Uh-1y venom marine assault helicopter box opening

[Chopper_Chief]

The title has to be 15 characters. Nailed it.

I finally had a chance to open my (see title). Once I finally managed to figure out Academy’s system, I took a look at ever sprue.

The sprue’s are alphabetized, not numbered. A through G. D and F are times two. In engilsh, Sprue D and Sprue F are double sprues with the same parts verbatum across the sprue.

Each sprue starts at 1 and works its way to last. One sprue had 43 parts on it. One had 31. One had just the clear parts. No letter designation, just a separate sprue with windows and other clear parts. The double sprues had a ton of parts on them. One had 64. Times 2 that means you have 128 parts to deal with.

Even at 1/35 scale there are parts that I still have no idea how I am going to find the manual dexterity to lift them, much less glue them and set them. Let’s just say that if I use tweezers, and it snaps loose, it’s gone. The fuselage doesn’t even come close to being as large as the Huey I just finished.

The cargo doors have an outer and inner part. They have a handle. Two fifty cals, possibly a mini gun. Rockets. Folding rotor blades. Not much on the color scheme. Light Gray, Darker Gray, your imagination unless you wish to follow the instructions to the letter.

Two books of instructions. Enough decals to confuse the enigma machine.

My most challenging part of all this. I know nothing about this bird. Some of the parts stood out because it is a UH-1 something. It’s a Huey that got a major facelift. More rotor blades on the main and tail, all kinds of avionics, and my guess is the cockpit and cabin are borderline 1st class accommodations. Probably not. But having to leave the parts attached to the sprue until I have to use it, whatever it is, means no prior removal, bagging up all the fuselage parts, transmission parts, main rotor parts, armor, and cleaning them together. I could do that on the UH-1D because I knew what every part was, and where it went ahead of time. I didn’t need the instructions to tell me what part went where.

Right off, I like how the parts are barely attached to the sprue, Much easier to cut off, much less damage from the shock of the cut to repair. The molding looks good. I don’t like that a modern model like this didn’t put in a parts list with the name of the part and what area of the bird it related. Sprue G, Part 1 Sync Elevator tail section. Sprue F Part 34 Mini Gun Barrel Armament. If I knew what it was and why it went where it goes, I could let the instructions show me the part and not have to be handcuffed to the sprues

[Samphoto]

I have the 1/48 kitty hawk version of that beautiful bird. Looking forward to getting inspired by your build.

[Chopper_Chief]

I’m going to cheat a bit on this 1Y. For every part of manufacturing this model Academy got right, they missed the mark, at least in my arena, on a couple of things. First and foremost, a parts list with nomenclature. Not every model builder willing to build this model is a seasoned veteran of the hobby. Again, I can’t stress this enough, I’m 61 and a greenhorn. Last model I built before building the two Huey’s I’ve strapped together with plywood and spent fence posts, was in 1984. 61 means one thing, I’ve lived 61 years. I’m not 61 years wise. In the model building world I’m 17 again and new to the craft. I need to know what I am holding when I look at the instructions and they tell me with a picture only, that goes here. Blindly having to follow page after page of pictures with dashed lines showing you where to put that part is not my idea of customer service. Printing out a 14 page fold out book in two parts with 98% of the written word in Korean, of which only 3% maybe tells you something you need to know in order to build this model, is not customer service. Thanks to this instruction book I now know how to spell CAUTION in Korean. Anxious to find out in my remaining years where that will come in handy.

14 street signs that are, thank goodness, written in english, Korean underneath, but no explanation as to what those street signs mean. Cement with a slash through it, I got you, “no cement”. And by the way I am smart enough to know that cement means glue. They appear to want you to know that if you plan to decal certain parts of this model, you will need to do that NOW. Trying this after you have put the cabin section inside fuselage will be…impossible.

