All,
I’m slowly getting started on Italeri’s 1/72 scale AH-1W as my third model after a long break. I would like to do a Desert Storm aircraft, but am having trouble finding photos of what I want to model. I swear that FSM published a photo back in the day (years ago now) of a line of USMC AH-1Ws in ghost gray and sand (the sand covered the green and black in the then-current camouflage). Is my memory faulty, or is this true? If so, where might I find some photos?
Is there a commercially available acrylic paint that matches the sand color? If not, does anyone have a recipe?
Finally, the ‘Hellfire’ missiles in the kit don’t look right at all to me-they are slender with tapered noses, whereas all the photos I’ve seen of Hellfires look cylindrical with blunt, hemispherical noses. Is there a cheap kit out there I could buy for accurate missiles?
Yes, the color scheme you describe was used. I did mine that way too, I think, based off the same article. I don’t know of an acrylic match for the sand, but I used Testors Model Master Sand enamel and it matches what I have seen.
Check here for a bunch of posts related to the AH-1W. http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/search.asp?search=AH-1W&forum=f16&s_id=0&mode=DoIt
As for the Hellfires, they look accurate to me. I went with the kit ones and they turned out great.
Here is my version, sandwiched between a 1/32 Revell OH-58A/C and a Israeli AH-1W ( Yeah, I know they don’t use this version, but I like the look of it):
You could also use the Hellfires from Academy’s 1/72nd AH-64A Apache kit. It comes with sixteen of them, so you rob half of them for your Cobra and still have enough for the Apache’s load-out (operationally the Apache carries only eight Hellfires, along with two 2.75" FFAR pods).
Here’s a 1/72nd Italeri OH-58D I built, with the Academy’s Hellfires
Sorry, I didn’t fully read your post. Mine is the 1/35 scale MRC/Academy version, not the 1/72 scale Italeri model. Paint scheme and other tips still apply though.
