Bell AH-1G cobra

[S5 modeller]

Evening chaps.

Finally managed to work up enough enthusiasm to do some more on my cobra.

Built up the rocket pods and the stub wings off this fret. This fret, although it doesn't show up in this picture well, is a different colour and type of plastic to the rest of the kit. It shows on scalemates that this kit had new parts added in the 90's, so I presume these are them.

The difference in the plastics is more evident in this photo.

Rocket pods assembled, ready for some clean up, before paint. It's going to be fun trying to paint the details in each end.

Got some primer on the cockpit. The instructions say to paint it squirrel grey ( whatever colour that is). It doesn't exist any more, so as it's basically a light grey, I'm leaving it in primer.

Started some detail painting, just using tamiya rubber black, and buff for the straps at the rear.

Don't know if it was a wise decision, or not, but I've glued the stub wings to the fuselage halves. It might come back to haunt me later though, only time will tell.

Got the instrument panels and cowling sprayed matt black. Don't know if I should try to dry brush them, to bring out the detail, or use the decals.

The decals look ok, but a little plain.

Last pictures, I promise.

Gearbox and lycoming engine assembled, ready for clean up.

Rather nasty seam along the exhaust to deal with. Mind you, most of it will be hidden, unless I decide to leave the engine access panel off. This is supplied as a separate part, but it might be better if I close it up.

Well that's it for now.

Please let me know if you think I should dry brush the instrument panels, or use the decals.

Matt

[Nigel Heath]

Nice detail painting Matt. Given the scale of this I think the instruments would look better painted. If you have the means could you cut or punch out individual dial faces from the decals and apply them separately? A combination of decals and painting might be a good solution. Plus I assume the real instruments have a bit of colour which the B & W decals sadly don't capture. You could also consider getting a set of the excellent Mike Grant cockpit decals such as here. My 1/72 sheet sees constant use and if you plan to build more 1/32 aircraft could be a good investment.

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for the tips Nigel, I have tried to paint the instruments but it didn't go well. Can't afford to splash out on the decals at the moment though.

Looking at the progress of the builds at the moment, I've been spurred into action.

Fitted the side panel decals. They're a bit shiny at the moment, I think I will put some matt varnish on them.

Started working on the seats, finally, glued some 0.030" plasticard to the back.

Beefed-up the backrest, as I thought they were a bit thin. Going to add the armour plating to this.

Whilst that was setting, started working the rotor head.

Nice to see revell have thought about ejector pin locations. They seem to have decided the best place for them is on the top side of the rotor head. Even putting them on the faces the blades mount on to.

Strangely, the near invisible underside is clear, go figure.

Had fun removing the blades from the sprue. Some massive attachment points.

Carefully cut them off with the razor saw.

There were some poorly defined hex nuts moulded on, so I removed them, and replaced them with hex rod.

Fitted the gearbox to the mounting feame, and painted it with AK true metal dark aluminium. Doesn't look very dark to me.

Started fitting the rotor shaft and assorted gubbins.

The revell mad mould maker strikes again. Don't know how they expect you to get the parts to sit flat, with ejector marks like this.

I've test fit the cockpit and canopy again (this is why I'm not making much progress, I keep jumping from sub assembly to sub assembly)

Looks ok, from a distance.

But close up, oh dear, not so good.

Nice big gap at the back!

Mind you, if you push it back, it isn't too bad.

BUT, and it's a big but, you then end up with this massive gap at the front!

Edited September 4, 2016 by S5 modeller

[milktrip]

Glad to see you're progressing Matt. Like the hex nuts you've added.

Thinking about the canopy, it may be easier to fit a shim in the front section (less of a curve).

[Nigel Heath]

Beefed-up the backrest, as I thought they were a bit thin.

Completely agree, your fix looks much better. Like milktrip I also like those hex nuts on the the blades, they look really good and I find them most impressive.

I have tried to paint the instruments but it didn't go well.

They look pretty good to me.

I reckon that canopy can be sorted with some tinted filler. Good luck with it. What are your thought on this kit overall? There seem to be quite a few problems that go with it.

