Hey fellas - recently snagged the MRC/Academy Cobra in 1/35 scale and want to get some feedback from you. Any major issues with this kit? Am considering using the Cobra Company upgrade set (seen here: http://www.cobracompany.com/35009.htm) to upgrade it to NTS standard… Have any of you used this set before? Having never done a major resin set before, I’m wondering if you can give me any idea of what sort of difficulty level we’re talking about with a set that large?
Also looks like my best bet for replacement decals would be twobobs…any other recommended decal sets in 1/35?
I know it’s a lot of questions, but I’m sure some of you have the answers. [;)]
I have that update kit from Cobra, haven’t used it on my kit yet but I can tell that on the plus side it is beautiful, highly detailed and will add alot to the kit. Just in dry-fitting the tub I can tell you the fit is perfect, maybe a little sanding here and there but no major effort. That said you will be doing some surgery to the exterior. You will need to cutt off the nose just infront of the canopy, you will filing down the Kit’s canopy to accommodate the new nose, In addition, you will be removing a rather large area between the two engines and an area on the belly to fit the resin pieces. These parts are imperative if you want to build an accurate W. I’ve planned it out and it shouldn’t be too difficult. About the toughest thing I see is getting the guts to start slashing the plastic.
I have built the kit OOB. It goes together well w/no issues. I have the CC set and Two Bobs decals for my next one. Unfortunately, they are the only AM decals fro it.
Gino - when you say that “unfortunately” the Twobobs set is the only one available, are you saying that you wish there were more sets (with other schemes, maybe?), or that the Twobobs set isn’t any good?
No, the Two Bobs sheet is great. What I meant was it is unfortunate that it is no longer in production. If you can get your hands on one, it has 6 different helos from ODS until about 2002 in A’stan on it. Great stuff. A more current one would be nice too, maybe an updated Two Bobs sheet w/some UH-1N markings as well.
If I am not mistaken, TwoBob’s actually came out with two different AH-1W sheets, the one that Gino is talking about and another that had more recent markings on it - that sheet however was in 48th scale, BUT included markings for one 35th scale bird as well. As for the orginal sheet, if you can email/PM me I might be able to help you with a set of markings from that sheet - I have it, but will only be building one bird from it so will have a lot of extras.
Hmmm…I tried linking the page from Twobobs, but they won’t let you. The set I was looking at is #35-002/48-116 AH-1W HMLA-169 Shark Mouth Vipers Cobra. I’m assuming that this is “set number 2”?
Sean - I’m not terribly particular as to what markings I’m going to do this bird in…what sort of leftovers will you have? I can’t find a pic of set one anywhere online - must have been OOP for quite a while.
I don’t think any of the brown/sand are NTS upgraded. I know the ones with the snakes on the sides and the shark mouth with the gold tooth are NTS machines, as is the one with the angel nose art. Beyond that I’m not sure without the sheet in front of me.
As a side note, can anyone tell us what all the NTS upgrade includes, what it does, and what the visual differences are? I bet HeavyArty can…hint hint…[:D]
The NTS has a new targeting sytem in the nosw, which raises the nose profile. There is a totally different instrument panel and gunners sight as well. Also an oil cooler cover that sticks out under the rear of the fuselage. There are some other changes too, but I don’t remember them all.
Here’s what comes to mind for a modern, upgraded, NTS Whiskey:
-New nose and re-shaped front canopy
-New front sight “bucket” with FLIR window added
-New front cockpit with MFD video display
-Deletion of FM-homing (shark-fin) antennas on engine nacelles
-Newly-shaped radio comm. antennas
-Addition of the oil-cooler cowl on the belly (not really NTS-related… just an upgrade)
-Later, aircraft were upgraded with AAR-47 plume-detector antenna suite (“fish-eyes”)
-Addition of GPS antenna to the top of the tailrotor gearbox
-Deletion of Doppler navigation housing on the belly
Those are some of the externals… some of the other upgrades were electronic.
Let me double check the sheet, but I believe I was gonna build the one with the gold tooth, I know I was not gonna do the sand color ones or the ones with the snake on the side. Let me know what you would like and I am sure I will be able to hook you up. As for the 2nd sheet I mentioned - you are correct it is the Shark Mouth one, looked quite nice from what I remembered of it.
Hey Sean - I’d definitely be interested in the one with the snake on the side…that would be pretty darn sweet. Let me know if you’re game, I’ll shoot you my address! [:D]
Dupes, go ahead and send me your mailing address and when I get a chance I will get both sets of snake sided decals out to you.
Anyone else in need of the sand markings or possibly the markings with the angel on the nose? If so, hit me up with a PM/email and I will get them out to you.
-The CC resin upgrade includes the new nose. It’s up to the modeler to sand down the front of the windscreen to make the kit canopy fit.
-Cobra Company didn’t include a new front sight “bucket.” You are supposed to use the kit part, but I am a stickler for detail and know it needs upgrading. I modified the kit part myself.
-The CC set includes a totally up-to-date cockpit tub and instrument panels for the upgrades. Also includes some really nice seats.
-No radio antennas are included, but it would not be hard to manfacture your own or mod the kit parts.
-The oil cooler is included, and so are the AAR-47 antenna housings.
Just caught the tail end of a show on the military channel about the AH-1…think I heard something they said wrong (I was trying to multitask!). Is there a four-bladed variant of the AH-1? The Z, perhaps? Or were they talking about something else? Or did I completely imagine the whole thing? [:-^]
