Pappy Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) G'day people, The Kittyhawk (KH) arrived in the mail and I could not help myself so I started to put bits together straight away. Naturally enough, construction begins with the cockpit so I decided to start on the engines instead. In fact, due to the modular mature of this kit, I will be jumping around around a bit sequence wise. This is where the first mistake of the kit is evident. KH provide two complete engines, however, the left and right engines are depicted as mirror images. This is incorrect as in reality, both engines have the same orientation with respect to the various sub assemblies. This means that the left engine is correct however the right hand engine is completely wrong. Taking the line of least resistance, I have decided to close the right hand engine panels and only have the left (correct) engine on display. I did however assemble the right engine and its bay and installed these into the right fuselage as I thought this would help align the rear shrouded exhaust part as well as stiffen up the fuselage half which otherwise has a rather large opening allowing it to flex Although the bay fits well, I wanted to make sure it did not come adrift so some extra styrene was added to beef up the structure. The left engine halves were now assembled Before I could assemble the left engine bay, there were some annoying ejector pin marks to deal with. The majority of the ejector pin marks are situated in places that are not visible when assembled, but a few will need to be dealt with. Meanwhile, the exhaust fairing was assembled. It went together without any fit issues Still on the engines, the last job was to clean up the ejector pin marks inside the air intake parts Well, that's all for now, cheers, Pappy Edited March 15, 2015 by Pappy 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRIM REAPER Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Really nice! I'm in the middle of putting together the new F-86D and I find that the ejector pin marks are really bad on this kit. There's a half round rod of plastic on just about every single one of them. I'm really interested to see how this kit goes together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David W Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Nice start, I really want this kit when it arrives in the UK so I'll be watching your progress & taking notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somnas Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I will definitely build this kit so I appreciate your detailed descriptions and work very much! Will be following this one for sure. /Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngstROM Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Although I'm not much on helos, I think I'll have to get one of these! Nice work so far, Sir, and good catch on the engine thing too. Apologies if you've already seen this, but there is a quite useful build thread on Z-5 that outlines some other details/issues and has a couple of pics: http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=28926 Also Flying Leathernecks' 'teaser' for a forthcoming product: http://www.zone-five.net/showthread.php?t=28866 Hmm, a bit OTT for my taste, but there may be some nice options if the HMLAT schemes in the kit don't set your trousers on fire... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark 64 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 here we go ...finally a step by step build on this kit. Watching this. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUSTON Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Hello pappy, NEAT start,,, Good work.... best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Thanks everyone for your interest. Angstrom, I didn't know about those, but I think I will opt for a more anonymous working chopper. I have been following 'intruder 500' 's work over at Z5, but I didn't want to post a competing thread.The work on the donk continues.The KH engine is quite nicely detailed straight from the box but I wanted a 'busier' looking donk. The KH engine bay, the engine core consists of 4 assemblies;The bay itself which is already assembled, the engine core, a particle air separator and an plumbing line of some sort. The engine core was detailed with the addition of some bits of wire and leftover PE. My philosophy is not to replicate every nut and wire, but to give an impression of the details (based upon references) whilst not going overboard.Everything was now given a basic colour coatDetail painting ensued and I ended up with this:cheers,Pappy 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somnas Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Aah, looking very good and promising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 (edited) G'day people, A little more progress today. Having completed the left engine, the engine assembly was installed into its bay and some additional wiring was added to busy up the engine bay, Satisfied, the left engine bay assembly was installed into the left fuselage The lower engine access panels double as work platforms on the real jet, and they feature a small box like structure which is missing from the kit parts. I knocked up a representation using some plastic card Meanwhile the engine air intakes have been fitted [/url] cheers, Pappy Edited March 16, 2015 by Pappy 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caution Wake Turbulence Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 That engine sure looks the part! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Shumsky Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Yup, that engine is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rémi Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 A superb engine paint ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somnas Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Great work on the engine and the intakes look as they fit well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngstROM Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Thanks everyone for your interest. Angstrom, I didn't know about those, but I think I will opt for a more anonymous working chopper. My thoughts also -I'd like to see what else FL will be offering on the sheet though. My kit is now on its way, so this thread is stoking my enthusiasm with 100% Proof inspiration! That engine looks the very business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted March 16, 2015 Share Posted March 16, 2015 Fantastic job on the engine, looks great. Will be following this one as iI plan to start mine once cleared my ongoing builds, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 16, 2015 Author Share Posted March 16, 2015 Thank you everyone. More progress. I have begun to assemble the cockpit. The heart of the assembly is the tub to which the various bits are added. The tub is blemish