general melchett Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 (edited) Talk about leaving things to the last minute!............!..managed to finish matt spraying this one this mornng over my Crunchy Nut Clusters!(Oooh er!)..............It's the very old Aurora Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne attack helicopter of 1967 vintage, bought for £15 at Telford last year in a pretty battered state. A very rare model that just had to be built. The Cheyenne was an amazing feat of engineering for its time, the fastest helicopter ever built ,t was just too much too soon and by the time all the problems had been ironed out the concept was outdated and it was shelved in favour of development of the AH-64 Apache and lots of systems were borrowed from the Cheyenne in the program. Lots of work done including wholly scratchbuilt cockpit including new instrument panels and HUD glazing, all new seats and belts, brass exhaust pipe, totally rebuilt rotor head and blades, new tail rotor and undercarriage, lots of vents and fairings added, wing pylons added and FFAR missile pods added, underbelly canon and housing scratchbuilt and hollow brass 'barrel' added, under nose optical gunsight added decals from the Anigrand kit and a couple of originals like the yellow tail rotor warning, (held together with Micro Scale decal film). Although it's hard to see in the pics the model is post shaded in 8 shades of olive drab, each lighter than the last, something that is much more effective in daylight. To be honest it looks to me as if the Anigrand kit is based on this model and considering that that costs nearly £70 this has turned out to be good value for money, Hope you like it, good fun build but a LOT of work... Cheers, Andy... Edited March 6, 2010 by general melchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz greenwood Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Another nice one as always Andy! Always loved the look of the Cheyenne! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deacon Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 That looks fantatsic Andy. Well done. Deacon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Thanks chaps, glad you like it...bit of a labour of love really ...shame the real thing never made it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPNGROATS Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 GREAT looking Cheyenne, mon General..!! Coptor Cheers, ggc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troffa Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 Excellent model of an excellent looking aircraft- I am very interested in the Cheyennne and the S-67 Blackhawk for similar reasons- perhaps somewhere in a parallel universe I am working on Army Air Corps Cheyennes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted March 6, 2010 Author Share Posted March 6, 2010 Thanks fellas, This aircraft has always fascinated me too, not much in the way of reference material available but I have had this book for a fair while and it certainly in came in handy,...another amazing thing is that so many of the prototypes survive to this day!, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Very nice paintwork.A well done job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad 10 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 Hi Andy Lovely work, especially when you take into consideration the raw material, is there much of it left? Richard McC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 Thanks Richard...to be honest.........................er , no!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyT Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Got to admit one of my all time fav helicopters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 That's wonderful stuff Melch, I think that and the Mojave are the two helos I'd love to see as mainstream kits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted March 9, 2010 Author Share Posted March 9, 2010 Thanks chaps, Tony .........me too...................in fact I think it is my favourite! Jonathan, yep I wish someone would produce this as mainstream, I know the Anigrand one's available but at a very high price and somewhat variable quality....... It just so happens that I have a 1/72nd Special Hobby Mojave, (S-37B army version) in the stash and was intending to build it soon to go with the Cheyenne!...hopefully it won't need the radical makeover that this one needed Melchie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thx6667 Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 It is such a fantastic looking aeroplane, touch of the Gerry Anderson about it, and it is the missing link between the Cobra and the Apache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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