Snow Cobra

[modelling minion]

Excellent stuff. You're setting the benchmark high for this GB!

I like the way you have fitted the PE mesh into the grill. Very tidy.

Colin

Thanks Colin much appreciated. Getting the mesh into place was a bit fiddly to say the least but it does make a difference to the look of the model.

I like your work on your RNZAF UH-1, especially the stretcher and winch. I like your choice of colour scheme too, very nice indeed!

[modelling minion]

hi Craig,

I need training on the 'hot end' stuff then please. Looks great

Andy (600 kits priced for Telford and counting)

I'm sure we can sort out some training for you, just need to find a club meeting that we are both able to attend!

Interested to see if there are any goodies amongst the 600 kits, you know me can't help myself!

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Believe me I have tried after seeing your builds this last year but I always seem to make cockpits look 500 years old when I dry brush things, nothing like your efforts. In an attempt to try and learn how you do it, which paint do you use and also I guess you use a really fine brush? Just looks awesome Craig, set the benchmark for this one already, no pressure

David I am in awe of how you get your 1/72 cockpits to look, especially the scratch built details you add.

I find the best brush to use for dry-brushing is a small, flat ended relatively stiff brush with very little paint on it at all. Any extra colour such as red on dials etc is added with a very fine brush.

Oh and thanks for the pressure!

[mirageiv]

David I am in awe of how you get your 1/72 cockpits to look, especially the scratch built details you add.

I find the best brush to use for dry-brushing is a small, flat ended relatively stiff brush with very little paint on it at all. Any extra colour such as red on dials etc is added with a very fine brush.

Oh and thanks for the pressure!

ha if you only could see how little I actually know about what I'm doing ! Do you use enamels or acrylics for it? I've tried both but the former seems to be easier where as the acrylics (Tamiya and Gunze I've used so far) don't really deposit a fine colour gradient, more a solid colour if you get what I mean. Basically do you have an exact paint brand you use? Will certainly give a try of whatever you recommend. I'll stop asking stupid thread drifting questions now!

[modelling minion]

David your questions are not stupid at all, the best way to find out how to do something is to ask questions until you are sure (I ask no end at work!).

I use acrylics for all my painting and find that amongst the best are Revell's aqua colour range, their light greys and beige are very useful. You just have to remember to use the brush with virtually no paint on it at all.

[mirageiv]

Thanks very much for the help Craig, I've been meaning to to try the Revell Aqua range for a while so here is another reason to try them out!

[heloman1]

Hi MM, looking good, that old Monogram kit wasn't half bad in it's day, crisp mouldings and a fair amount of detail. It needs revisiting if any kit manufactured out there is listening....

Looking good so far.

Colin

[modelling minion]

Thanks very much Colin, much appreciated.

Couldn't agree more regarding the Monogram kit and the Cobra in general, it really is about time we had some new kits of AH-1's especially the earlier versions from G through to J.

Anyway just to prove that I haven't just been surfing the net for references or looking in on other peoples excellent builds (which I have been doing a lot) here is an update on my progress so far.

The two halves of the fuselage have been joined together and they fitted quite well considering the age of the kit, yes there was some filler required but there always is on my builds! After some tidying up this is how it looked.

The kit comes with an AN/ALQ-144 infra red jammer moulded on the top of the engine housing, as you can see in the picture below.

Now for some reason the Japanese have removed them from their aircraft so I have had to remove mine as well. It came off quite easily after going around it with a sharp scalpel blade a few times. For some reason I have forgotten to take a picture of it after modification but I will include one later, the resultant hole was covered with some thin acetate sheet shaped to fit.

Whilst we are covering the rear engine area there is a nasty seam running down the length of the inside of the exhaust as you can see below.

The end of the exhaust is also quite thick. Now my choice here is to either try and fill this seam and then sand it smooth and reduce the wall thickness of the exhaust at the same time or to make a cover for the exhaust which will hide everything and also not be out of place on an aircraft operating in very cold conditions, any thoughts guys?

The front of the fuselage went together well and looks like this with the cockpit installed.

Now you may or may not have noticed from the picture of the real aircraft but for operations in the snow the JGSDF fit some snow shoes to the skids of their helicopters with the Cobra being no exception. These are not of local origin but are actually designed by Bell and supplied to operators who request them, I don't think they sold many to Jordan and Bahrain but I imagine the US Army had some for use in Alaska etc. These have been made using the same thin acetate sheet that I used to fix the hole where the IR jammer used to go but this time I remembered to take pictures! Here is an overall shot of the landing gear with the snow shoes in place.

The straps have been made by using thin strips of adhesive aluminium foil to replicate the straps which hold the real things in place, here is a closer picture.

Now that the landing gear has been completed I can attach it to the lower fuselage, which is the plan for this evening. After that I can get on with fitting the stub wings and then the extensive glazing. I'm also giving consideration to opening up the gunners entry hatch (the front half of the cockpit glazing on the port side) but have not made my mind up yet.

