ICM AH-1G 68-15012 "#1 Du Me Mi" - F Troop, 4th Cav, Phu Bai, 1972 (mostly) Finished!

[LSP_Kevin]

2 hours ago, Dandiego said:

Great work on this Brian.

 

Almost makes me want to do a chopper. 

 

Wait, that doesn't sound right!

 

Dan

 

 

Kev

[brahman104]

Go Brian! I love the helmets! I'll have to look into this Reedoak stuff one day.

 

Awesome work, looking forward to seeing some colour on it.

 

Craig

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys.

I was super excited when I got my delivery from SB yesterday.............

After attempting to assemble the Master Model M-61 I was not so excited.

I started about 10:30 pm or so and at about 4:45 am after fighting with just three small inner curves plates, trying to align all 3 up with the two sandwiched 6 hole plates on the top and bottom for the barrels, then completely loosing one (I don't even have carpet) I gave up and went to bed.

Even if I include the crazy complex PE afterburners for my SU-33, this was BY far THE most frustrating, horrible, exasperating, fruitless PE endeavors I have EVER undertaken.

 

*sigh*

 

I'll be ordering a second M-61 set and will try the cannon again next week when the new parts come in.

For now, I'll start working on the clear parts.

 

Pics later of my complete and utter failure.

[Out2gtcha]

 

 

 

Looks like we have our theme for today. Pics as promised...........

 

All I can say is if I had done any research prior to just jumping in and buying a Master Model M-61 I would have easily found that it wasn't an M-61 in the chin but an M134 instead, which is about 1/2 as big around. 

I just jumped in not even thinking how small it really was. All I had to do was pull out the front 6 holed disk from the M-61 MM kit and compared it to the chin mounted M134 from the OOB Cobra kit and I could have saved myself 4 or 5 hours of complete hell.

It really isn't even close, and I should have at least looked up what I was trying to replicate and would have found no such weapon in Master Models catalog. 

 

As I said, it isnt even close and I really should have paid more attention to what I was buying. Here you can see the partially assembled M-61 next to the hole for the M134. Of course this was after a full night of frustration. I had already cut the gun barrels down to fit within the chin turret,  but failed to take into account the diameter of the gun:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well lesson learned. Since there is no brass version of the M134 (yet), Im hoping Master Model comes to the rescue with a complete brass kit for the chin of the AH-1G . However, I cant even begin to fathom how frustrating one could be to assemble with the problems I had with the much larger M-61.  I would think they may have to somehow make a different assembly style for it to be even remotely possible to get right.

 

With that frustration set in, I decided to get onto something else that I could successfully complete on the model. I installed a few small rare earth magnets to a plastic tube, and glued it into the tail of the Cobra with a long dowl attached so I could make sure that it got glued in straight. 

 

 

 

 

 

After that dried and with the magnets buried in the tail, I got a small stainless steel tube and cut it down to length and added a few more of the same magnets to that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then easy peasy, the tail rotor attaches and spins freely, while still being able to be removed if necessary

 

 

 

 

 

After that was completed I moved on to tarting up the pilots gun sight. This is the much earlier XM-69 reflex sight used in Cobras.................
 

No, of course its not, there's no such thing.  Its just the OOB gun sight with a bunch of PE, watch parts, wire, 3D printed knobs, micro-tubing, and some clear Squadron plastic sheet cut into gun sight "glass". Sorry for the crap pics, it was a hard lil booger to photograph. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know its complete fiction, but again, with limited parts and a desire for some fun I just went for something that looked cool and busy.

Im heading back to the build tonight to get a dash of paint on the gun sight and some Future on the sight glass.

 

Cheers! 

 

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

A shame about the gun, Brian, but terrific progress otherwise!

 

Kev

[BloorwestSiR]

Brian, when you mentioned the M61, I assumed you were using it on the XM-35 gunpod. It's the correct size to replace those barrels which could really use them. 

