Doctor Strop

Cracking rebuild. I found box a load of old models from when I was a kid, which could be used as practise models for rescribing. I'm not losing any dosh if I make them worse, and if the scribing comes out half as good as your Vulcan, it'll just the cost the price of new decals.

Another panel to add to the rear. Switches made with fusewire drilled through with CA applied at the back. I'm hoping I can pick out all these small decals with a bit of dry brushing enamel over an acrylic black varnished finish.

I opened these up on my single seat 1/48 Revell. I did mine differently, and just sanded away from the back without filing in between the openings. I would of thought that some really nasty gloopy CA glue that goes stringy might be one way of fixing this, making the glue strands join across by dripping vertically down to meet like stalagtites (someone will pick me up on usage of the word stalagtites). Put plenty of masking around this on the fuselage incase any glue runs off. Good luck with the rest of the build, there is loads of reference material for the two seat version!

Your model is looking class. Is the white cockpit frame a decal like the MDC? The line gives the cockpit glass a nice sharp edge.

Erm... that'll be both then

I read your build on this, and your patience and efforts have really paid off! Great work mate.

quality workmanship there mate. I love the pit. Good luck with the rest of the build.

I've not been able to do to much this week as I have had loads on, and am probably going to be in the same boat for a couple of weeks. The cockpit shape is now finished and fits pretty snuggly into the fuselage. I have made a small start on the panels, with the first panel just visible to the pilots right. I'm not sure I am happy with dash still, as I think the plasticard will be too thick too show any instrument details. This is never going to be too scale, but I hope it will be busy and a good representation of the real thing.

That's a very tidy looking heli. Does "Rupernator" do 1/48 B8V's? I am looking forward to seeing the finished article. Good luck for the rest of the build. Regards Andy

I had to redo the dashboard, as my calculations were wrong. The width is actually 20mm not 23mm. I have redone the cover for the dash board (not sure of the correct aeronautical term, someone please correct me), and cut the kit one away. There no decent reference pictures of this bit, so I have had to use some modelers license. I have also been working on the glass. The kit piece is too short and too low, so I have been adding a bit of packing, and polishing the glass. It looks nasty at the moment, so I'll post a picture when I have tidied it a bit more.

Hi mate, Nice build for your first post. I take it you're a seasoned modeller, as that is very neat work, especially the PE parts! I hope you don't mind me mentioning that it looks like you just caught a bit of brown on the green in front of the canopy on the last pic. Cheers Andy

Hi All, I have been making slow progress. The following picture shows the pit so far, my dash, the bracket I will attach this to, the PE dash, and the kit part. The kit part, has the ABRIS tactical display missing, and the PE has the ABRIS the wrong size. The overall shape on both the PE and the kit part are also wrong, so I am going to have to redo this. The shape I have used was ripped from DCS Black Shark texture maps, and scaled to size with Photo Shop. I have added a few buttons to the top left of the SHKVAL. With regards to the weapons, I have followed a fellow members suit, and done these early. The VIKHRs are ok, and only need more paint and varnish. The B-8 rocket pods are dreadful though. I got some PE parts for the back of the pods, but I only have the kit front part. I have three options; 1 use two mikes B-13's (but I have not seen a pic of a Black Shark carrying these, and they're over £10), 2 get some 1mm heat shrink, but I don't know what temp these shrink at and if the degrade over time, 3 use metal 1mm tube, which is almost like rocking horse crap, having only found this on fleabay. Sorry about my focus, but the clarity on the first pic was a fluke.

Very tidy!!!

It's the mutt nuts. Exactly how I would imagine a real KA-50 to feel like. It's especially good with head tracking. I wish I had more time to take it seriously. Also I have a fly about on Apache Air Assault.

I was going to have a little update on here, as I made the small panel for the autopilot buttons to see how feasible it was for me to do. I managed to get 5 buttons and two flick switches on to a 4mm by 2mm piece of plasticard (BTW, I have just found that the "p" has gone on my keyboard if I miss any out. I'm cutting and pasting them in as I type!!!). I left the panel on the plastic sheet and added the button's and aint until I was ready to make the final cut. Had it all painted, but when I made the final cut it flew off as a sacrifice to the vortex I must have in my room somewhere that swallows model aircraft parts. Other than that I have managed to find a software tool to extract the cockpit textures from the game into files readable by GIMP (shift and P works). This will serve as a decent template for the switches and dials etc. Cheers Andy