Dukie99

Hot on the heels of the two Cobra builds, I have just finished the old Revell AH-64A in 1/32. I built it as an IAF AH-64A Peten. Let's say it is my approximation of a Peten, I certainly do not claim exact accuracy, but I tried to include the main features of the Peten: the larger sponsons with the flares dispensers, the chaff dispensers under the winglets and the droptanks which you see all the times on the IAF Helos. I used an old Verlinden detail set (where the PE was missing, bummer), the flightpath AH-64A detail set and the antenna, pitot and chain gun are from Masters. The dcals are from Sky's decals. The flightpath set is very good and worth the effort: the wheels, the hellfire and all the wire cutters (nose, wheels, underside, topside) are from the set and do make a huge difference on a kit which is a bit barren but which fits well and has great raised rivets. I am very happy with it, not perfect by any means but I hope you will enjoy it.
















 
Cheers,
 
David

Just in case some of you are in London, the spit is in stock at Hamleys of all places. Just bought one there this afternoon, early and unexpected Christmas pressent to myself.

John, thank you. I followed your build at the time and my ends up half as good as yours I will be happy. I got the idea of the metalworks details and resin weld lines from your build. I finally decided to use some resin decals for the rivets on the fuselage and I have also used some resin individual rivets on some prominent parts. Not 100% accurate but it should look the part. For the wings I will try my hands at the Hgw rivets and see how they turn out. That's where she stands now. Getting closer to the painting stage.
 



 
Thank you for following this build.
 
Cheers,
 
David

Hi Brad, this is exactly what the book said about the Gs acquired by Switzerland: poor manufacturing and serviceability. I guess this is what you get for making a deal with the devil...
 
On the build, I have installed the hgW belts and closed the fuselage. The fit of this kit is so far very good and I am enjoying this build.


 
Cheers,
 
David
 
 

And it is done! This thing is absolutely huge. Luckily it fits in my display cabinet and looks great among my other 1/35 helicopter (Mi-24P, Mi-8, Israeli Frelon and MH-6. I am really happy to be done, there were many times where I thought I would not pull it out but the kind words and encouragement from all of you guys kept me on track. The main problem of this bird is that it's very difficult to photograph because it's so huge. I will try to post pictures under natural light over the week-end but for now I will have to do with these:
 












and together with  its little brother MH-6

 
Cheers,
 
David

As promised, I took some pictures under natural light today but no sunshine, still better than under electric light. Enjoy!
















 
Cheers,
 
David

As promised, final pictures of the Panther under a glorious sun. One of the best kits I ever built. I used the casted brass legs Paul produced two years ago and given the sheer weight of this aircraft, I don't regret the purchase. I encourage anyone who has this kit to build it, it is a serious treat.
 
 





 
Cheers,
 
David

This is the home stretch, I have applied a final varnish coat of Alclad Light Sheen on the airframe and I am getting all the final pieces ready for assembly.
bombs have been lightly weathered using the salt technique (hard to see on the pictures) and the band mark has been painted:

bang seat and transparencies and bits and bobs:

Finals pictures soon.
 
Cheers,
 
David
 

Thank you for the kind words. This is really a nice kit and not a difficult one (it is not HpH difficult). I just finished decaling the bird and the decals are very good quality, very thin with good solid color. I was concerned that the white would show the GSB underneath but it is not the case. This is the scheme as seen in the movie The Bridges at Toko Ri. If you google it you find on You Tube all the aircraft footage of the movie, which I found extremely helpful to place the decals (especially the dragon) as the instruction sheet was very very dark and it was hard to see where certain decals went. There is a full sheet of instructions on the placement of stencils but it seems that I have no stencils in my kit but it is not a biggie, I think looks good as is. I need to add a coat of future to protect the decals and then finish the cockpit and install the landing gears, the airbrakes and the ordnance. Getting there.



 
Cheers,
 
David

At last some colors. I decided to paint the main airframe GSB and then do the masking for the silver coroguard before glueing the pylons and the movable surfaces to make it easier. There is still a few blemishes I need to correct but so far so good, it is very enjoyable resin kit. More progress soon.


I have started with the ordnance, a full bomb load, 2 500lbs and 6 250lbs.
 
