Robinson R-44 Raven II 1/72 by Stransky Models.

[Donald]

Hello Britmodeller. For my first post I thought I'd have a go at this little helicopter from Stransky. I usually build model warships and I haven't touched a model aircraft kit in donkey's years so hopefully I won't end up with egg on my face.

 

This is a great little kit for those who enjoyed those from Airfix and Frog in days gone by. The fuselage requires a bit of filing, filling and sanding and I've already managed to snap off the tail-rotor guard. Fitting he side windows proved rather tricky and there is quite a bit of optical distortion though they do have the correct slightly convex shape of the actually helicopter. I'm fixing the transparencies in place using AK Gel as glue so fingers crossed no fogging.

 

Hope these images work.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by Donald
images URLs

[AdrianMF]

Hi Donald, sounds like an interesting project. I can't see any images on Chrome/Windows 10 sadly

(edit) or Firefox...

(more edit) looks like you are trying to share from a twitter link. It isn't a link directly to an image so I think the BM software has problems with telling that it's an image, and if I pull out the link and go there directly, twitter asks me to log in first. The FAQ section on the home page has lots of suggestions about getting images on here. I think you have to try it out until you get something that works for you. FWIW I use postimage.org, and choose the "hotlink for forums" option but other solutions are available...

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Donald]

Thanks for that. I tried linking direct to my Microsoft Cloud images. I will look into it. Might need to try another host.

[k5054nz]

Firefox user here very excited seeing the photos! This was on my wishlist for ages and then my subject aircraft got sold and my desire left with it...so I'll live vicariously through your build.

[John_W]

Very nice. I see these and R22s flying over quite a lot from the Helicopter Flying School at the nearby Aerodrome.

[Donald]

That's the model pretty well complete. I just need to do the registration on the boom: so need to fix my printer and buy a white ink cartridge, which will cost me more than the kit. Seem to remember somebody used to sell decal sheets of correct tiny font aircraft lettering for civil aircraft.

 

I ended up hand painting the red/white tail-rotor guard as wrapping the provided decal around a 1mm diameter plastic wire seemed a bit of a tall order.

 

 

 

 

[k5054nz]

Gorgeous!

[GeejeeZ]

Respect!!

I started the kit but did not manage to get the windows to fit. You did an outstanding job on it!

[Donald]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm having to take care handling the model as I suspect that any pressure on the side windows will cause them to fall inside the cabin and that will be that. They really need to be a one-piece moulding. Now that I think about it, I should have used thin plastic strips to make a 0.2mm flange inside the window apertures.

[Donald]

I've finally got some decals and a white go-faster stripe on to the model. I'm going to paint a light grey/concrete effect on the base as a dark blue model sitting on a black display stand doesn't look too good.