Pappy Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) G'day people, I have wanted to do a Cyprus National Guard (CNG) Mi-35P for a long time. The biggest problem that I faced was that the CNG Mi-35P (an export version of the Mi-24P) has a completely different front end to most Hind kits as it features a twin 30mm cannon arrangement in lieu of the turret mounted gun. Hasegawa have an Mi-24P/Hind E in their catalogue and I was lucky enough to snaffle up one of these at a swap meet recently. The Hasegawa is showing its age a little and is not as detailed as the more recent Zvesda kits, but importantly, it does have the parts for the Mi-24P/35P gun arrangement. I already had a Zvesda Mi-35M/Hind E, and it is a great kit, but the kit breakdown is such that the lower forward fuselage is a separate item. This will no doubt mean that they will eventually do a Hinde E as well ( probably right after I finish my conversion!), but it will be a lot more work to use this kit as a base. Sooooo, I will be using the Hasegawa kit as a base and using a PE set to add detail. I will use a few items from the Zvesda kit as needed. I have made a start on installing the PE set into the cockpit and cabin, The PE set includes parts for an open rear cockpit door. Fist job is to remove the moulded kit item. The kits supplies a few resin pieces. The replacement panel insert fit was reasonable, but it will still need a little fettling, cheers, Pappy Edited October 18, 2015 by Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 Nice start, Love seeing this type of scratchbuilding take place, will be watching out for your continued progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 18, 2015 Share Posted October 18, 2015 This sounds extremely interesting, I'm in! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 G'day people, Thanks very much for the encouragement. Whilst doing the research for this wokka, it looks like the CNG Mi-35P's have a fixed gear arrangement. Most pics I have seen of the Hind family choppers show the landing gear retracted. The CNG birds all have the gear hanging out in flight. I found some closer pics that show that there are cut-outs in the main gear doors that the undercarriage legs poke out of. The nose gear bay has a large rectangular door covering the larger rear portion of the nose gear bay with a modified drag brace arrangement. If anyone has any close up pics of the main gear doors I would really appreciate the help. In the meantime, these wheel bulges need to be removed as they are not present on the CNG birds. The problem is, if I were to just sand these off I would end up with holes in the sides of the fuselage. I decided to mix up some two part epoxy putty and press this in behind the wheel bulges. I left the putty to cure overnight before taking a file to the wheel bulges. Once the wheel bulges were dispatched, the area was cleaned up with emery paper and sanding sponges. Here is a comparison shot with the modified and unmodified fuselage halves While waiting for the putty to cure, I decided to add a little more life to the cockpits. There is much more that could be added, but I was happy with the level of busyness achieved. I also added some styrene bits to re-enforce the PE parts. Next up, the PE belts were added to the seats. The instructions were a little vague here and they require the belts to be looped through several small buckles and twisted through angular changes. Not for the faint of heart! The final effort for today was to add some padded quilting to the cabin and cockpit using some, err, 'sparkling white wine' lead foil, cheers, Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
architect Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 Great work up to now. I really look forward for the way ahead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) G'day people, I have been adding working on more of the external fuselage features. One of the major distinguishing features of the Mi-24P/35P is the twin fixed 30mm cannon installation. The kit provides this part but it can be improved. Hasegawa provides the part with the forward end flush from which the twin barrels emerge. I decided to cut open the forward end and add a recessed bulkhead. The bulkhead was first drilled to receive the two 30mm barrels at a later stage. There is an access step for the front cockpit mounted beneath the front of the cannon fairing. Hasegawa provide this item, but it looks a little chunky and I think I will replace it with a new item scratched from copper wire. The bigger problem is that Hasegawa depict the step with a single attachment point on the fairing and two mounting points immediately beneath it. The CNG Mi-35P's seem to have reversed the step design, i.e two upper and one lower attachment points. To be fair to Hasegawa, pics of Mi-24P's do show the kit arrangement. I filled the mounting points Next up, the chin pod was assembled. I ground out a recess for the landing light once the PE panel had been attached. The kit supplied IR suppressor for the engine exhausts. These assembled easily