FILL? With what? Water? Then there are the over kill of OPTIONS, forks in the road to the hell I will have navigate throughout building the model. CUT? Who wrote this manual, Tonto. BALLAST!!! I have to level this thing to make it sit flat on a table? And then we come to VER. 1. Which version am I building? Could have led with that.

I did at least manage to figure out with the instructions help, what the little numbers in the yield signs mean. Color. Have no idea what the small case letters a-e in circles mean. Failed to mention those. It’s this attitude that “everyone knows that”, that frustrates me. What gets my wrench in a knot even more is when I ask, “what is this?” and someone replies, “everyone knows that.”

At least I don’t get that on this site. So if anyone reading this plea for help has any idea what the road signs (big circle, wide dash line in the middle, helpful word written in the dash) mean, I’d be very thankful if you could lend me some knowledge. Otherwise, I’m gonna do what the YouTube builder does.

[HeavyArty]

It seems to me that you are worrying about the hobby way too much. It is supposed to be fun and relaxing. Lighten up. You may also be starting on kits that are a little more advanced than you are ready for. Maybe start with something easier like Tamiya kits that usually fall into place. The Academy UH-1Y is definitely a harder kit to start with early on. You may need a few kits under your belt first. Maybe focus on basic modeling skills for a while; like removing seams, sanding pieces flush and square for good fit, building and painting sub-assemblies, filling and sanding gaps, etc., etc., etc… Once you get these down, start on the harder kits.

Overall, the Academy instructions are pretty good if you ask me. I have seen much worse. Study them before building and you should have minimal issues. To me at least, the “road signs” are pretty easy to understand. Cement - use model glue of some sort. Do No Cement - no glue, press fit. X2 - do it twice (or how many times the number is) for multiple parts. Decal - add decals. Ballast - add ballast. PE - the part is photo etched. Fill - fill with your choice of filler putty to close up a gap that isn’t on the actual helo. Cut - cut something out. Option - it is an optional part or done for one of the options for versions, i.e. guns or seats. Opposite - do the same for the opposite side. Hole - drill a hole. Caution - be careful with this step. Instant Cement - use super glue here, usually with PE. Ver. 1 - parts or instructions for the first version, in this case, it is used for decal/markings as there are different versions in the kit.

If you look through the instructions, you will see it comes with the options to build it with either crew seats or door guns in back. It also comes with the option of either open or folded rotors with securing bars for them. There are also 5 different decal/markings options.

“Have no idea what the small case letters a-e in circles mean.” If you mean below, those are the parts on the PE sheet, to the right. Attach them as shown in a circle using the same lettered PE parts.

Also, on most models, it is easier to mostly build it then paint, as opposed to painting everything first in pieces. It also makes gluing it together easier since you don’t have to scrape paint to get the glue to work. On aircraft and helos (APCs as well, if they have an interior), you usually have to build and paint the interior first, then close up the fuselage and build the exterior. Once built and all gaps have been puttied, filled and sanded, tape off the windows and openings and paint the exterior as one piece. This technique is much easier and results in a much better looking model in the long run.

“…if you plan to decal certain parts of this model, you will need to do that NOW. Trying this after you have put the cabin section inside fuselage will be…impossible.” This is very true. Some decals have to be added to the cabin interior or engine area, etc. before closing it up. This goes to my above statements about helos and aircraft being built in stages. They are really two models that get almost completely built in sequence; interior then the exterior.

Lastly, most, if not all instructions do not list what the parts are. Most builders don’t care what the individual part really represent, just that they look good once assembled. You will not usually find a parts list of actual part names.

[Chopper_Chief]

Man am I glad I asked that question. Since posting my last desperate plea, I have watched 3 videos on how to build this model. First one was no voice, just modeler working (hand model reference), a cat did show up once, but he did what you said. Built, painted. He used an air brush. He did mention some scratch work on the intakes as they didn’t quite go together like he wanted. Another one had a british gentleman going over the sprues. I learned, from him, not the model company, that sprue B is for an AH-1. I also learned that sprue D has two sprues one for the UH and the other for the AH. Might have been a nice idea for Academy to write that down someplace in the instruction book instead of making me watch videos to find out. I fully agree with you that this is a more advanced model for my “greenhorn” status. But, even so, companies could at the least, try to be more helpful with information such as this, instead of making us figure it out.

