French a/c group build 2012-13

John you're absolutaly out of the world  for all subject you have at least 3 box of them 

Not posting frequently but following your strategic and high class work 

noratlas and alouette are favourtes between these french things

I just went and checked the other H-21 'flying banana' stash of kits and discovered that another Italeri kit has marking for the French Navy in Algeria

Italeri provide both small and larger tail fins in their H-21 kits and I'm thinking of borrowing a pair of the larger type to use on a stalled Hobbycraft H-21 as according to the H-21 reference book the vertol 44 version had the larger fins . Anyone know what the colours would be on President DeGaulles helicopter ?

If I add some putty to the top of his hat , do you think this guy would pass for "charlie" ???

John .

I had to cut the previous post short as the oldies were requesting their morning tea of coffee and cake .

Anyway I was giong to mention that untill these past couple of days where I've been researching on google about the aircraft used in the French Algerian war , I had never given much thought about this conflict .

The family have curtailed my spending for the rest of the year on any new kits , however I am allowed to buy decals and I saw these two sets over at Hannants

French H-19 in Algeria

French T-6G Texans in Algeria

I ordered both decal sheets and thought they would go nicely with these two stalled builds ;

Italeri H-19 and Airfix T-6 texan

Obvisiously these are not Fench built aircraft but might look good in the background behind the Noratlas , H-34A and Alouette .

Most of my kit stash is located in the back room where my spraybooth is and while waiting for paint to dry in between airbrushing coats of olive drab last night , I spied three more kits from the stash which actually have markings for French aircraft operations in algeria

Italeri A-26C Invader and H-21C Gunship with the Heller T-28 Fennec

Again their not French built aircraft but would do nicely for an overall dioramma . I have the Piasecki H-21 Helicopter book by Brandt & Davies and the is a nice chapter on the French Flying Banana with some really awesome pic's of the H-21 in Algeria . Even one with President Charles DeGaulle just arriving in Algeria

Vive la France !

John .

The canopy and clear nose piece are glued on the Noratlas

The nose piece is a little undersize in width but also sticks out a touch at the front where it joins the front bottom edge of the main canopy , creating a slight step . It's not a big issue and I was thinking of how to overcome this tne next time I build a Noratlas as I have four more in the stash . The best way to flush up the join where the canopy meets the nose piece would be move the canopy slightly forward to bring it flush . However it probably would be better to do this at the early stages of construction so I could add a small piece of plastic stip to the fuselage rear cockpit section to make up the difference so there wouldn't be any gaps at the back of the canopy . I'll leave mine the way it is and perhaps run some masking tape around the bottom edge of the main canopy for protection and lightly sand the edge of the nose piece for a semi-flush join ; Should help look a little better .

On the Alouette II I airbrushed several light coats of Gunze H-78 Olive drab to the frame section and some of the seperate parts

The canopy halves went together okay I guess , However I did have to remove the rear wall of the cockpit as mine didn't angle back far enough  for the canopy to fit correctly

One thing I did goof on is the width of the two cross members which the landing ski's are attached . I failed to notice on the instructions , halfway done the page on the right  "pour les versions roues ou ski-25mm

I take it that this means that the total width of the frame section under the cockpit should be 25mm ; I didn't cut mine and it currently measures 35mm .......oops

I better trim the cross members and re-attach the ski's ......

John .

John, lol, have we talked you into a diorama?!?! Adding the supplies + WC51 and Greyhound would really bring that cargo carrier to life. You seem to have all sorts of store to work with. I love where you are taking this one.

And the Aloutte! Man, I can feel your pain. (How are your eyes, btw?)  The smallest kit I've ever put together was a 1/72 MD51, and the details were very VERRY fine, I can only imagine what you are dealing with, all those cross-brace structures. Sawing the parts away from the spurs may well have been 1/2 the battle.

I had a little bit of a look on the net for 1/72 trucks to use with the Noratlas and I was trying to keep with an all french theme but could only see a Milicast resin Citroen Lorry for $30 . I couldn't see any Renault trucks in 1/72 , however one site did mention about the Dodge WC-51 and M8 Greyhound both being used by the french military . I have those in the stash

I'm thinking of having the Dodge unloading supplies from the Noratlas with some Black Dog resin Box's and Food Supplies

I can easierly make some pallets from plastic strip for the crates and food supplies to sit on , should look okay .

I started putting together the Mach 2 Alouette II helicopter , Oh my , this is not an easy kit to build ;

Instruction Sheet...

I carefully cut most of the parts from the sprue with a razor blade as I was worried about many of the pieces breaking in half

Mach 2's instructions can be a little light on detail sometimes and with this kit I found myself guessing where pieces were to fit , as the actual fit of the parts isn't really the best . So I ended up using super glue applied with tooth pics so parts would stay together

I took me quite a while to figure out how the tail boom fitted to the main frame around the cockpit tub

It appears I managed to get most bits glued into the right places , I hope .

I'll airbrush the frame section next and fit the cockpit tub seperatly . I dipped the canopy halves in some future last night , hopfully they will fit without too many issues .

