Snow Cobra

[modelling minion]

6 hours ago, exdraken said:

looks great!°

 

accurate decals... the deeper you dig the more you notice differences unfortunately... only few decal manufacturers manage to have an excellent track record in this respect... and still then....

Thanks.

Yes there are a lot of decal manufacturers who get things wrong, the most annoying thing with this sheet though is that they show photos of the real thing which clearly show what their decals should look like and they still get it wrong. Oh well I guess I will have to learn to print my own.

[Stew Dapple]

That's a very striking scheme and you've represented it very well Craig, nice work

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[Red Dot]

How did you do the black craig? I remember it was a big secret!!

[Nigel Heath]

Realy nice work and an attractive and different scheme, its coming out very well.

 

Quote

What I'm going to use once the Klear is empty I don't know.

 

I would recommend Alclad Aqua Gloss. Its better than Klear (more forgiving in application I think) and dries faster. 

 

[modelling minion]

10 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

That's a very striking scheme and you've represented it very well Craig, nice work

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Cheers Stew, much appreciated.

 

9 hours ago, Red Dot said:

How did you do the black craig? I remember it was a big secret!!

Hi Andy,

The black was done with a watercolour pencil. It gives total control and gets into all the tight spaces as well, just need to be aware that when you touch it with liquid (such as gloss varnish) it might run as it is essentially a paint.

4 hours ago, Nigel Heath said:

Realy nice work and an attractive and different scheme, its coming out very well.

 

 

I would recommend Alclad Aqua Gloss. Its better than Klear (more forgiving in application I think) and dries faster). 

 

Thanks Nigel,

I will keep an eye out for some at Telford.

[Nigel Heath]

Quote

The black was done with a watercolour pencil. It gives total control and gets into all the tight spaces as well, just need to be aware that when you touch it with liquid (such as gloss varnish) it might run as it is essentially a paint.

 

That's clever and it looks really effective. Will you be at the BM meet up at Telford?

[modelling minion]

On 10/24/2016 at 7:29 AM, Stew Dapple said:

That's a very striking scheme and you've represented it very well Craig, nice work

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

 

On 10/24/2016 at 7:56 AM, Red Dot said:

How did you do the black craig? I remember it was a big secret!!

 

On 10/24/2016 at 0:53 PM, Nigel Heath said:

Realy nice work and an attractive and different scheme, its coming out very well.

 

 

I would recommend Alclad Aqua Gloss. Its better than Klear (more forgiving in application I think) and dries faster). 

 

Quick update to show the state of play with the Cobra at the moment.

With all the painting done (including the black stripes) it's time to get a gloss coat on, this was done by applying around 3 coats of Klear using a wide flat brush which gives a very nice glossy surface prior to applying the decals. What I'm going to use once the Klear is empty I don't know.

These decals by Two Bobs are a bit of a conundrum, they are of very good quality and work very well but some of them are just plain inaccurate. The kanji script on the fuselage sides is much too big but is unfortunately all I have so I have used them. Fortunately most of the small stencils seem to be on areas of the fuselage which are painted green, which is very handy as these are the areas over painted with white, this saves a lot of time!

The picture below shows the Cobra so far.

 

You can see the black stripes quite clearly. The next picture shows the oversize script on the fuselage sides.

 

And the final shot shows the forward starboard fuselage.

[modelling minion]

Thanks Nigel,

Didn't know there was a BM meet up at Telford, definitely something I would be interested in.

Sorry about the post above, for some reason the stupid new software on here keeps making me quote everything on the page instead of just one message, so won't be quoting again.

[modelling minion]

I have made some progress but rather frustratingly Photobucket won't let me log in so that I can share it with you.

I have applied a matt coat and removed the masking from the canopy (always makes it come to life in my mind) and even added the rocket pods. The TOW launchers are finished and I have taken a couple of pictures of them, I will get them installed later.

I have even done a bit of weathering, though not as much as I would like as the Japanese keep their aircraft frustratingly clean.

I will do some work on the rotors soon and hopefully be somewhere near completion by the end of the weekend, but until Photobucket starts behaving itself you will just have to take my word for it!

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Right then as Photobucket has actually decided to play ball this morning here are the pictures from yesterday's progress.

An overall shot of how she looks at the minute.

 

A shot of the slightly weathered tail boom.

 

A close up of the cockpit area with the masking removed (looks much better) and the gunners door removed.

 

And finally a couple of shots of the TOW launchers after rework.

 

 

That's it for this morning, hopefully more tomorrow.

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

 

Craig.

[Red Dot]

nice one Craig. It looks to be on target for Telford

 

Andy

[abat]

Looking fantastic Craig. The camouflage painting is top notch. 

Andrew

[exdraken]

looking great!

 

I also like the empty TOW launchers!

[Jabba]

Wow, very impressive.

