Lee White

Hi Jack Sent you a PM which I hope you get soon- I was watching TV the other day and the show was filmed in Maastricht, which is in your neck of the woods, if I am not mistaken. What a beautiful, ancient (2,000 years!) town you have there. I'm buying a lottery ticket, and if it wins, I'll be visiting soon!

Update bump. Finally found time to work on model and finish cockpit. Jack- I've been thinking about your Q on Apache blades- I'm sending the ones that I have left, and I've come to the conclusion that if you splice them, you can get what you need.

That would be LSP'er oletcherfred. Ping him here on the board, and he'll probanly respond- Lee

hi jack, I found the apache rotors to be both short in length and span! I'll try and photograph both for a comparison... Lee

2 more pics- I see a light at the end of the tunnel- I just hope it's not a train...

Hi Jack, The rotor head was scaled from drawings, mostly for the diameter, ans then I made 2 "Ninja throwing stars" (That's what they looked like-) and built up the detail from strip styrene and glued them together using .040" spacers. The blades were a bit of a problem- I couldn't find any blades that would work, so I carved a blade out of a paint stirring stick, and vac'ed 4 copies. I put a .040 sheet on the bottom, which I then trimmed, leaving a 4mm tab on the leading edge at the root. these fit into slots in the space between the 2 ninja stars, and they fit remarkably well. I carved the leading edge of the blade mount at a slightly different angle than the leading edge of the blade, and that induced a slight forward sweep to the blades, just like on the real deal. Here is a pic of the first set of "stars", which I did not use as they were slightly of center. Your canopy, along with the other parts, is done- I just need to get my butt to the post office!!

here is the main rotor assembly. I'm now scheduled to be fitted for a straightjacket-

One pic to show progress- Hopefully, I'll be able to post more if my camera stops acting up.

Thank Geoff!! I like to think that this kit has helped me stretch my legs, so to speak, but it really hasn't helped in the patience department!! I am feigning patience in hopes that it will make me finish the thing that much faster!! Hi Hacker! I would be happy to send some copies of what I used- The Warbird tech book's schematics, from the Army manual, and some schematics from a 2002 IPMS Journal article, purportedly of Lockheed origin. The one in that article was made of solid Bondo(!) and was painted up in the camo style.

Hi Jens, At first, I didn't understand yuor question, but then i realized that the white one was in the pic. That was my first atemp at the model, and it was damaged, but it still serves me well as a test mule, before I try something on the gray one. Hacker, Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm going to try and finish it for KC, but even if I do I am a realist and know that I would be running against modelers of Radu's talent,("You don't tug on Superman's cape....") but my personal philosophy is to just have fun and do the best that you can. I'm looking forward to simply entering, as I have only been to a couple of regionals in the past, but never a Nats.

" to read that lancman had to abandon his Lancaster." WHAT??? When did this happen, and why? I was really enjoying that thread, and I thought that he just had not posted in a while... Say it aint so!

Jack, Ipopped one canopy to test the fit, and it seems pretty good. I used .030", and it is robust, but not tha absolutely clearest part. I think .020" would be better, but a little more flimsy. I'll let you make the call as to which one I should send- Lee PS- Her is my Cheyenne with an Aurora AH-56A perched on top to give an indication of size. No, mine isn't an enlargement of that kit, but it was (is?) fun to build alongside of mine.

More pics- the kit now is on it's own legs and most of the cockpit is done, except for paint-

Hi Matt! Excellent work there on a cool plane that I have never seen before.BTW, What are those bulges at mid- span for? I am looking forward to more progress shots of your model! Here is a site with some actual BV schematics for youer model- HTH! http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village...2/bv155-drw.htm Best Wishes, Lee

Hi Derek, Thanks for the input- I appreciate the suggestion. I have raided the Apache kit to a certain extent, along with an MRC AH-1W, but not too much. The most notable thing I noticed between these 2 kits is that scale seems to be rather subjective- I mean, I placed the seats from the Apache and cobra side-by-side, and even accounting for the different styles, there was far more than a 10% difference in size. It was almost like comparing a 1/24 model to a 1/48 kit, the difference was so vast. I cannot understand why this would be, but that's just the way it is, I suppose. I filed down the edges of the Apache seats. and they now fit rather well. I used the apache sighting system as a basis for the somewhat similar unit found in the front cockit of the Cheyenne, and mixed and matched some instrument panels from my spare parts collection. I must admit that this approach is not 100% accurate, but as Shep Paine puts it, you get "90% of the accuracy with 10% of the work." Scratch-built cockpits are a bit of a Black Art to me, and I marvel at the work of people like Klaus, Radu, and Brian for being able to pull it off so well. Lee

Hi Jack, Made a new mold for the canoppy, and will pop one asap to send you, along with 2 new fuselage halves, which corrected a small problem with the Mk.1 fuselage. I'll need your addy to send it out to you- Best wishes from Colorado, Lee

Hi Brian, I built this model from .040" white sheet styrene vac'ed over basswood forms, sorta like a home-made ID kit. The most complex area is the upper mid-ship, with separately made intake scoops and dog house. Lots of milliput, too. Soon I'm going to start on the cockpit, which is my weakest area... I'll keep refering back to your builds and the builds of others tosee if can figure out how I'm going to do it.... Lee

Incredible craftmanship.... i look at this stuff and think, "Howdedodat?" Lee

starboard side mid-section

tail section with torque rotor mount

port side mid-section

Here are some more pics of the model- I thought that I had removed most of the blemishes before I primed it- was I wrong!! I'm going to be doing some puttying and sanding in 50 small spots! oh well...

Hi I'm curious to hear about modeler's experiences using this putty- Apparently, it dries hard like an epoxy putty, so you can scribe into it, but it is one part, and literally dries in under a minute when exposed to sunlight. This stuff sounds great, but is it too good to be true? Lee

Yay! Another helo! Looks good Jens- keep up the good (and prolific!) work! Lee

Yup- Like Jack said, do whatever scheme you'd like, regardless of what others have chosen. Get the Tony Landis book, and read thru it. Making a decision early on will affect how you build your model- for instance, the #1 bird had no forward cockpit, the #6 bird had a large sugar scoop exhaust shroud, as seen in Jack's and mine posted pics, also the #6 bird was the only one to wear the tactical scheme and have the large wing. The #9 bird had the pilots cockpit in front, instead of the rear, as is normal, and had a downward firing C-2 seat from an F-104. I myself am leaning toward the ill-fated bird #3. Various bumps and turrets varied too depending on the airframe number. If you want to do a hypothetical sceme, ship #7 was said to being closest to looking like what a production machine would have looked like. HTH! Lee