1/144 Revell CH-47D Chinook (Canadian Forces) Diorama

[ErikT]

I intended to build this and share it in the Canadian Group Build if I got my CF-18 finished in time, but I just got too busy to start this one once the other entry was done.  I originally bought this kit in Slovenia while on leave back in 2002, hence the price tag in Slovenian Tolars.  The pilot figures are 3D prints from ReedOak, and the decals are from Above & Below Graphics.  The little soldiers you will see eventually were all 3D printed by myself on an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro, from files found on Thingiverse.  I decided I wanted to do a more dynamic presentation, based on a few stories I've heard and photos I've seen.  Enjoy!

 

 

Overall, it's a well done kit, with a lot of fine detail for the scale.  I had to prime the inside surfaces prior to assembling the fuselage.

 

 

While waiting for the primer to cure fully, I carefully masked the canopy windows, which went surprisingly quickly.  Revell made some nice, deep framing on the clear canopy moulding, so a sharp blade and a light source made for effortless masking and a lot less profanity.

 

Got my ReedOak pilot figures in about a week, and the cost wasn't a whole lot.  I think I paid $5 Canadian each for these.  They're Blackhawk pilots, but at this scale, if you can pick out the incorrect features between them and actual Canadian Pilots in Afghanistan, I'll buy you a new microscope.

 

Each pilot was about 6mm tall in their seats.  Lots of fine detail there.

 

They look comfy in that cockpit!

 

Some views of the test fit:

 

 

That's all for now.  Next I'll be getting into the painting of the pilots and all interior surfaces before gluing the fuselage together and sealing up the cockpit.

Edited November 14, 2022 by ErikT
splellingls

[ErikT]

Managed to work on this tiny beast this weekend, which was a nice surprise.  It's amazing how much I get done when the wife is out of the house.

I painted and weathered the interior in the standard light gray, then I glued the fuselage together and filled the seams.  Not too difficult with this model, as the seams are in the nice flat surface on top and bottom.

 

Primed and painted the pilots, and they sure look nice in there.

 

After painting the pilots and weathering the cockpit, I sealed up the whole thing and shot it with primer.  Looking at reference photos of these helicopters in Afghanistan, they show a lot of variation between individual panels, so I had a bit of fun with my airbrush and some flat white in a bit of pre-shading:

 

 

And then I sprayed on the top coat of OD green.  The lighting for these photos wasn't the best; there's a fair bit of variation between the panels, which was what I was going for.

 

 

I unmasked the windows and then decided I needed gunners.  I found some Humvee gunners with various weapons on Thingiverse, so I just scaled them down to the required scale and printed out two with GPMG mounts.  I know that we used a few Miniguns over there, but most of our gunners still had the good old C6.  I just cut away the Humvee turret opening and cobbled together some little plastic risers for the gunners to be supported on, and they fit pretty well.  If I do this again, I will definitely fit them prior to gluing the fuselage together.  This was a challenge.

 

 

 

That's as far as I've gotten, so I'll have to leave it for now.  Next will be decals and rotor blades, and probably initial work on the base.  Cheers!

 

 

[ErikT]

So I got the decals added and settled, though they didn't show up as well as I had hoped; I probably should have lightened the OD green a bit more.  I modelled it as "2 For Hooking," a Chinook used in Afghanistan quite a lot.  I also painted and installed the rotors, so there's not much left to do aside from a bit more weathering and dust.

 

 

 

 

I started working on the base as well.  I was inspired by numerous photos I've seen online of Chinook pilots hovering with the ramp on an elevated surface to load and unload troops in a hurry, so that's my plan.  Hopefully I don't end up embarrassing myself.  The base is hardboard with construction foam overtop, then a coating of household drywall mud.  This was followed by a ton of PVA glue and various grades of rocks and sand from the model train aisle and my back yard.  Here is the final base with a coat of primer over everything:

 

 

 

Then a base coat of Tamiya Buff to give that nice light brown colour.  Lots more work to do, adding shadows and highlights and some more colour variation.  Maybe some shrubs as well.

 

 

[ErikT]

I got a bit of time to spend on this one over the weekend, and it's getting close to being finished.  I worked on the ground for quite a while, adding a couple different washes to bring out the rocky terrain as much as possible.

 

 

 

While the washes were drying, I started working on the troops that I'll be adding later.  These were all printed on my Elegoo Mars 2 Pro resin printer, and I like how they turned out.  They're not the most detailed, but they look terrific when they're about 12mm tall.  I threw in some different skin tones and some mis-matched kit to keep it as realistic as possible.  I printed them with bases to give me something to hold onto while I paint them; the ones without bases had to be glued to a popsicle (or ice lolly) stick just to be able to work on them.  I'll be cutting off the bases with a razor saw once they're all ready for adding to the scenery.

 

 

This is amazingly pixelated at this magnification.  iPhone cameras aren't as awesome as they say...

 

 

Just to give a sense of scale to the whole thing....

 

 

Once the washes were dry, I drybrushed the whole scene a few times, then added some shrubs in a number of areas.  I'll be doing a bit more work on the terrain to lighten it up a bit more and make it look dusty, and the shrubs will be painted a shade of brown with a few green highlights to match the photos I've got from the region.  I also have to paint some of the rocks different shades as well.

 

 

Still lots of work to do, but it's all finishing details from here on.  I'm hoping to post the finished diorama in a week or two.  Cheers!  

 

[Blue Monday]

Excellent work so far on your Chinook and its base.

 

BM.

[ErikT]

Pretty much finished this one over the weekend.  Just some tiny details left to do, but I hope to post the finished photos here in the next day or so.  I took my daughter to the Nutcracker Ballet yesterday, and that Christmas tradition definitely has priority over finishing this thing.  Our tenth year!

I drilled a hole through the rear ramp and into the fuselage floor, and then I was able to insert the wire to mount the aircraft to the base.  Of course, still snapping off rotor blades everywhere.  Remind me to mount those things dead last next time.

 

 

 

Fitting into the base.

 

 

Fitted and epoxied in place.  Gives a nice, dynamic look to the whole scene.  I also detail painted some of the rocks in different shades to add some variation to the base, and I dulled down the shrubs a bit to look more like the photos of the area.

 

 

 

Last major job was to attack the troops' feet with a razor saw and remove their little bases.  Then a dab of superglue, and the scene is full of squads.

 

 

 

 

 

All that's left to do is a little bit of dust on the aircraft and troops, and a couple tiny touch-ups.  My next post will be in the completed dioramas section.  Cheers!

[dnl42]

Very well done model and diorama!

I'm impressed the pilots were able stay intact!, which I suppose was very important given that canopy. I put crew into Revell's 1/144 F-14A and they suffered greatly. 😱

 

I'm also glad you liked the kit as I have the Academy boxing in the stash.

 

 

[ErikT]

If you look really close, you can see the left leg of the starboard pilot is at a funny angle.  Snapped right off, so I just stuck it in as best I could while cursing the air blue.  Thanks for the comments and likes, everyone!

 

Erik.

[Wouter1981]

Nice diorama, but those Reedoak pilots look great! So much detail in a 1/144 figure.