HELICOPTERS: ATTACK HELO GROUP BUILD!

osjohnm, yeah, the price on the hasegawa apahces is pretty hefty. i paid more than $60 cdn on my Longbow, making it the most expensive model i own.

Dan1677, yeah, the hasegawa apaches are awesome kits. I had 0 problem with it except the many tiny little parts for the rotor assembly. took me hours to get it right, and it still doesn't sit straight! other than that the only downside will have to be the price.

oh man, i am low on fuel. i got six midterm exams starting tomorrow, and i've just about passed out from the studying...

Good luck with the exams

Hi-
Update on my 1/48 HH-60H. Progress has been slow, but steady. I have the fuselage halves together, and have finished dealing with the inevitable Italeri seams. I have also started to add the rest of the Cobra Company details to the fuselage to get it ready for paint. Nearly all the photos I have seen of HH-60H's have a 120 gal fuel tank on the left inboard pylon, so I build up CC's tank, which looks pretty good. I added a couple details to it, like the fuel cap.



Next task is to add the few remaining parts, such as the FLIR mount and elevator. Then I need to tackle the clear parts around the cockpit.

My album is at (includes some pics on filling seams with putty):
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v485/par429/HH-60H

Phil

BTW, I think CC's wire cutters on the landing gear look really great, anyone want to bet how long they last before I accidentally break them?

Looking good Phil.

Progress on the 1/72 Comanche kit has been halted by some battle damage!! Namely one of my cats decided to run of with the left undercarriadge and has probably chewed or eaten it . So I've had to order another kit just to finish this model! I'm hoping the replacement will arrive sometime next week so I can get it finished in time. In the meantime I've added some decals.

Well I've now given the model a coat of flat base mixed with Klear. At first I had way too much flat base in there and it started to look dusty. All I've got left is to paint the main rotor, tail rotor and add the undercarriadge (when the next kit arrives).

Phil, thanks for the seam pics, mine didn't turnout quite so well but weren't a complete disaster.
Dan, looking good.
Very windy this weekend so no airbrushing(i airbrush on my balcony), hopefully the wind will drop tomorrow.

Hi guys

Posted this in the Painting and Airbrushing forum but no responses yet, just lots of viewing. Thought I'd try my luck here.

I've tried the Future route and I'm still struggling, keep getting patchy effect.

Anyway going to try Tamya Acrylic Flat base mixed with Future to see if it indeed does hide the patchy effect.

Can Tamiya's Acrylic Gloss coat be used as a gloss coat instead of Future?
If so are there any problems with this approach?

Secondly can Tamiya's Acrylic Flat Base be used as a flat coat all by itself or must it be added to something like Future?

I did get some Tamiya Acrylic Thinner to be added as well.

Thanks

Hi John,

I've used Future too but found that one or two 'mist' coats followed by one or two 'wet' coats is what is needed. It turns out good enough to apply decals but i wouldn't use it as a final gloss coat, I would still use a proper gloss varnish for that. I did get a few patches here and there but found that this was probably due to not enough psi or not giving that area enough of a coating. I also used flat base mixed with Future. If you see my posts above you can see how the model has gone from very shiny to a nice matt sheen. I used about 1 part flat base to 6 parts future. I guess you can just use flat base mixed with the Tamiya thinner but I haven't tried this myself yet. The bonus with using Future is that it dries in minutes and you can then handle the model. If you just use the flat base you would need to let it dry probably for at least a few hours.

Dan

Where'd everybody go?
I've been a bit tied up lately and haven't gotten to do much modeling, but I'm intent on finishing the KW next week and getting a significant portion of the LB done.

Hope everyone's doing well!

My LB sets from CC arrived, just haven't had an opportunity to work on the cockpits yet. A big problem is my work area looks like the Tasmanian Devil drank a pot of crack-laced coffee then threw a temper tanturm.

In the interm, I've worked on as many external sub-assemblies as I can. My two motorcycles arrived the other day as well, so I'll have to fashion a rig to mount those onto one of the MH-6s.

On a plus note, I resolved the -66s paint problem. Decaled it last week and I just have to attach the landing gear, doors, Hellfire racks, the tail fan and plug in the main rotor.

John,

My scanner's been down, I haven't forgotten about those instructions. WIll see what I can do about getting it fixed next week (after the paycheck arrives) and I'll get em out to you ASAP.

Jon

Hi all

Haven't been doing much either, work is quite hectic at the moment.
Hopefully I will apply the flat black primer coat this weekend.

Dan, thanks for your comments. I will persevere with the future technique, has to come right eventually.

Jon, thanks again but don't put yourself out. There are many kits in the pile to keep me busy.

Trigger, are you going to post any pics of the finished 66?

Another question, how hard is it to airbrush with Tamiya Acrylics?

The reason I ask is that I've been reading articles at the following site,
http://www.naritafamily.com/howto/howtoindex.htm

The pieces are often sprayed with tamiya acrylics or gunze lacquers and then washed or highlighted with enamels etc. The results are amazing and there is no risk of damage from the thinners.

Thinking of trying it out.

Hey guys!

I'm new to the whole GB thing, and I was wondering if I could join in.

I'm currently busy converting a 1/48 MD500 Defender to MH-6J Little Bird. Does that qualify as an attack helo, although it only carries operators?

TIA
Quintin

QUOTE: Originally posted by osjohnm ...Trigger, are you going to post any pics of the finished 66?

Yup. Hopefully this weekend.

Quintin,

Welcome aboard! We've expanded the AHGB to include Special Ops birds too, so you're good to go! Glad to have you!

QUOTE: Originally posted by osjohnm Another question, how hard is it to airbrush with Tamiya Acrylics?