I didn't get to glueing the Noratlas canopy in place as yet , I was busy trying to wrap my brain around the Alouette II assembly . Once the canopy is place , the Noratlas will be ready for masking .

I'll aim for more WIP's tomorrow

John .

Helo H-34

Thank's Vance

I'm sure the others have already mentioned this but by far you are the most popular (benevolent dictator) GB director on FSM ...

...

Awwww shucks! You're making me blush!

Liking the look of the Noratlas with that big cargo bay open. Any plans for 1/72 cargo bound for the desert?

I really like that Noratlas! It's very eyecatching.

I have dusted off the Amiot and put some work into it the last few days. Cockpit is done, canopies masked, and I should wrap up major assembly tommorow. I will save the pictures for then.

Thanks, Budd

Thank's Vance

I'm sure the others have already mentioned this but by far you are the most popular (benevolent dictator) GB director on FSM ...

One of the reasons I like the Heller Nord 2501 Noratlas kit is the structural ribbing on the fuselage insides and cabin floor piece .

After painting I'll pose my rear clamshell doors in the open position .

I have also decided to use the kit decals which have the aircraft marked as serving in Algeria 1961

Last night I dipped the Noratlas canopy into some 'future'

Hopfully I shouldn't have any issues with masking tape residue

While searching the net last night for info on French Military operatins in Algeria , I saw some pic's of the French Army H-34A's

One thing I had completely forgotten about was that the early H-34's had the flat cockpit side windows as opposed to the bulged side windows on later versions

Hobby Boss molded their canopy and side cockpit windows in a single clear piece , so it would be difficult to replace the side windows ; Italeri provide seperate bulged cockpit side windows and would be easy to replace with some flat clear sheet . Even though I was trying extremely hard not to start another kit , I'll have to switch from the Hobby Boss H-34A to the Italeri H-34 kit

So I'm now thinking of pairing up the Noratlas with the Sud Est (italeri) H-34A with both serving in Algeria and I could combine another stalled build of the Mach 2 Alouette II , which also operated in Algeria and finally finish her off as well

After dinner tonight I'll start glueing the Alouette cockpit tub pieces together and glue the Noratlas canopy in place as well . I'm going to add machine guns to the cabin windows on the H-34 build , so that will save me time glueing any windows in place and according to some sites on the net I was looking at , the troop seats were often folded or even removed on many French H-34A's operating in Algeria . I can glue the seat bases back the wall and not worry about the seat backs . I'm aimimg for some WIP pic's tomorrow .

John .

Sprue-ce Goose

A transport aircraft kit with an interior?

Unusual.

Looks nice!

Well there is a LOT of room in there, glad to see there is detail. Not sure how much is kit-supplied vs John's scratch-building though.

A transport aircraft kit with an interior?

Unusual.

Looks nice!

John - as the benevolent dictator, err "director" of this GB, I hereby allow you to switch ponies midway. 1-you've got a Doctors note and 2-I swear, I had the same white & gold tiles in my bathroom up until the spring renovations. Fetchez la vache!!! (Or as a certain Field Marshall would say, get building!!  )

 I have a huge favour to ask of our Inspirational , Fearless , One-of-a-Kind , all-round Good Guy Group Build Leader ...Vance

Is it okay if I continue with the previously started Heller Nord 2501 Noratlas build ?

I know everyone has family issue to deal with from time to time and I'm a full time carer for my elderly parents as I'm home 24/7 , which up untill the past twelve months , ment I could get quite a lot of build time at different times of the day and evening , however of late both Dad and Mum are struggling with thier respective health issue's ; Mum has parkinsons disease and Dad is battling a re-occurrance of lymphoma .

Obvisiously I don't have as much bench time as I use to and I have a huge number of already started builds which are about 75%-90% complete taking up shelf space where completed builds are suppose to be and everytime I make it out to the back room for some airbrushing , something suddenly requires my attention else where .

Anyway , I found the original WIP pic's from the first but sadly ill-fated Heller Noratlas build and I followed pretty much the same build sequence for the second build .....

Cockpit and fuselage interior pieces pre painted

Interior pieces glued in place with fishing sinkers squashed up to fit under the floor towards the front of the aircraft

Fuselage halves glued together

Getting ready to glue the wings on

Left wing glued in place and left to dry over night

Right wing glued in position with the aid of some supports to match the other wing

Front on view

Here's the second build as of today

I know it's usually frowned upon to throw a build into the mix that's at least 50% already started and the first seven WIP pics are from the original build ; but as I mentioned before this current second build went together much the same way .

Not trying to cheat or anything like that , I would just like to try and finish a lot of my on-going builds before starting another kit form scratch .

Either way , I'll accept whatever the Group Build decides .

John

Bad luck on the Choctaw Theuns. We've all been there, and understand that 'gutted' feeling.

John - I've never seen a completed Noratlas. What about it ?

Cheers

Tony

Rockin' Helo 34 comes with lots of great kits 

Vance have good luck with the 406  mine is stopped from '93/94 at this step

is the reboxed smer

Alright, pics not forthcoming yet, but I did crack open the box & start thinking about my....