Stay safe everyone.
 
Cheers,
 
David
 

Thank Iain. I have now a complete airframe. The moving surfaces are just dry fitted and there is still a few places where I need to putty and sand but were are close to applying some GSB. She is now under primer (alclad Grey microfiller, sanded smooth).
 


 
It looks like I will be working from home for the next 6 weeks. As I will be saving two hours of commuting every day, I am hoping this will translate in more bench time. We shall see.
 
Everyone stay safe.
 
Cheers,
 
David

Made some good progress. I finished the cockpit glued it inside the fuselage and then expoxied the wings. I also glued the wingtip tanks. The fit is very good for the wingtip tanks and at the wingroot, not so much at the back and in the front  nothing that a little sheet styrene and putty cannot correct. It is a fairly big model and so far this is a very enjoyable build.



 
Cheers,
 
David

OK I have made a start. Dutifully following the instructions I started with the cockpit. The quality of the resin is really awesome and compared to HpH there is very little clean-up required. The IP is made of a photoetch face to be glued on the resin dash with a acetate sheet with the dial printed on it in between. There was just a little problem with that:
 

The dials on the acetate sheet do not match the photoetch face

So I got rid of the acetate sheet and used airscale early jet decals and the ginter book as reference. Decals went on the resin dash:

Then I glued the photoetch face and added UV cured glue (Bondic) to simulate the glass, problem solved

 
Cheers,
 
David
 

I will join this GB with the Fisher Panther. With the fatface Skyraider conversion, this is my only Fisher kit, so I will try to do it justice. I have given the entire kit a thorough cleaning of diluted bleach and will get started soon. Box shot, instruction manual and the reference material I will use.



 
Cheers,
 
David

Progressing slowly, it is now the stage where the hundreds of stencils dress up the bird. It gets tedious quickly, so I do it in 30 minutes stretches. I don't think I will manage to finish before end of November, but this is close to the finish line.
 




 
Cheers,
 
David

Thank you for all the kinds words. And she is finished, I am very happy with her even if I could have done better (but you can always do better). She looks great in the cabinet and hopefully in the not so distant future she will be joined by a Su-25A in an Afghan scheme, so I will have the two ultimate Afghan mudmover side by side. Here are the pictures:









 
and for Shaka Hi, I do have some space to display it, here she is in the cabinet:

 
Now on to dig something else out of the Shelf of Doom.
 
Cheers,
 
David

Hi  Stefan, sorry about this I had no idea that this was the scheme you had chosen, I would have picked another scheme. This being said, I am not a Bf109 afficionado, I have only built almost 10 years ago, Trumpeter E in Swiss markings and I always wanted to do the G and maybe one day the D, in order to have a complete collection of Swiss Bf-109. The G in Switzerland has an interesting story, they were acquired in late 44 following a bf-110G night fighter equipped with Germany's most modern radar landing in Dübendorf, Switzerland. The Germans did not want the Bf-110 to fall in allied hands, and requested that Switzerland return the aircraft, which Switzerland refused to do on ground of neutrality. The Germans threatened to bomb Dübendorf airport or send commando but eventually Switzerland agreed to let the Germans military to blow up the plane at the airport in exchange for 12 brand new G-6. I have this book as reference and it is very comprehensive.

One day I will buy the HPH 1/18 Bf-109 to produce a proper Swiss E (but I need to retire first...).  On to the Revell kit, parts of the cockpit have been painted and assembled, not going crazy here, I am for a relaxing build to be done within the assigned timeframe...




Now I need to build and install the HGW seatbelts and then I can think of closing the fuselage.
 
Cheers,
 
David

I will join the GB a 109G-6 in Swiss air force markings. I had ditched the flimsy box shortly after purchase but it is still unstarted. The content of the box and the aftermarket I have for it, with some more on the way.


I will make a start this week-end but I am trying to finish the MH-60S I had started for the Navy GB, which stalled due to a combination of Summer holidays, extremely poor instructions and lack of knowledge on the subject matter. I finally got to the painting stage and cannot wait to be done with it.
 
