SaminCam Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 Hello and welcome to my next "Work in Progress", a build of Academy's British Army AH-64D. I've not built a helicopter before and I decided it was time to put that right! Having spent the last 10 months working on Eduard's Coastal Command Liberator I wanted something smaller and, dare I say it, more out of the box which I should be able to get done in a month or two. First impressions of the kit are really good - the instructions are clear and the bits I have dry fitted so far seem to go together without much hassle. As is traditional I've started with the cockpit and it looks great with nice detailed control panels and consoles - no need for any aftermarket etch here! The only thing I've updated so far are the seats. These will be quite visible under the canopy and I've spruced them up a bit with some milliput cushions, embossed with a cotton cloth, and foil belts, here's the before and after: Then all the various bits and pieces got a shot of tamiya rubber black followed by a slightly lighter highlighting coat: I painted the cushions by hand with a dark grey, applied the plain green decals for the screens, gave everything a drybrush with another shade of grey and finally picked out the buttons and switches with a fine brush: It's nothing special but it's got a certain "pop" and I'm really pleased to have finished off a cockpit in a few hours for once! Hopefully this one should come together quite quickly, any tips or things to watch out for would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for dropping by, Sam 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The west wing Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 This is one I will follow. Love the fabric effect on the seats. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 You've got my attention with this one Sam, a kit I have & subject I'm interested in, especially after reading this book. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted December 25, 2021 Author Share Posted December 25, 2021 Merry Christmas everyone! @The west wing @stevehnz, thanks both! The book suggestion looks great Steve, too late to make it onto my list for Santa but will definitely check it out. out. With the cockpit painted the fuselage was sealed up next. The fit is excellent, so far only filler (sprue goo) needed has been on the join on top in front of the cockpit and a little bit underneath. A coat of paint will probably show up a few more areas to fill and sand but shouldn't be too painful. I've been using the terrific collection of photos on the walk around section to get a better feel for how this one should look and noticed that the rivets, especially on the tail are quite distinctive: So I decided before gluing anything to the body I'd get rivetting. These are loosely based on the reference photos though difficult to get spot on - it should add to the final finish especially as they'll interact with the weathering and make things look much more interesting. Here's a snap of one side pretty much done, my technique is to draw on a pencil line using tape as a straight edge and then follow the line with the riveting tool "freehand", they're not perfect, but not too bad! Thanks for dropping by, I'm off to eat too much now. Happy Christmas! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vultures1 Posted December 25, 2021 Share Posted December 25, 2021 That's looking really nice Sam. The cockpit looks great, especially the fabric effect on the seats. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 Afternoon folks! Time off over Christmas means I'm making good progress with the Apache. I've finished adding rivets and have glued together most of the main assembly except for the rotor. Everything goes together in a very satisfying way, no filler required. One small modification I have made is to the two lines of plates on the fuselage behind the rotor - these are quite thick ootb and don't look quite right compared to reference photos: s It's quite an easy fix, however, to slice them off with a sharp knife and replace with much thinner plasticard. I've also done something similar with the small fins on top of the engine nacelles: I'm now not too far off getting the first coat of paint down. This will no doubt show up some seams which need a bit more tlc and then I can move on to the pre-shading. Really enjoying this one and would definitely recommend others give it a go! Cheers, Sam 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil5208 Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 Good progress, will follow 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 3, 2022 Author Share Posted January 3, 2022 Apache is moving along nicely (shows what can be done when you don't have to go to work!)... All the little nobbly, bobbly bits, bobs and aerials were glued in place and the canopy masked, painted inside, and attached. I then spent a day or two tidying up the seams and checking with thin coats of matt black before undercoating the whole model with very dark green (Mr Color Luftwaffe schwarz grun). I'm now building up to the final olive drab colour with thin layers of mottling which should provide some depth and volume - here I started with a light grey and then added a light tan brown: Next I'll start spraying an olive drab though I haven't decided whether to go with Tamiya or Mr Color yet- I'll do some tests on a paint mule and maybe use one for the main coat and then highlight upper surfaces with the other. I'll build this up in 4 or 5 really thin coats so as not to destroy the pre-shading and also mask off some panels and access hatches for one of these coats to provide some extra contrast. Back to work tomorrow so pace will no doubt slow but will try to get another update done before the end of the week. Thanks for taking a look! Sam 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 8, 2022 Author Share Posted January 8, 2022 Afternoon all! Couple of coats of Tamiya Xf-62 olive drab laid down here and I think I'm pretty much there (it looks a bit lighter here than in real life): Next up I need to mask things so I can paint the engine exhausts, then also start to get some paint on the rotors and tail prop. Hopefully make the most of this rainy weekend and will have a bit more to show tomorrow. Cheers, Sam 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k5054nz Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 I've been pondering picking up a Westland Apache kit ever since Prince Harry's tour in the Apache, but after the Aussies announced they'll get them too I think I'll wait. Great work so far on yours! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonH Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Great progress, I love the way you have built up the colour of the fuselage Tricky yo do well but you have nailed it. The Academy 1/72 Apache kits are really good, I built one and enjoyed it immensely. One more in the stash for later. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlueDad Posted January 9, 2022 Share Posted January 9, 2022 Love your work Sam - the Liberator is fantastic - and I'll be following along with this one too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 @k5054nz, @DonH, @GlueDad, thanks for the encouragement gents! I hope everyone is having a good start to 2022, it's been busy here so not getting that much modelling done but over the weekend started to add some decals after a few bits of detail painting and a gloss coat was added last weekend. Getting closer to the fun job of weathering this one, which I'm really looking forward to! 