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Jet Ranger from James Bond Movie.


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Hi Folks.

I have started a conversion of an Italeri 1/72 OH-58A Kiowa into a Bell 206 Jet Ranger. I plan to finish it in the colours of G-BAKS, the Agusta-Bell 206 Jet Ranger that appears in the opening scene of the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only". The kit will require a bit of work to convert it into the civilian version but I think it is possible. One of the biggest hurdles in this build will be the markings. It should be possible to get a decal sheet custom-made but I have one small problem; I have to identify the font used in the "universal exports" logo on the fuselage sides. I posted a request on the "What the Font" forum to identify the lettering, but to no avail. Half of the problem is that I don't have a decent photo of the markings. Have a look at this webpage. About half way down you will see the entry for the film in question and a poor photo of the helicopter. Can anyone identify this font?

http://www.swisscopter.ch/007/jamesbond.html

Here is the sequence on Youtube;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuPl5BkjMIE

I sent a request to the company "Flying Pictures" who were responsible for this sequence but I haven't got a reply back yet. If anyone can help with additional photos of G-BAKS or can identify the font, I would be very grateful. Thanks.

Blue Monday.

Edited by Blue Monday
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Font looks like it might be a thickened version of eurostile.

HTH

GreenDragon, thanks for that. Eurostile looks like a close match. In 1/72 scale the discrepency probably won't be too noticeable and using the standard eurostile font will probably render the logo more legible in this small scale. Given that this build is of a thoroughly british subject it should qualify as elegible for posting on this forum, so I will start recording progress of the build and post some progress soon (but be warned, I am a brutally slow modeller!).

BM.

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Hope it works out okay, I've got a couple of the Italeri Kiowa's so I'll be interested in your build, Bond fan too! BTW you can post any models on here, doesn't have to be British related, there loads of nationalities and everyone likes loads of different stuff. I'm currently doing a few sci fi kits for a mate and some what ifs for me.

Paul Harrison

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Here is the helicopter performing "that" stunt from 'For Your Eyes Only';

SCAN0030.jpg

I was fortunate enough to meet Sir Roger Moore recently at a Dublin book signing and this helped me make my mind up on starting this build. Here are the first efforts to get this model going.

IMG_0775.jpg

1. I had to modify the pilots seats with some filler. The seats, as they come in the kit, look like some kind of inflatable seats more suited to the beach! I have filled them again to improve the finish and will sand them down tomorrow.

2. The bulkhead behind the pilots seats was sanded down. There is a control box of some kind on the bulkhead that isn't there on the Jet Ranger so that was removed.

3. I'm not sure if this will be a tail-sitter or not, but just in case it is, I have added a small amount of lead in the instrument panel and under the forward part of the cockpit floor. I got the lead by hammering a lead sinker flat and cutting small suitably shaped bits. The skids that come in this kit are not accurate for an OH-58A or a Jet Ranger on lowskids so I am going to try using ths skids from the OH-58D kit instead. They look to be more accurate in shape but the base of the skids are shorter to the rear so there might be a fore/aft issue later in the build. Time will tell.

4. The main rotor is composed of three parts but are not a great fit. Care needs to be taken to get the blades lined up correctly from above and from side-on. I laid mine over a set of scale plans to get things lined up correctly. After setting with styrene cement, I reinforced the join with superglue and have also tried to fill the gaps with a little filler. Hopefully it will look OK when sanded down.

BM.

Edited by Blue Monday
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