SA330 Puma helicopter

[Marco1965]

Between bigger projects, I like to assemble once in a while one of these 1/144 kits.  I have had this SA330 Puma in my stash for years already, I think it was the first 1/144 kit that I bought, time to give it a try.  Finely molded, has a representation of the interior appropriate for the scale, including cockpit with controls, instrument panel, etc.  I have still not decided whether to represent the Tigermeet option as shown on the box, or the more standard two'green camo version included as option, too.

 

I will add crew converting some Preiser figures (1/160 scale).

 

Tiny kit, definitely.

 

i assembled the interior an painted following instructions.

 

Gled it in place without issues, everything OOB.

 

A dry-fit of the figures, they still need some modifications to resemble pilots and crew.

 

i like the details for the scale.  So far, Revell has not disappointed me with these nice tiny kits.

marco

[Marco1965]

Some additional things that I did today to the Puma.  The rotor hub as provided in the kit, looks massive, too much.  I trimmed the base until the shape of the shaft was all that remained.  The rotor hub simulates the 4 balance arms with thick rods, I cut them to replace them with thin wire.  

 

I trimmed the base until a resemblance of the shaft was all that remained.  The rotor hub simulates the 4 balance arms with thick rods, I cut them to replace them with thin wire.  

 

I bored open small holes at the base of the balance arms, thin wire will be inserted and glued in these holes afterwards.

 

And additional 4 holes were opened in the rotor base, to allow for the wires from the rotor head to be inserted and provide some structural strength.  I drilled open a nole in the middle of the shaft for another wire as well, that will fit into the rotor head.

 

Another evident omission are the turbine exhausts on each side of the fuselage.  These were issued with straw, proper caliber, cuting and trimming according to references.

 

marco

Edited June 27, 2022 by Marco1965

[Marco1965]

Other parts of the rotor hub had to be scratchbuilt to better match the scale.

 

And antennas and footsteps were scratchbuilt using thing wire.  Compared to the kit's parts, the appearance is much better.

 

Notice that the pilot's figures have been painted and glued in place.  Footsteps are work in process, they are much more complicated than the part provided in the kit.

marco

[Silenoz]

Nice build so far. Been eyeing this kit for a future project. Have you decided yet on the tiger or two-tone?

[Marco1965]

37 minutes ago, Silenoz said:

Nice build so far. Been eyeing this kit for a future project. Have you decided yet on the tiger or two-tone?

Thanks, Silenoz.  I have not decided yet, but I think it will be the two-tone one, I have a taste for "standard" looks, nothing so fancy.

 

marco

[Marco1965]

A relax from my Sherman... I worked on the rotor, easy to clean, upon gluing to the rotor hub, the rotor pads are in "take off" position, bent upwards.  With some pressure rubbing against a pen, the correct stance bent downwards was achieved.

 

 

I finished scratchbuilding the cabin steps, but I think I´ll add the other 4 short segments located under the fuselage, later.

 

The clear windshield and lateral parts fit easily, I applied future on the insides to prevent fogging.

 

The three clear parts glued in place.

 

And the cap of the cockpit, where the engine air intakes fit, was glued in place.  looking at the pictures, it is evident that some alignment is necessary for the cockpit step...

marco  

[bigbadbadge]

This looks great so far Marco, some fantastic additions by you are enhancing this a treat. 

Great work 

Chris

[Wouter1981]

Those 1/144 revelkits are great, aren't they? What did you use for pilots and could you take some detail pictures of them? I've been looking for some good 1/144 figures that would work for pilots.

[Marco1965]

4 hours ago, Wouter1981 said:

Those 1/144 revelkits are great, aren't they? What did you use for pilots and could you take some detail pictures of them? I've been looking for some good 1/144 figures that would work for pilots.

Thank you for your comments, BBB and Wouter.   Revell kits are really nice, well detailed for the scale!  The figures that I used are the ones from Preiser, well known in the electric trains environment.  A Preiser figures set normally has 5 figures, scale is 1/160, barely noticeable difference vs 1/144.  I chose figures that looked close to what I needed, did not find military or pilot figures, in the picture below as they came, you see that apart from paint, some modification to the helmets is needed.  

 

 

 

I chose the two seating figures for pilots, and 2 of the standing ones for crew.  I added CA glue around the engineer helmets to make them look more like pilot helmets, bent a little bit the legs of the pilots to fit around the control columns, and then painted with different tones do green.  Helmets are not perfect, but they play the part.

 

And this is how they look glued already in their seats.  Before gluing the clear parts in place, I added some patches to the uniforms, give some additional details to the figures.

 

And that is how I got the figures for my Puma!  hope that it works for you.

marco

[Marco1965]

Fast Forward!  😁  I almost finished my Puma, chose the two-green RAF camo in the end, as I did not really trust covering the whole helicopter in decals.  But some details during the process:

a) I bored open a series of holes on the right side of the helicopter (on the tail, boom and engine cover), easier to bore them open rather than go on painting them black later, and more realistic.

b) Substituted the "moustache" supports with thin wire, antennas still pending

c) Fixed the air intakes of the engines, the front end was completely devoid of any detail, and references clearly show a flat cover with two flat cones in HC1 XW217

d) Painted the metal rim on each rotor blade, not shown in the instructions, it is quite easy and looks good.

 

 

 

I substituted the antenna masts on the left side with steel wire, will add the wire antennas later.

 

 

 

 

   There are still several things to do, but I feel this might still be a 2022 finished model!  

marco

[Marco1965]

Last steps.  Added the wire antennas using ultrafine Lycra (Infini).

 

Painted the engine exhaust and added pastels to make them look dirty. Not as thin as I would have wanted, but could not find anything thinner to simulate the abscent exhausts.

 

Exhausts in place, and a crew figure as well (from Preiser).

 

Added the antennas to the "moustache" supports using stretched sprue.

 

Added a running crew figure to the base, the wooden area still needs gloss varnish.

 

Added some small antennas and lights on the tail boom, painted the position lights, added some staining with artists pastels to the area behind the exhausts and this is the end result, nice Puma with lots of detail for the scale, maybe one of these days I´ll give the Tiger meet a try!  Thank you for watching!

Marco

[Silenoz]

Splendid work on this beauty. Looking forward to the tiger...