Hi all, newbie here… I’ve been in and out of modeling on a “for fun” basis for several years, mostly kits, which turned out middlin’ well. I wanted to model some aircraft for which there were no kits, so I turned to scratchbuilding. Being in my early teens at the time, and not having the experience, or material and tools to work with plastic, I dug into my pile of balsa. Through lousy three view drawings, and a lot of guesswork, I managed to build an S-76. It’s not perfect, as I progressed I noticed numerous inaccuracies and mistakes, but bear in mind that I was 15 years old when I started it. 
That was over 5 years ago, and after working on it off and on, it’s finally “finished”. Everything is handmade, mostly balsa wood, which is carved, but also plastic, paper, and a little bit of steel rod for the landing gear. There are no decals on it, everything is hand painted. I’ll post several pics of it, I’d love your feedback and comments on it. If you like, I can post more pics… Here’s what it looked like at the beginning… 
And here’s the finished product… 
Awesome work, truly impressive. By all means, please do post more photos. And a few details on the painting might be instructive as well.
Looks great!
I remember the first S-76 I saw sometimes back in the late 70’s when Air Logistic’s got their first ones in New Iberia, La. We still have a few in the Chevron Air Force but are replacing them with AB-139’s. Too bad there isn’t a nice 1/48 injection molded kit. I’d probably cut off a finger or two tryin to carve one and it wouldn’t look as good as yours.
Thanks for sharing!
More photos of the construction process… A lot of the painting was done through masking, (I went through a lot of Scotch tape) [;)] but some of it simply had to be done freehand… 
Some of the smaller bits and pieces… One glaring mistake is the engine exhausts, mostly due to lack of good documentation during the carving stage. [:$]
And finally some more photos of the completed heli.
who needs kits with talent like that?? looks awsome!
How did you get the such a smooth base coat over the grainy balsa?
Yee Haw That’s what I like…
I use KILZ brand white pigmented primer. It takes several coats and lots of sanding, but it does the job…
Very interesting. I would have guessed multiple coats of liquid balsa filler and alot of fine sanding. It looks terrific![Y]
The graphics are awesome! How big is the model and where do you hail from? Thats my favorite model to carve. Both versions…
It’s 9 in. from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail, 11.25 in. from rotor tip to tail rotor tip. I’m from northeast Ohio. So do you carve as well? I’ve got several other models that are carved from balsa. I attached a picture of an S-76 that I carved a number of years ago. That thing is a tad over 4 in. long. [:D]
Wingdinger,
Yes I do carve models ,but not that small there is a fellow out in Novescotia who makes tiny models. Never tried to carve that small. Message me and we can corespond via email
Here are acouple I’m sitting on. One will be ornge and the other could be anything right now. You are a credit to this lost craft and acredit to modelmakers in the USA… 
Are yours balsa too? Looks like fun. [:D] Here are some of a space shuttle I did… I’m a shuttle fan as well as an S-76 nut. I didn’t paint this one
That is damned impressive.
Pine is what I usually use, 29 inches long 4 inches wide is the S-76… I’m constantly building and creating templates to build just about any civilian aircraft I’d like. I’m amazed at how tiny you build yours it’s almost scary[;)]
Wingdinger, thanks for the primer info. Is is brushed on then? I think of Kilz as something in a gallon can. The small S-76 and shuttle are terrific.