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


Out2gtcha

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Nice!

I love that they actually did raised rivets instead of the de rigueur indented ones. If Trumpeter had done raised rivets on their Hind kit, it would have been a 1000 percent better, and I would have one. I've bought 2 and thought I could live with them, but nope, and off they went onto the sale list...

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Thanks gents. I've got some color down on the cockpit as well as the fuselage interior where the engine parts may be visible via the main upper rotor housing.

I also did some small mods to the seats and front gunners sight. I haven't had time to take any pics with work, but I'm hoping after dinner tonight or tomorrow I'll be able to snap some pics.

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Progress............

 

Got up close and personal with the Quinta Studios set...........VERY cool stuff! The clear resin they use for "glass" is very well done, very flat and highly reflective:

 

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As this was the very first time I've ever used this new technology, I was unsure what to expect. I was not sure how to proceed other than reading the instructions (new for me sometimes) and it just says to cut them apart and dip them as normal water slide decals.

Here's the cool part............
I thought they were going to be stiff inflexible prints once released, but not only did the IPs keep their 3D shape, but they turned out to be HIGHLY flexible too:

 

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I got both IPs applied as well as a layer of paint on the cockpit assembly after the black primer dried. I also got a layer of interior green on the inside of the engine bay.

I did NOT spend any time detailing this area, as I only painted it as there will be some visibility into the top of the airframe once done, and I wanted only to convey the appearance of paint and weathering down the top of the rotor assembly interior. I wasn't sure how much was going to be visible, but wanted it basically painted and weathered in case you could end up seeing something:

 

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More...............

 

 

 

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On to the cockpit. I also applied a layer of black primer here as previously pictured. Once that dried, I started in with paint. This is just a guestimate, and after speculation MRP Medium Sea Gray seemed to fit the bill, as it has the same very slight bluish hint. Once painted, I used some some dust, and mud enamel washes to highlight the detail that was there.

Other than the Quinta set, some watch bits and some odd styrene, I really wanted to see what can be done with the OOB kit with some minor enhancements.

A quick note on the 3D printed cockpit parts. I would highly recommend the following after my experiments:

- dip them as normal to get them off the backing

- remove them from the water and blot them dry BACK AND FRONT to get rid of any excess water and let them dry upside down

- use foil glue for the large Quinta parts like IPs and the larger side console parts

- use medium thick CA for the thinner parts line tiny console parts, seat belts and the like as white glue seems to only get messy with the smaller parts 

Once the cockpit tub paint was dry, I set about adding some of my cockpit mods, which are not super drastic, as this build is ALL about fun and return of the MoJo............

 

I took the seat-backs and covered them in some tissue covered in thinned Gators Grip, and then wrinkled and painted, then applied the back rests. I also broke apart the gunner sight and redesigned the OOB parts with the addition of some cable, styrene beams, bolts and some odd watch bits. This is NOT intended to exactly or even accurately represent the late model Cobra gun sight. Its only an enhancement to the OOB parts to make it look a bit better and a bit busier. I also added some of the optic cable for the gunners sight and some gizmology to spice things up a bit.

The Quinta Studios seat belts turned out to be super easy to use with 0 assembly, and ended up actually being fairly flexible. In my humble opinion the Quinta sets really adds a cool element to this ordinarily simplistic OOB cockpit:

 

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STILL MORE.............

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IMG_20210918_150329672-X3.jpg

 

 

 

 

With seats installed:

 

IMG_20210918_150423518-X3.jpg

 

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I got the rear cockpit bulkhead glued up with some styrene bracing under the rear section, and glued onto the main cockpit section to ensure a nice even gap-less bond before installation of the entire assembly.

I've got more to do here as I have yet to add the Quinta parts for the canopy, nor have I built the pilots gun sight yet. I also will be extending some wiring and tubing from the upper canopy to the rear cockpit bulk-head as well:

 

 

IMG_20210918_190920997-X3.jpg

 

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Even though its basically an OOB cockpit, overall I'm super happy with how things are turning out. Its been just what I needed to get back into the modeling swing of things, easy AND fun to put together, great fit, and something completely different for me.

Ill be taking some more pics for an upcoming LSP review I have, but will get some more work in on the Cobra this weekend, and may even be close to closing up the fuse.

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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