 

RB does an M134 in 1/35 and its tiny. I have a couple around here somewhere. Live Resin do some as well but again in 1/35. 

 

Carl

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks gents. I'm REALLY hoping a good resin copy comes out, because assembling the 61 was near impossible, sonI can't imagine having things even smaller.

 

 

[brahman104]

7 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Thanks gents. I'm REALLY hoping a good resin copy comes out, because assembling the 61 was near impossible, sonI can't imagine having things even smaller.

 

 

 

Awesome work on the gunsight/HUD Brian. I hear you about how fiddly some of those brass parts can be! The hardest thing I ever did was am etched 1/72 Dushka......I seriously was questioning my ability as a modeller.

 

On the M134 side, Live resin makes absolutely exquisite M134s in resin..... I would totally use one if I were you!!!!

 

Cheers,

 

Craig

[blackbetty]

i had the same experience with a minigun for a huey (1/35, even smaller)

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks boys!

 

I did actually (after a hellacious trial and error with a translator program) pay up my 1150 Rupees (about $16.00) and got myself this set:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its coming from the heart of Russia in Moscow, so no Idea when it will be here, but the whole chit turret is separate so seems a no-brainer to finish up and wait for the turret for last if needed.

 

Cheers! 

 

 

[Martinnfb]

[MikeMaben]

Looks nice Brian.  I ordered some parts from Russia not too long ago. Took about 2 weeks.

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys. Looking forward to receiving it, as the OOB stuff really is not well done at all. Ive made a new grenade launcher from some stainless steel tubing, but looks like now it will not be needed after all.

I've now got all of the clear parts masked, both inside and out, so tonight will be forging on with painting the those parts:

 

 

 

 

 

All the clear parts will be primed and painted in black outside but Ill be spritzing some yellow on the inside of the opening canopies, and the same gray used in the cockpit for the rest.

 

Cheers

 

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks all! Indeed Maru, it was 1,155.00 RUB.

 

On to some progress, even if slight......

[Out2gtcha]

I started some ancillary work that needed to be done, such as prepping interior parts that will go on the glass, small radar fin on the rear, small stub under-wing parts, pitot tube, priming then painting the interiors of the glass, as well as the main rotor mast and two piece main rotor blades.

 

I was a bit apprehensive about the two piece rotor blades, as I was not too sure about what scale thickness they would end up looking like. I cut the 4 rotor parts off the sprue and found my first bit of flash in the kit. This of course was easily dispatched with a razor blade and sanding stick. They were in the same spot on each blade half:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I clamped both finished rotor blades, and set them aside to cure:

 

 

 

 

 

I cut a few the the smaller things off the sprues and prepped them, and afterword I clipped off the main rotor mast, which is a single molded piece of plastic with part of the scissor/sleeve assembly molded in with nubs on it to connect the pitch links:

 

 

 

 

 

Not a very sturdy arrangement to me, and with it being solid plastic like the skid connections, it tended to bend and flex all over the place. I decided to replace the mast itself with some appropriately sized stainless steel tubing, and just cut off the scissor/sleeve assembly:

 

 

 

 

 

So that is exactly what I did, and after straightening the part around the new mast, I glued it in place with CA:

 

 

 

 

 

I also got the interior of the glass parts painted, as well as taking a look at the main rotor blades after they had cured:

 

 

 

 

 

My hesitancy about the two part blades was unwarranted IMHO, as they seem very thin in scale appearance, and went together very well. They also sanded down fairly easily, and have a bit of droop built in to them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

With some of the minor stuff taken care of, including masking off the chin turret, I got down to the business of getting the main skids glued in their final resting places. This was a bit nerve racking since it was mainly guesswork on my part as far as angles and spaces goes. 

Whatever happened, I just wanted to make sure both the skids where flat on the ground when the bird is at rest:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for tonight folks! I am going to let the glue on the skids cure overnight, and then will be back on the Cobra tomorrow, getting the remaining Quinta Studios pieces into place on the canopy interior.

 

Cheers!