[HeavyArty]

Yes, sprue B is from their AH-1Z kit, but some of its parts are used on the Y as well. In real life, the two aircraft have 85% parts compatability. It really doesn’t matter that the sprue comes from another kit, which is common for model companies to use the same sprues instead of recreating new ones for a few parts. The parts are still B parts and get used as if the sprue is only in this kit. The 2X D sprues (both are used in this kit and it is not one for an AH and one for the UH) also come from the AH-1Z kit, but also have some parts used on the Y’s, esp. if you build the blades fully opened. Again, it doesn’t matter what other kit also uses them as they are used here as well and there is no need for Academy to tell you this as it is not an issue. Again, I think you are reading way too much into what the companies should or shouldn’t tell you. The kit comes with all the parts needed to build it. Who cares what other kits it shares parts with? I would also recommend not wasting too much time watching YouTube videos as most of the guys there have no idea what they are talking about, the supposed (but nonexistant) sprue issue is a good example.

[Samphoto]

@HeavyArty, thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough reply.

I actually started thinking about how I might answer some of those questions myself, and then I read your post and realized you’d already covered it far better and more completely than I could have.

That’s excellent advice, and I’m sure it will be very helpful.

And I think it really reinforces something Chopper Chief said in his post about being able to ask questions here without getting the “everyone knows that” response.

That’s what these forums are all about, after all — sharing what we know and helping each other along.

[dunniteowl]

Dude, I feel you. Of course, my moment where you are occurred at a much earlier real life age, I had three older brothers to assist me (not usually, though) and had a few egregious errors of novice ignorance already under my belt.

That said, I decided to take the time to use my very good 'search-skills to find you a few links that you might find of value. I LIVE for learning stuff and this hobby has a sort of closed openness that is hard to unlock initially – and that is from first hand experience as well as a young person of less than 12 years talking to old grognards in their 40’s behind the counter of hobby shops.

So, without further ado, here are some links to symbology of instructions sheets that I found after about three very pointed search strings… (not only three, just three very pointed ones that yielded useful results.)

Here is a Bandai Kits list: Meaning of the symbols found in a Bandai Model Kit's Manual - Mech9.com | Scale Model Kits, Color Guide, Paint Conversion, Paint Chart, Gundam, Sci-Fi, Shop Reviews, Toys and more

This one is from a Reddit discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunpla/comments/j5s17/heres_an_english_translation_guide_to_the_symbols/

This is from Scribd and is specifically all about the UH-1Y “Venom” chopper: Client Challenge

I do NOT know if it has symbol guide information, but this one for an A10-II “Warthog” DOES have the symbol decryption for you (and from Korean, who’d’ve thunk?) : Client Challenge

This is a basic set of general instructions for the hobby from Tamiya: https://www.tamiya.com/english/modeling_guide_en.html

This is a Google List of identifiers without any actual visual information, but might prove helpful:
Common Assembly Symbols & Meanings

• Curved Arrow (Rotate): Turn or rotate the part or entire sub-assembly by a specified degree (e.g., 180°).

• Multiply Sign (x2, x3): Repeat the current assembly steps a designated number of times to build identical matching components (like arms or legs).

• Scissors or Nipper Icon: Cut the specified part or gate/nub excess off the plastic runner.

• Circle with a Number/Letter (e.g., A12): Identifies the exact runner letter (A) and part number (12) needed for that step.

• Split or Choice Arrow (Circle/Triangle/Letters): Indicates a choice between two or more variant parts (e.g., optional weapons, hands, or facial expressions).

