1/35 HH65C Dolphin U.S. Coastguard

[Deano353]

I've always liked this helicopter and I bought this kit a year or so ago and it's the only one in the scale. The windows don't fit well on the front I assume the complex curve of the fuselage is to blame. The cabin interior is quite sparse but on the real thing it's got quite a lot going on. I used milliput to make things like equipment bags I assume things like medical supplies, life rafts etc. The interior photos I saw online all varied so I took a bit of artistic licence and added the cables I saw with lead wire and coiled them around to make them look like comms connections. I got Caracal decals for this it has decals for loads of coastguard places but it's all the same scheme except the white one. 

The Trumpeter decals are pretty exceptional for settling down on the surface of the instrument panels I noticed this on previous trumpeter kits. I put clear glue on the dials to simulate glass it's not visible in the photo though.The surface detail is very good instead of just dots for rivets it has screws with the screw heads detailed.

Here's the cabin before detailing and weathering.

Here it is with the weathering I used yellow to simulate the primer through the paint and silver to be the metal underneath.

The exhaust was just a flat circular indent on the fuselage but in this scale it was not good enough so I used a scalpel to remove the plastic and created a tube for behind and painted it black it's far better looking now. 

The Dolphin as you can see is quite big in this scale. 

I have added spares box photoetch metal to get the hooks for straps in the cargo bay at the back. The straps are electrical tape and spares box decals are added for the cabin as in the photos it was quite busy. I still need to add a green first aid box on the bulkhead behind the third seat. The belts are included as photoetch. So far so good. I may have overdone the interior weathering I wanted it to look a bit beaten up to be in contrast with the very clean glossy exterior.  I don't often make helicopters the last one I made was about five years ago so it might go awry at some point lol. The filling in the windows was sprue glue and I have airbrushed the inside of the windows above the pilot green and I painted the interior lighter grey than it appeared so when the fuselage gets joined together it will be more visible. If anyone has made this anything to look out for would be appreciated. Not all the parts have been plain sailingso far.

[Deano353]

[GRIM REAPER]

That's a fantastic job you are doing! I really like what you have done to the interior. It really pops!

[Deano353]

Thanks I think I may have overdonethe cabin floor but I'll just say it's a busy helicopter and no time for rest lol.

[heloman1]

Great start, I recently built (well almost finished) the Kitty Hawk Dauphin as a Panther. Here the fit of parts weren't too good!

You've made an excellent start. I watched a TV program on the US Coast Guard and got a lot of interior images from that.

I have a second kit to build this ship but need the decals and some enthusiasm after the Panther!

 

Colin

[Deano353]

To be honest the fit issues with this aren't exactly a big problem just standard kit issues I think I'll be looking to get a combat version of this either French or Chinese or if possible with Decals the Israeli one they call Panther.

[Deano353]

Just finished a very long essay and turned around to start on some of the Dolphin and test fitted the halves then remembering the tail rotor has to fit as well I found the fit is very tight luckily Trumpeter thought about this in the instructions. Well who am I to argue with that wisdom? 

Better try later or possibly tomorrow. Gonna suggest that beer is to be part of kits that don't fit together well.

[Deano353]

I've gotten the fuselage halves together as much as I can the fit isn't terrible but there's a gap at the very front it shouldn't be a problem though but I will find out soon enough!i would say it's about 1mm at its widest so it'snot awful it's just in a prominent place so it's not good however this is one of the few areas that is not gloss on the helicopter as there's the anti glare matt black across the front so that'll help hide any scrapes from sanding etc.

[Deano353]

It's really taking shape now! The nose is on and home made filler is on. The gap between the join at the front of the fuselage is gone it did create a small step at the join with the nose but it should be ok, after I clean up the filler in a couple of days i should be able to smooth the surface out. I was expecting to have a few fit issues but not as many as I have had as it's quite a new kit as far as kits go 7 years old I believe. Anyway it is going to be worth it I've always liked these and it'll definitely stand out on the shelf. I have been looking for some orange paint but Hannants don't seem to post paint to Northern Ireland which is odd I'm sure I have bought paint from them before. Anyway here it is. I'll continue my quest for international orange elsewhere.

you can see the step here a bit of sanding should do the trick.also the tail rotor can be left out to make painting easier. It's a tight fit if you dont sand it a bit but it'll make life so much easier later on without it in.

