HELICOPTERS: ATTACK HELO GROUP BUILD!

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment aka - "Nightstalkers"
All the helicopters in Black Hawk Down (MH-60L, MH-6J, AH-6J) were from this unit.

Now, which helicopter are you wanting to build? Right out of the box, you've got an AH-6J (they provided fire support the night of Oct 3rd). What the conversion set does is add planks for operators to sit on, thus you have an MH-6J "Six-pac." Rangers came in on the MH-60L DAPs (Direct Action Penatrators) whereas the Delta operators came in on MH-6Js

Now, you can still use the details from the conversion set (minus the planks or course) to detail your AH-6J should you choose to build a "Killer Egg." I ordered two sets to detail both an AH- and an MH-6J.

Dan

Tamiya and Dragon make Ranger kits in 1/35.

SOAR = Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th)

Aha!

Thanks John.

Dan,
As Trigger mentioned the Rangers used the MH-60Ls and the Delta guys used the MH-6 in Black Hawk Down.
Dragon make a 1/35 Delta Force Somalia kit but appears to be out of production.
Maybe you can find a Delta kit somewhere to go with the Little Bird

Thanks again. I'll keep looking!

Are you building the 1/48 Comanche from Italeri?

Good news - One can get the DML Delta Force Somalia 1993 set from greatmodels.com . Set includes 4 figures w/ AR-15/ M-203/ Sniper Rifle/two wearing ProTec helmets, one wearing a boonie. The item number is dr3022 and it's $5.60 a set

http://www.greatmodels.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=dr3022

BTW Dan - did you get that link I sent and did it help any?

Yeah the link was great thanks, have ordered the detail kit from cobra co. I'm not sure which one I want to build though. I kinda like the miniguns and rocket pods. So I might get another kit and have them both!!

Thats correct.

How are you finding the kit John?

I'm building the 1/72 version and so far it's not so bad (for Italeri and 1/72 scale). A few fit problems with the rear rotor and the fuselage halves so been busy sanding away! Got the cockpit done and have glued the fuselage together and installed the rotor. Next stop: Awesome paint job (I hope!!!!).

The fit isn't as bad as some of their kits I've built.
Huge gap between the tail rotor and fuselage. Luckily the tailrotor blades can be added at the end so I should have enough room to work with some filler.
Other than that I'd have to say its a pretty decent kit. They included vinyl mesh for the intakes which adds a touch of realism

Dan, whats the fit of your weapon bay doors like?

I'm probably going to build my bays closed.(less pieces that can break off)
The one door fits perfectly the other will need lots of work. I'm guessing that the 48 kit is just a larger version of the 72 mold or vice versa, hence my question.

Luckily the tailrotor blades can be added at the end so I should have enough room to work with some filler.

The filling has begun!

I also put the 8 hellfires that will go on the stub wings together.

Question, how do I remove glue off a canopy?

I dipped all the pieces in Future before assembly which prevents fogging

However in typical Italeri fashion the last piece didn't fit to well and in the process a small amount of glue ended up on the one piece.

I tried using an amonia based cleaner to remove the future hoping the glue would go with it but that didn't work.

Do I have to use sandpaper or is there a cleaner way?

I thought I'd drop in and share a couple of photos of my completed AH-1W. It's the 1/35 MRC offering, OOB. Hope you enjoy. Any comments are welcomed.

LJ, that's one Sierra Hotel lookin' Whiskey!!!

Jello-
Excellent job. Nice weathering, enough to make it look used but not overdone. Terrific.

With apologies to you Army types, I think the Whiskey Cobra is every bit as mean looking as the Apache. I may need to move a Cobra up a little higher on the to do list.

Thanks for the pics.

Phil

Lemon that looks amazing. Have you got any more pics of the cockpit area?

Here's how my 1/72 scale Comanche is coming along. Have painted the fueselage, you may notice that the panel lines are a bit overdone. But it was my first ever attempt at using the airbrush to do them so I'm quite pleased overall. I'm quite pleased with the cockpit too considering the size and lack of detail on the kit. I'm currently applying decals so have a few coats of klear on (hence the shine). Once done just a few small details to paint and then add and then I've got the main rotor assembly to do. Will post more pics when it's finished.