• Exclamation Mark (!) or Warning Hand: Pay close attention to the orientation, front/back alignment, or fragile nature of the piece before pushing it in.

• Filled vs. Unfilled Circles (White/Black Dots): Often dictate the precise chronological sequence of steps or show opposing-side (left/right) symmetrical actions.

• Tube/Brush or Glue Icon: Apply a small drop of plastic cement or adhesive (common in traditional military or car kits, rare in snap-fit sci-fi kits).

• Sticker/Decal Number (e.g., marking with a number): Apply a foil sticker, marking seal, or water-slide decal to the designated area once assembled. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Another Reddit discussion link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Gunpla/comments/6fr7p9/an_extremely_useful_instruction_cheat_sheet_that/

THIS is for an AH-64 Apache and is in .pdf (which means you can download it and review it at your leisure), however, it has a symbol guide at the end of the file, which might prove useful as well. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.plasticandplasters.com/Instructions/manuals/academy-instructions-12115.pdf

I WILL say that I found this search very frustrating. Not, because you could have done it or anyone else, but due to the fact that there was blessedly LITTLE with regard to decrypting the symbology of instruction sheet icons in the first place. You’d think that in a hobby that has literally over a hundred years of experience to it, there’d be a repository of information that some enterprising soul would have digitized, uploaded and shared.

Not so much.

And that, to me, was a bit of a surprise as well as a bit of a shock. The enthusiasm for this hobby exceeds that of most any other hobby enterprise I have ever known (and I have travelled the path of sports, outdoors, camping, photography, automotive, rail, art, aircraft, shipping and so many others) and for information sources? It’s still mostly word of mouth.

Once again, when you feel like it’s a bit overwhelming and you get frustrated, I encourage you to step back, reassess away from the issue (meaning don’t sit there and STARE at it, that’s not helping). Have a cup, a bowl, a smoke, SOMETHING to do other than look at your ‘problem’ directly and gain a bit of perspective.

I tend to find my ‘ah-hah’ moments while I’m outside doing something completely unrelated to the hobby.

Then, when you are ready to sit down and come at this again, do this: Pretend you know NOTHING about what you’re about to do. I mean it. Pretend you don’t even know what glue/cement is for, what nippers are for or what the instructions actually are supposed to tell you.

Then, with the instructions as your guide, pretend that you are, in your words, a 17 year old kid who, for the first time ever, decided to build a model.

Now from first hand experience at ruining completely my first four or five models by not reading the instructions pretty much at all, start by just briefly looking over the entire instruction sheet, from start to finish.

Don’t worry if it’s not clear to you at first. This is your first time, remember? Keep that in mind. Go over the whole thing and take mental notes of the things that make you go, “HUH? What does that even MEAN?” and press forward. Sometimes, as with tests I took in school, things come clear from the start only after getting through the first HALF of it, because you get clues handed that they should have led with instead.

This is practice for you to take the time necessary in the instructions so that what you DO understand becomes the foundation for gaining greater understanding in the things you don’t. Not knowing stuff used to be a very BIG DEAL for me. I couldn’t answer a question on a test as a kid and I would just SIT THERE, worrying at that question and ignoring the rest of the test until I figured that one out. Model kit instructions were the same for me at that time.

You have to recognize that you don’t know stuff, be okay with that, press forward with the hope and understanding that something presented later may give you the answer to the earlier stuff you didn’t get.

When you hit that wall of overwhelm, stop. Just take a breath, put the sheet down and walk away for a bit.

Next time, sit there with the sheet and the sprues and go over the sprues using the stuff you DO know to identify the stuff on the sheet. I presume the sheet has pictures of the ‘sections’ of assembly on it. Each of those sections SHOULD provide you with some sort of picture reference to the parts from the sprues and a sort of blow apart diagram image of the parts to be connected to the main portion of that section.

Not every company does the sheet the same way, and this is especially problematic with Korean, Japanese, Italian and German model makers and their translations (or lack thereof) and NO standardized set of icons/symbols for the rest of us to follow.