[Stew Dapple]

Very nice  

 

Removing the canopy masking is one of those modelling milestones, yours worked perfectly  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[modelling minion]

21 hours ago, Red Dot said:

nice one Craig. It looks to be on target for Telford

 

Andy

Thanks Andy,

Yes she will be there at Telford, hopefully she will be finished either today or tomorrow.

20 hours ago, abat said:

Looking fantastic Craig. The camouflage painting is top notch. 

Andrew

Thanks Andrew,

Much appreciated, I think I will look for some more temporary winter schemes as I like the look of them.

16 hours ago, exdraken said:

looking great!

 

I also like the empty TOW launchers!

Thanks,

I quite like the TOW launchers too, not perhaps as good as aftermarket but worth the effort as most Cobras you see have empty launchers.

15 hours ago, Jabba said:

Wow, very impressive.

Thanks Jabba, I'm glad you like her so far.

5 hours ago, Stew Dapple said:

Very nice  

 

Removing the canopy masking is one of those modelling milestones, yours worked perfectly  

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

Thanks Stew,

Yes removing the canopy masking is one of those defining moments on a model for me, hopefully without finding glue runs or paint underneath! All worked well this time and I'm really quite pleased with how she looks.

Hopefully there will be an update later.

 

Craig.

[mirageiv]

Lovely painting and details Craig, you've made an old kit into a very striking model, top stuff, again! 

[Knight_Flyer]

Looks even better with the canopy unmasked.  I know you said the size of the kanji characters are definitely too big but they do look okay to me.  Also just noticed the "ski's" on the landing skids that could be expected on a aircraft deployed during winter 

[modelling minion]

8 hours ago, mirageiv said:

Lovely painting and details Craig, you've made an old kit into a very striking model, top stuff, again! 

Thanks David,

For an old kit it isn't bad at all, yes there are a couple of fit issues but nothing that I haven't encountered on more modern kits. I would definitely recommend you having a go at one.

Not going to get her finished today, hopefully tomorrow.

[modelling minion]

3 hours ago, Knight_Flyer said:

Looks even better with the canopy unmasked.  I know you said the size of the kanji characters are definitely too big but they do look okay to me.  Also just noticed the "ski's" on the landing skids that could be expected on a aircraft deployed during winter 

Thanks,

Yes removing the masking makes a huge difference.

The kanji characters don't look too bad on the model but they are too big when you compare them to photos of the real thing.

The ski's make quite a difference and were actually very easy to make, I think I explained it in an earlier post but if not let me know and I'll run through it again.

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

Well I still haven't quite managed to get this one across the finish line, but I am getting closer. All I have left to do is a little bit of work on the main rotor and finishing off an exhaust blank which nicely covers up one of the worst areas of the kit, the inside of the exhaust area.

The gunners access door has been fixed in place and a small piece of brass rod added to represent the door opening mechanism, note that the warning triangle (no not an ejection seat warning as that would get very messy!) goes over part of the door and part of the fuselage as does the real thing. Here's a couple of pictures of the completed nose area.

 

 

The TOW systems have been added to the stub wings so this area of the kit is also now complete.

 

The tail rotor has also been painted and added. These are painted in an unusual khaki colour, this is the only part of the Cobra painted in this colour which makes you wonder why they use it. The tail rotor is basically just fixed onto the end of the shaft so a decent amount of super glue was used here.

 

As I say just the main rotor and exhaust cover to complete so she will definitely be completed tomorrow, so stay tuned!

 

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

 

Craig.

[modelling minion]

And finally she is finished!!

Why is it the last things always seem to take the longest to do? Anyway it's all done now and I have to say I am quite pleased with the end result, there are (as always) some bits I'm happier with than others but on the whole not a bad result.

Anyway on to the pictures.

First off here is the exhaust cover made from a piece of tissue paper and white glue.

 

And a shot showing the rotor hub with the detail picked out by some drybrushing.

 

And a closer look at the 20mm cannon.

 

A head on shot to emphasize just how thin these birds are.

 

I will post some more in the gallery. Sorry about the lighting but that's as good as it gets in England in November!

 

A big thank you to our hosts Milktrip and S5 modeller and to all of you who have looked in on my sometimes painfully slow progress. I have really enjoyed this build and it will not be my last Cobra or member of the Huey family or JGSDF model! In fact thanks to Stakor an Iranian AH-1J will appear some time next year.

As usual all comments and criticisms are gratefully received.

 

Craig.

[exdraken]

turned out fantastic, no!

 

well done and in time

 

hope to follow suite!

[modelling minion]

Thanks,

I'm sure you will make it in time, your Red Bull one is turning out great.

[Red Dot]

Cracking stuff Craig as ever with your helicopter (note i diden't say chopper!). Looking foirward to seeing it for real.

 

I shan't bother holding my breath with your other promised projects in the picture post as i know you will be busy flittering off in another direction soon, especially with Telford a couple of weeks away and being first in the kit swap queue as ever ;-). All power to you in spite of my p~~~ taking.

 

Andy