Italeri's "Marine One"

[gregbale]

I picked up Italeri’s 1/72 VH-71 “Marine One” exclusively because of the cool scheme. I had intended to do a quick OOB build, but things spiraled out of control (as they usually do). I ended up doing a representative interior (with some custom decals for extra Presidential seals and TV monitors and such), adding a second wheel on each main gear strut, and throwing on a few extra aerials and IR jammers as seemed appropriate. The kit sheet provided excellent stripes and lettering.

Once everything had been buttoned up on the inside I ran across the brochure for the actual AW101 “Executive Transport” version on Agusta-Westland’s website (it’s downloadable as a PDF), containing all sorts of gorgeous detail photos and interior layouts in full color, plus carefully-phrased notions of how these “big birds” could be fitted out for every executive transport mission (and level of threat environment). So now, naturally, I’ve convinced myself that I need to do another one, “properly” this time. But that’s for another day.

Hope you enjoy.

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1298.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1302.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1407.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1471.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1483.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1493.jpg)

[](http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h395/gjb1428/Italeri Marine One/?action=view&current=Ital1-72MarineOneGEDC1502.jpg)

[BaBill212]

Wow Greg, that is an awesome build… excellent!

Mostly, thanks for sharing…

Bill

[Anonymous]

Sweet…better than the He111 I used as a hack on the Eastern front…

[TomZ2]

Sweet!

[Andrew_Magoo]

I have to say that is an excellent job! I only wished I could do as well. If you had installed a small electric motor and geared it to the main rotor so as to spin up the main rotor you could certainly fool a lot of people as to whether it was the real Marine One or not. She’s a beauty and makes me think I might want to try and build one myself. I bow [:D[ to you and your excellent accomplishment. Magoo

[scorpr2]

She looks AWESOME!!! I think you did a great job inside and out!!!

[B17Pilot]

She looks AWESOME!!! I think you did a great job inside and out!!!

[dto:]

[RotorHead10]

Wow that does look great. I particularly like the seat belts on the couch. I’ve never attempted a presidential helo build, but that certainly gets the juices flowing. What color do you use for “presidential helicopter green” ?

[Hercmech]

Superb build…love all the detail.

[gregbale]

Thanks to all for your kind words.

RotorHead10:

I couldn’t find a specific color code/Federal Standard reference for HMX-1’s aircraft, and frankly the green seems to look like a slightly different color in every photo. In getting ready to mix my own color I did swatches of the dark greens I had on hand, and it turned out that Tamiya’s Olive Green (XF-58) seemed an excellent match to “most” of the shots I could find. The one thing all the photos agree on is a high-gloss shine, but since I use “Future” (or its current incarnation) on all my models for decaling, I just left it glossy. I buffed it out a little with a soft cloth to get a less artificial-looking finish.

Regards

Greg

[HMA1369]

The HMX-1 green was originally a 50/50 mix of Marine Corps Green and Army Olive Drab, aka “Breen”. Elliott lists the FS Code as 14079 “Presidential Olive Green”.

[gregbale]

I appreciate the info. I remembered having seen it somewhere on the Interweb, but I googled “Presidential Helicopter Green” instead of POG.

Regards