Dukie99 Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) And I am back and I have been working steadily on this project for the last week. It is slow going but I love this project. The main focus this week was to work on the ramp section. What Trumpeter gives you is very Spartan: There is literally no details provided by Trumpeter in that area except for a fire extinguisher on the port side. Even the hydraulics moving the ramp are MIA and the ceiling of the ramp area is just a flat surface, when the actual thing looks like that: The problem is that these birds routinely fly with the ramp in the open position and the cover of the very aft section of the bird is normally not installed, leaving everything quite visible. I also have a beautiful ramp gun from Live Resin that I want to use, so leaving the ramp area barren is not really an option. There is a resin detail set from Cobra but it is OOP. so some scratch building had to be done. This is still a work in progress as I need to add the ramp hydraulics, detail the transmission covers and add lots of wiring but it is a lot busier than what Trumpeter gives you and should look OK under a coat of paint: once the main scratchbuilt parts of the ramp section where in place I could glue the aft section of the fuselage to the main fuselage. The fit was actually pretty good, I will need to add to filler but nothing too drastic. Once this was done, it was time for the dreaded step of glueing the resin conformal tanks to the fuselage. they are big, heavy and the starboard conformal tank is actually too short by about four millimeters: if you try to align the tank with the forward section of the fuselage, the cutout in the conformal tank for the aft round window is off. If you align with the window, you are too short in the forward section and it looks off. The only thing to do is cut the tank in the middle add a spacer made of sheet styrene, reglue the two parts cum spacer together and then glue the tank to the fuselage. This what the online build on Werner’s Wings site recommends. I took a slightly different approach because I was seeing myself unwillingly introducing a bend or a twist to the conformal tank by trying to follow that route and screwing it all up. So what I did was to cut the conformal tank as suggested but then I glued the aft portion of the tank first. With the cut-out for the aft window and the wheel well at the back of the tank you can achieve a precise and correct alignment of the tank. I also pined the tank to the fuselage with metal rods for strength and glued with 5 Minutes epoxy to have enough time to get the best alignment possible. Then I cut the spacer out of sheet styrene and glued it to the forward portion of the tank and sanded it to shape. Then it was about slowly sanding the spacer so that the forward portion of the tank would align with the forward section of the fuselage and with the aft portion of the tank. Pinned the forward section, glued with 5 Minutes epoxy and it was done. All that was left to do was fairing the tank with perfect putty. Well that took me close to 4 hours, as I did not want to screw up the build. Interestingly enough only the starboard tank was short. The port tank was the correct length (it aligned well forward and aft so I did not have to cut it. And this is how it looks now, not your plain vanilla chinook anymore. Really happy with how it turned out, still lots to do. I hope you like it. Cheers, David Edited July 29, 2018 by Dukie99 BloorwestSiR, Kagemusha, Vandy 1 VX 4 and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Dam this is good !......Harv Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Looks fantastic David! Nice looking work on the ramp area too. Feels like what I'm doing with the B-25s. Carl Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Thanks guys. Today is public holiday in Switzerland and since my family is still in the US it was time for some modelling in the sunshine. The port side is now ready for primer, then interior grey and zinc chromate, before installing the insulation. Cheers, David LSP_Kevin, KiwiZac, BloorwestSiR and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brahman104 Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Great work David! These are an amazing aircraft for sure. Nothing screams "Gangster" like an MH-47!!!! I have built the trumpeter kit before and am well acquainted with its shortcomings, but it can be turned into a real gem. My daytime job is as a CH-47 FE so I am well versed with what you're trying to do around the ramp area; it's a very complex arrangement that's for sure! Looking great what you've done so far. If I can make a suggestion..... you should think about putting lights inside as the cabin is very dark once all closed up. The cabin has a series of dome (selectable either white or blue/green) lights so it wouldn't be out of place. In either case, good luck! Craig Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Hi Craig, Thank you for posting. I think your idea to add lights in the cargo hull is great, the only problem is that I am completely clueless about these sorts of things, and I would make a botch out of it. With all the live resin stuff and the figures, I have plenty of challenges in front of me, and the poorly lit interior will help hiding all my mistakes. I was able to put some color on this build, just primer and zinc chromate but that’s a start. Cargo floor is dry fitted and painting is a work in progress, I need to install all the insulation before being able to glue the floor though. Cheers, David BradG, LSP_Kevin, Alain Gadbois and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maxim Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Great work on the interior. Looks even better with a coat of paint on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted August 1, 2018 Share Posted August 1, 2018 Fantastic work, the Cobra line were taken over by Lone Star Models, might be worth sending them an email should you still require the parts..? Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Kagemusha, i did send Lone Star Model an e-mail in early June to inquire about the aft pylon detail set but did no get any response so I decided to scratchbuild the parts, I am happy I did it, it was worth the effort. Cheers, David BloorwestSiR 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 That's looking very nice there David. Tiryidium (sp?) models makes some nice plug and play lighting sets. They're ready to go out of the box and he does a couple sets meant for aircraft too. Carl Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 What I know about helicopters can be written on the back of a postage stamp, but your build looks very impressive David and certainly holds my interest. Can't wait to see the next stage! Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevepd Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 I've got one of these in the stash but mines going to be a UK 7 squadron cab, when I build up the courage to get going. If you haven't seen these kits they are massive = BRILLIANT Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanKB Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 Superb modelling skills, really impressive. I don't normally follow helicopter builds, but this is fascinating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Thanks for the kind words, keeps me going on this project, as I am far from being able to close the fuselage, lots of work to be done in the cockpit, all the Live resin goodies to build and paint and the figgies. I have finished installing on the port side the very luxurious insulation found in this bird. Luxurious because it is made of one layer of felt and one layer of champagne bottle foil. The champagne was excellent thank you very much. It is far from being perfect but under a coat of paint and given the limited light in there it should look OK. Felt layer: Then covered with champagne bottle foil ready for paint: Cheers, David johncrow, mozart and KiwiZac 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozart Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Ingenious, looks very effective! Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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