Dukie99 Posted March 24, 2019 Share Posted March 24, 2019 (edited) When Academy announced its new AH-1Z Viper last November, I decided to start my MRC AH-1W, hoping to finish it before the arrival of the new kit. I did not quite manage that, as the Academy kit arrived last Thursday and I am mid-way through on the AH-1W. I thought it would be cool to start the Academy kit right away and cover in the same WIP thread the two builds. Box art of the Viper: tonight I built the cockpit. Seats are dry fitted. Unfortunately there are no seat belts, I will have to see what to do about that. The details are pretty good and so far the fit is excellent. The plastic is softer than the Trumpeter plastic so you need to go lightly on the sanding. And this is the cockpit of the AH-1W. I have used Verlinden detail set which was a huge improvement over the kit parts More progress soon. Cheers, David Edited May 18, 2019 by Dukie99 Dany Boy, johncrow, Kagemusha and 14 others 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Great start on those cockpits! I am really intrigued by the Academy kit. Looking forward to see it it come together. Cheers, Tom Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Nice start! Im not a huge helo guy, but the Cobras have always intrigued me, and I like the looks of the Wiskeys and Zulus a lot. Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackbetty Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 very nice start, i ordered the same kit from hongkong, but am still waiting on it... Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 This will be great to see David. You can see the difference in the quality of the mouldings between the two kits. Carl Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted March 31, 2019 Author Share Posted March 31, 2019 Time for an update. Made some progress on the Viper. Overall it is a great kit and the moulding is absolutely stunning. There is a quite a number of ejection pin mark which can be seen and which therefore need to be filled: the sidewalls of the cockpit, the armor panels in the cockpit and inside the intakes which comes in two parts (with four pin marks on each side...), but nothing too annoying. I did not bother making cushion on the seat as in the pictures these seats look pretty thin, much like a sports car bucket seat. I solved the lacked of seat belts by using eduard mi-24 seatbelts left from my mi-24P build, certainly not super accurate but it looks the part. The kit comes with decals for the MFDs but I don't think they look accurate and I will not use it. I think I will paint the MFD screen gloss black and add a coat of bondic on top and hopefully it will look more like this: So far my only disappointment is with the 20mm gun. I don't think it looks very good compared to the Master metal barrels with the Verlinden resin breach I am using for the Whiskey. I have ordered a set of Masters barrels to replace the kit's gun. That's it for now. Cheers, David Starfighter, LSP_Kevin, themongoose and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 (edited) My build of the Viper has caught up with the Whiskey. Next step for both is now to fit the canopy and then it will be time for primer. The Viper is a great build. If you take your time, everything fits really well and as many have already remarked the surface details of the Viper are amazing. Cheers, David Edited April 6, 2019 by Dukie99 Alain Gadbois, blackbetty, Christoffer Lindelav and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durangokid Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Looking great so far! It's hard to make an all black cockpit stand out but you have really done a nice job with it. I got my kit a week ago but I'm trying to finish a few other projects first, your build is making me impatient! Bryan Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 (edited) great start on both builds. will be watching. I am also waiting for my kit. I wonder if Eduard is gonna do PE for it. What is the horn looking item on top of the large plate on the back left side of the cockpit? Edited April 6, 2019 by shark64 Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 My understanding is that the large plate is armor plate and the horn shaped contraption is actually the weapon control joypad in stowage position. IRL it looks remarkably similar to a PlayStation controller, just deadlier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 here is a picture of the controller Starfighter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted April 6, 2019 Share Posted April 6, 2019 Looking great so far! Got my kit last week as well an I am eager to start it. I have been looking for a good walk around but couldn’t find anything - is there something around? I am mostly interested in cockpit pics. Dukie99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted April 6, 2019 Author Share Posted April 6, 2019 28 minutes ago, Starfighter said: Looking great so far! Got my kit last week as well an I am eager to start it. I have been looking for a good walk around but couldn’t find anything - is there something around? I am mostly interested in cockpit pics. Thanks. This is the best walk around I found, but no real cockpit shots in there: http://svsm.org/gallery/ah1z/P1430384 Cheers, David Starfighter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted April 7, 2019 Share Posted April 7, 2019 Thank you very much, David! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dukie99 Posted April 7, 2019 Author Share Posted April 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Starfighter said: Thank you very much, David! You're welcome. This is a shot you may find useful (back seat position). I was hoping that the cockpit decals would show the MFDs on but unfortunately it is not the case. Cheers, David Whitey, Model_Monkey and Starfighter 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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