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Revell 1/48 Sikorsky CH-53G


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A week ago a said in the chat thread that I was tempted to join the GB with either the Airfix Lynx in 48th scale as an AH.1 or with Revells 48th scale CH-53G. I was going to sleep on it for a night and decide. Well, about seven sleeps later I have decided to join with them both. Here I will be making a stab at the CH-53G.

 

It's quite big. 43cm long and with a 45cm rotor span. I will be going OOB for sure as there is next to nothing available in aftermarket and if I don't try and avoid any extra work I will 100% fail to finish it. I already have a Mirage IIIE that has been on the bench since the start of May and is a long way from being finsihed and there is also an F-16A that has been in progress since 2014.

 

Here it is, box and fuselage halves.

7951-A9-DF-D1-E0-47-F8-B75-B-B034-BF6269

 

I've actually got two of these kits (sort of) as I bought one at last years Air Tattoo for a tenner. Turned out it was missing the tail rotor and stabilator. So I planned scratch building the missing bits, but knew this was likely beyond my abilities. Fortunately I picked up another for a similar bargain price and now can afford to mess up everything but the tail parts once. The decals are not in good condition, despite having the majority of four sheets, but as they're from 1986 that is not surprising. Hopefully I can find enough to work with.

5-AD6230-D-54-B3-4091-A5-E6-8241559-B8-D

 

Paint is another issue as the kit has Revell refs circa '86 and as I like my Mr Hobby paints I have struggled to work out an equivalent. So I'm going to give H420 RLM80 Olive Green a whirl as it looks close and says Luftwaffe Aircraft on the jar. Probably means WWII Luftwaffe and not 1980's German Army though.

 

Perhaps the biggest challenge I see at the moment is going to be the front end. As you can see in this image, the nose halves will take some forcing together due to different degress of curl and more than that, they curl much more than the clear part. Not sure yet what options I'll have for remedying that as there is a lot of glass and hiding any support or reinforcement will be difficult.

C03-D2095-F7-C8-4-ACC-BAB9-6132-B1028-D4

 

This will certainly be no walk in the park, but it looks a nice kit with engraved lines and lots of raised rivet detail. I'll make a start in the morning.

 

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Does the nose need to twist a bit on the one side?  Could try the boiling water trick to allow you realign the fuselage half.  Ended up doing that on one half of the vert stab on the B-58 which was pretty badly warped.  Just have to be careful about where you apply pressure.  Might be able to use a small sheet of glass or a cutting board to check for alignment/warpage.

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Firstly my apologies to everyone who took the time to look at my build and like or comment. It's taken me all week to get back in here and post. And after a week, there isn't a lot to show either.

 

So what has happened is that despite my promise to myself to build OOB and just get it done, I started looking at the seats and thinking that while I won't pay £25 for a pair of ResKit seats, I can try and improve the kit offerings. So I started off looking for references and that has proven incredibly difficult. The first thing I did learn is that the ResKit seats are specifically for the CH-53E and are clearly a newer lightweight seat. The seats used in the CH-53G look a chunkier affair. As far as I can tell, they are probably the same as the those used in the USAFs Jolly Green Giants. But after days of trawling the internet all I have managed to find are shots of the instrument panel shot between the seats and a couple of the rear of a seat seen in in the background of shots of the cargo hold. These are typical of what I have found, largely static shots taken at airshows:

01-D6-BE65-C58-F-4373-A778-D83-BC9-FEE6-

90-FE2-B23-52-CD-40-B3-B164-724-B9-A9-A5

Plus, most of the clearer shots are taken in more recent times when they've been upgraded to GS standard. No idea if the seats were upgraded, but I am sure that they got blue material instead of grey at some point.

So here is my rather clumsy and rushed attempt at pimping the kit seats:

FA1874-E3-437-C-4-B7-C-A080-436942-AF4-B

 

Apart from lacking finese, as I have found additional glimpses of parts of the seats I have found that I have not got them as acurate as I could. Fortunately having a second incomplete kit to hand, I have another pair of seats and will try again after I feel I have learnt quite a lot from my initial attempt. Still sketchy on what they should actually look like though.

 

On top of the seat saga I have also found myself increasingly tempted to do a bit in the cargo hold (is that what it's called in a helicopter?). Again, the photos I've found all date from the mid 2000's and up. It looks like I have a choice between trying to put all the internal ribbing structure all the way down or to go for the padded material that most examples have fitted just forward of the rear ramp. I'm probably going to attempt the padded version as I am hoping that will be the easier option. Got to admit though, whilst tempted to have a go at this, I am neither confident or a fan of having doors and canopies open on my models.

 

So I'm now off for take 2 with the seats.

