Pappy Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 G'day people, I decided to start this little fella as I thought it had been waiting patiently in the to do pile for long enough. As usual, the first tem completed was the cockpit. The kit supplied detail is basic but adequate. The canopy is very very heavily framed and little cas be seen through the tick plastic. My example had flow marks in the clear plastic. I don't think that this is fixable so I will have to live with it. Zvezda supplies two aircrew figures. These came up okay after some paint. I decided to install them to help obscure the lack of cockpit detail. Test fitting the canopy shows that the fit is generally good, however the rear portion is lightly narrower than the fuselage. cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 (edited) G'day again, A little more progress today. The fuselage halves have been joined and this has been put aside to dry. The engine sub assemblies were the next assembly to be fitted together, and the fit has been very good so far. The exhaust openings were just gaping holes so I added some mesh to make this area a little more interesting cheers, Pappy Edited February 20, 2011 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey58 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 That's looking good,great painting of the crew! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark 64 Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Another great helo that should be done in bigger scale. You got to love Russian helos...so cool. Love your cockpit area, very clean work. Cant wait to see more Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 That's looking good,great painting of the crew!Mike Thanks Mike, it is the only part of the interior detail really visible so I made sure I did a good job. Another great helo that should be done in bigger scale. You got to love Russian helos...so cool.Love your cockpit area, very clean work. Cant wait to see more Oliver Ta Oliver, thanks very much. Since the canopy glass is so thick, there was no point going nuts in there. I agree, there should be more 1/48 choppers, I want a 1/48 Puma myself. Airfix has promised us some 1/48 Lynx variants, that will be welcome too! cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 (edited) G'day people, I have managed a little more progress. I have started assembling the weapons. First up is the 30mm gun. The other weapons included are a pair of B-8V20 unguided rocket pods as well as a pair of 9K114 "Shturm" anti-tank guided missiles in a cluster of 8 missiles per side. The unguided rocket pod tubes are molded as solid, so I had fun drilling out each tube and the end plate to give the impression of depth. I have also been busy sanding the fuselage seam. the fit has been very good so far. Sometimes I find it easier to cut off small details moulded along a fuselage centreline and add replacements instead of sanding around/over them. cheers, Pappy Edited February 21, 2011 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metallicus Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Looking great Pappy!! Yay another helo!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 (edited) G'day people, A little update for today. The undercarriage has been cleaned up and fitted. I left off the tail wheel as I thought it looked fragile, but the main gear looks sturdy enough. I added some very simple brake line detail with some copper wire and replaced the entry step with fine copper wire too. The loop antenna on the lower and upper fuselage was also replaced with some copper wire bent to shape. The antennas and entry step have been brushed with some Mr Surfacer 1200 in these pics so they look grey. Next up was a job I was dreading, blending the rear of the canopy into the fuselage. Test fitting showed there was a pretty decent step. Prior to starting, I tinted the canopy a dark orange colour. The pics I had seen showed that a heavy smoke tint was used, with a slightly orange hue. It looks overdone at the moment, hopefully it won't look so bright once the canopy has been painted. I used a shim of plastic card glued in with some excess proud of the surface and just sanded to profile. A little Tamiya Putty helped to blend things in. It is not the best job but it will be passable. The tail rotors have been assembled and painted. I replaced the tail rotor shaft with a section of brass rod, as I thought it was a little stronger and a little thinner for a better scale appearance. Last little bit of improvement at the back end was to open up the grille on the rear of the tail rotor gearbox at the rear of the fin. I cut a piece of fine mesh to shape and glued it in place. cheers, Pappy Edited February 22, 2011 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey58 Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Wow,amazing work going on here,you must have very steady fingers to add such fine detail! Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JP Vieira Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Looking good; keep it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I really like your work Pappy, so neat and clean. This is looking excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Wow,amazing work going on here,you must have very steady fingers to add such fine detail!Mike G'day Mike, Thanks a lot, it gets easier with practice, cheers, Pappy Looking good; keep it up Thanks very much, I really like your work Pappy, so neat and clean. This is looking excellent. G'day John, coming from an established master like yourself, that is high praise indeed! I really like what you are doing with your Apache by the way, great stuff. I have one of these to do in the stash, so watching and saving your build with interest. I should finish my 1/48 Apache http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...76&hl=Pappy one day.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 G'day people, Today's progress. The fuselage and engine assemblies are together, and the engine nacelles have been attached to the fuselage completing the main assembly. The tedious chore of masking has also been completed, so the fuselage is now ready for painting. The gun, main / tail rotors and ordnance have also been assembled and these will be added once the fuselage painting has been completed. I left the tail rotor stock, but I thought the kit's moulded on main rotor blade dampers looked a little chunky. I cut off the kit items and replaced them with some scratchbuilt items. After painting, the main rotor assembly now looks like this: The fuselage also had the first colour applied, a home brewed pea green. I don't know what ratios I used, I just kept adding lighter and darker greens with dashes of yellow and brown until I was happy with the shade. cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Very nice work, Pappy. You've made impressive progress and it's good to see it receiving a coat of paint so quickly (or at least that's my impression; sorry if it's actually harder going than I've represented). Cheers, Andrew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 G'day John, coming from an established master like yourself, that is high praise indeed! I really like what you are doing with your Apache by the way, great stuff. I have one of these to do in the stash, so watching and saving your build with interest. I should finish my 1/48 Apache http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...76&hl=Pappy one day.... You really should finish that - you are doing a magnificent job in 1/48 fella. That rotor hub looks great, having spent the last 2 days on my 1/32 Apache version I appreciate how much of a focal point on a model heli it is and how replacing the clumsy moulded on linkages and connectors makes such a difference - really nice work there. Looking forward to the next update mate ! J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 (edited) Very nice work, Pappy.You've made impressive progress and it's good to see it receiving a coat of paint so quickly (or at least that's my impression; sorry if it's actually harder going than I've represented). Cheers, Andrew. G'day Andrew, this one is really flying together (I kill me ) The biggest hassle build wise so far has been the poor fit of the rear canopy section. The rest has just been the usual glue/sand process. I am currently spraying the camo, so it will take me a few days between layers to let everything dry. You really should finish that - you are doing a magnificent job in 1/48 fella.That rotor hub looks great, having spent the last 2 days on my 1/32 Apache version I appreciate how much of a focal point on a model heli it is and how replacing the clumsy moulded on linkages and connectors makes such a difference - really nice work there. Looking forward to the next update mate ! J Thanks John, I intend to finish the Apache soonish. I was on the boil with it and got as far as painting the main and tail rotors. I paused to wait for some info and then lost my momentum. John (Cobra Historian) over on ARC pointed out the data plate decals (I didn't know what they were either!) were incorrect, having the wrong shape and appearance and offered to get me some pics of the data plates. Unfortunately, he didn't come through. These live on top of the rotor blades, and I can't find pics of these anywhere! Rotor units, like helicopters are very complicated and there are a myriad of linkages and wires. Sometimes I think it is better not to have reference pics! Camo painting has begun, so it will be a few days as it will be a multicolour jobby cheers, Pappy Edited February 23, 2011 by Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbuna Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Looking very nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 25, 2011 Author Share Posted February 25, 2011 G'day again, Very nearly finished this one. The camo is done, the decals are on and the weapons are attached. Just a little work on the main rotor and she will be finished. cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadScientist Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) Looking great, a bit small for me scale wise, but it looks amazing so far. Edited February 25, 2011 by MadScientist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 G'day people, I am calling this one done! I'll post more pics in the RFI section, cheers, Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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