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for the comments Nigel and Aaron. My build can't hold a candle to your impressive workmanship.

I'm not sure how well shimming the front of the canopy will work, as the front instrument panel fits up to it. I'll have to refit the cockpit into the fuselage to see. The tinted filler might work better.

I'll be sure to update you on my tribulations.

The hex nuts were a pain to do. I couldn't get a straight cut through the rod, so made them too tall, then sanded them down to size. Might add a couple more above where the pitch (?) rods attach.

In your hands Nigel this kit could turn into a thing of wonder, but I'm just trying my best to muddle through to the end. Perhapse if I had more experience I could make a better job of it.

Talking of the canopy, it's a bit on the thick side, and has a nasty scratch on one side, plus wgat looks like some ejector marks on it. It also has some distortion to it, and some of the framework is missing.

This last picture shows the distortion pretty well. Optically it's rather poor.

What do you guys think I could do to improve it?

Edited September 4, 2016 by S5 modeller

[S5 modeller]

Morning chaps.

Another, small, update for you.

They're like a bus, you wait ages for one then loads turn up at the same time.

Work has continued on the gear box. Got the pitch rods(?) attached and the platey things too. Sorry I didn't know the technobabble for them.

The assembly looks a bit wonky, but the rotor shaft passes through and sits square and true. Most of this won't be seen in any case. You may notice the aluminium paint is missing in places, well it ended up all over my fingers. It had been left to dry for 48 hours, but rubbed off with handling. I'll give it another go over when the glue has set.

Got the rear armour plating fitted to the front seat. Not sure if it looks right though. There are still some side plates to add yet.

Started on the weapons turret too.

This is the grenade launcher that sits next to the mini gun. Fairly poor show.

Chopped the barrel off with the intention of fitting some aluminium tube I have. It's the same diameter as the kit bit, 1.5mm. Started with a 1mm pilot hole.

Broke out my handy 1.5mm hex shank drill, to enlarge the hole, but promptly dropped the part as I started to drill. I've searched my work are, but it would seem the carpet monster has dined upon it.

Need to make a replacement now.

All this was done this morning between 1:30am and 3:00am. Gave up then as my eyes were giving out.

Matt

Edited September 6, 2016 by S5 modeller

[Nigel Heath]

platey thing = swash plate

[S5 modeller]

Thanks for that Nigel, I feel slightly less stoopid today now.

[milktrip]

Gearbox is looking good. Early morning modelling eh? Not so long ago I would love to spend all my time making kits. However, after the 24 hour blitz build I actually felt sick of modelling. That only last a few hours mind you and I was back on it later the same day...

Hope you find the part. I find that objects that fall from the workbench seem to ignore the laws of physics so worth checking in the next room, it might turn up there.

[S5 modeller]

Thanks Aaron.

The part is totally awol,so I've had to make a new one.

Knocked this up in my break at work, working in a factory has it's advantages, just a piece of scrap steel turned down to the correct diameter and drilled for the centre pin. Drilled a 1.5mm hole to accept some aluminium tubing.

Luckily I had some tube that was the right size.

Painted the gun barrel with ak gunmetal.

This us how they both look fitted to the turret. They're not glued in yet, as i am going to paint them up first. Think I need to paint the turret red, as there's a sharks mouth decal to go over it, and I don't know if it covers the whole thing.

Gave the engine a base coat of aluminium, and painted the swash plate ( thanks Nigel) gunmetal, just for a bit of difference in colours.

That's it, for now, just on a fag break then back to it.

Happy modelling.

Matt

[Nigel Heath]

The new gun you made looks great, very professional looking.

[exdraken]

Wow,nice update! A mini minigun!

[S5 modeller]

Thanks chaps.

Got the cockpit 90% finished. Just need to finish the seats now.

I just used the kit decals in the end. I placed them over the raised details on the instrument panels, and they've snuggled down nicely over the raised details using micro sol /set.

Sprayed the inside of the fuselage with the same humbrol primer, so it matcges the cockpit colour.

