Jump to content

Academy 1/48 MH-53 Sea Dragon


Red Dot

Recommended Posts

  • 4 weeks later...

Hi all,

I’ve been busy again on the Sea Dragon following the recent heat wave and it is proving to be an excellent kit in terms of fit.

The very large cockpit glazing went on without much issue apart from a gap along the roofline which was of my own making. I used some plastic card to fill it before carefully polishing it back after masking using the Eduard set. Mr Hobby black paint was then sprayed on for the interior colour.

The overall airframe was sprayed with 1200 primer to check for blemishes and bits I wasn’t happy with. These were fixed and then the sponsons were added. The fit was perfect, which is quite an achievement given the complicated blended shape.

Have I mentioned before that this thing is huge?!

You can see the Archer rivets I added earlier along with some extra ones on the fuselage sides in the engine pod area, as per walkaround photos.

The whole airframe had been rubbed down with 8000 grit micromesh to get a glossy smooth finish ready for the next stage which is to add lots of small brass details, again using photos for verification, before finally adding some ‘proper’ paint, gull grey and white.

All comments welcome as ever and watch out for a further update.

 

IMG_6589.jpg

 

IMG_6593.jpg

 

IMG_6594.jpg

 

IMG_6596.jpg

 

IMG_6603.jpg

 

By the way, I have just given up with Photobucket for storing the pictures and started to use Postimage.org as recommended by some members on BM. What a revelation! Fast uploads, free and very easy to use with no adverts – highly recommended from me too.

Cheers

Andy

Edited by Red Dot
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listening to Keith's ramblings was my excuse!

 

Thanks for the comment Craig. I'm busy adding lots of small bits of brass to the ariframe now

 

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Guys,

 

sorry for the lost lost photos, but the genius's at Photobucket have changed their terms and conditions to only show the pictures for people that pay them $40 per month. I have changed to postimage and they offer a far better service (at the moment!).

 

Right now, i am thinking that i can't be bothered to post any more onto websites but i am sure i will get over it.

 

What a bunch of T*****s to spoil it for millions of people

 

Andy

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Craig,

At at least the other sites are free and easy to use for now, but who knows if they will go the same route?

 

Think of the billions of photos wiped off the net by photo bucket unless you pay up. However, even if some people pay, they will make millions. I read that there were 15 billion pictures and several million users. I can see why they have done it, but it is rather like blackmail.

 

Don't delete your pictures with them as if they change their mind, they will be lost forever on each website. 

 

Andy

Edited by Red Dot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Ooooh, I do like the rivet work, they do look rather nice...

 

Colin

 

 

Thanks very much Colin. I got some paint on last night so it is really coming together now although the light gull grey i used has decidedly brown tinge to it. I think that i am going to redo it using a plain old light grey and match it to the photos i have 

 

It might not be right but it will seem more realistic

 

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

morning all,

 

I'm sure you are all aware of the issues with Photobucket. Well i was not going to be beaten by their greed, so i downloded all of the images used in this thread and then up-loaded them to Postimage instead. I have re-attached them so that they can still be seen by you all, at least until Postimage start charging too !

 

By the way, don't cancel your Photobucket accounts as they may change their mind at some point in the future. The pictures will be lost forever and if they stay on the Photobucket servers, it will cost them maintenance money and storage space to keep them there. Serves them right.

 

Back with more updates soon as great progress has been made!

Andy

Edited by Red Dot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi all,

 

Here's a bit of a catch up. My computer got a virus, so i wasn't able to post these any earlier, but better late than never eh?

 

I sanded the fuselage with 8000 grit micromesh and then applied a marble-effect pre-shading (messy squiggly black lines) over the whole airframe concentrating on the back end behind the engines. As you know from the first post, i'm doing a Japanese Navy aircraft, so next came some thin layers of Vallejo white on the upper decking. The overall effect was that of a dirty patchy helicopter.

 

Next i masked off the demarcation line with small sausages of Blu-tack and sprayed the lower half of the body Lifecolor Gull Grey. It seemed a bit more like Dove Grey as it had a brownish tint, so i added some light grey to it and went at it again, this time with more realistic results and more in tune with my walk-around photos.

 

After another light sanding, a coat of Klear made it all nice and shiny, ready for the decals.

 

I must say that the Wolfpack decals are excellent. They are fully legible and bedded down really well with DACO setting solutions. The walkways were from the kit and were a little bit more difficult to apply but i got there in the end using some of the spare decals as patches. I certainly wasn't going to mask the walkways and spray them!

 

IMG_6597.jpg

 

IMG_6598.jpg

 

IMG_6599.jpg

 

IMG_6601.jpg

 

IMG_6602.jpg

 

 

In my next post, i'll show you some pictures of the real helicopter that i am trying to copy, but for now, that's the basics done

 

cheers

Andy

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Simon382 said:

Stunning build! Looks huge. Just how big is it?

 

Hi Simon

 

At the moment, it's about 14" long but that is without the tail and rotors. Probably the best part of 24" by the time it's done.

 

I must say that it's very easy to hold unlike some of the fiddly aircraft

 

Cheers for now

Andy

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Oh my, that has really scrubbed up very well indeed.

 

 

You wouldn't be saying that Ex-FAAWAFU if you saw it now! Scrubbed down is more the phrase

 

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, here we go with the big unveil of what this beast is based on.

 

I was scanning the internet for ideas and came across a picture by Mike Leonard, a Brit living in Japan. I mailed Mike and he very kindly sent me some photos of the right hand side of the same helicopter taken on the same day. Note the rain and floods! It's very unusual to see dirty Japanese planes, so this was a must do! I believe the crew didn't have time to clean the airframe as they were busy supporting earthquake relief missions.

 

Many thanks Mike...............

 

MH-53_number_29_(1).jpg

 

MH-53_number_29_(3).jpg

 

MH-53_number_29_(4).jpg

 

Note how the number 29 is only washed on one side and the various access panels and emergency doors are all that is cleaned. I'll post some pictures of the model next showing just how dirty it has become,

 

Andy

Edited by Red Dot
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi all,

 

At last i have had some time to take some pictures of the latest progress as it stands tonight. Sorry for the big steps in between everything but i will do my best to explain the weathering process.

 

Firstly i applied a Flory Models dark grey wash over the whole model and once it was dry, rubbed it off with a lightly dampened kitchen towel. This brought out the panel lines and rivets quite well and i wasn't bothered about it being too dark as the whole helicopter was filthy in real life.

 

I then got some grey pastel sticks and simply took a large soft brush and brushed them in to the model surface, bascially making it dirty grey all over. I blended in bits of brown underneath to represent mud and dirt.

 

Now came the clever bit (for me!). Taking a slightly damp cotton bud and using the walk-around photos as a reference, i wiped away the areas that needed to be washed off on the real thing e.g. around the number 29. I followed this with a coat of Alclad mat varnish to protect what i had done and to allow me to handle the model without leaving fingerprints in the pastels.

 

Lastly, i covered the main white bits at the rear with thin blu-tack and gave it the pastel treatment again to represent the smoke from the engines, noting that there is more on the right as there are two engine exhausts there. The varnish finished it off and that's as far as i have got for now.

 

Hope you like it,

 

Andy

 

IMG_6624.jpg

 

IMG_6623.jpg

 

IMG_6625.jpg

 

IMG_6626.jpg

 

IMG_6627.jpg

 

IMG_6629.jpg

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...