As the French say "such is life"  LOL

T

I sorry to hear about  the demise of the Hobby Boss H-34 Theuns  , I do get a little teary eyed when I think about the 'ol venerable Chocktaw going to the 'bone yard' . Just a bit of bad luck I guess . Like Vance say's , we've all had some type of disaster with our own builds from time to time . A couple of years ago I accidently dropped a Heller Nord 2501 Noratlas onto the floor carrying it out from the back room after airbrushing a grey/blue/brown camo finish for the IDF and watched in horror as the wing got completely torn off the top of the fuselage ....."Absolutly Heartbreaking" . I was so angry and upset at the same time but I just couldn't bin the kit , so she currently sits in one of the spares box's in the hope she might be salvagable someday !

So I'm being very , very carefull with my current and next Noratlas builds as I don't wish to repeat the past experience it's just too upsetting

John .

As I say, no medicine for what I have.

Just lucky it wasn't some very expensive rare model. I think I will build myself a drying box for when the weather is cold and wet.

I was thinking along the lines of a wooden box of say 1.5' by 1/5' by 1' with a 60 watt bulb to heat it up inside.

Theuns

Next up: "How to tar & feather a helicopter", by Theuns!

Sorry buddy, we've all been there at some point. I had a Ki61 probably 10 years ago, before I had a proper airbrush. I was determined to do one of those green spots over silver schemes. Tried masking liquid to give me the shapes for the spots. Needless to say it was a disaster, the first and only time I have literally thrown a nearly-complete kit into oblivion!

It just goes to show, getting away with something a few times will not mean it will work like that every time!

Out of desperation I tried to fix it with hot water (you see where this is going? I tried to boil it into submition this time) only to further stuff it up :-(  

Ah well if you go down, do it well....

What I can however say to you guys who have this kit and want to re-do the rotors that turn the wrong way, I put my indevidual blades into a pot with boiling water and they go flexable enough to be bent the other way without breaking and then cool down to give a sag with them turning the correct way. A little work will be needed to modify the hub, but way less than having to buy the Italeri just for the rotors!

I have now retired this kit until one day I might invest another $14 for a whole new H-34.

Hope this report about the rotors help some of you.

Theuns

Theuns

I just managed to totally mess up my H-34 , it is cold and rainy here and the paint does not cure well. No problem as I have in the past put the model in the oven that has been heated A LITTLE just to kick start the paint.

I have done this a few times, what could posably go wrong?!

The right fuselarge half has so badly warped that the model is a chuck away deal.

As we say, there is no medicine for stupidity...

Theuns

WHAT!!! Pics or it didn't happen, time to warn everyone else of the dangers of combining baking and modeling...

I just managed to totally mess up my H-34 , it is cold and rainy here and the paint does not cure well. No problem as I have in the past put the model in the oven that has been heated A LITTLE just to kick start the paint.

I have done this a few times, what could posably go wrong?!

The right fuselarge half has so badly warped that the model is a chuck away deal.

As we say, there is no medicine for stupidity...

Theuns

Hi Theuns , You can't really see all that much of the gap once the blank console is in place . here's a close up of one of my previously started Hobbyboss H-34  with a modified single high stack exhaust for VX-6's deployment in operation Deep Freeze .

I have a spare external fuel tank to hang from the port side but I haven't quite figured out the best way to do it as yet .

Hopfully I can come up with some way of doing it .

John .

Speaking about the Hobbyboss H-34, I started mine last night but as it will be in Belgum colours it is in no way "French" enough for this GB LOL!

I must say that so far the kit is a bit of a letdown to me, the instrument pannel has no detail or even a decal for it! There also seems to be a hole that will be visable between the cockpit floor and front part of the fuselarge when sealed up, I will have to make something to fit in there.

The rest of the kit looks OK-ish except for large injector pin marks inside the cabin and the wrong direction rotors :-(

Strange as the hHobbyboss 1/72 MiL 24 V is a really nice kit.

Theuns

Looks like I should get two full day's of bench time tis weekend as my brother will be home to keep an eye on the 'oldies' and give me a little break . So I'm aiming to get the fuselage halves together on my Hobby Boss  (H-34A) Sud Est HSS-1 and hofully I can get into the spraybooth and airbrush a few long since stalled builds as well as the interior pieces for the Heller Nord 2501 'Noratlas' .

Fingers crossed for a full weekend of catch-up .

John .

No more French birds... there are always ways of fixing that! ;)

Thanx, no defenately 29 and 30 :-D

Maybe the future matt coat does make it a little lighter.

As for my next (actually busy with) project for this GB is a 1/48 Hobbyboss Mirage 3cz in pollished alluminium SAAF sceeme.

I am also busy with a hasegawa 1/72 IJN "Dinah" for the Japanese GB, that is one cool little kit I must say!

I don't think I have any other French birds in my stach left :-(

Theuns

Looks really good Theuns. I didn't pick it for Humbrol 29/30. It looks more mysterious than that.

Whats the next subject, and where ?

Cheers

Tony

That's a good looking machine Theuns. (these group builds are a dangerous place to hang out, I keep seeing completed models that make me want to try something new...) I'll add this to the finished list up front.