This tends to mean you are pretty much on your own without the assistance of someone who can directly help you out.

So, now comes my last suggestion: If possible, find a local hobby store or model club that has members close enough to you to physically VISIT. Bring your sheet with you and ASK for help.

One thing, from all my experience in hobby stores in Hawaii, California, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas, hobby modelers LOVE to share their experience, so just ask and be ready to listen. You’ll get help.

[Chopper_Chief]

Major thanks for the reply Christopher. Nice to see a fellow model builder who has suffered my pain. I’ve decided to assemble to 1Y model just to get the hang of following the steps. I received my most recent Huey model yesterday, a german tribute model made by Revell to pay homage to the end of the huey era in Germany. You don’t even need to paint it. The entire model body has a decal to cover it. I however ordered it to see what Revell’s latest attempt at a 1/32 Huey looked like. NICE. The engine doesn’t have the missing plastic on this one, the skids are still bent a bit, but where you attach it to the fusealge, not the warped set that comes from the 1967 spure. Guess what, entire instruction book where words were typed, foreign language. I guess this one was designed to be sold in Europe exclusively. I got it off Ebay. The only difference in this one and the 1D Gunship is that there are no weapons and it has troop seats. I found a Delta model 1/32 scale M60 complete with mount on Ebay, bought 2, and that will be my armament for the 1D slick troop carrier I plan to turn this one into.

I also found a combination 160th Task Force Little Bird (Gunship or Strike force carrier) on Ebay. So it has the optional set up instructions like the Venom Huey. Once I attempt it, I see the mistakes, the mis fits, the parts that have to be cleaned up more than others, and, I know now it is an engine part, fuselage part, rotor part, landing gear, armament, so it will make it easier for me to parse the parts into groups, paint them the color I have to, want to, or need to, then put it together. Right now with my limited knowledge of what’s an AH part or UH part, I need to get a feel for it before I dive in. The UH-1D or H is easy. The Little Bird will be pretty easy for me too. Not much to them. My model has figures. An entire Delta team, not sure about a pilot. I’ll have to let one of the Delta’s fly it.

But thanks for the links, the encouragement, and the definitions. I’ll post some pictures of my build when I finally stop biting my nails in fear and start gluing parts together.

[dunniteowl]

My pleasure. I was a Navy brat and the military hardware became one of those ‘in my blood’ sorts of things. I spent time in all my school libraries poring over military history spanning the medieval period to current (then, so up to the Vietnam era) and miltary modeling became my passion.

I built aircraft, armor, ships and many, many figures for battlefield dioramas. I remember those first days, though, where I sat and STARED at the instructions to my USS Yorktown 1/400 or 1/144, can’t recall. I nearly cried, there were so many parts! But the tiny little planes were just so cool that I managed to overcome my trepidation.

I’m one of those folks on the ‘spectrum’ of neuroatypical, though very high functioning, for which I blame my three older brothers and public school. Otherwise, I might have been the type to say, “I’m a very good driver, yeah, very good driver,” sort of example.

Doing a dry fit is part and parcel of building. You really have to see how the parts go together and experience the joy/pain of discovering that you really should have glued that part to the inside of the fuselage BEFORE putting the fuselage together.

I’m getting back into the hobby with a few of my own personal projects that won’t include building any plastic model kits. I’m focusing first on getting my painting skills up to snuff and to introduce my physical experience to airbrushing. I’m quite confident in my building skills at this point, even with my right hand being about 1/4 ‘dead’ nerve-wise and very weak now. Fortunately I’m primarily left-handed, but having a nice, strong right hand to steady parts with would have been really nice these days.

I can honestly say that building is one of the more essential satisfaction/frustration points in this hobby. The next level of that satisfaction/frustration is mastering making it look good with the ‘correct’ paint schemes and colors.

