thorfinn Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 During the height of the Cold War, squadrons of sub-hunting P-3 Orions operated from the US Naval Air Station located on the former site of Kindley Air Force Base in Bermuda. Their role was to intercept and shadow Soviet ballistic-missile carrying submarines in the Atlantic and moving toward the US's east coast. In addition to sub-hunting aircraft, NAS Bermuda operated a number of HH-1N Twin Hueys as utility aircraft, and in the vital Search & Rescue roles. BuNo 158290 seems to have been among the last of these choppers, serving until the base's closure in 1995. Two online photos I found seem effectively to 'bracket' the former Marine helicopter's service with the Navy in Bermuda: one was taken during a base 'Open House' day in 1990; the other, taken in 1995, shows the bird on its way to retirement at the Davis Monthan AFB 'Boneyard.' The consistency between those two photos lends a wonderful confidence to the would-be model builder, showing a number of particular features that seemed unchanged throughout that term of service. Panda's well-known 1/35 UH-1N in its non-gunship boxing made an impressive-sized basis for the bird. The kit's cockpit detail and rear-compartment seating were adequate, but I 'dressed up' both areas slightly with added cables and fixtures. The rear cabin received belts and headsets, a scratch-built rescue hoist and assorted SAR equipment bags. The exterior got some added antennas, beacon lights and reinforcement braces for the cable cutters on the roof and underside. Particular features shown in the 'bookend' photos include the older-style 'towel rack' tail-boom aerials instead of the zigzag 'long line' VHF aerial; no mounting of the underside cargo hook; and the absence of any 'safety' markings on the all-black main- and tail-rotor tips. The kit's rather crumbly decals supplied mainly white markings, solely for dark-colored camouflage schemes. For the red and white SAR scheme, I made up the black lettering and an assortment of service stencils (along with the NAS Bermuda seals) in MS-Paint, and printed them on my faithful old HP inkjet. I did use the kit-supplied 'stars and bars' (to which I added thicker bars) and the jet intake and rescue arrows. All received a coat of Micro Decal Film before-hand, which limited...but did not entirely prevent...the cracking and flaking of the decals. A roughly 50/50 mix of Future Clear and Vallejo Matt Varnish sealed those troublesome decals, and was a good match for the 'shine' shown in the photos of the prototype, without looking quite as 'toy-like' as Future alone often seems to appear. For those interested, the WIP may be found here. It's not a museum-piece by a long stretch, but I'm pleased with the result. It's an eye-catching scheme with an important pedigree, and just enough neat details to make it a little different from everybody else's. Hope you enjoy the photos. 30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whiskey Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 You made this look so good. A real beauty you've managed to produce. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefropas Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 I love it! Great history and build! Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Orsum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busnproplinerfan Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Nice to see a different paint scheme, pretty good. It was still around in '98 https://amarcexperience.com/ui/AMARCExperience/Inventories/Movements/17DEC1998m.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince1159 Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Gorgeous,lovely job... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loloskymaster Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Look so real. Very well done, nice paint.👍 Lolo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Makes a nice change to see something a bit different. Very good job with the decals, well done. Alan 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abandoned Project Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Very impressive 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfinished project Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Superb build absolutely love this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parabat Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Fantastic job, initially thought the first pic was one of the reference pictures you mentioned! Superbly realistic. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted September 28, 2019 Author Share Posted September 28, 2019 3 hours ago, Parabat said: Fantastic job, initially thought the first pic was one of the reference pictures you mentioned! Superbly realistic. Most kind, one and all! For anyone interested, these are the photographs I mentioned: (links only, as both photos are others' copyright) 1990 Open House 1995 on the way to the 'Boneyard' Other than the slightly more-yellowed and worn paint on the boom in the second shot, the views are remarkably similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted September 28, 2019 Share Posted September 28, 2019 Superb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Very nice. A very attractive scheme. I also imagine a posting to NAS Bermuda might be popular for all kinds of reasons. Edited September 30, 2019 by noelh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted September 30, 2019 Author Share Posted September 30, 2019 1 hour ago, noelh said: I also imagine a posting to NAS Bermuda might be popular for all kinds of reasons. In point of fact--beyond the fact that the base's main sub-hunting role had been made redundant by political and technological changes--congressional hearings detemined that the base had become a 'de facto vacation retreat' for high-ranking military officers and DoD officials. One of the prime reasons the base was closed in 1995. Not to take anything away from the many who really served there, performing a valuable mission...in what nonetheless must have been very pleasant surroundings! 1 hour ago, andyf117 said: Very nice! What colour did you use for the 'red' (which is, of course, actually orange, but invariably photographs as red)? Thanks! The paints are Tamiya acrylics. The red/orange is a 'by eye' mix of roughly (1) part X-6 Orange to (2) parts X-7 Red. As you said, the photos always tend to run to the red end of the spectrum...so that's what I leaned toward in mixing the color. I mixed until it actually looked orange...then added just a bit more red! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 Looks good! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted September 30, 2019 Share Posted September 30, 2019 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 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