Update time, nose weighted as although not a tailsitter it had a lean to the rear of the skids. Added a drip sill over the doors as this is quite noticeable on pictures of real airframes and added a plate covering the hole where the second antenna used to be over the canopy. The doghouse isn’t glued in place yet. Need to add the formation lights on the nose and masked both front canopies ready for priming and then paint. It will be my first time shooting enamel through my brush (Model Master 34031 helo drab), any tips are greatly received such as thinning, pressures etc.
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Great progress Max…done a cracking job on it. Be good to see the paint on it. The more helicopters I see on this build the more I am inclined to get one…
I’ve never done aircraft since I was a young lad, got back into modelling in about 2006 and just built armour. Always liked the look of the OH58D and I’ve got two more helicopters, the AH6/MH6 from Kittyhawk and Academy’s AH-1Z.
The Warrior is looking great. Very nice job. Can’t wait to see it painted.
@Maximus8425 you’ve come on leaps and bounds, I have stalled my version due to recent trip to Ireland with the wife.
Finally getting to it. Kitech 1/72 AH-1T Sea Cobra. OK, here’s my start photo.
With 2 months to go, I hope it isn’t too difficult.
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It’s the old Italeri kit if I am not mistaken. It’s Italeri so not a Tamiya kit but with the one piece canopy should be to bad.
Interesting to see how that Kitech Sea Cobra builds.
A number of years ago a market stall in my home town were selling a bunch of their kits for next to nothing. I got a couple of F-16’s, F-14, F-18, EA-6B, F-117 and a 1/48 SU-27UB. All were clones of other manufacturers. Out of the ones I got, the F-14, 117 and 18 were Italeri, the Sukhoi was an Academy and the others Hasegawa. A mixed bag of quality. A couple were unbuildable, but were a good source of spare parts for other builds. I think I had to replace decals for every one of them.
Hopefully the Sea Cobra will be a good one and will be trouble free.
I’ve had my suspicions about the Italeri origins of this kit, I compared the sprue maps on Scalemates and they are nearly exactly the same. Except Kitech has a 3 piece main rotor (2 blades and a hub) while Italeri has a single piece rotor. I assume that other flavors of the AH-1 have a different engine / gear head configuration and that’s why both kits have the engine housing separate from the rest of the fuselage. It’s gonna make for an ugly seam to fill.
At one time I think Hobby Lobby here in the states carried the brand. They are knock offs and poorly researched. IIRC the F-14 bragged that it was the USAF’s newest trainer, LOL! I built the 1/72 F-16, blogged about it on the old site. Decided it was a poor quality knock off of Italeri. I think it was advertised as an F-16A, had many of the parts for a F-16B, (cockpit but no canopy) and the decals were for a couple of F-16C planes. Had a lot of trouble with the inlet and shroud assembly.
A very small update, as you can see I have built the rotorhead up. Drilled out the blade grips as they were solid in the middle and you can see the rotor head through them on the real deal. Drooped the blades by taping them to the handle of a spoon and then heating it with a hair dryer. You have to be careful as they go soft really quickly. Filled the trailing edge groove in after bending as I understand there is only one groove on the leading edge. Finally did some wiring on the tail rotor gear box and added a formation light from scrap sprue. The kit supplies them for everywhere else on the aircraft apart from this one light.
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@Maximus8425 how are you finding the upper and lower glass sections for fit btw?
They went on after a bit of fettling with a file on the instrument panel cowling. The upper one was still a little bit tight but clicked in. Thank god for Tamiya extra thin as I held it there while the glue dried. Normal glue would have pulled away I think. The lower one fit without any issues at all.
Great to see others coming along so well. A lot more involved than my pretty straight forward build!
Getting there with the viper. Just the canopy and rotors to do, along with some other little bits. Canopy is gonna need some careful gluing, can’t someone invent a non fogging instant glue for twisted clear parts!
Keep up the good work everyone!
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Loving the Cobra, have one of these in the stash also. What did you use for the panel lines? Mixed oils or did you use a preparatory panel line wash?
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Thanks @Maximus8425 , I used ak paneliner for blue and grey, AK2072. I applied it in panel lines and along rivet detail then removed excess once dried for a while, five to ten minutes, with cotton buds and sort brush, working some of it into the surface for a grimy look. Then highlighted centre of panels with raw abteilung Snow White oil paint, tiny spots blended in with a dry soft brush. I applied both of these processes over the gloss coat. Then flat coat and smaller detail painting.
Thanks again, J.
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Pretty much finished with the AH-1Z. Just the orange light on top to add, waiting for it to dry before handling. Had to replace the rotor pitch actuator rods with some 30amp fuse wire, as the plastic ones kept breaking during handling.
I would wholeheartedly recommend this kit. The only issues I had were the canopy needing careful glueing to correct slight warp, hellfire missile connection points not great, above mentioned actuators, and it would have been real nice to have the option to fold the main rotors included in the kit, as the space it now takes up is pretty huge, wish I had gone after market for that.
Oh, and the def models 20mm cannon replacements are well worth the ten quid or so.
Background shows just about all the materials used in the build.
I think this is my first ever completed campaign, only 12 years after joining!
Cheers, Jim.
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congratulations on finishing, yes I see what you mean about the rotor blades taking up a lot of space. I believe that blackdog did a folded rotor head after market accessories pack.
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Fantastic achievement and it looks fantastic. Really dominates the scene and the finish is superb. Can’t be faulted by my eye… Very well done Jim.
It should definitely go in to a show !!
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