Hi John,

I decided to fix my weapon bays closed as well, the fit was terrible and I could foresee them breaking off at the first opportunity!! I also have left the wing stubs off as I could not find any pictures of the real Comanche with them on. Also my 'Hulk Buster' paint job was a total failure!! Hence the Helo Drab colour.. :o( Currently the bird is in decal applying stage and has a few coats of Klear (hence the shine).

Look forward to seeing more pics of your kit.

Dan

What happened to the Hulk-Buster paint job; why was it "a total failure?"

Dan, great looking cockpit. How did u get the painting so perfect, especially in 1/72?

Might be awhile before I have more pics, although its almost ready for a primer coat of flat black.

Thanks for the comments John. Although this will be my first completed kit for over 10 years I've been painting Games Workshop miniatures for about 7 years, so I found the detailed painting familiar territory. I airbrushed the interior Neautral grey (tamiya) and then painted the details using Games Workshop acrylic paints (black for the control surfaces). I also used GW paints for drybrushing. The Hulk buster paint job was cursed I tell you! It started off quite well, I painted the base colour (a sandy greyish colour) but when I tried to mask off the areas for the angular camo somehow the paint had not cured underneath (had been drying for 24 hours) and I ended up with fingermarks all over the model. I should have used a coat of Klear in between but hey it's a learning process right! So I stripped the paint and was ready to start again. Once again I got to the masking stage but this time while attaching the weapon bay doors (as they were held with blutack the 1st time round and fell off!) some glue had smeared on paint job and had eaten through the paint. Aaaaaaaaargh! It came close to being another raging Hulk victim but I wouldn't let it get the better of me! So I figured 3rd time is a charm and went to redo the base coat again when I realised that I had run out of the paint I needed! So off I went down to my local hobby shop and they had run out of the only 2 paints I needed (sandy brown and gunship grey). So I bought some helo drab instead as the other paint would not be in for a week or so. Just wasn't meant to be I guess! :o)

Yeah, that does suck. But i don't think it's the scheme that's cursed, but the kit. I hit mine with a Helo Drab substitute followed by Glosscote over the weekend. I expected it to get dark, but not turn into a shade of Nightstalker! Will test zap it with Dullcote this week, see if that lightens it up any.

I hate puttying!!!!

Is there any 1/48 helicopter kit that doesn't require filler?
Suppose that would be asking to much!

actually, the hasegawa 1/48 apache kit requires very little, if not any filler.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Trigger74 Yeah, that does suck. But i don't think it's the scheme that's cursed, but the kit. I hit mine with a Helo Drab substitute followed by Glosscote over the weekend. I expected it to get dark, but not turn into a shade of Nightstalker! Will test zap it with Dullcote this week, see if that lightens it up any.

Hit it with Dullcote.; didn't work. Looks like there's frost on the airframe. Crap. Looks like I'm going to have to strip off as much as what's there and start over.

Hmm, maybe you could make out like it was grounded somewhere in Alaska!? It's a real pain in the rear when you paint not just a small item but the whole fuselage and it goes wrong. My patience threshold get's regular testing! Good luck with coat number 2. :o)

Jason,

So the Hasegawa kit is good? I'm hoping to win an auction on Evil Bay for the Royal Army version.

Dan

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dan1677 Hmm, maybe you could make out like it was grounded somewhere in Alaska!?

No way! I'm on a quest now!

Besides, I've already got an Alaskan-dedicated bird on the workbench.

The joys of modelling hey guys! or should that rather be "torture"?

On a side note, does anyone by any chance have Italeri's 1/48 AH-1W kit?
I'm trying to find a scanned version of the instructions.

My 2x AH-1Z kits arrived today and I'm planning on building one as a W since the kit still contains those parts but will be tricky without the instructions.

Thanks

Jay, probably explains the price of the Hasegawa Apaches.

John,

I still have the Italeri Whiskey kit here. I'll hook up my scanner and shoot you an email this afternoon.

Thx Jon