Whirly

Hi, I did the same a few weeks ago, no reply. Tried with the mail above too, nothing changed. Are you OK? BR Fabio

Thank you MM! Yesterday I had some free time at the bench and tackled the rudder pedals. The worst part was shaping the pedals themselves (and it shows) but the overall effect is satisfying to my eyes. I put together this "representation" of what's inside the rear pylon, after all it won't be exposed with open doors: just a big sprue and some copper and tin wire to give the right impression.

Oh, well....

Some more progress: I opened up the rear transmission cooling intake since there was a nasty join to hide anyway. Will see if and how to fill the resulting hole, more refining with needle files when the fuselage will be assembled. Anyone has a close image of what's inside the tail pylon? I found a few but all from a good distance... Added a plasticard bridge between the two cockpit bulkheads so the pilots won't loose their shoes in the hole Then I installed the front door and the side windows with Revell Contacta glue to have a strong joint without risking damages to the clear parts. I initially wondered why the upper door was transparent seeing no mention of it in the instructions, then I noticed that US CH-46s has it, another compromise due to the multi-option kit. I returned on the pilots seats because I don't like the deep groove around their edges, but the first attempt with Perfect Plastic Putty was not a great success, will see with a second application. Obviously I should have done it BEFORE applying the side rods....

Exactly the same image I based on, you preceeded me MM! That posted by Nigel is from a US Sea Knight which I believe has armoured seats, there are many details to pay attention to with the Kawasaki built machines: they are far more similar to the civil V-107 than to their american military counterpart.

I finally managed to start with a bit of assembling. The cockpit is quite well furnished but the collective levers seem quite overlong, will remedy that later. Also will try to make somthing for the pedals, they are quite prominent from the cabin windows and the kit ones are very approximate. more done behind the cockpit. I plan on painting everythig dark gray and adding only the canvas seats that can be seen through the windows, no open doors. The front seats are toylike, I removed the "sides" and will replace them with stretched sprue. The side sponsons assembled quite well, unlike the external tanks that will need much more work.

Thank you all for the welcoming words MM, you have very good eyes: I didn't even notice I was showing my secret intents If time permits I'd like to build also a Labrador in delivery colours (white/blue/dayglo) with the Belcher Bits decals, but I'm quite cautious going from past experience...

Hello, for a start I will build this fujimi box in the early gloss olive drab scheme. Cheers Fabio

Seems the Tamiya greens could the best candidates. Unfortunately I can't use weathering as an excuse as I want to do an helicopter in near pristine condition, probably this subject or a straight trooper:

Hello Fuad, the model is astonishing especially the weathered paint: would you care to comment on how you achieved such a realistic finish, which paints and other products did you use? thank you Fabio

The Heller T-6 has a much better rendition of the engine cowling compared to Academy's.

Thank you for the suggestions, though it is not so easy as adding gloss to 34087 The real colour is distinctly darker and greener than the more common matt version, hence my question.

The title says it all: gloss paint FS 14087 as used on early UH-1B or OV-1B for example. Anybody has an out of the pot suggestion, easily available in Europe? thanks a lot Fabio

Hello, I finally found time to report my findings regarding this topic. First these are the 1/144 scaled dimensions extrapolated from the drawings kindly provided by Eugenio: fuselage height is 17,6 mm and fuselage width is 19,1 mm. These are the Italeri kit measures: height 18,5 mm width 21 mm These are the F-RSIN kit measures: height 18 mm width 19 mm Just for completeness I added the old Legato resin kit: height 17,3 mm width 19 mm So, the best rendition seems to be the french short-run kit, though it's not the most buildable. The Italeri attempt is a caricature of the real airplane and now I have to find what to do with it... Happy modelling Fabio

Hello, this came up rather unexpected! I signed up a year ago for a JASDF KV-107II and confirm my partecipation. Regards Fabio