Really looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Chopper_Chief]

If you look in the UH-1D Huey Gunship post I started while I was building that model, first you’ll see where I am prior to decals, but I also included some photos of some scratch builds I did for my train room layout. Not scale plastic models, but 1/48 scale bridge builds, loading docks, water tower, and my favorite, the old house I lived in as a kid in my hometown. Used basswood. Also posted some pics of my track cleaning cars I built. Check them out.

You’re certainly right about building it first and messing up, you learn exactly what you said, “I know the instructions said…” but you find those situations where the instructions make it nearly impossible to paint or decal something because it’s inside the model. Adding a decal prior to finishing the build is not a sin. The 1Y does that for you. Before you put the fuselage together, it makes sure you decal the inside wall first. I sat in the kitchen last night while my wife binged watched Nealy, Reacher spin off, on Prime, and cleaned up a version of the UH-1D Revell made for Germany when they phased out their Huey’s. It’s basically the same model you get for the gunship, but no armament. I think I mentioned this. But during the cleanup work, even though I found improvements, I still found irritating things they could have remedied, but, muscle memory, or company policy, they turned the fuselage pieces into sprues. And yes, one or two sprue posts were welded to the body thus causing me to have to sand down detail to clean sprue residue. It’s one thing to do that on a part, but the fuselage? That’s what everyone sees all the time. You F that up and as Captain Ron says, “it shows”. Screw up the cowling fan buried inside the exhaust manifold, who cares. You do, but it isn’t seen. Most of the cockpit work isn’t seen per say, the windows do allow some peek inside, you can open the doors if you want, but that’s mainly for you, the model builder. How well you painted the pilots face is not so much as important as to how well you put the rotor system together, “that shows”. So when I saw the stabilizer bar looked like a squashed mosquito on one side, I was disappointed. This version of the Huey looked like they’d take their time, but I still had to clean up the same tail rotor drive shaft issue the last one had, and nearly cut off one of the jesus nut attachment points for the tail rotor because of the mess the injection mold process created there.

But, having put one together for the last 3 weeks, I was ready for it, and even though it’s not a “Vietnam or Army Huey” per say, I’m still going to mock it up like one. Bought a set of guns for it, 1/32 scale, and I may even use the Delta team from the MH-6 build as troops for the back seats I now have. Which were so flimsy I nearly destroyed them cleaning them up.

[Samphoto]

Regarding the sprue attachment points and cleanup/filling issues, I think some of that just comes with the territory, especially when Revell is printed on the box. There always seem to be a few (or a lot ) of things that need cleaning up, fixing, filling, sanding, or figuring out along the way.

Most manufacturers not named Tamiya have some of these issues, and even Tamiya has them from time to time. I’ve kind of come to accept that as part of the hobby. There are certainly kits that make us work harder than others, but I guess that’s why we’re called model builders and not model assemblers.

[Chopper_Chief]

I feel you on that last line. Builders not Assemblers. Great statement.

I know, I’m a dime store crusader when it comes to my perceived injustices related to a subject. I did the same thing when I first got into the model train hobby. Pointing out issues and problems that probably were my issues and problems alone. It’s nice to see a forum where the replies are more, “well now you have to understand that…” instead of “protest much?”

Please understand that I am fully aware that scale model building is not working for the aircraft industry building planes and helicopters. No one is going to die if the flaw I discover in sprue manufacture isn’t dealt with. Model companies do the best they can with what they have to work with, my issue is that when something new to work with, like bringing to their attention there is a problem with how they currently do the best they can, it doesn’t appear to matter to them. I feel like the guy who keeps correcting you when you say, Pat Newman played Butch Cassidy in the 1969 movie. “Don’t you mean Paul Newman?” Oh yea, Paul, right, where did I get Pat, is much more refreshing a response than, “AS LONG AS YOU KNOW WHO I AM TALKING ABOUT LET IT GO.” And that person would be right, not so much correct, but right. This isn’t a game show. Pat was not one of the three incorrect choices. No money was lost. No shame was cast upon him for picking Pat instead of Paul. But to me it’s the principle of the thing.

