Phantom2 Posted June 11 Posted June 11 (edited) Hi all! My choice for this GB will be the Hughes OH-6 Loach (or Cayuse), also known as Little Bird, a very small helicopter but used extensively in Vietnam and other countries. This kit is from 2000 and it´s originally a Dragon mold, reboxed by Italeri. Not many parts, two large and two smaller grey frames, one clear frame and a smallish decal sheet and a instruction leaflet. All parts are very nicely moulded and almost no flash on the parts, even though this kit was quite old when I bought it 2006. One of the large frames contains the fuselage halves and cockpit details… The other large frame contains the tail boom, skids and seats… Two smaller frames with armament and crew… One clear frame… The instructions comes in the usual “Italierian” A-4 format, accordion style. A small, but very nice decal sheet made by Zanchetti, one of the best decal makers in Italy (second only to Cartograf) and as the theme is “Jaws” I will do “Miss Clawd IV”. There´s not much in the way of aftermarket for this chopper, but I have an old Eduard set of the old style, unpainted with acetate Instruments. This will be fun, I have wanted to build this chopper for a long time now, and This GB gave me the perfect excuse to start! More to come soon! Stefan Edited June 11 by Phantom2 Alain Gadbois, KiwiZac, Erwin and 2 others 5
KiwiZac Posted June 24 Posted June 24 This and the civilian Hughes 500 are my favourite helis so I'm excited to see your take! Mounting the windscreen can pose problems as the fuselage frames tend to bow inward, so bear that in mind. As to how to fix it? I'm sure sharper minds than mine have the answer as my kit's sitting waiting for that to be done.
Phantom2 Posted June 25 Author Posted June 25 Hi Zac! I have not tested the fit of the glass parts yet, but thanks for the heads-up! So far, It have been a nice build with pretty good fit, but Italeri does not joke about the weight, this chopper needs it! Stefan
Phantom2 Posted Saturday at 02:42 PM Author Posted Saturday at 02:42 PM (edited) Hi all! I started the build with some” destructive” building, by removing moulded detail in preparation for the etched parts. I glued the fuselage sides with the respective tail boom part, it´s usually easier to get a nice join between the parts this way. This is a VERY small helicopter, even though the scale Is 1/35th! The cockpit and cabin start to come together, almost as many etched parts as plastic! It´s crowded in the rear seat! After a few tests, I decided to go ahead and glue the fuselage together. I also glued the engine covers in place and I got an almost perfect fit here! The fit on the underside is… so-so… I glued in some plastic strips as reinforcements of the bottom join, just to be sure… Note that I have not glued the top join yet! The join will be OK, but I´ll loose allmost all the nice rivetting. The skids are glued in place, the clothespin are only to hold the nose down, this will require some ballast to avoid a tail sitter! The tail rotor mount and the tail fins assembled, a very fiddly part of this build, It would have been a trait to have four arms! But it turned out to be very strong when the glue had dried! More to come soon! Stefan Edited Saturday at 02:43 PM by Phantom2 Alain Gadbois, Daniel Leduc, denders and 3 others 6
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