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Mobutu's personal Congolese AF Alouette III (Heller 1/72) +++ FINISHED +++


TonyOD

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It's a funny one @Smudge because all the colour photos I've seen (where the helicopter is bathed in Mediterranean sunlight at the Marignane plant near Marseille) seem so have something of a golden cast to them, it can be seen in the red leather of the interior too. It may be the film, not untypical of era possibly. I'll let you know how it goes.

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3 minutes ago, TonyOD said:

It's a funny one @Smudge because all the colour photos I've seen (where the helicopter is bathed in Mediterranean sunlight at the Marignane plant near Marseille) seem so have something of a golden cast to them, it can be seen in the red leather of the interior too. It may be the film, not untypical of era possibly. I'll let you know how it goes.

If it were me I'd be going with Armee de Terre green, Tony :)

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Well that was a job... the kit has three little recesses each side of the fuselage, which the instructions says to just paint black.

 

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On your actual Alouette these are deep step holes cut into the fuselage, used to access the engine. The grab rails are hinted at in the moulding.

 

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I thought it would be more representative of the real thing to cut them out (or rather drill, dremel, cut and needle file them out - a quick whip round with Tamiya green top smoothed out the edges a bit but maybe a bit more tidying up tomorrow night), however the scale thickness of the plastic is much greater than that of the actual fuselage. I think I'll have to put some bits inside the fuselage to prevent light bleeding through from one side to the other and from the vent at the top, and will use some superfine plastic rod for the grab rails further down the road.

 

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Edited by TonyOD
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That's worthwhile work to upgrade the kit representation of the area Tony.

 

50 minutes ago, mitchem said:

Oh Dear....Why am I enjoying this more than my own builds ?  🤔

You should become a GB moderator Mike :lol: 

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3 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

Nice detail work, Tony :)

Ta... I think this is the way I'm going to go with my modelling, accuracy rather than realism (if that makes any sense!)

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3 hours ago, TonyOD said:

..........this is the way I'm going to go with my modelling, accuracy rather than realism (if that makes any sense!)

 

and with the PE fret you will have some nice detail.

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22 hours ago, modelling minion said:

I really like this helicopter and wish that someone would release new tooled kits in both 1/72 and 1/48 scale.

 

Every build I do I seem to get drawn into learning as much about the subject as I can. It's a lovely little helicopter, an incredibly versatile machine that's been used all over the world. I'm not a 1/48 guy but I'm sure it would be a superb build at that scale (Heller did a 1/48 version actually, I don't know how easy they are to get hold of, but as it dates from 1987 I'm sure a new tool would be a treat). 

 

They were flown by Air Zermatt who do mountain rescue around the Matterhorn, as a mountain lover this appeals to me. There was a reboxing in this scheme by a Swiss company called ARWICO, I think they can be ordered from them but not cheap.

 

 

 

 

Edited by TonyOD
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Hi,

 

When I built my AMX-30 tank in the Heller GB the colour call out was for Humbrol Hu86 Light Olive. I was a bit doubtful about that but dug up some colour pics and it was quite close. Since then I have seen a couple of Heller tank kits in GB and they were a similar sort of colour, but I am unsure if the helicopters would have been that light a shade. particularly having seen your pic. Another colour I have seen in Heller Instructions was supposedly the Heller equivalent to Humbrol Hu102 "Army Green" which is darker, but yours in the photo looks browner as well. I doubt anybody on this site will be able to say if you get it wrong so what the heck.

 

Pete

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It's one that could run and run, @PeterB... thing is with good old-fashioned film photography, the representation of a specific colour is never going to be precise, particularly when you factor in things like light conditions. These ponderings can get a bit beyond themselves sometimes  😀. Short of actually standing next to the subject aircraft with some paint chips I'm never going to get it 100% right. And however much time I  spend agonising over it, once the build's finished and it's on the shelf I'll never give it another second's thought! As you say, what the heck. 

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On 3/4/2021 at 1:33 PM, TonyOD said:

Every build I do I seem to get drawn into learning as much about the subject as I can

Full marks for that, Tony :). I know its not everyone's way but the research is a large part of the fun and learning. :)

 

Martin

 

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2 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

You seem to have found the perfect colour, Tony.

