hey all!
ive gotten my digicam back and would like to post some pics of one of my current builds, a 1/72 italeri apache long bow. this is my 3rd kit, but the 1st with my airbrush, and what a difference i gotta say!! its still not finished, i gotta put a final coat of paint on, some detail painting and some subtle weathering, coz its lookin a bit plain…
here we go! sorry the pics aint the best, i need a ttripod!
let me know what u think!!
looking great so far…its hard to distingush the body in the pics…the lighting is a bit dark.but other than that its looking good.
Tominator,
Lookin real good! One comment, though. Apache rotor blades are all black. There are no yellow warning tips on them. Still, she’s comin out really well!
I wish SOMEONE would update all of the Longbow kits out there! The only one that’s got the accurate avionics bay aft ends is the Hasegawa kit!
Cobrahistorian,
Isn’t that an “A” model fuselage since the cheek blisters do not go up and encompass the wings? The blisters look like they go under the wings like an “A” model. I thought “D” model blisters encompass the wing root as in the below photo.
Or is it just the left side that goes around the wing root? This one has the lowere right side cheek blister as well.
Gino,
Only on the left side. THe right side sponson is similar to the A model, but is thicker and more symmetrical.
Here’s a shot of a 21st Cav Group AH-64D at Ft. Hood
And a shot of a 1-229th AH-64A in Afghanistan.
You can see the difference in the front end of the sponson. The D model’s is much thicker and the upper and lower surfaces run parallel for a much greater distance. The front end on the A model is also much more rounded.
O.K. Thanks.
thanks guys…
yeah i need to work on my photos… im working on it 
cobra, i dont know why i painted the rotor tips yellow, i looked at the box art + my ref pics and its not shown anywhere… oh well … itll add some colour
the newer model definently look better aswell, i remeber thinking to my self that it didnt look right
anyways, i painted the final coat of army helo drab on 2day, ive had a look at it and im happy the way it turned out… im going to cover it in some future to help with decals and doing washes and weathering, then im going to cover it with a mix of future and flat base. im kinda worried about spraying future tho, as its never really come out great for me, but ive been spraying with it a bit 2day and ill see what happens with the other kits.
hope to have some pics of it finished soon!
hey all!!
well, i know its been slow, but i have finally completed my chopper!
i wanted to do some weathering, and started by drybrushing silver over the panel lines (theyre raised!) and rivets. this came out kinda messy, and overlty bright, so i tried to toned it down by dry brushing thinned tamiya smoke over the panels lines. this wasnt really making a difference, so i mixed up some helo drab with black then messily drybrushed it over the silvered panel lines. it came out ok, it is a little dark tho, and covered up some of the decals.then i gave the model a light dusting from above with sand to blend it all in, which it did nicley, and now it looks like its done some service in the deserrt.
anyho, heres the pics!!
i know they aint the best pics, but i got myself a tripod and am gonna work on my photos…
anyways, it was a pleanant build, with a few hiccups (broke one of the rotors, lost a part)
and i am happy with the results, for my 4th build
coments, critisicms and questions all welcome!!!
and thanks for looking!!
Looks like it all worked out good, Tom, (I like the way you brought out the rivots) thanks for showing it! [:)]
That makes a handsome display, and I know you’ll enjoy it!
Take care, [:)]
Frank
Great looking build.
Looks pretty good. Few pointers though. Still think you should paint over the yellow rotor tips though, they just don’t look right. Noses on the 2.75 rockets should not be yellow either. Entire nose cap on 2.75 rocket pod should be a bare metal color, simmilar to your 30mm chain gun color. Rear of 2.75 rochet pod should not have white dots either, it too is overall bare metal color. Hellfire missiles rear should not be red either, they are the same color as the rest of the missile, dark green. Also looks like you painted the hellfires black, they should be dark green with a clear nosecone (Laser seeker camera inside). The position lights on the wingtips should not be amber either. The left, port side, should be red, right, starboard side, should be green.
Looks pretty good, few corrections and it can be great. Good job.
Looks good to me
Looks good from here. Thanks for sharing.
Regards, Rick
the canopy is splattered with white paint it looks like…
antway, great build!
Tom,
Lookin good. I agree with Gino on most of the points. Definitely need to paint over the yellow and the front and rear of the rocket pods should be an aluminum color. The front one can be a bit darker, since the rocket backblast usually chars the front of the pod. As for the red aft ends on the Hellfires, I’ve seen red plugs in the rocket motors of a 1-6 Cav Longbow while it was on display, so that’s not necessarily incorrect.
As far as the fogging on the canopy goes, I usually take a Q-tip cotton swab, lop off one end of it and use the paper stick to firmly rub off any overspray that may have gotten on the clear parts. The stick is soft enough that it won’t damage the glazing but firm enough that it can get under any paint and simply push it off the clear part. After that, I touch up the glazing with some model wax and get a nice, shiny canopy.
Just out of curiosity, did the kit come with rotor blade actuator struts? It looks like you’re missing the linkages that extend down from the main rotor blades, parallel to the rotor shaft.
Keep up the good work!
Green Hellfires? Maybe they were at one time, but I beleive they have all been standardized as black. Correct me if I’m wrong, I’m just presuming that the USMC and the Army get the same missiles.
And here’s a shot from ARC showing the red exhaust covers and blackened rocket pod.
Whoops, missed that on my last post too! As far as I know, yeah, all AGM-114s are black. The new Radar Frequency missiles have a white (or slightly tannish) nose, while the Semi-Active Laser missiles have a windowed nose cone for the seeker head.
thanks for the comments evryone!
the white paint on the canopy is actually a light dusting of sand paint all over the top of the model, but in the pics it doesnt look right, kinda out of balance…
those were the pics i used for ref, so thats why i painted the missiles black… i know there r newer apaches, maybe they have the green missiles?
cobra: the kit didnt come with the linkages that u mention, i feel it was a oversimplified kit, there were quite a few differences betwen the pics i got and the model…and i decided to leave the yellow tips as they were coz i couldnt b bothered to respray, and most ppl who look at it wont know its meant to be like that! 
in the instructions the rotortips r a different colour, so thats where i got the idea from…
overall it was a good kit, not to many fitting poblems, and it serverd its main purpose well, to help me get aquainted with my airbrush
thanks all!!
Still think the Hellfires are dark helo drab green. That is how they look to me, even in the USMC pic above. Could be the way they look on my monitor though.
Nope, your refrences are right. Hellfires are black. The photo I posted above is a shot of Hellfires in use during OIF.
Edit,
lol, sorry Gino, you must have been posting as I was typing this reply as well.
Black, Black, Black!! Trust me, lol. Obviously, the longer they hang on the aircraft and get dusty and weathered, their blackness lightens up a litlle, so maybe that is what’s confusing, especially in online images.