Posted this over at ARC as well, but I thought I’d put it here for all our FSM huey fans. This is my weekend build of the Italeri UH-1B using the included markings for “Big Train.” I had a single photo of her as a working reference (it can be found in the Mutza Huey gunships walkaround or Drendel’s Huey book). I also had info provided from her crew chief to John Brennan (thanks John) that she didn’t have the thumper in the nose originally. Therefore, I built her as a M-3 armed ARA bird. As this is an OOB weekend build, there isn’t much to tell about additions. all I did was replace the antennas with wire and use two kits for the rocket pods as I like the unloaded look better. You can see the woefully undersized Italeri rotors. To be accurate, the rotors need to be four scale feet longer and blade counterweights added to the blade grips. I plan to make a correct rotor for her later. Anyway, one area I would like input on is the paint. I know it’s probably a little glossy for some folks taste, but I did try to dull the tailboom down a little with pastels. I mixed Vellejo OD, Blue, and black to get the custom scheme. My question is, how close is it to the early gloss OD? I already have at least one vote for more brown. What say you guys?
Thanks,
Ray
There’s lots of things I like about your Bravo , The OD looks great to me and I really like the simulated paint wear on the rotor blades [tup]
If I understand correctly , You drilled the ends of the rocket tubes for the unloaded look , which looks great as well . I was wondering what type of paint you use for the overhead roof glass panels , lately I’ve been struggling with Gunze and Tamiya Clear green as both are coming out a little grainny ?.
Also that was interesting info on not all the UH-1B had the grenade launcher fitted .
Overall I think its a great build , “in a weekend to boot” , very cool .
Sadly my idea of a weekend build is to start 7 Helicopter kits [%-)], must be something in the water down here !!!
sounds like you may have a better answer than I do.
John,
Thanks for the compliment. Means a lot coming from the 72nd huey king! I hope you and your family are safe. Those fires down there sound very bad indeed. Our prayers are with you all.
The rotor blade wear was actually very simple. I just painted the rotors aluminum, then chromate green, then OD and sanded back down to the aluminum coat. This whole project was brush painted, no rattle cans or airbrushes.
As for how I do the greenhouse, well it ain’t the best way I’m sure. I started out mixing green food coloring into future, but it never seemed to look right. This time I dipped the parts in future and applied the food coloring straight from the bottle with a brush. It actually looked pretty good till I went over the entire bird with future after painting and flound out the food coloring dissolves in future! If only I had applied it to the INSIDE of the part i think it would have been OK. I’m trying that next time.
As for the M-5, well actually many UH-1B gunships didn’t have that system on them. The UH-1B was underpowered when armed anyway and the crew chief of Big Train said she was a real pig when it was fitted an her. The UH-1C was a much more powerful bird and could carry the M159 pods and the M-5 more easily.
Thank you for the kind thoughts especially in regards for the Bushfire victims and their families .
To be perfectly honest , I would have never guessed you hand brushed the entire finish , I’m even more impressed now [bow]
We have had a little bit of bad luck this week , mum suffer’s from parkinson’s disease and unfortunatly had a fall and broke her pelvis . So I’ve going back and forth to the hospital all this week , so not much is happening on the workbench at the momment . [ lot’s of helo’s masked and ready to airbrush , so hopfully I’ll be able to continue early next week ].
Thank’s also to Grandad for the tip on using Testors rattle can clear green , I’ll pick some up as soon as I can from the LHS .
My best to your mom and I hope she gets better soon. I know how serious pelvic fractures can be. Family first, modeling a distant second. I will eagerly await your next installment, though!
Grandadjohn is this the Aerosol can of Testors Transparent green you use .
I stopped at a couple of hobby stores late yesterday to pick up some supplies , unfortunatly they didn’t have any Transparent Green in a rattle can . I searched some online hobby stores last night around "my neck of the woods’’ , no luck either .
Tower hobbies there in the US have some but their not able to ship aerosol cans via airmail.
I’ll keep searching , as I dont need it straight away ; I was just curious if this was the same product you used ???
Thanks for the compliments. The OD is a custom mix of Vellejo acrylic paints. I used their OD, which is actually more like helo drab, mixed with blue and black. sorry, but i didn’t measure it out exactly. This was brush painted straight from the bottle with no thinner. The final coat is future brushed on as well. If you’ve never tried Vallejo paints, i highly recommend tem as they go on very well and don’t leave brush marks.
Charlie, I sure hope things at the Hover home are going better this week and everyone is in good health. i’m coming down in March. Hope to see you then.
Thanks Ray, I have been looking for a dark OD gloss for my H-34, H-13 and H-19 but I have not found any I like. I guess I will mix a little black with the Model Master OD I have and see what it gives me.