[Deano353]

I noticed in the pervious post the filler wasn't quite sufficient so I have been a lot more liberal with it. I always put build quality as in no seams or gaps as my priority I would rather lose some detail than have poor build quality it's probably why I take so long sometimes. I'm still not great at scribing but I try lol. So the filler is just Tamiya Extra Thin cement with plastic dropped in. It melts and forms liquid plastic which takes days to dry but I find is better than standard filler. Mine keeps drying out somehow. Anyway this will mean I can have a completely smooth join from the nose to fuselage it's added hours of work in the coming days bit it'll be worth it. Also I was looking at the shape of the nose and it struck me that it looks similar in a way to the front of a Hercules. The shape of the nose and the way it curves onto the fuselage. Anyone else see that?

[heloman1]

Coming along quite nicely even with the fit issues.

 

Colin

[Deano353]

Thanks Colin it's nothing the average modeller can't fix. I did notice this morning that the fuselage halves that run between the windscreen dried one slightly above the other so I have an uneven surface now. I'm hoping it will be easy enough to fix as I realised I don't have filler other than what I made myself and that's not really suitable for this area so I will have to order some and hope that it works out. Of all parts to have the fit issue other than the windows it couldn't be in a more prominent place.  Word of warning for anyone who has this kit keep filler at the ready lol.

[Deano353]

I've added more filler across the nose to fuselage join as well as the sleek shape and high gloss paint means any steps etc will stand out a mile.

So far so good. It looks like a USCG Dolphin now, great looking it is too.

[Deano353]

I've built one engine up here. It's going to be open on the other side so I wanted to see how well this would go together and it's easy enough a few location tabs were too big for their holes but otherwise it was straightforward.  I tried out an idea as well because there's going to be bare metal I will have to smooth the plastic where it's been sanded in order for Alclad to look in anyway good. I put tamiya extra thin cement on all sanded areas of this half of the engine and it immediately smoothed the surface of the plastic and almost completely eliminated the seam. I'll be making sure the fit on the opposite engine is much better as it'll be seen but it's good to know it works well. It leaves a gloss finish on the plastic.

That's all for today I hope everyone's having a good weekend!

[Deano353]

I've been sanding the sprue glue I made and it's now smooth to shape. I still have a few areas that need work where the filler didn't cover so I have ordered standard filler to fill those areas. I have used super glue as well but there are gaps such as where the door doesn't quite fit the frame so  bit of filling and sanding is needed with a more stable material as the home made stuff is more like a gel. 

There is dirt I can't seem to remove from my mobile phone camera lens so the dark patches are actually not shadows on the plastic they're on the camera. You can see there's no step now so I will be adding the lost detail back to the helicopter after the filler arrives. The hardest part is done as the centre section of the canopy is sanded but still needs filling. I don't I have been wary not to push any windows through as they would be a nightmare to put back in place. Once the fuselage halves have been blended together the plastic will need to be polished up to a high shine so when the gloss coats go over there are no blemishes as they'll stand out like a sore thumb. 

[Bell209]

On 4/3/2022 at 11:04 PM, Deano353 said:

I've built one engine up here.

That's a very basic engine for 1/35 scale - you'd have thought they'd detail it more. Here's a link to what it looks like (this picture is an Arriel 1E2 but the 1C2 is almost identical).

[Deano353]

Brilliant thanks very much I was going to search for a picture of that engine as I knew it needed more.

[Deano353]

Still fighting the Dolphin to get the parts smooth. I don't think the previous photos show how much filling was needed so the Revell Plasto should show how much is needed. 

The underside was also a bad fit.

 I've started painting the engine I will be adding lead wire for detail and probably plastic card for parts to fill up the engine bay. I painted the bay interior yellow as it's going to be a good contrast with the bright orange exterior of the aircraft. 

I have to paint this as I go as I needed heated areas the exhaust is alclad exhaust manifold and stainless steel. I've uses diluted clear blue, red and orange. 