but I am not sure if I will end up using them. I have pics of CNG Mi-35P's fitted with and without these. The kit supplies a very simplistic representation of the exhausts (listed as parts not for use) however I like the look of the unshrouded exhausts. The stub wings were also assembled. The big problem here is that these are too long. The CNG Hinds have the shorter stub wings with two weapons stations per wing. Many other Hind variants feature the longer stub wings with three weapon stations. I will have to trim these down to depict the CNG version. Finally, the Lipa L166V1AE jammer was assembled. Dry fitting revealed that this item fits very well but the jammer itself is a little plain. I think I will have to do something about that as well. Finally, the rear cockpit entry door has been assembled. This is made of of several PE laminations and includes a clear acetate insert for the window. cheers, Pappy Edited October 20, 2015 by Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 21, 2015 Author Share Posted October 21, 2015 (edited) G'day people, I spent today painting the cockpit and cabin. These are just a single colour, black and light blue respectively, so this was a pretty straightforward affair. The PE set supplied replacement cabin doors in the form of built up laminated sections. The lower sections were assembled completely, but for ease of painting, the upper section containing the windows have been painted separately. The cabin was initially devoid of all detail, not even the bench seat was supplied by Hasegawa, which was a little surprising considering the fact that the kit has the option for open cabin doors. The front end involved a little more work pick out the details and interest. Time spent here is worthwhile given the large transparency that encloses these cockpits. The PE set allows for the rear cabin windows to be depicted open. Acetate film is supplied that is added to the delicate PE frames that have been bent to the open position. cheers, Pappy Edited October 21, 2015 by Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Lovely progress on an intriguing subject; your work on both the cockpit and cabin is very neat. I'm kind of hoping that Zvezda do release a Hind-F after you finish this project; your sacrifice would be greatly appreciated. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 This is coming along relly nicely! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertom Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Looks fantastic. Keep up the good work - I don't have that kind of patience and skill to work such tiny details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 Looking good Pappy, nice work on the cockpit and fus mods. You got me interested. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 23, 2015 Author Share Posted October 23, 2015 G'day people, Thanks very much for all your comments, they are much appreciated. I have manged to squeeze everything into the fuselage and glued the two fuselage halves together. While that is drying, I turned my attention to the whirly bits. Hasegawa included a small PE fret in my boxing. One of the intended areas for the PE is the tail rotor. In addition to the "Y" shaped PE, I added some wire solder. Next up, The main rotor. The kit rotor hub is very plain, and in comparison to the Zvesda kits, this area is much more simplified. The individual blades attach the the lower via a pin system. This would leave ugly circular marks that need filling, however I use my punch sets to simultaneously hide the seams and add detail. Additional PE was used to add the pitch linkages and some more wire solder was added to busy up the hub, cheers, Pappy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Lovely embellishment of the hubs Pappy. I'm sure that with your typically high standard of paint treatment any comparison with the Zvezda kit will be favourable. Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Good work on the whirtly bit Pappy, certainly adds a bit of interest. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 Nice work Pappy! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 25, 2015 Author Share Posted October 25, 2015 (edited) Lovely embellishment of the hubs Pappy. I'm sure that with your typically high standard of paint treatment any comparison with the Zvezda kit will be favourable. Andrew. G'day Andrew, thanks very much. The Zvesda kit blows the Has kit into the weeds in this area, so I will be happy to just achieve some 'busyness' Good work on the whirtly bit Pappy, certainly adds a bit of interest. Colin G'day Col, It needs all the help it can get! Nice work Pappy! Martin Thanks Martin. G'day people, The fuselage is finally together, The modified (shortened) stub wings were also attached. Then after they were filled and sanded, I realised that Hasegawa has moulded in a 'kink'. The wings should have the same anhedral from root to tip, but Hasegawa mould the wing root as part of the fuselage, to which the stub wings are added. The wing root angle results in a change to the anhedral at the join - resulting in a kink when view head on. The Zvesda kit provides the entire stub wing as a single assembly with the correct angle. I only realised this after everything was attached. If I remove the stub wings and correct their angle, I will also have to remove the pylons as their angle will need to be altered. I decided to leave it all as is - oh well I managed to destroy an exhaust outlet (APU?) on the upper left fuselage. I was trying to deepen the opening and thin down the edges when things went a bit, well, suffice to say I needed to make a new one! I removed the remnants of the old exhaust and opened up the hole a little more before inserting a section of aluminum tube. Meanwhile, the lower fuselage antenna details were replaced as they were lost eliminating the lower fuselage seam. Additional PE details were now added and the aft nose gear well was covered with a piece of styrene. The CNG MI-35Ps look like they have fixed undercarriage. My pics seem to show a slab covering this area so it is my best guess of what this area should look like. The main gear doors also need modification. The main gear units emerge from the main gear well covers. Again, based on some dodgy pics, I made some cut-outs to the door covers. Here is a comparison pic of a modified door next to the stock item The modified doors were now attached. Dry fitting was essential to ensure that the main gear parts would still work Further modification included sanding off the mount for the teardrop shaped left hand chin pod. My references show that the pod should not be mounted directly underneath but angled outwards more. Additionally, the Hasegawa pod is a little undersized. This is what this part looked like originally Finally, some of the more delicate cockpit details were added in preparation for the installation of the canopy Fitting the aft cockpit instrument panel was a test of patience and needed lots of adjustment and dry fitting to ensure it would not foul the canopy. cheers, Pappy Edited October 25, 2015 by Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 I am impressed to see how quickly you are getting this build together. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalako Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Simply WOW!!!! Keep up the good work Pappy!! Cheers Shalako Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Great work, looking forward to updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Fine work all 'round Pappy, including the conversion work on the undercarriage and your new APU exhaust. Excellent cockpit too! cheers, Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 26, 2015 Author Share Posted October 26, 2015 G'day people, Many thanks for your comments, I appreciate your interest in my little wokka. I have spent today adding and painting up a few more gubbins for the cockpits. Before paint, And after, , cheers, Pappy 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) G'day people, I spent today working on the various lumps and bumps. The Hasegawa kit lacks the correct ECM dome (L166V1AE ??) as well as the protrusions on either side of the fuselage. The teardrop shaped chin pod on the left side is too small and the larger chin pod on the right lacks detail. I copied these parts from my Zvesda kit and swapped out or added these to the Hasegawa kit. First up, the ECM dome, Next up the forward fuselage lumps I have also added the applique armor panels for sides of the engine housing. The left chin pod with the addition of a small bracing strut The right chin pod with the addition of the PE sensor door covers. The cockpit step located on the 30mm gun fairing was also added using some copper wire. The kit supplies a step, but it is the wrong type for this variant and in any case it is waaaay over scale. Finally, a couple of pics with the canopy dry fitted. I find that the canopy makes a big difference to the final appearance of an aircraft, cheers, Pappy Edited October 27, 2015 by Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Coming along very nicely Pappy. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dads203 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 That's going to be fantastic Pappy. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 That's going to be fantastic Pappy. Dan Thanks Dan Coming along very nicely Pappy. Colin Cheers Colin. G'day people, I spent some time on the undercarriage today.The main gear struts had some brake lines added The rear tail skid also received some attention. There is a rubber boot at the point where the aft brace emerges from the fuselage. I wanted to include this feature so I used some lead foil cut to shape Hasegawa has moulded the tail skid struts with a round profile, in reality these should have an elliptical section. I scraped down these parts until they were 'sort of' elliptical. Hasegawa include a nice pair of resin countermeasures dispensers. These have been added with the addition of some wiring. cheers, Pappy 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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