Fitted the engine and gearbox onto the cradle, and gluedit into the fuselage.

I've also cleaned the primer away from the bottom of the fuselage, as I'm going to glue in some tabs. Hopefully this will eliminate the step in the bottom seam.

[milktrip]

Great progress Matt,

Good idea with the tabs. Loving the grenade launcher, well rescued

[S5 modeller]

Morning chaps.

Went to bed late last night,and was paid a visit by the modelling faries!

We have a cobra!

Wasn't an easy birth, as you can see. On the surface it looks good.

But in close up, oh dear.

The tabs improved the fit along the bottom, it's 100% better than before.

Think I'm going to loose the raised rivets along the bottom of the tail boom.

She's a big old bird 17" long!

Time to break out the big guns!

Edited September 11, 2016 by S5 modeller

[Nigel Heath]

Well done on getting the fuselage closed up. Plenty of filler required there by the looks of it. If you lose any raised rivet detail how about replacing them with Archer rivet decals?

[S5 modeller]

Well done on getting the fuselage closed up. Plenty of filler required there by the looks of it. If you lose any raised rivet detail how about replacing them with Archer rivet decals?

It's a thought Nigel.

Ding ding, round one

And after a rough sanding.....

Just gone over it again with the filler, in anticipation of round 2.

[exdraken]

ncie!

I especially like the fairy who provided your main background

Edited September 11, 2016 by exdraken

[Colin W]

I remember these when I were a lad, it was early 1970's and only Revell did 1/32 planes.

Looking good but I dont know how can you work on that bench? I thought mine was a mess but I might print the pictures of yours and show Mrs C.

Colin

[S5 modeller]

Thanks guys.

Try as I might, I do start with a tidy bench, but after a while it ends up like that. Must be something in my nature.

Matt

[S5 modeller]

I'm back again chaps. 

Not got too much done to be honest. 

I keep picking it up, have a sand at it, then put it down again.

 

 

Managed to add the armour plating to the seats now, I think it's much better than the kit parts alone. Not perfect mind you, but it'll do.

 

I've decided to permanently attach the engine panel, as the fit was so poor I couldn't leave it loose. You can see how bad the fit was by the amount of filler I've used so far.

 

 

 

Had to build up the top of the cover too, was considerably lower that the rest of the kit.

I'm trying to blend it all in, and may need to rescribe some panel lines. Want to get some primer on, to see how bad my filler work is, but I don't want to attach the cockpit canopy. It's too thick and distorted. I found out last night that werner wings do a vac form replacement, and I've contacted them. Just waiting for a reply, to find out how much postage is.

 

Hope to get more work done soon. 

 

Matt

[S5 modeller]

Hello again.

Small update for today, not much but some progress. 

 

 

Primed the rocket pods and masked the ends up, ready for a coat of olive drab. 

They're sprayed up, and currently drying. 

The turret has a sharks mouth decal to go on, so I've sprayed it red, in case the decal is a bit transparent. 

 

That's all for today I'm affraid.

Roll on payday, so I can order a vac formed canopy.

 

Matt

[S5 modeller]

Afternoon.

Managed to score some time at the bench today. Work, and other things, have severely curtailed my modelling time.

Today I have mostly been masking the canopy.

 

 

 

Mainly followed the, soft,moulded in framework. Some of it was rather indistinct and at the rear,and along the lower edges,was non existant. Had to improvise on some of it. 

Not sure if I should fill in the voids with wider tape,liquid mask or try copydex. 

 

 

I've also had to build up the fuselage around the cockpit, as the canopy was a very poor fit. Needed to build out the front, by the forward instrument panel as the transparency was way too short. Then found it sat too low,so had to build the sides up too. Going to leave it overnight for the glue to fully harden, then I can sand it all flush to the fuselage sides.

 

That's all for now, sorry it's a poor update.

Hope to get more done soon. 

 

Matt

[Nigel Heath]

Very neat masking on the canopy. I would fill in the rest with tape, liquid masking has a habit of wearing away. I would only use liquid masking on a very curved compound shape.