Cheers,
 
David

I made some good progress today, working on the cockpit. I had used Quinta set for a Su-57 Felon build in 1/48 and had been impressed by the quality of the product, but the Mig-29SMT set in 1/32 is even better. The fit is perfect, the resin is flexible enough to conform well to the plastic. I used Mig Ultra glue and it works really well. See for yourself:
 
Looking at it straight on the panel is flat, at an angle the screens and dials have a glassy look which is great

and now the rest of the pit and seat





I highly recommend this set and looking at reference pictures in the Yefim Gordon book, it is also a very accurate representation of the real thing.
 
More progress soon.
 
Cheers,
 
David

Progressing slowly, it is now the stage where the hundreds of stencils dress up the bird. It gets tedious quickly, so I do it in 30 minutes stretches. I don't think I will manage to finish before end of November, but this is close to the finish line.
 




 
Cheers,
 
David

Hi  Stefan, sorry about this I had no idea that this was the scheme you had chosen, I would have picked another scheme. This being said, I am not a Bf109 afficionado, I have only built almost 10 years ago, Trumpeter E in Swiss markings and I always wanted to do the G and maybe one day the D, in order to have a complete collection of Swiss Bf-109. The G in Switzerland has an interesting story, they were acquired in late 44 following a bf-110G night fighter equipped with Germany's most modern radar landing in Dübendorf, Switzerland. The Germans did not want the Bf-110 to fall in allied hands, and requested that Switzerland return the aircraft, which Switzerland refused to do on ground of neutrality. The Germans threatened to bomb Dübendorf airport or send commando but eventually Switzerland agreed to let the Germans military to blow up the plane at the airport in exchange for 12 brand new G-6. I have this book as reference and it is very comprehensive.

One day I will buy the HPH 1/18 Bf-109 to produce a proper Swiss E (but I need to retire first...).  On to the Revell kit, parts of the cockpit have been painted and assembled, not going crazy here, I am for a relaxing build to be done within the assigned timeframe...




Now I need to build and install the HGW seatbelts and then I can think of closing the fuselage.
 
Cheers,
 
David

I will join the GB a 109G-6 in Swiss air force markings. I had ditched the flimsy box shortly after purchase but it is still unstarted. The content of the box and the aftermarket I have for it, with some more on the way.


I will make a start this week-end but I am trying to finish the MH-60S I had started for the Navy GB, which stalled due to a combination of Summer holidays, extremely poor instructions and lack of knowledge on the subject matter. I finally got to the painting stage and cannot wait to be done with it.
 
Cheers,
 
David

Hi Brad, this is exactly what the book said about the Gs acquired by Switzerland: poor manufacturing and serviceability. I guess this is what you get for making a deal with the devil...
 
On the build, I have installed the hgW belts and closed the fuselage. The fit of this kit is so far very good and I am enjoying this build.


 
Cheers,
 
David
 
 

Hi  Stefan, sorry about this I had no idea that this was the scheme you had chosen, I would have picked another scheme. This being said, I am not a Bf109 afficionado, I have only built almost 10 years ago, Trumpeter E in Swiss markings and I always wanted to do the G and maybe one day the D, in order to have a complete collection of Swiss Bf-109. The G in Switzerland has an interesting story, they were acquired in late 44 following a bf-110G night fighter equipped with Germany's most modern radar landing in Dübendorf, Switzerland. The Germans did not want the Bf-110 to fall in allied hands, and requested that Switzerland return the aircraft, which Switzerland refused to do on ground of neutrality. The Germans threatened to bomb Dübendorf airport or send commando but eventually Switzerland agreed to let the Germans military to blow up the plane at the airport in exchange for 12 brand new G-6. I have this book as reference and it is very comprehensive.

One day I will buy the HPH 1/18 Bf-109 to produce a proper Swiss E (but I need to retire first...).  On to the Revell kit, parts of the cockpit have been painted and assembled, not going crazy here, I am for a relaxing build to be done within the assigned timeframe...




Now I need to build and install the HGW seatbelts and then I can think of closing the fuselage.
 
Cheers,
 
David

I will donate two kits this year:
 
Mig-3 with a boatload of AM


and a SBD-3 (without any AM unfortunately)

 
Please enter me also as a potential recipient.
 
Cheers and Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays) to all in advance.
 
Cheers,
 
David