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3 hours ago, troschi said:

Maybe this helps? Seat is from a German 53G

That more than helps!! Thank you so much. Another example of how this site is so awesome!

 

The only problem is resisting making a bid for it 🤔

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On 7/10/2020 at 9:30 PM, Filler said:

The only problem is resisting making a bid for it 🤔

Sure it'd make a great chair at the workbench ;) 

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1 hour ago, Col. said:

Sure it'd make a great chair at the workbench ;) 

That's just how I was explaining it to my missus. She just couldn't see it for some reason.

 

On the subject of the seat, I am thinking that buying it and then building a shrink ray might be the quicker and easier route than scratch building it from styrene card.

 

I started quite well re-forming the seat cushioning with headrest, but forming the armoured section is proving a real challenge. On my initial attempt (above) I just folded some 0.020 card around the kit seat. This was a nice thickness and left nicely rounded corners. After troschi pointed me at the eBay listing for the seat I suddenly had seven good reference photos to use for my second attempt. The one downside is that I learnt just how complex a shape it is. So I have tried cutting individual 'panels' and gluing them together. For this I decided to use 0.040 card to give me a bit more to glue together. Unfortunately it looks a bit too angular and a bit thick too. So I'm a bit stuck on how to progress now.

 

852-B7-D8-A-DE58-42-C9-AB4-E-E95-E8865-D

 

92-D738-E2-8-CAF-4-FEF-9-A0-C-325-A7-B65

 

I did learn that by the 2002 boxing, Revell added extra parts for a GS version and this included headrests and seat armour. As I had told myself in the strictest terms that this must be OOB, that would have been more than good enough. Oh well.

 

I'll crack on this evening and see if I can come up with a better approach.

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Nice work on the second seat upgrades. Remember that, even in 48th scale, these will be inside a kit cockpit and may not be too visible.

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A bit more progress this week. The seats are very nearly there now. Just paint and belts and they're done. I'm happy enoigh with them and as @Col. pointed out, they'll not be easily seen once inside and it's painted up.

32328883-0-B67-4-F78-9-FF9-D4341-AAF2-D2

3-CDB5-BA5-D894-43-E7-A0-B9-4-B21984490-

 

And a little extra and not super accurate detailing added to the console that Revell left blank.

66-BBAD9-B-4-C91-48-F8-B5-B9-77-F3-D3-CB

 

Started on the hold today. This is slow work but it's looking ok so far. I'm basically just going over what Revell just about provided. They didn't go very far in either.

113-ADB94-1-ADE-4524-BB46-25-BD4-F5-BB33

 

What I plan to do is add the material stuff (sound proofing?) as that will massively reduce the amount of styrene I need to fit. That starts from just by the rear window. I am going to try using heat shrink sleeving that I found at work.

 

I may start the Lynx AH.1 this weekend, which will be out the box, for sure!!

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On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2020 at 12:04 PM, Col. said:

Sure it'd make a great chair at the workbench ;) 

As you've stated, it has the added advantage that it is armoured underneath and on the rear. You never know when international assassins will try and get you, during a relaxing spot of model-making....

 

Chris. 

 

PS: I remember reading in Robert Mason's "Chickenhawk" (highly recommended), the author was being interviewed about his chicken-plate chest-armour by a Japanese news-crew. When asked if the armour would stop a bullet, he smiled and told then it wouldn't even slow the bullet down! I'm guessing that Nam chopper-crews developed a cynical sense-of-humour very quickly once they were "in-country".  

Edited by spruecutter96
Amending some information.
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Those extra details are looking great Phil :thumbsup:

 

5 hours ago, spruecutter96 said:

As you've stated, it has the added advantage that it is armoured underneath and on the rear. You never know when international assassins the wife will try and get you, to do housework during a relaxing spot of model-making....

Fixed that statement for you Chris ;) 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don’t know about international assassin, but my wife can certainly kill my efforts to get to the bench by giving me other tasks.

 

In fairness though, she’s actually encouraged me to actually do some modelling this weekend. As ever I am a sucker for a diversion from any task, and I decided that I needed to replace the ill fitting Ikea desktop with a custom fitted desktop to better utilise the space. So I spent this week buying plywood and cutting it to fit. Where the missus intervened was when I was about to start applying a dye and varnish. She pointed out that it is a work bench and it should look like one, not a piece of furniture that I’m frightened and marking. So the dyes etc are going back and the CH-53 can get back under way.

 

Quite happy with my new worktop though and I’ve got my desk lamp set up.

DC8-B1-D81-C713-42-C3-9-AF5-B80-CACE8-B4

Too tidy though. Time to make some proper progress!!

 

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Impressive scratch-building going on and that's true of both the kit and workbench. Need a better chair though ;) 

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