Tamiya's are about 85% of what I use. They go on pretty darn good, I think, you can thin them with rubbing alcohol and cleanup is easy. I did have a little lifting of paint when I added my oil wash, but I'm thinking it was more to do with poor coverage of my dull coat than the paint, or maybe I was just rubbing a little too hard.

But to answer your question, its not hard at all to airbrush with Tamiya, I have more troubles trying to brush paint with them...

Hey guys!

Thanks for having me! For the Group Build I'm busy converting an Academy 1/48 MD500 Defender to MH-6J Little Bird. As we all know, there are no conversion kits in 1/48, so I decided to try my hand at scratchbuilding. Not that there's much scratchbuilding involved in this project.

Here's an update on the project so far:

Cockpit :



Fuselage halves mated and 'planks' added :



You'll see I've added the rappel bars (not sure what the correct name is) as seen in BHD as well as a few limited pics on the net. This was made with piano wire and CA glue.

Please, all comments are welcome!

Cheers
Quintin

Quintin that looks pretty good to me. I like the rappell bars too, nice touch. How did you recreate the seat harnesses?

My replcaement kit for the Comanche has arrived so I can finally add the undercarriadge this weekend and finish the model. Sorry it's a bit late!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dan1677 Quintin that looks pretty good to me. I like the rappell bars too, nice touch. How did you recreate the seat harnesses?

Hey Dan!

I used normal masking tape which I painted and cut into thin strips. I also discovered that when you pull off the tape from its backing, after you've painted it, the paint on the edges peels off ever so slightly. This adds a touch of "automatic" weathering to the seatbelts.

I recently added the cockpit glazing and shaded the top part of the glass, I also added the antennas at the bottom of the helo. So, if I'm lucky, I can start painting sometime this week!!!!

Cheers!
Quintin

osjohnm...

I've still got a few things to do here and there before I can call this RAH-66 finished

Looking good trigger

I'm assuming that the shark mouth came from twobobs apache decal set?

What colour did you use for the landing gear bays?

That's a nice looking Comanche you've got there, Trigger. Post a few more pics once you get those last few things done, cause I'd like to see more of this one, please.

Thanks fellas, I'll post new pix as soon as I can.

Yeah, the decals are a mix of TwoBobs, the kit's decals and some bits and pieces from my spares folder (ie - the buzz number on the cowling). The landing gear bays are the body color. That's one of the things I have to do; find the bloody wheels! Attach the landing gear doors, the starboard Hellfire rack, optics and paint the gun; then I'll be finished.

New update on the 1/48 HH-60H. I'm been making the usual slow progress. I'm just about ready for paint, just a little more masking to do. I also have a couple more wire cutters to add. It's getting pretty hard to handle with all the antennas and cutters. I'm amazed that I've haven't broken anything yet, but there's still time.



Hopefully I'll be painting this weekend.
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v485/par429/HH-60H

Phil

That's coming along nicely, Par429, looks like a good build. What aftermarket stuff, if any, did you add to that kit?

Lookin good Phil!

I'm hopin to have some new pics of the KW posted tomorrow.

Lemon-
Thanks. The kit is the Italeri SH-60B with a Cobra Company HH-60H conversion kit. So everything from the interior, the HIRSS, the sensors and the LHEP are from the conversion kit. Excellent stuff. It's been fun so far, although a bit of a pain getting all the clear parts around the nose to fit properly.

Thanks Cobra, looking forward to seeing the pics of the KW.

Phil

Well, my roommate crashed out early, so I didn't get a chance to use his digicam to take some pics of my KW. At this point, I'm adding the verticals for the skids using brass rod. Getting them all to line up correctly is a pain in the butt. Lots of test fitting, sanding, reshaping, etc on the crosstubes to make them sit right.

Other than that, the airframe is basically done. One Issue I did come in contact with is the fit of the windscreen. On my kit it was VERY tight, which is great. Problem is, if you're using the Cutting Edge update set, you need to cut a notch 1/4" wide by 1/8" deep in the overhead portion of the windscreen part in order to make it fit properly between the overhead control panel and the new cowl. Once I did that, the test fitting was flawless.

I'm in the process of putting all the extra junk into the cockpit. The pics I have of this particular bird show two M-4 Carbines with M68 sights attached to the dashboard with velcro straps. Between the coaming and the windscreen are spare 30 round magazines and OH-58D Operator checklists. So, I've taken two M-16A2 carbines from my AR-15/M-16 weapons set and have suitably modified them (with the exception of the notched barrel, but at that scale, who's gonna see it?!) with collapsed stocks and the proper optics. They're ready to install now. Extra magazines are simple, since the weapons set has six of them. The operator manual was made by laminating two thin pieces of sheet styrene together, cutting to fit, and painting the covers emerald green. I figured I may try to put the proper titling on the front cover, but that's gonna take a lot of patience, a magnifying glass and a really sharp xacto blade!

I think I may order the Legends Helo crew, even though they're wearing SPH-4B helmets and not HGU-56s. I'll see what I can do to modify them.

Another word of caution if you're building this kit. Make sure you know exactly which bird you're building! I don't think I've seen two identical birds yet. I finally settled on one from the 1-4 Cav, 1st ID in OIF II, which I had the most detailed shots of. The Cutting Edge update gives you great antennae and doodads, but even that isn't complete. For the bird I'm modeling, I had to scratchbuild a new SATCOM antenna for it.

Overall, its a great kit, and the CE update allows you to make a really nice OIF OH-58D. Lookin forward to painting and decaling this baby so she can sit on the shelf next to her bigger attack brothers!

Hi all

Coming along nicely Phil.

Hopefully I'll finish base coating the RAH-66 this week sometime and then apply some Helo Drab.

Good news is that if everything goes according to plan I'll have my new(first) digital camera this weekend. Then I can submit pics more frequently.