Extratech Alouette II, Multimedia kit, 1/72nd scale Army Air Corp

[Mr T]

My next entry for this group build is the 1/72nd Alouette II kit produced by Extratech from the Czech Republic in 1998 and it has been sat in my stash for a while. The kit consists of a lot of PE in a fairly soft brass sheet, some very nicely cast resin (especially for the period) and the cockpit bubble vacformed in very thin sheet. A small decal sheet and what look at first sight look like comprehensive instructions completes the package.

The Sud Aviation Alouette II was the first production turbine helicopter and first flew in 1955 and about 1300 were built. My model will be an Army Air Corps version, Two were ordered in 1958 for evaluation purposes and a further 15 bought as stopgaps as the Scout was taking longer to develop than first anticipated. They remained in service until 1988 serials were, XN132-3, XP966-7,  XR232 and XR376-XR387

Of course the tailboom will be made of flat rather than tubular pieces, but I think I can live with that in the interests of getting the kit built. I have made a start on the fuselage and engine. The instructions are less helpful than they look.

I feel this is going to be challenging.

 

[Hewy]

Wow, that looks a cracker of a kit, great start on the etch too

[Mr T]

I have done a bit more as the engine mount and fuel tank frame is pretty crucial to the construction. A bit of an issue with the instructions which are not hugely clear and there doesn't seem to be much to hold the tailboom and cockpit together. 

[JOCKNEY]

I have to say @Mr Tthat etch looks remarkably like the necklaces you used to wear when you were on the telly in "The A Team"

Great work by the way 👍👍👍

cheers Pat 

[Mr T]

Thanks Pat, but my necklaces were gold (yeah sure). Seriously, the etch is good from the point of view of fit,  but there is, a lack of attachment points in places and the brass is quite soft and it is very easy to distort then thinner struts and frames. Some more photos tomorrow with a bit of luck 

[Silenoz]

Nice kit, been on my watchlist for long, but finding one of these beauties...

 

Enjoy building this one

[Mr T]

Thanks for the comments, I bought this kit when it was first around from john Adams (Aero) well known of this parish. I cannot remember how much it was and the first thing that comes of a kit box, is of course, the price label, unless it was a real bargain with 'Sale 90% off' plastered all over the box. It is going to be a slow job as everything is made up from lots of little bits. for example the tail rotor is made of five small  PE parts before you can even think about its mounting and guard etc.  I have got the major fuselage assemblies together. The cockpit interior was OK apart from the bench seat which doesn't really attach to anything. I have one half of the canopy on and it was not quite as traumatic as expected. A dry fit of the other side looked alright, but will require care to get everything lined up. The tail boom was straight forward, but some brass wire is going to be added so that it will have something to attach to the 'fuselage'. The 'fuselage' was complicated by the lack of clear instructions and the fragility of the etch.  still needs some bits adding, but I the next major job will be the main rotor, which looks seriously fiddly and fragile..

This model will be taking a bit of a back seat so that the Dragonfly can be decalled.

[Jur]

I'm very impressed with how you handle all these tiny and frail parts. I built an Italeri Sioux and I thought that was fiddly enough, but it looks like a brick compared to this one!

 

By the way yesterday I posted some photo's I took in the Museum of Army Flying in the Helicopter GB Reference Thread. I took some pictures of the Alouette they have hanging from the ceiling. Maybe they are of some help.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Jur

[Mr T]

Thanks for that, I will have a look at the pics, not sure which AAC machine to build yet. 

[Mr T]

Well, I have managed to progress further with the Alouette. The cockpit 'bubble' is completed, in the end it all fitted together better than I thought it would. There is an etched strip that covers the join that is going to require care, but the softness of the brass will actually help in this bit of the model. The boom with the tail rotor has been worked on and has the tail rotor guard added. No the most positive of fits, but you can only do so much. The landing skids have been put together with less trauma than I anticipated and the rotor blades added to the hub. This was strengthen with bits of brass wire. Since the photo was taken I have primed some parts and added PE to the rotor head. The instructions here could have been a little clear and some parts of the head mechanism are left dangling as there i nothing to attach them to. Engine etc. needs some paint on it now and thoughts about how to fix the cockpit to the centre section in a secure manner.

Should see more progress over the next few days.

[JOCKNEY]

Hi @Mr T

Really great progress, have you done anymore since we last heard from you  ?

cheers Pat 

[Mr T]

Hi Pat, yes I have and was planning an update in the next day or so. I have been without a computer for a couple of weeks as mine failed and then a weeks holiday and decorating. However I have a complete airframe that is painted and photographed and yesterday the decals went on. I have not forgotten the Group Build, just stuff like life getting in the way!

