Hello,
I want to build a diorama of an HH-46 (the new Academy kit) on deck, with tie down chains, and the blades folded and maybe covered. I can’t find any reference books online. Can anyone provide a photo or 2? How can I make the blade covers? The saran wrap that I sometimes use for masking might look nice, sprayed gray. Any other ideas? I’ve got Flightpaths 1/48 carrier deck set…very nice.
It sounds like you are trying to make too much work for yourself. As far as I know the blades weren’t covered (at least not in any of the squadrons or locations I was in) SAR(HH-46s) birds are shore based. You may be thinking of UH-46Ds, which is the model designation given for Navy birds used for unreps.
I’ll see if I can find more photos of folded blades for you.
HTH
Jonathan Primm
Check over at Armorama. Joe “Mother” Szczygielski has done a couple with folded blades. He showed how he did it in one of his posts too. He sometimes posts her as well.
Here are his two CH-46s On Display, at Armorama…
He got it kind of close on the E model, but on the D, they are way off. When the blades are folded, they don’t just fold back or forward at the same angle.
On the real aircraft, the rotor system has to be in one certain position. There are microswitches in the lower flight controls that will give an indication in the cockpit when the rotors are in the right position and when the flight controls are in the correct roll, pitch, yaw, and collective position to allow for blade fold. Basically what happens is that each pitch varying arm will be positioned so that when the blade fold is activated none of the blades will strike one another.
I will post more examples as soon as I can scan some photos.
A possible fix would be to seperate the pitch varying arms and rotate them to the proper angle as well as rotating the blades around the vertical hinge pins to the correct angles.
Jonathan Primm
UPDATE:
Here are some more photos, unfortunately not close ups, but the blade fold configuration can be seen in a couple of them.
And for you '53 types out there. This is what maintenance types have to deal with when the nose gear isn’t centered and is retracted, these guys spent about a half hour trying to get the nose gear to extend.
Go here: http://www.navy.mil/view_photos.asp and do a search for H-46. You’ll get over 300 photos, I’m sure there are some useful ones for detail work. HTH, Gary
Knoxb,
A couple of feet in from the blade tip is a retainer for a removable pin that the tie down lines attach to. I just folded mine and am doing it tied down. I am using a VERY small silver beads from Hobby Lobby (from the necklace section) for the pin and glue the line to the inside. Unfortunately my digital camera is with my daughter out of town so I can’t do pics.
There is a great book from Landing Zone Publications, “Seaknight Family-Navy and Marine Corps”, ISBN: 2-9519087-2-5. It is 40 pages of outstanding color detail pictures. It comes from France and is a little pricey at about $30.00 U.S. but well worth every penny.
I’ve been a Phrog crewman for 18+ years and everytime I open the book I see something that I never thought of when detailing this kit.