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Nice work so far......... looking good. A lot easier than kitbashing as was necessary a decade ago They seem to be mostly pretty clean in pics so I would not go overboard with weathering. The Helo Drab paint is apparently pretty tough and resistant. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 10 minutes ago, Ed Russell said: Nice work so far......... looking good. A lot easier than kitbashing as was necessary a decade ago They seem to be mostly pretty clean in pics so I would not go overboard with weathering. The Helo Drab paint is apparently pretty tough and resistant. Thanks Ed, love your build, the academy kit definitely makes things easier! I've had these open in another tab for the last month: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/72723-agustawestland-ah-1-apache/ and plan to base the weathering on Greg Buckley's photo in Afghanistan, so a bit sandy and faded. I definitely agree though, the trick is not to over do it... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 Great work as usual. You make 1/72 look much bigger. 3 minutes ago, SaminCam said: I plan to base the weathering on Greg Buckley's photo in Afghanistan, so a bit sandy and faded. I definitely agree though, the trick is not to over do it... I had a go at this but in 1/32, it's really easy to overdo it, I used pastels for the dust effects so I could wipe it off if I did too much! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 23, 2022 Author Share Posted January 23, 2022 2 minutes ago, Alan P said: Great work as usual. You make 1/72 look much bigger. I had a go at this but in 1/32, it's really easy to overdo it, I used pastels for the dust effects so I could wipe it off if I did too much! Thanks Alan, I'll be using that as a reference too, just what I was going for! I'll probably use some oils too but I'm trying to get better with pastels and thought this would be a good subject to give it a go - couldn't think of a better way to get those sandy looking bits in the nooks and crannies 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted January 23, 2022 Share Posted January 23, 2022 13 minutes ago, SaminCam said: couldn't think of a better way to get those sandy looking bits in the nooks and crannies That's exactly right 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted January 30, 2022 Author Share Posted January 30, 2022 Evening all, little bits of progress made this weekend. All the decals are on and she's ready for a gloss coat to seal those in. I've also painted up most of the remaining parts: main and rear rotor, rocket pods, missiles and a few other bits and pieces. The weapons need a gloss coat then their decals and the rotor needs quite a lot more work with fine details brush painted on and the blades another coat of dark grey. With everything fitted together it suddenly looks like a 'copter! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted February 3, 2022 Author Share Posted February 3, 2022 Evening all! Plugging away with the armament on the apache, missile pods are done and a few hellfire missiles are underway here: Decals are going on well (even the wrap around yellow lines!), which is a good thing because each missile has 12 (!!!) each. Once these are done, everything will get a flat coat and I can start to think about weathering. More at the weekend hopefully, Cheers, Sam 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted February 5, 2022 Author Share Posted February 5, 2022 Nearly there! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted February 6, 2022 Author Share Posted February 6, 2022 Evening all, finally got all the decals on the missiles and they're now ready to be attached to their pylons. Everything got a vallejo matt varnish (which I thin about 50:50) and I removed the canopy masking which (for once) had worked pretty much perfectly. The rotor needs some more work but the rest is ready for weathering once the varnish has dried for 24 hours - I'm going to try and make this one dusty and sand-worn as the photos show it during operation in Afghanistan. Cheers for taking a look, Sam 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted February 13, 2022 Author Share Posted February 13, 2022 Hi all, this week I've been gradually building up the weathering on the Apache. Here the front half is more or less done. The engine pods haven't been touched yet and you can see the difference quite clearly with the pic above as well: I started with light grey oils which were blended in with white spirit. This sort of soaks into the flat varnish, it's not like wash on glossy varnish and is a technique I like but I'm still getting used to. What I've tried to do here is break up the panels and make the olive less rich, which didn't look quite right to me in the photos above. I then ground up light brown and yellow pastels and dabbed them into the corners and nooks and crannies. These can then be brushed away with a larger brush and highlights happen a bit like drybrushing. Finally I've gone back with brown oils and added more streaks and blobs to add more texture in. It's quite a slow, but satisfying process and you kind of go and back and correct mistakes and try again with white spirit to hand. I'm still learning how to get the best out of the oils and pastels but overall I'm happy with how it looks and I think captures the feel of the dusty, sandy 'choppers which operated out in Afghanistan. Next snaps I'll do will be with the whole thing grubbed up to match the front half. Thanks for dropping by! Sam 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted February 14, 2022 Share Posted February 14, 2022 Certainly taking notice of what you're doing here Sam, this has come together really well, something that I find cheering. That dusty effect is a subtle one & hard to achieve I reckon but what you're doing seems to be working nicely. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SaminCam Posted February 27, 2022 Author Share Posted February 27, 2022 Evening all! Have been plugging away with the final details on the apache and think she's pretty much finished: Overall I'm pleased with how it turned out - this is probably the furthest I've pushed the weathering, with oils and ground up pastels applied liberally all over. Probably not to everyone's taste but gets somewhere towards the photos of these in action in Afghanistan that I was going for. Things I've learned? Well this is a great kit which I'd recommend to anyone, it goes together very easily and has lots of detail. With this type of weathering the preshade mottling is probably a waste of time as the oils and pastels provide the shading later. I'm still not great at getting decals on without silvering - I lay down a fairly smooth airbrushed gloss coat, use plenty of decal setting solution and seal with varnish once their down, but still haven't quite cracked it, especially on the small stencils. Anyway, I'll tweak things a bit on the next one and hopefully improve, that's what it's all about right?!? Talking of the next one, a little trailer for my next WIP: RFI for the Apache should get done later in the week, until then thanks everyone for following along and for all the encouragement. See you for the next one! Sam 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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