 

Yeah it's not bad at all. It has that vague goldness that's there in the interior show.

 

The scratch-built rear bench (plastic rod, milliput, good old margarine tub lid) is in, it maybe just a smidgen (what's bigger, a smidgen or a tad?) too high but won't be very visible tucked behind the front row. The scratch middle seatbelt is a bit crude next to the etch ones either side of it, but again, I'd be amazed if it's even visible, but I've touched up those silvery edge a bit just in case!

 

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Edited by TonyOD
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Well the decadent red cabin is done after a photoetch session that drained away my very soul. It's a reasonable representation of the real thing. Kit bits are the floor and back wall, the instrument panel column, the steering columns and handbrakes (I'm sure that's not what they are but that's what they look like) and the basic seats and their bases; the etchy bits are the instrument panel, the seatbelts, the pedals and the i/p shade; the scratchy bits are the arms on Mobutu's seat, the flaps on the front of the seats (painted Tamiya tape) and the whole of the three-seat back row, which as I said is positioned perhaps a little high but won't be a big deal on the end result. It's all rather tiny. Onward!

 

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Edited by TonyOD
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  • TonyOD changed the title to Mobutu's personal Congolese AF Alouette III (Heller 1/72) - cabin done 8/3/20

Few days off what with one thing and another, but it's starting to come together.

 

It doesn't say anything in the instructions about putting weight in the nose and I can't imagine the boom and tail rotor are that heavy, but I'm taking no chances on tailsittery:

 

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I added some paper dividers inside the fuselage to stop light shinign through from one side to the other now I've opened up the steps:

 

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Cabin in place, now to get to work on the transparencies:

 

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The overall fit of the fuselage bits is fairly iffy and will need a small amount of filling and sanding. I've added a landing light under the nose by using a large drill bit to sink a recess, and gluing in aluminium foil. At the moment it's filled with Maskol but that will eventually be replaced by transparent Clearfix:

 

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Thanks for looking in.

 

 

Edited by TonyOD
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A bit more progress. 

 

The interior is quite a colourful affair with the red panels inside the doors and on the ceiling, and the the blue tinted windows. I also put in some internal framing that, needless to say, will be invisible.

 

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Some pictures of this Alouette show a white sunblind over the back seat on the starboard side. It's clearly visible in this interior shot that has the seats with additional covers:

 

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It's also hinted at in this shot which suggests the blind(s) was/were pushed up out of the way:

 

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In other shots there's no sign of the blinds at all. I could have had a go at knocking some up with paper but it'll be obscured enough back there with the tinted windows, so I decided against including this detail.

 

Anyway, the Alouette is now buttoned up and masked ready for primer and paint. Like the rest of the fuselage parts the fit of the transparencies is a bit haphazard, the front transparency is rather too wide. I've seen "open door" renditions of this kit, that would help hide the issue, but it's way beyond my skills. It shouldn't look too bad once the canopy framing is done. For all that the kit is quite cleverly thought out, some of the transparent bits in the kit aren't transparent bits on the actual aircraft and needed blending into the rest of the fuselage with a bit of filling and sanding. There will be a few of the external bits to stick on before I get to priming.

 

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Thanks as ever for looking in!

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  • TonyOD changed the title to Mobutu's personal Congolese AF Alouette III (Heller 1/72) - zipped up and masked 14/3/21

Yesterday evening's session was suddenly and unexpectedly curtailed when my daughter, who was on a Facetime call with her mum elsewhere in the room, announced that I am to be a grandfather. I was holding an Exacto knife at the time, and I very nearly took a finger off.

 

Anyway, back to it. I've stuck on as many of the sticky onny bits as I dare (that is to say the ones that are unlikely to get broken off) including the larger tailfins as mentioned somewhere above, scratch built from my go to material, margarine tub lid. 

 

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And then I whacked a bit of primer on it:

 

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It'll need a little tidying up before painting, and then on to the tricky issue of the engine and rotor assemblies.

Edited by TonyOD
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