[Mr T]

As promised a progress report with pictures from my rebuilt and much faster computer (well, until it hits the internet). The last update showed the Allouette in its major component parts awaiting priming and assembly. This proved fairly straightforward. The tailsection was added first. I had left some of the etched 'runners' on the top of the booms and used those to key the top of the boom to the centre section and then lined the bottom of the bottom of the boom with the bottom of the centre sction 'V' shape. It was tacked together with cyanoacrylate and  once set for 24 hours, 5 minute epoxy was sparingly applied to help strengthen the joins. The cockpit bubble was a little more tricky. It fits on to an extension frame on the bottom of the centre sectionThis was again attached with 'spot welds' of superglue follwed up with epoxy, but to give a bit of support at the top of the canopy some scraps of flat brass etch were used to join it and the centre section frame. Not prototypical but once painted it was not noticeable. The tailplane was added and then the basic structure was airbrushed Dark Green along with the landing skids.  Once everything was dry some touching up of parts that were going to be less accessable later in the build took place. The platform that the rotor mast was mounted on plus gubbins and the engine was glued to the top of the centre section. Some struts around the rotor mast and landing skids were fitted, some were etch and some were replaced with plastic rod.  The  extension shaft to the tail  rotor was not in the kit, but easily fabricated from 0.45mm brass rod. The mounts for the shaft are on the tail boom etch and had been  bent into the upright postion earlier in the build. The rod was threaded through after the holes in the mounts were eased a bit with a broach.

Decals were added for the airframe chosen, XR232 photographed in 1964 and thus a fairly basic airframe. White serials and 'ARMY' titles came from a 40 year old Modeldecal and the roundels from another equally ancient sheet. more touching up of paintwork and I feel I am not far of finishing. I have not shown the rotor, but work on that has been carried out to the stage of being almost ready to fit on the rotor head

before the decals went on  the kit  did remind me of the all Dragonflies we saw last week on the Suffolk coast and not much larger as well.

[Paul J]

That's nice. All that etch to bend scares me.  But you have made a nice job of it.  I see one flying around where I live almost daily and definitely on Sundays. Noisy beggar but fun to see it.  I believe it to be an ex German Army example.

[desert falcon]

That’s looking really good Mr T

[Jinxman]

Lovely job.

[Mr T]

Thanks, I have to admit that bending the etch was what put me off building the kit for years. I do not have specialist etch bending tools, but a bit of thought and patience helped. It was a case of taking things slowly and checking. The bend lines on the kit were good as well. What has been less good has been that although the instructions look good they can surprisingly vague in places.and looking at a lot of the pictures of the real thing helped. 

There used to be on regularly flying around here, together with a Bell 47, but not seen it in years.

I think the rotor mast is a tad too tall and I took a bit off, but still not convinced when the rotor and pitch linkage was added, some of it had to be sctrach built as the instructions would have the links dangling with nothing to attach them to. The other major omission that is shown on the painting three views is the pipe that runs from the back end of the engine to the cockpit, presumably for heating. Some photos of show it not to be there, but anything after the mid 70's show it present. Easy enough to make out of softish wire, but was it an original fit given that my model is in 1964 condition?

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Mr T

[Col.]

Tidy work on a less than straightforward kit

[Mr T]

I have found that the cabin heating kit was an optional fit, which explains why some machines are shown without it. My guess is that it was not fitted initially and then bought later when the MoD realised that it gets very cold in winter in Germany where a lot of them were based. Apparently XR232 still exsists in the Museum of Army Flying, looking a bit different than she did in 1964. 

[Mr T]

The kit is now finished and I have just put in the gallery. Not the most straightforward of builds, I think due to the age of the kit when resin and PE design was less sophisticated than it is now, but very satisfying to build. I have not seen many built (in fact I think I have seen only one that had a lot of the brass  replaced by tube) and it is not a kit for the novice.

[Andwil]

Lovely little model Mr T 👏

 

AW

[CliffB]

Congratulations Mr T, that's turned out beautifully 

[desert falcon]

She’s looking great in the gallery 👍

[Mr T]

Thanks for the comments everyone, I turned out better than I thought it might, even if not as good as I would really have wanted it. 

[Smudge]

Just searching online for one of these (no luck) and came across this build. Very nice.

 

Now I want one more than ever. I hope I don't have to resort to the Mach2 kit 😬