Model companies dish out millions of varieties (millions? don’t you mean thousands?) thousands of varieties of cars, trucks, people, tanks, planes, helicopters, ships, boats, other things that float. We pay upwards to $100 and higher for these things. I haven’t found a CH-47 Chinook model for less than $100 from any hobby store. The sad part is that regardless of who you buy it from, $100 or or $1, it’s the same flawed plastic model you have figure out how to make part A fit part F without pulling out the putty, or using spent sprue to make an entirely new piece because Revell or Tamyia, or Monogram, or Kittyhawk under whatever new name they exist, got it wrong on day one, and shelled it out to the public.

I once read a post from some ASSemblyman HOLEinone who evidently invaded the Model Train Forum I was on, who basically called all of us babies who were crying over broken toys. Ok, dick van patten head, you pay $600 for a Lionel Locomotive that is supposed to be quality made that has broken parts, misaligned railings, and sputters and hesitates because someone drew up the specs wrong and China built 2000 of them wrong. Not exactly a $50 plastic model with globs of plastic yuck all over your what would have been pristine tail rotor gear box, but still, $50 for something you pretty much knew you were going to have accept as your job to fix it. Or deal with it quietly. I like to deal with it loudly. Even if they never plan to fix it.

Jack Nicholson: First Batman movie: “You think a six foot bat flying around the city is something to shout about, wait til they get a load out me”

[Samphoto]

When you find the perfect kit, please let the rest of us know. I think we’re all searching for it like the Holy Grail.

[Chopper_Chief]

I looked and looked but all I found was an 800 year old knight templar who was guarding a bottle of micro set and a paint brush.

[Chopper_Chief]

I’ve started my naked build of the Venom helicopter. Found a discrepancy, I think, maybe I did something wrong but according to my eyes and the platform in front of me, what the directions want and what winds up having to happen are not jiving.

The very first thing you are instructed to do is pull your cockpit/cabin piece, then pull this round piece, sorry the number escapes me at the moment, that looks like a big round piece with a T shaped attachment point, and marry up the T shaped attachment point with the T shaped notch cut into the cabin area near where the back wall mounts. Easy enough. Buuuuuuuuuut. Later when I got to looking at how the transmission cover walls mount to the same deck I speak of, that big round piece is covering the horizontal slot the front wall needs to be able to mount the three wall configuration. Plus, even if the slot was there, the big round thing gets in the way of the two back mounts lining up with their slots. I finally just removed the thing and all three walls hit their slots just like they were supposed too. Even the guy in the YouTube video added the big round piece, but he didn’t seem to have any problem later on…or snuck it out and edited that part and didn’t mention it.

The troop seats are tiny, the poles you mount to the back of the seats are thin and short and even my skinny fingers made it hard to mount them to the seat backs. If you build this thing, make sure you get those seat back poles on correctly because if they are off even a little, you will have a very difficult time mounting them to the seat hanger piece that mounts to the three inside walls. Which I must add asks you to cut or drill your own mounting holes for the two tabs that stick out on top of the mounting bracket. I cheated and cut those tabs off and just used the provided detail that was already on the walls. Six tiny half moon shaped brackets that fit the round frame of the mounting bracket perfectly.

Use the Tamyia thin glue. Why? Because they pay me to say that. No, I’m being stupid. Because you will have a better chance of gluing those microscopic pieces together, like the seat to the seat backs and the poles to the seat backs if you can hold and brush the glue into the seams, rather than try to put a knat sized drop of glue where you need it, and then hope you can connect on the first try.

Not one part of those seats has a nubbin to hole or tab to slot attachment. You have a very fine tab that seats into a very fine “tab goes here” ghost location on the seat piece. The poles have very small slots that do work with very small tabs on the seat back, but lining them up is a circus. As I said, don’t let yourself attach those crooked. The knat sized nubbins on the pole have to line up with the knat sized notches on the mounting bracket. The three pieces that make up the inner walls where the troop seats mount are an aim and shoot line up job as well.

