The “Italeri” 1/72nd scale ACH-47A Gunship model.
The following pictures are of the two diorama’s I built early in 1999. One is in the US Army Aviation Museum at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, and the other was a personal contract for Mr. Jim Ketcham, who works at the Flight Simulator Complex at Rucker.
Two very enjoyable builds!
Take care,
Frank
the top left pic looks real, WOW nice
the back round is very convincing
OUTSTANDING builds Frank, and your pics do make them look real.
Thanks scer and Bob,
Natural light is the only way to go, I think, when you want your project to appear to be in it’s element.
Here’s a picture that was made the day I delivered these two projects to their owners…
Myself, Steve Maxham (Army Aviation Museum Director), & Jim Ketcham.
Take care,
Frank
Frank amazing dios, very good weathering.Congratulations
Pedro
Thanks Pedro,
They were sure fun to build! It was the first time I’d ever done more than one build at a time, but with these two, I just went back and forth on each step through the process… it almost felt like one BIG build instead of two!
Thanks again,
Take care,
Frank
Those are very realistically done. Great, great job!
two VERY nice dioramas. awesome! all of them pics look real to me!
ps. the chopper in your signature: is it a model or is it the real thing?
Thank you very much, Dwight and Jay;
That’s a conversion I done on one of the old Aurora 1/48 Chinooks, from 1964. It was sent to me a basket case, and once I started on it, it just kept getting deeper and deeper. I have the build archived at:
http://modeling.gunsagogo.org
if you want to see the real ACH-47’s, go here:
http://gunsagogo.org
Would enjoy having you stop by. [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Outstanding builds! I really like the look of those gunships, just bristling with weapons. Guess we can only keep patient and wait for someone to put out one of these birds in 1/48 or even 1/35. I know, I know, sore subject, but once I get my Phrog, Killer Egg and Pave Hawk on the shelf, I know I’m going to want a version of the Guns A Go Go up there too! Great inspiration oldhooker!
Frank, I remember following the build with you when you had posted it during the build. Outstanding work, my friend. Your Guns-A-Go-Go build was inspiring, to say the least, and extra thanks for posting the link to the Guns site. I’ve had a chance to visit the museum at Ft. Rucker recently and was pleased with the results of the staff there, and delighted to see your dio in person. I spent quite a bit of time flying around in those birds during two tours if SE Asia. You’ve done the $#!*hook great justice. Looking forward to your next builds! - Ed
(from the wall of the enlisted club at An Khe Army Airfield, RVN, 1967)
[:)]
Take care,
Frank
Wonderful builds Frank. It must be a real honor to have your work displayed in the USA Aviation Museum. They are both truly works of art, and do the old Shinook great tribute. semper fi, mike
…& double OUR pleasure @ your achievement…
outstanding, Frank…[bow]
Thank you Mike and Ric! [:)]
I was surprised to learn the Museum was opened again to the public… they must have got all the repairs finished after the flooding last fall. I have a picture of the display, made right after they put it up, but before they added the Go-Go Helmet and Diorama. In the showcase on the left, is the Forward Crown “nose-art” Go-Go Skull from #64-13145, “Co$t of Living”, which crashed & burned in May 1967. The Doghouse was thrown clear of the burning wreckage upon impact, which tragically killed all eight Crewmembers.
…A soldier hacked the Go-Go Skull from the pieces they brought back to An Khe, brought it back to the States, and kept it for 25 years in his home… then in 1993, he hand carried it to the Museum, donating it to their vast collection of memorabilia.
There were four ACH-47’s built, three were destroyed in Vietnam… that piece is all that remains of the three. The fourth, #64-13149, “Easy Money”, survived the war, and in 1999-00, underwent a restoration at Ft. Eustis, Va. I was honored to be asked to render the Combat Artwork on the restoration project…
"Easy Money"is currently on static display at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, where former members of “Guns A Go-Go” have gathered each year since the dedication in 2000.
Just a little background on the aircraft these models represent. [:)]
Take care fella’s,
Frank
wow, another example how history meets our hobby. great work fitting of fine men from the forces. keep it up !
Awesome work Frank! I too built this same model, although I can’t say that it came out as well as these did! Still it was a fun build and I did win a Craftsmanship Award with it at my local IPMS club/contest.
Thank you also for the information on the real things. It really helps to know more about these subjects that I model, especially from those personally involved in some way.
Congrats again on having your models displayed. It is a well deserved honor.
[bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow][bow]
Frank,
your dio’s are awesome! Beautiful work sir, thank you for sharing it with us.[^]
Hope you don’t mind me asking, but where did you get those figures? I’m currently working on a 1/72 scale project that could be turned into a dio if figures were availiable.
Thanks,
Darren.
Thank you for your kind words Duke & Darren! [:)]
Darren, the figures are from the Hasagawa 1/72 Pilot/Ground Crew Set…
They’re usually pretty easy to locate at the LHS, or on E-Bay. Hasagawa makes the same set in 1/48 also, and with a little help from a Drummel Tool, they can be made into any service. LOTS of arms and legs provides a multitude of possible poses.
Thanks again,
Frank
#145 performing Rocket Pod Ejection Testing at Edwards AFB, 1966
Great stuff Frank. Always enjoy getting a bit of a history lesson with a great build.