It looks slightly lighter or darker in different light. I think it will add a good bit of colour to the overall finish.

[Specialbranch]

Absolutely fantastic,  I love it.

[Deano353]

Adding engine details here. I was side tracked I hadto finish a cannon butI can give this my full attention now. I have added lead wire to the engine as I looked at photos of the real thing and it's just a plethora of piping and wiring. This is loosely based on the photos. As long as it looks sufficiently busy I will be happy. The rotor also has quite a lot of detail and I wouldhave to cut the panel out to show it. I haveseen both panels open and also jist the engine so I will see once I am done with the engine. I wanted to give an update as it's been a while. Sometimes building a model takes me a bit longer. I am adding a lot to this as I feel with a high gloss finish on this I won't be able to add much weathering there is a little in the way of what I assume is oil aft of the tail rotor in a few photos but otherwise it's just quite blank and I feel it won't have the same image as a military aircraft with camouflage perhaps, it could look more toy like so I am taking time with this one. It's all quite modular in the construction which is useful for adding detail. Anyway here's a couple of photos of where I'm at so far. 

[Pappy]

On 3/27/2022 at 7:06 PM, Deano353 said:

Thanks I think I may have overdonethe cabin floor but I'll just say it's a busy helicopter and no time for rest lol.

G'day Deano,

 

I am coming to this very late but I agree with you. The real thing actually has a 'dam' in the rear cabin which looks like a glossy orange/red floor covering to prevent or limit the amount of  seawater that is sloshing about when the rescue diver is employed. The dam covers most of the rear cabin floor and rises above the floor a small distance, sorry I do not have pics

[Pappy]

G'day Deano,

 

One other thing you may wish to add is the additional plates on the upper rear fuselage and upper tailboom area if not included in the kit.

It looks like some sort of armour in case of a turbine blade failure? It is quite prominent and appears raised above the fuselage skin.

 

The pictures of the fuselage halves you have posted don't have this feature moulded on so not sure if this is provided as separate parts. In 1/32 something like .010" plastic sheet would suffice. Due to complex curves involved I would suggest the easiest way to get the shape would be to lay some masking tape over the area on the fuselage and trace the pattern onto the tape, then just peel off the tape and apply to the plastic sheet and cut out the required shapes. The plastic sheet can then be glued in place.

 

The other thing is that both forward doors should have clear lower panels (not just the right door) which may be too late for your kit but it may help someone else. A quick online search of HH-65 Dolfin/Dauphan should yield some good pics. The box art also correctly depicts this.

 

cheers,

 

Pappy

 

Edited May 8, 2022 by Pappy

[Deano353]

10 hours ago, Pappy said:

 The other thing is that both forward doors should have clear lower panels (not just the right door) which may be too late for your kit

 

Hi thanks for the information. I see what you mean by the raised area aft of the engine I will see about possibly adding that I might not though. The shape is actually quite complex so the card will take a while to conform. The door though is a good one. I did double check and I have no clear parts left and no other door so I don't know what's happened with my kit? I googled the model and it doesn't seem to be that popular online but the ones I did find built up had the correct door on the left side of the aircraft. The instructions have the door go together as per my kit had the parts so unless it was corrected by Trumpeter and then re-released. I however do not possess the skills to make a clear part for the lower half of the door and honestly I had a fight just to get the doors and clear parts in place. I can live with it as is but I will try and maybe do something about the raised area as there's nothing in the instructions showing anything to add.

Edited April 24, 2022 by Deano353

[Deano353]

@Pappy I stand corrected I didn't chexk properly the panels are included.

But here below is the door I honestly don't know what the deal is as where the window is supposed to be is moulded into the side of the door. Unless there are a few out there without the lower window for whatever reason that may be.

[Deano353]

Ok so I have spent about 3 hours building and painting the rotor assembly. The engine in my eyes looks good enough so it's a step forwards. The underside of the base is actually the ceiling of the rear part of the cabin. I have used Alclad for the main rotor I think the combination of metal colours and bright orange should work well. I am seriously thinking about opening up the side of the rotor but I know that'll mean more detail which is fine I just need to know how much will be needed. Google will solve that mystery though. Here's the helicopter so far.