try and get a better and closer shot to show what detail there is. The H-19s and H-34s always remind me of bunk beds at this stage.

Aaronw wrote:

Really not a whole lot of detail inside, and you can't see much once its closed up making additional detailing a waste of time.

There were a few spots on the Hind that I added detail to and now it's next to invisible. Oh well!

Small amount of progress today. I got the weapons pylons on. The lower parts are the Cobra Co. resin replacements. Cutting the kit parts and adding the resin was a snap. Fitting the original kit part to the wing was a nightmare! I think with some putty they will look just fine.

She's lookin' mean now!

I dipped the canopy in future a couple of days ago. I've pulled it out a few times to check the fit and see about making some wiring harnesses for the inside. I'm still kinda putting it off... my least favorite part of any build and this one will be a chore. 

Great progress Jeremy and great start Aaron!

In the last weeks I only primed my pits, so nothing to show here!

jmabx, believe it or not I've just learned something new and now have a future project combining your build and mine. Yes that is right I will need an H-19 and an Mi-24.

Look closely at this Mi-24...

This is a real aircraft.

Aaronw wrote:

Look closely at this Mi-24...

Now that would be cool... I would love to see it!

That can't be the Rambo or Red Dawn Hinds because you said they were modified Pumas. What gives?

jmabx wrote:

Aaronw wrote: Look closely at this Mi-24... Now that would be cool... I would love to see it! That can't be the Rambo or Red Dawn Hinds because you said they were modified Pumas. What gives?

Apparently in the 80s the Army paid Orlando Helicopter to have some surplus H-19s modified into AS-55/QS-55 Aggressor aircraft / drones. They grafted a fiberglass nose onto the front of the H-19 and added a 5 bladed rotor. You can see the pilot peaking out of the real cockpit up under the rotors.

Over at ARC I had a question about the Hind A, looking for options. It wandered off onto the Red Dawn and Rambo Hinds, then HeavyArty showed up with some info on these Army H-19 "Hinds". Since I'm acquiring a fair collection of H-19 builds I'm just going to have to build one.

Aaronw wrote:

jmabx wrote:  Aaronw wrote: Look closely at this Mi-24... Now that would be cool... I would love to see it! That can't be the Rambo or Red Dawn Hinds because you said they were modified Pumas. What gives?   Apparently in the 80s the Army paid Orlando Helicopter to have some surplus H-19s modified into AS-55/QS-55 Aggressor aircraft / drones. They grafted a fiberglass nose onto the front of the H-19 and added a 5 bladed rotor. You can see the pilot peaking out of the real cockpit up under the rotors. Over at ARC I had a question about the Hind A, looking for options. It wandered off onto the Red Dawn and Rambo Hinds, then HeavyArty showed up with some info on these Army H-19 "Hinds". Since I'm acquiring a fair collection of H-19 builds I'm just going to have to build one.

bondoman wrote:

Oh that is too funny! I kept trying to figure out how the dude would sit in the intake path- fooled me.

The landing gear was the first thing that caught my attention. The guy in the cockpit/engine compartment was good for a laugh! Looks pretty good from that distance!

Now that's one interesting "mock-up"!

To me the front wheels and the tail looked "different" at first.

I'm just wondering: what kind of visual does the pilot have up there?!

Avus wrote:

Now that's one interesting "mock-up"! To me the front wheels and the tail looked "different" at first. I'm just wondering: what kind of visual does the pilot have up there?!

Probably not much, there is a little bit of a front canopy but nothing compared to a regular H-19. I believe the majority ended up as QS-55 drones so were flown by remote control and blown up as missile targets. Personally that seems kind of wasteful to me after all the trouble of making a pretty good replica.

Whoa... page 2! Unacceptable!

I finally got my lazy rear end started on the canopy wiring. Not much to show here but it's a start. I ran a harness for the fan in the gunner's cockpit so far.

I'm not looking forward to more of that!

Do any of you have a good idea as to where the sight in the rear cockpit attaches? The instructions are vague and I haven't found a picture of exactly where it's mounted. Going by the instructions, it looks like I should just glue it to the glass?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Jeremy,

If it's something that can wait a couple of weeks, I'll zip over to the Cold War Air Museum and see if I can get some pics for you.  I'd do it this weekend, but I've got SuperCon and plans Sunday.  I added a few more pics of the transmission and rotor head assembly from this weekend's fly in.

lewbud wrote:

If it's something that can wait a couple of weeks, I'll zip over to the Cold War Air Museum and see if I can get some pics for you.

That would be very kind of you, sir. But please don't go out of your way for me.

I still have to get some plumbing done in the wheel wells and do a little shaping to the weapons pylons so there is plenty to do in the meantime.

Thank you!

That is pretty daring, opening up the canopy, I wouldn't have the nerve to cut clear plastic like that.

I've had a few set backs, no days off recently (today is day 20 without a day off for me) and I caught my hand between two logs last week (just a little mashed, nothing permanent but it did make it tough to do any model stuff) so I haven't done much lately. Last night I finally did get a little work done, and I tried to get a little better detailed shots of the interior for you. I got the windows in, and will be closing up the fuselage tonight. I'll try to get some pics posted this evening.

Aaronw wrote:

That is pretty daring, opening up the canopy, I wouldn't have the nerve to cut clear plastic like that.

I hope you're not thinking it was me who opened up a canopy? I really don't have the nerve, talent or brains to attempt that. I can't wait to see more of your progress pics. Sorry to hear about your hand... keep that thing safe, your gonna need it for more helicopters.

In most Hind pictures I see, the tail end sits really low like an old '77 Chrysler Cordoba. The way the rear landing gear attaches on the kit makes it look like a 4x4... no good. I made a little modification to how the landing gear attaches so it would sit a little bit lower and look like it's loaded down.

On the left is how it originally sits and on the right is my "modified" version... hope it's not too low.

What a PITA to clean up the mold seams on the landing gear!  Thankfully it's not a complicated setup!

I'm gonna leave it at that for tonight and hopefully get some more accomplished tomorrow.

Ok, here are better shots of the inside.

and the outside

She's starting to like nice and portly... just the way I like 'em!

You were right about not being able to see much once you closed her up. Was there extra seating directly behind the cockpit in these helos? I ask because I noticed the windows and what looks like a ladder aft of the cockpit.

They do have a funny stance with the fat body and stumpy little wheels hanging underneath. Of course this one will have a set of hotdog floats instead of wheels. 

I'm not sure what the deal is with the upper windows, there is no seating up there it is all transmission and rotor shaft in that area. I think John said he was trained to work on these, as well as the UH-34 and CH-37 perhaps he'll be along and be able to answer why they had the windows up there.

jmabx wrote:

She's starting to like nice and portly... just the way I like 'em!

bondoman wrote:

jmabx wrote: She's starting to like nice and portly... just the way I like 'em! Me too brother. Can I remind everyone, and Captain John beggin yer nib's pardon please excuse the Bos'un calling yer men to the grates, but, if'n you'd all in the crew remind the company each time as you post, wots what ie the original subject, we all wouldn't have to sober up and go back to page one.

Whoops, sorry about that.   I forget not everyone has this strange obsession with the H-19.  

1/72 Italeri H-19A Chickasaw with floats.