HELICOPTERS: ATTACK HELO GROUP BUILD!

Oh man, don't ask at me!

Did you cut it with white for a scale effect? I've been told that Helo Drab is a spot on match out of the bottle. Maybe Jon or one of our resident Black Hawk guys here knows what's going on there.

Got a lot of assembly done on my first Little Bird night before last and with any luck I can get some pix up sunday.

Thanks for the explanation and pics Phil, that looks amazing.
Will have to go buy a cheap kit and start practicing.

Gave the kit another coat of helo drab last night and will check to day if it needs any touchups. After that I need to assemble the last rotor parts, re-paint the gun and then the clearcoats, weathering and decalling can commence.

Trigger, the kit does seem rather grey now that I've stared at it for awhile.
Dunno how that happened.

Gino,

They're great, just ill disciplined. I've since found my MMS, remounted it with no ill effects and all is well with the Kiowa... well, except for the "bullet holes" in the tip of one rotor blade, but that makes it look more realistic... right?

Nothing that a little sanding and some super glue can't fix.

QUOTE: The felines have once again taken to playing with my models.

One more reason to stick with dogs. Cats are pretty worthless in my book.

John-
It doesn't damage the decals to paint over them. Along with the paint, the markings on a real helo will fade over time. In the pic below note how faded the rescue label is on the door compared to the relatively new logo and aircraft number.



To replicate this, just airbrush over the decals with a lightened shade of the paint the decal is on. I thin the paint more than usual, and turn the pressure up a little, to get the finest atomization (smallest paint particle) so you can't see individual paint specks on the decals. Hold the airbrush a little farther from the model than normal, and lightly spray over them. Go slow, and check your progress often, you can't undo it. Compare the stars and intake warnings before



and after overspraying. I added the skull logo and a/c number after overspraying so they don't look faded.



I think it works pretty well. Give it a try, but maybe try it on a junk model first, it's easy to overdo it. I hope this helps.

Phil

Phil, you menitoned the following in your post "Plus when I oversprayed the decals with Light Ghost gray to fade them"

I've read about this before in an F-14 article, would you mind explaining what it entails.
Don't you damage the decals by spraying paint overthem?

Ok guys, I'm back from spring break and ready to go!

Found my Kiowa without its MMS this morning, so I've initiated a room-wide search for the darn thing. The felines have once again taken to playing with my models. I love them, but one of these days I could seriously super glue the two of them together!

I think I may try to finish the skid struts tonight.

John-
The paint on the HH-60H is just airbrushed Testors enamels. Sides are Light Ghost Gray, FS 36375, top is Dark Ghost Gray FS36320 and bottom is Light Gray, FS 36495. There's not much difference between the Dark and Light Ghost gray, so it's hard to see. Plus when I oversprayed the decals with Light Ghost gray to fade them a bit, I purposely oversprayed the line between the sides and top color. In reference photos of HH-60H's in service, it's really hard to see any difference.

I've finished the tail rotor and have started to work on the main rotor, hopefully some pics next week.

Phil

Finally found a way to keep the new dog in my office and happy - throw down some scrap carpet on the hardwood floor. Now I can work at home, research and model, all while keeping an eye on her.

It's paid off because last night I finished assembly of my first Little Bird's interior. With any luck I can paint it this week and get some pix up.

Phil, your HH-60 looks incredible!
What paint brand and number(s) did you use?

Trigger, thanks for the advice, will try some shots outside once the weather improves.

I'm still here, working slowly on my 1/48 HH-60H. In the last couple of weeks I have painted and started on the decals.



Once I finish the decals, I'll start weathering and detail painting. So far, so good.

My album is at:
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/v485/par429/HH-60H

John, the Comanche is looking sharp.

Phil

The flash from the camera will effect the look too. Weather permit, try a pic from outside. I'm not saying the finish looks wrong, only that it's funny how that color reflects light differently in various situations.

Thanks for the comments Trigger.

Up close and personal it looks drabish. I primed it with flat black first so maybe thats also contributing to the finish.

The photos were taken this morning. Next time I'll take them at night with the lights on and see how it looks then.

I can't speak for everyone else, but I've been busy with a new puppy and the last time I talked with Cobrahistorian, he was about to go on Spring Break.

That Comanche looks great!!! Helo drab looks kinda gray, but like you said, that's probably the lighting.

Hi all

Firstly where has everyone disappeared to???

Secondly I sprayed the sides and top of the RAH-66 with Helo Drab last night. Here are the results:



I was quite amazed at how the paint shade looks different based on the light conditions.
(just like the real thing).

First time that I've airbrushed with MM enamels. Takes longer to dry comapred to Tamiya enamels.

Hey John!

Looks cool so far.
Keep posting those pics.

Quintin

QUOTE: Originally posted by osjohnm Sorry Quinton, first time I've used photobucket, will have look and change it.

Hey John

After you've logged onto your Photobucket account, click on "Account Options". Under the "Ablum Options" section, you'll see on option "Make public". This needs to be set to "Yes" in order for others to view your gallery.

HTH

Cheers
Quintin

Hi all

I've changed the album settings, should be viewable now.

Sorry Quinton, first time I've used photobucket, will have look and change it.

QUOTE: I've created an album at Photobucket, here is the link http://photobucket.com/albums/y43/jmacpherson/RAH-66/

Hey John

I can't seem to access your gallery without logging in as your user. Could you just make sure that it's setup to be viewed by the public?

Cheers
Quintin

Here are the pics as promised. I apologise for the quality, still figuring out how the camera works.


I've created an album at Photobucket, here is the link
http://photobucket.com/albums/y43/jmacpherson/RAH-66/

Don't worry didn't use the Tamiya cans in the background to prime the model, used an airbrush for that. Used the cans on the missiles and wheels. I primed the kit awhile ago and wasn't in the mood to mix paint/thinners and then clean the brush.

Hi all

The kit has been primed with Tamiya flat black and I've attached the landing gear.
Going to attach the front and rear gear bay doors as well and then I'll give the kit a coat of Helo Drab.

Busy with the main rotor assembly and painting of the wheels and hellfires today.

Got my digital camera so once I figure out how it works and finished the 130 pg manual I'll post some pics.

Hey guys!

I recently saw on the net that they are testing helicopter airbags! Here is a pic I found



Actually, it's the mother of all masking exercises that I've been through. During the course of this exercise I obviously had to re-attach several protruding antennas and fiddly bits.

So, tonight it's me and the airbrush! Hopefully there will be some nice pics to post tomorrow ....

Cheers
Quintin

LJ,

Its the 1/35th MRC kit with the Cutting Edge update

That's coming along nicely, what scale is it again? I'm thinking that I'll have to eventually get one of those birds to go on my shelf next to all the others that I've accumulated.

Ok guys! Here's a few shots of my KW as promised!

I've primed it with flat black. Next I'm going to finish those darn struts, pre-shade all the panel lines with a dark sand color and then hit the entire thing with Army Helo Drab. I'm determined to get it done by this weekend!

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.

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!

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

Lookin good Phil!

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