Well that is it for today. Thanks for looking in and all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

Craig.

[heloman1]

MM, love the skid work, as you say lots of holes in the Cobra family. Especially the Sea Cobra. The old Fujimi kits, just don't cut it. If it had been Bf 109's we'd have had the lot.

Colin

[mirageiv]

Excellent work Craig, I love the building of the snow skids, really adds some nice extra interest and they also look bang on! For the exhaust, if you didn't want to fit the cover (which would be nice too imho, a plus if it hides something undesirable) if it were me, I would try to thin out the rear first then roll a very thin bit of plasticard inside with the join seam on the (unseen) upper part, hopefully then it will be a nice smooth cylinder, though when it is painted a dark exhaust colour not much will be seen I guess. Just some of my thoughts to your question , look forward to it progressing and the snow scheme!

Edited August 29, 2016 by mirageiv

[modelling minion]

Thanks Colin and David, much appreciated.

David I think your idea for hiding the nasty seam sounds good and I am torn between trying it and fitting the cover, I would also add the blanks for the intakes as I think the red blanks would make a nice contrast with the winter scheme. I don't have to decide yet as there is still plenty to do before I get that far, I have fitted the skid section this evening and the fit is not the best so there will be some filling and sanding to come in that area.

Craig.

[abat]

Really nice work. As others have already said, the dry brushing in the cockpit is great. The camouflage will look great on this.

[whiskey]

So another option you could look at is actually removing the heat shroud all together. The Japanese do this a lot with the Cobra's, and I know it sounds funky, but since you are building one of their Snakes it plausible.

[milktrip]

Excellent work Craig. Liking the skids.

I like the idea of adding the blanks in the exhaust.

[Red Dot]

hi Craig,

I think you should fill the gaps inside the exhaust and not even think about taking the easy option!

Andy

[modelling minion]

Really nice work. As others have already said, the dry brushing in the cockpit is great. The camouflage will look great on this.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to the camo myself.

So another option you could look at is actually removing the heat shroud all together. The Japanese do this a lot with the Cobra's, and I know it sounds funky, but since you are building one of their Snakes it plausible.

Thanks Whiskey, that's an interesting option I will give it some thought.

Excellent work Craig. Liking the skids.

I like the idea of adding the blanks in the exhaust.

Thanks Aaron.

I like you and your sensible/labour saving suggestions.

hi Craig,

I think you should fill the gaps inside the exhaust and not even think about taking the easy option!

Andy

I don't like you Andy, please keep your silly ideas to yourself!

[Nigel Heath]

Love those skis.

[whiskey]

[modelling minion]

Love those skis.

Thanks Nigel.

Thanks Whiskey a useful photo, I have seen a few similar ones myself. At the minute it's a toss up between this option and the blanks.

Craig.

[Red Dot]

Thanks Nigel.

Thanks Whiskey a useful photo, I have seen a few similar ones myself. At the minute it's a toss up between this option and the blanks.

Craig.

Wuss!

[modelling minion]

Wuss!

Guilty as charged!

[modelling minion]

A quick update on the state of play with the Cobra.

As per usual not as much progress as I would have liked but things are slowly moving in the right direction. The skid section has been fitted to the fuselage and the fit was not the best to say the least and required some filler and gel super glue to fill a few gaps.

I have fitted one of the canopy pieces and that also has a slightly dodgy fit, which is not ideal for an aircraft with such a large area of glazing, you can see some of the areas filled with super glue in the picture below.

The area at the back of the canopy is the worst as can be seen below.

This wasn't really a surprise to me as I had exactly the same problem with another one I built as an IDF bird a few years ago, but I had hoped that the IDF one was a one off but obviously it isn't so potential builders of this kit take note that you may well have to deal with this issue yourselves. I haven't decided yet as to whether to open the gunners canopy or not as it will definitely alter the sleek look of this machine so that side of the cockpit looks like this.

I have also built up the gun which comes in around 5 parts and builds up to a nice representation of the real thing, maybe not as detailed barrels as in a metal replacement but a lot easier to assemble, here it is.

Well that's the state of play at the moment. I shall be doing some tidying up of the filler around the canopy area, deciding what to do with the TOW rails (either with or without the missiles) and adding some of the aerials and cable cutters etc.

Thanks for looking in and as usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

Craig.

[milktrip]

Looking good Craig. From the photos it looks like the areas that required filling are on the framing so should hopefully be hidden after a cover of paint?

Cheers

Aaron

[modelling minion]

Yes Aaron, fortunately the Cobra has extensive framing around the glazing so hopefully all should be okay once sanded down and painted over.

[milktrip]

I know what you mean about keeping the sleek look, but would be a shame to hide the wonderful work you did in the 'pit. However, the glazing, even if closed up, is quite large so I would imagine a lot of it will still be seen?