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Hi All, Diving head first into my first large scale model. In this case, it's Academy's lovely 1/35th scale AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter (I'm a dye-in-the-wool 1/72nd guy. Just ask @Greg W). I love the AH-1 series of helicopters, and really dig this particular variant (as well as the OG Vietnam War era AH-1G). I've picked up just about everything made for this model, so let's see if I can make it work. The box art; The aftermarket goodies; First thing to accomplish, and the most involved aspect as far as integrating an aftermarket set was preparing the forward fuselage for the Legend Productions AH-1Z avionics and ammunition bays. I drilled holes around the perimeter of the molded in bay access doors, then used a craft saw to removed the doors. Various sanding sticks and files were used to removed the remnants of the doors up to the door panel lines and clean up the opening. Here's the bays loosely fitted into place. I will permanently glue them into place once the bays are painted and the forward fuselage is assembled. Thanks to @Greg W for helping me get these fitted into place. His knowledge on how to tackle installing resin sets of this type was greatly appreciated. Here's the tail boom with some photoetch screens and Flying Leathernecks FMV antenna fairing fitted in place; Thanks for looking!

I haven't built a helicopter since I was a kid! This could be ugly. From the sound of it this Academy 1/35 kit should come with a cheat code to help me out - good engineering, a quality kit. The plastic sure looks beautiful. Excited about doing a Marine Zulu on the USS Boxer, Amphibious Ready Group. There's a couple BuNu on the Marine Skid Zulu sheet. The Evil Eyes Pirate appeals to me as i played Captain Red Beard the pirate at campouts for the Cub Scouts when my kids were growing up :-) I've really been trying not to spend any extra money on my builds but this one needs the full motion video mod and without the rotor fold not sure where it would fit so it may be time to spend a little on upgrades. What are the odds I won't use purchasing 1 upgrade to justify the full metal jacket?

She is all done and looking to throw down some ordnance! This is the Academy 1/35 Viper. I used the Flying Leathernecks decals, so many to choose from - I decided on the Red Skeleton Jolly Roger of VMM-163. I picked up the Werner Wings decals for all the stencils. And of course you have to use some of the kit decals as well. I ended up buying Eduard seatbelts to really match everything else done in the cockpit. Since i was spending money on shipping why not get more right, so i picked up DefModels 20mm gun barrels as well :-) And with my jolly roger choice I needed some full motion video which I got from Shapeways. The cockpit additions are all scratch built. My favorite add is the tiny wound cable behind the gunner’s seat. Lot’s to see in this one. All the plastic behind the PE vents was cut away and wiring and components were added. Hard to see with my camera skills tho but I did my best to show something ;-) The target sight system is custom built. You can just see the gold reflector behind the Flying Leathernecks iridescent decal while the the camera type components are more visible. The 4 sensors(plume maybe?) on the corners are hand painted and filled with testors window maker to try and simulate the glass. The pitot is brass tubing bent and sanded to shape. The seal where the stub wing meets the fuselage was painted and then coated with mask solution so upon final painting it could be uncovered for a little added detail. And lastly some inspiration from a local buddy of mine, goes by Bradley25mm over on the IPMS forum - fine detailing the tail rotor gear assembly with wiring, sensors, and wire clips. His looks awesome and he gave me lots of pointers on this build. The most recent of which was the base. The deck of the USS Boxer is 80grit sandpaper. Many thanks to Starfighter at Scale Navy Stuff for providing the awesome, to scale, padeyes you see on the base!! Well worth it. The hellfires are custom hand painted. My kids love Rick & Morty cartoon and the main character turns himself into a hellfire so a set of missiles is a tribute to the show. The other set is from pics I found online of what looks like a winged Komodo Dragon. Paint was my usual mix of MCW with 1 addition this time. Thanks to Starfighter for the recommendation on color choices for the upper bluish gray on these birds. I ended up with Mission Models as they were available locally. Primer is Citadel Chaos Black (satin). Color coats are Mission Model and MCW acrylic lacquer. Cockpit is all done in Vallejo colors. Weathering is all Flory Models washes. And the final flat clear is MCW to close it out. I’ve been looking forward to building this model for some time and am excited to show these pics. adding one more...my wife loved this one most, btw check out those padeyes!

Looking for aftermarket pilot and gunner figures to add to the excellent Academy AH-1Z kit. Your recommendations are appreciated!

When KH announced the Viper and the Venom, I knew it was a "must" have for the stash. I've been waiting to build a LSP Helo for a while but couldn't find the right one and the Revell Cobra just needed way too much to make it look fierce. Then came the KH Viper in 1/48th... I learned a lot about building KH kits. They are not as simple as just following the instructions. While that may get the job done, you really need to think about how you are going to assemble and paint the kit before the glue drops hit the sprue. In this kit, it was the cockpit....it's all black and needs some tonal variation to add interest. If you don't assemble some of the parts before paint (try to paint them separately), you won't be able to get them together afterwards. Another area to pay attention to during assembly is the glass. Is it going to be open or closed? If open, make sure you figure out how to glue it in that position... Oh, and the nose weight needs to be waaaaaayyyyy up front... That said, the detail is great. The decals are nice and the fit is generally good. I used a lot of new techniques on this build and they turned out ok. I'd prefer to not have all the panels open, but they were not too bad to close up. The rotor mast and head assembly is fiddley but it works. In the end, I'm proud to have it on the shelf! One of these days I'll learn how to use a camera...