free, however the seats have ejector pin marks which I dealt with. To be honest, these would be very difficult to see but I fixed them all the same. The cockpit sidewalls also have a couple of ejector pin marks which were easily dealt with using a sanding stick. There are also a couple of armor panels which have a nasty ejector pin mark on one side. These are very visible through the large cockpit glazing so it pays to do a good job on these. Once these items were cleaned up, assembly was very rapid, Everything dry fitted to ensure there will be no problems. In another on-line build, the builder was able to install most of the cockpit items after the tub was installed to allow for ease of handling and masking, but I will be completing the tub before installing it. I will however leave off the collective levers as these are just begging to be snapped off and offered to the carpet monster! KH also provides detailed forward left and right equipment bays. This is where the next major error in the kit surfaces. KH provides an assortment of avionics boxes for these bays. Once again, the left and right bays are mirror images of each other - which is wrong. The bays are in fact one complete bay with access doors on each side, rather than two separate compartments as depicted by KH. I can live with the separate compartments, and you could either have only one only one door open or close both doors and this problem goes away. However, a further issue is that the right equipment bay is where the 20mm ammunition magazine for the M-197 gun is located. As already mentioned, KH provide avionics boxes for the right hand side and a moulded feature in the middle of the floor. The box like structure was removed. I decided that i would scratch up an ammo magazine for the right side using reference pictures (based upon the AH-1W which is very similar apparently) and some guesstimation! The left hand bay does have avionics boxes present but it seems that KH based their research on the AH-1W because the contents aren't quite kosher here either. I cut up and re-arranged what they provided to more resemble my refs. I also needed to scratch up a fire extinguisher (firex) and a battery. The firex is just dropped in, it will be mounted to the upper right corner when the time comes. cheers, Pappy 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 G'day people, I spent some time painting the cockpit today. The equipment bay components also got a splash of paint The right hand bay items dry fitted and with the seats added Finally, the firex painted and for a size comparison cheers, Pappy 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somnas Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I must say there's some blitzing building speed on display here, especially considering all the extras scratched and added. It all looks very good! Is the seat harness included in the kit? /Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dergrunepunkt Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Lovely build! specially those add-ons you made, I like Cobras a lot, in fact I have stashed two of the old monogram kits, which I must say age really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I must say there's some blitzing building speed on display here, especially considering all the extras scratched and added. It all looks very good! Is the seat harness included in the kit? /Erik http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234975145-ah-1z-viper-148/ Well, moving along, the major assemblies are starting to come together now. The fuselage has been closed up and the tail boom added. No major fit issues there. The boom parts fit very well with hardly any filler required. The forward fuselage however was a different story, especially the seam along the belly. I think the issue is that the two halves are joining across a flat surface. I is not going to be a major issue, but compared to the rest of the kit, it is the only part that has really need filler so far. The shrouded exhaust unit was also added.I have read in other online builds that this has been problematic but I had no issues. I did test fit before gluing and found that a quick swipe with a file around the rear engine bay firewall helped the fit. The 20mm gun ammo drum was also installed after painting KH would have you install a blanking plate behind the gun turret to close off a void I left this part out. It will need to be blended into the front fuselage with filler as there are big gaps at the edges. The gun turret completely blocks this opening so adding the part would be a wast of time anyway. I can also use the opening to add nose weight, adjusting until I get enough to prevent a tail sitter. While all that was drying, I began work on the next area that needs attention - the gun turret. KH have moulded the bottom of the turret solid, but in reality, the bottom is open and the gun mechanism is visible. First up, join the turret parts, then mark out the material for removal. Next up, remove offending material, The KH gun barrels are very nice, commendably thin in fact, however the barrel clamps are way over scale. So I decided to use an aftermarket brass item. Here it is all assembled cheers, Pappy Edited March 18, 2015 by Pappy 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somnas Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Fantastic. Good point about the plate behind the turret, will keep that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngstROM Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Also a good point about the bottomless turret! Anyone know if there are any photos of the breach inside on the net? Managed to find this, which gives a tantalising hint: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/AH-1Z_lands_on_USS_Makin_Island_LHD-8.jpg Or maybe I'll have to (*shock, horror*!!!) buy a reference book... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Av8fan Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) Do these help at all? http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/michael_block/ah-1w/images/ah-1w_08_of_24.jpg http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/michael_block/ah-1w/images/ah-1w_09_of_24.jpg M197 Automatic Gun http://www.aircav.com/cobra/m197.html Edit: Apologies to Pappy. Hope that you do not mind the inclusion of these photos. Fantastic work on this build. Edited March 18, 2015 by Av8fan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn M Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 (edited) I ran into the same issue on my Whisky build, the turret was molded solid and had to be opened. From a few books and massive 'googling I came up with a 'decent representation' from my spares bin. Scroll down for the gun pics of my build: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shawnmanny/sets/72157626246224729/ Edited March 18, 2015 by Shawn M 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now