[dunniteowl]

You know, Chopper_Chief, I did build a UH-1B Iriquois back in the day. I believe it was a Monogram or Hasegawa and I’m pretty sure it was a 1:48. It struck me as you described the parts and their failure to align to plan, that I had a similar issue with mine. I remember having literal FITS of frustration trying to get the cabin interior floor to properly align such that the engine covers inside the cabin (at the back where the end of the cabin is IIRC) and still be able to fit the fuselage. Take out that floor and viola, the fuselage fit was fine. Put it in, according to the diagram and now the fuselage won’t mate at the top.

I recall also having some serious issues with getting the cockpit interior to line up with the seat/controls installed – once again – preventing a proper mating of the fuselage just above the cockpit seating.

That was before I decided it would be okay if I just cut the darn parts to fit, because I wasn’t sure if I was messing up the installation or if the instructions were just WRONG.

By the time I reached that point, I had decided that cutting away the offending material was going to be how it was. I also remember having a nearly impossible time getting the belt feeds for the twin machine guns on one side to properly fit. Of course, this was due to ME seeing that the guns had to be fed from the same slot, regardless of the side of the helo they were ported, meaning that the ammo belts (which were designed to fit on TOP, regardless of which side the helo the guns were on, and to the outside – which, of course, is impossible for both sides unless you turned the guns upside down on one side.

The alignment points (the little holes and pins) weren’t set up for that, so I ended up cutting away some of the ammo belt, heating and bending two of them, so they fit on the inside where the ammo feed should be and left the other side alone.

Ahh, those were the days. It was instructions like those that saw probably six or seven of my ship models being sunk with a BB gun in large puddles after the number of mistakes were so great that I was embarrassed just to see them on my dresser top. And notably, possibly one or two burned to the hull before sinking. I wasn’t kind to my mistakes.

[Samphoto]

I’ve read about those seats and how every little leg and support has to be glued in exactly the right place or the whole thing becomes a hassle, so I definitely feel your pain there.

But I have to admit, the BB gun and occasional fire seems like a pretty effective way of dealing with a troublesome model. Apparently my Bucket of Doom, where all my old models go to die, is a much less dramatic solution.

[Chopper_Chief]

I like the lighter fluid and fake car wreck idea. Tommy Boy. I have a huey 1/48 I’m still finding parts that were distributed amongst the carpet when I dumped the table. The way I solved this issue was just used two more seats off the sprue and got it right this time. As I said, I’m practicing. This model is completely new to me and I have no idea what it is supposed to look like inside or out when I’m done. Thanks to four more seats, I got the two I messed up taken care of. Still not sure about that “big round piece” I had to pull off.

[Chopper_Chief]

I’m not familiar with the B model, only that it is a true model of a gunship vietnam era. The D, whether it’s the gunship or the German tribute version, has two ongoing issues that I can’t put my finger on. One is the two nose pieces behind the instrument panel near the pedals. The right side one, as you face out the window, goes on like a pro. The left one, won’t fit for anything. I’ve studied the molding and it looks correct, but when you try to push that left one in, it acts like it gets off track and twists away from the instrument panel. I can’t for the moment exactly remember how I “fixed” the problem, but it happened on the gunship and the tribute model. The other is one I think I messed up, but jury it still out. The transmission and engine mount. Goes behind the three wall sound proof cover piece. I pushed the entire mount into the slot, had to wiggle it a bit to get it to go, but I did manage to get the two rear flanges to touch the back of the two wing walls. Maybe I didn’t put the entire cockpit/cabin into the fuselage correctly. But when I tried to put the fairing bracket on, the mount for the transmission was too far back. I’m going to pay close attention to that when I build the tribute model.