1/72 Hobby Boss CH-46E/F SeaKnight in a Japanese Scheme

[Nigel Heath]

Hi Folks, here is my entry for this GB:

 

 

I had the Airfix kit in my stash but that is significantly showing its age so have recently purchased this from Hannants. It looks pretty nice with fine engraved panel lines and some nice detailing, there are two grey sprues:

 

 

 

The kit is well packaged, the two clear sprues come in their own plastic bag:

 

 

 

Shame about the moulded in wipers.

 

Similarly the decals are well protected with a taped on piece of tissue:

 

 

 

I won't be using most of them however as like modelling minion I have the Print Scale sheet and will be going with the Japanese scheme to tie in with my previous JSDF Flying Banana and UH-1 builds (also included in a STGB):

 

 

Unfortunately, following the sale of my house in Aberdeen and move down to Dorset they are now in a storage container in Huntly, Aberdeenshire so I have purchased another set. I have also put on order a set of vinyl masking for the glazing from Kitlinx in the USA.

 

Here are the instructions:

 

 

It all looks pretty straight forward:

 

 

Sadly they are completely bereft of any colour guidance on the interior so will have to rely on reference material for that, there are however plenty of walkarounds for this type so that should not be a problem.

 

Useful sprue plans:

 

 

 

The exterior paint schemes come on a separate sheet:

 

 

Going from the yellowing on that, it looks to me that this has been in storage at Hannants since the kit's release back in 2007.

 

I took those shots last night and have been building for most of today so will post an update of progress to date later on.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[modelling minion]

Great choice of scheme Nigel  .

Very interested to see how the Hobby Boss kit goes together compared to the Fujimi kit.

Looks like I'm slow off the blocks so will have to come off the computer and remedy that!

[Pete in Lincs]

OOH!, a Nigey build. Good to have you back amongst us mere mortals.

I do like a Japanese Hellychopter. Maybe it comes from watching all those Godzilla films?

I wonder what metallurgical machinations will occur on this build?

Looks like I can bag a seat in the front row.

Pete

[Nigel Heath]

After cutting out and cleaning up the main floor I came across a good picture of the lower cabin door so had a look at that:

 

 

The steps are at an odd angle to the main profile of the door but this is quite correct:

 

 

Quite a bit of detail is missing which will have to be sorted out as well as filling those nasty ejector marks.

 

The first job was to cut off the mounting tab which I'm sure can be managed without and does not exist on the real thing:

 

 

Next I had a look at the cabin / cockpit bulkhead. The step height on each of the parts is the same:

 

 

In reality the cockpit floor is considerably higher than the top of the cabin step with a little ramp between them:

 

 

I guess the implication of this is that the cockpit floor is too low, I will have to investigate. Note also how the centre console extends right to the apex of the ramp with a little triangular box thing on the ramp itself.

 

My solution to the different height issue was to file as much as I dared from the cabin step, starting the job with quite a coarse square file:

 

 

Here is that job finished with the height now well under 1mm:

 

 

My reckoning was that even with a card ramp added there would be slight gaps between it and the walls of the corridor so I measured up the wall thickness which turned out to be 1mm at its thickest point:

 

 

With this information I cut out and installed some 1mm square strip to the bottom edges of the walls:

 

 

They will need tidying up with some filler once the glue has fully hardened up.

 

Well, that's as far as I've got today but hope to crack on tomorrow with more.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[stevej60]

Good start Nigel,What are your thought's on the cockpit glazing ?Having build a few HB helicopter's and being very impressed I was suprised by the lack

of framing.

[AMB]

Which Japanese scheme?  A JGSDF green scheme or a nice JASDF rescue yellow, white and dayglo scheme?

[Nigel Heath]

Quote

What are your thought's on the cockpit glazing? I was surprised by the lack of framing.

 

Your comment got me scuttling across to have a closer look at the glazing. There is framing there but it is quite soft and indistinct. I have ordered a vinyl masking set which, even though it's for a different kit, should help out.

 

Quote

Which Japanese scheme?  A JGSDF green scheme or a nice JASDF rescue yellow, white and dayglo scheme?

 

It's the same as the one modelling minion is doing, so this one:

 

 

Nice and colourful.

[stevej60]

Ditto the Airfix kit Nigel,added air bubbles plus molded tab's  which must have been a change for the snap fit idea!

[wimbledon99]

Are the steps an optical illusion?

 

I know they look wonky but is it due to the angle of the fuselage when landed and that they are actually parallel to the tarmac?

 

 

[Nigel Heath]

The treads of the steps are parallel to the tarmac with the door squared against the general lines of the fuselage which is at an angle to the ground. Here's another view which shows it perhaps more clearly:

[CedB]

A Nigel build? You’ve been missed! I’m in, of course  

[Nigel Heath]

Apologies for my lack of BM activity of late, it's not for lack of mojo, I just seem to have had other things to do. I will definately be focused on this build, I am thinking of taking a couple of occasional weeks off work as special modelling holidays to make good progress.

[Winnie]

Caution on the drawings!! They show the Rotors both going the same way, this would be quite disastrous... The front should be counter clockwise, the rear clockwise, from above. It shows wrong on both the build instructions and also the paint diagram...

[CliffB]

Welcome back Nigel.  It already looks as though this build is going to be something rather special!

