I’ve read the most of the posts for this kit and found that the kit is not the best kit to build. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix the landing gear on this thing? The landing gear is way to long and is angled down close to 90 degrees. Does anyone know who makes a resin kit for landing gear for this kit or how to fix the kit parts. Thanks
I would just junk it. It isn’t worth the plastic it is made out of. It isn’t even a Longbow, but Imex’s A model (which sucks as well) with the radar dome on top of the mast. No resin correction sets out there either, there would need to be more resin correction parts than the original kit. Cockpit is wrong, side sponson boxes are incorrect size and shape, radar is wrong size and shape, etc., etc…
Sorry, but the kit is trash.
Toss the kit. If you want a big Apache, the Revell 1/32 kit is the best game in town. It’s not too difficult to update the kit to a current standards AH-64A.
One can even modify it (with some work) into an AH-64D Longbow. Just be sure to keep the radome from your IMEX kit.
Don’t toss it just yet. A fix is in the works for BOTH kits.
Chief Snake
Ahh, I smell the sweet smell of resin helo parts already. Good job Chief Snake. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
sometimes the (junk kits) are good in dioramas
you can hide the bad features
longbow down anybody
You would have to hide the entire Imex kit to cover its bad features. And it still wouldn’t be an AH-64D Longbow.
C’mon, Gino!! Tell it like it REALLY is!! Don’t pull no punch’s!! We really want to know!! You don’t have to go easy on 'em!! [:D]
And to you, Chris. Thanks for the update. I’ve been wanting to build an Apache but, didn’t care for any of the kits as they were. Looking forward to your improvements. [tup][tup]
Thank you Chief Snake! I know Cobrahistorian will be thrilled to hear this.
Hey guys. Thanks for your all posts. I hope they come out with a resin kit soon or something. Anybody have ideas to make the landing gear look good? I’ve pretty much built this kit stock. I’ll wait for a good resin upgrade and pick up another kit on ebay. Just trying hone my building skill again with a few models.
[:D][:D][:D] Agree with Gino!!! I can even smell the gas from a chain saw!
Dont get me wrong - I like scrachbuilding myself, but I will never touch even this kit!
Darn, I bought the IMEX kit thinking it would be a good one to build!
I did build and modify the Revell kit to a D model with company proprietary exhaust suppressors installed. This was a display model to show the ARMY our version:
http://www.the-lem.com/CGI-BIN/Member_Galleries/Boybuddho/upload/MainFolder/Helos/apacheb.jpg
http://www.the-lem.com/CGI-BIN/Member_Galleries/Boybuddho/upload/MainFolder/Helos/apachec.jpg
Regards, Dan
Chief Snake, you da man! Can’t wait to see it!
i know the landing gear on the apache is pretty funny. Im building 1/48 revell at the mo, but the lnading gear tucks under/into the fuselage, the holes were they goto into are kinda hidden. took me 5mins to figure it out 
but got it in the end lol…One thing about the apache though, is its color. Pic ive seen of it look green, not like the federal standard of US Army Helo Drab. (which i got from hannants, London as its pretty hard to find in some remote places) But yeah, Beautiful machine…
They are Helo Drab Green. They may look lighter green when faded, or in certain lighting, but it is Helo Drab.
I don’t like to paint the whole thing in one color. It looks kinda fake. The real AC has faded and darker places on its surface - there are Model Master’s “Olive Drab” , “Faded Olive Drab”, “US ARMY Helo Drab” . I whould recommend them all for Apache! The combination of these 3 colors will give you an exellent result…
Andy
Rather than doing different colors, I always paint mine a base coat of Helo Drab to start. From there, I can weather varying panels at different rates, put fresh paint on in certain places and make it look as realistic as possible. The aircraft, when coming back from the paint shop are pretty much uniform in color (I’llpost pics of UH-60A 86-26074 as fast as I can scan them in!) and as they wear-in, they fade at different rates.
In any case, I wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be attending the A-Model Apache Q-course in December 2006 at Marana, AZ and will be fully qualified about three months after that! I report for duty at Ft. Rucker on 2 November and will be there for roughly a year! Just got my orders today and will, of course, keep everyone posted as to my progress!
Glad to hear that Jon, you will enjoy Marana, out in the middle of the desert, but not far from Tuscan and you can visit Pima and see the boneyard
After taking a close look at the kits I have come to a couple of conclusions as to what I would do if building these kits. The AH-64A has as most glaring faults a poorly executed cockpit and weird looking landing gear. Looking at Eduards’ photo etch products, the cockpit can be greatly enhanced, the exterior refined and the weapons tweaked. Anything else in the cockpit can be corrected by basic reconfiguration of existing pieces or some simple scratch/bash building. Although the landing gear could be better represented, those places are largely hidden inside the sponson (the shock strut is incomplete). If you want, that’s an easy build. The REAL problem is the gear leg. The knuckle is too close to the body and causes an odd splaying of the gear leg. If the knuckle is moved laterally away from the body @ 1/8", the look improves markedly. The squat of the gear leg closesly matches that of an aircraft at rest on the ground, it is the alignment of the gear leg from knuckle to wheel that needs to be made. Either extend the pin at the knuckle end so that the knuckle is 1/8" away from the body or fill the hole with 1/8" plug and then attach the pin. I don’t think Cobra Company can improve the cockpit any more than the available photo etch does and the landing gear fix is so minor it doesn’t pay to do it.
The AH-64D has cockpit problems too, but again Eduards’ photo etch can go along way to improve the look. Accuracy, is fairly good so it’s a close call there against a resin cockpit. The seats in both kits are poor, so that improves the AH-64D cockpit chances and makes available seats to be used in an AH-64A if you want to buy them. The radar dish is crappy, a resin fix for that is a good bet. The sponsons are not representative of the ones on operational aircraft, a fix for that is a must. Then we are back to oddball landing gear again. In this case the engineers of the plastic kit were forced to make a change. The sponson on the left side is higher than the right one and an enclosure for the knuckle mount of the shock strut has to be made. Rather than do that, they redesigned the landing gear into something that looks like crap and prevents the gear leg from being properly angled (shock strut incomplete and improperly angled). But, they enlarged a portion of the gear leg knuckle pin so it sits out 1/8" from the body! Now instead of being splayed outward too much, they sit as though unloaded as the gear would be when the aircraft was in flight, hence that “too tall” look. Another “must fix”.
SO, Cobra Company will proceed with fixing the AH-64D and any usable parts that apply to the A can be purchased as desired. Anyone want pipe in with other thoughts?
Chief Snake
Yes, Eduard has 2 or even 3 PE sets for it + radar from resin + evergreen + (which is more important ) - your time and health))) Does it really worth it? I mean why not just to buy 1/32 Apache from Revell and build it into a great representative of Apache helicopter in large scale? You will save some money and nerve cells))))
Andy