[modelling minion]

Nice to see that you are already putting as much effort and detail into your build as usual Nigel, puts those of us happy to build OOTB to shame.

[Antoine]

First many thanks for the references pics.

I'm starting from 0 with the Phrog, so I'll steal everything useful in the different build reports in this section.

And without any afterthoughts!

 

Got to get my own thread going, or I'll be late once again!

[milktrip]

great start , Nigel. I’ve had a similar absence from forums recently. Glad to see you’re back 

 

what do you think of the star shapes on the cockpit bulkhead?!? I think they are an attempt of Hobbyboss to replicate creased fabric / insulation that appears on the Fujimi kit... they shouldn’t have bothered 😂

[Nigel Heath]

 

Quote

The front should be counter clockwise, the rear clockwise, from above. It shows wrong on both the build instructions and also the paint diagram...

 

Good spot Winnie, I hadn't noticed that although hopefully I would have.

 

Quote

What do you think of the star shapes on the cockpit bulkhead?!? I think they are an attempt of Hobbyboss to replicate creased fabric / insulation that appears on the Fujimi kit... they shouldn’t have bothered 

 

I think you are right Aaron, they look pretty unrealistic to me. I have struggled to find any photos showing what it should actually look like and the forward facing part of the cockpit in general.

 

Another gripe I have is those bench seats in the cabin. I think they are a fiction made up by Hobby Boss, I have never seen bench seats like that in a military helicopter. All the references I have found show foldable tube and canvas seats which is of course the norm for these types. Permanent, non-foldable bench seats would significantly restrict cargo space:

 

 

I see scratch built cabin seating in my future.

[milktrip]

To be fair I think the seats on the real

thing are quite bench like. But the kit parts could certainly use some “Nigelising”

[Nigel Heath]

Here is what the seats should look like:

 

http://www.grubbyfingersshop.com/walkaround_galleries/boeing_vertol_ch-46_sea_knight_walkaround_150954_midway_2010/content/index_4.html

 

&

 

 

So nothing like the kit parts. Note that the legs actually impinge on the cargo tracking so would prevent large cargo items being carried along with personnel.

 

[Nigel Heath]

Although photo references are a bit sparse I think I have worked out why the ramp angle would be too shallow as it stands. There is a raised area of the cockpit floor at the entrance to the cockpit. This is one of the best pictures I could find of this:

 

 

Using some 1mm card left over from my Dalek build I cut this out:

 

 

Some of it is a bit of guesswork, but hopefully educated and not too far from the real thing. As it blocks off the cyclic mounting hole I marked its position using the tip of my dividers.

 

Here it is installed with the seats placed in position:

 

 

The next thing in my sights was this equipment box in the corridor:

 

 

First I made a dimensioned sketch of what was required:

 

 

While I was making sketches I also made a start on one for the missing rudder pedals:

 

 

Again using some Dalek scrap I cut out the required rectangle of 1.5mm material. Then using my hand vice as a cutting guide made a saw cut for the recessed controls area:

 

 

The recess was then finished off with square and triangular files:

 

 

For the control panel I had looked out a suitable piece of PE from my spares box:

 

 

I then filed a rebate all round the controls area and then glued on some 1.5mm strip:

 

 

With the surround finished I added the PE, it was such a tight fit no glue was required:

 

 

I still have to add the swaged cruciform panel to it but that's now a job for next weekend.

 

Bye for now,

 

Nigel

[modelling minion]

More excellent work Nigel.

Your attention to detail never ceases to amaze me.

You're right about the cockpit pictures, I've been trying to find some of the rear wall of the cockpit myself but with no luck.

[azureglo]

Oy, I hope you cleaned those parts thoroughly, I may have given them an additional fondle while you were having a cigar... On a more useful note, if you need canopy masks, trace over some tamiya tape on the transparencies and mail them to me: I have a cricut air 2 which seems to cut good accurate masks (subject to me doing the artwork properly)

 

Plus some recipes involving oriental spiced/seasoned beef would be appreciated...

 

Cheers

 

Anil

[Nigel Heath]

Quote

On a more useful note, if you need canopy masks, trace over some tamiya tape on the transparencies and mail them to me: I have a cricut air 2 which seems to cut good accurate masks (subject to me doing the artwork properly)

 

Thanks for the offer, I have a set of vinyl masks on order (not for this make of kit though) so hopefully I will be OK.

 

Quote

Plus some recipes involving oriental spiced/seasoned beef would be appreciated...

 

I  could offer you recipes for beef Madras or Thai style beef curry. Both of which I have cooked and awarded 10/10. How does one of them sound?

[Nigel Heath]

OK, I have done a bit more tonight (doing this is much better than watching what's on the telly). Followings Aaron's comments I started to fill the frankly ludicrous "Christmas Stars" on the cockpit bulkhead: 

 

 

What were they thinking??

 

Next for the cruciform panel I sought out some thin brass shim from my spares box:

 

 

After flattening it out a bit I cut out a blank using my mini tin snips:

 

 

After some dressing I had a blank I could work with:

 

 

After a few trial runs I found that an ordinary ball point pen gave the embossed swaging effect I was looking for:

 

 

I had tought I would have to remove some material from behind the swages but in the end this proved unnecessary, here it is glued in place:

 

 

My that was a lot of fun, I am really enjoying this build - thanks to modelling minion for getting it going.

 

Bye for now ,

 

Nigel