Finished the foiling of the engine covers. For the last two concave sections I had to pre-coat the spaces with some pressure sensitve adhesive since the foil wasn’t adhering as I would ahve liked.
With some very old black, textured Chartpak tape, I added the anti-slip strips on the flat part of the door.
I started working on the Maverick missiles. Some folks are happy that they slide molded the missiles as a single part. I guess that’s good… But the PE fins, while nice and thin, are supposed to engage with some very narrow slots in the missile body, but didn’t seem to fit right and getting them CA’d in was making a big mess. The front fins are very small and getting them to settle in and not fly off into the great beyond was a pain in the posterior. It didn’t help that the fins were longer than the slots by a fraction of inch. Just enough to make you use too much force to try and get them in.
The accelerator was eating into the plastic, which did not help. I have a dental tool that I then used to deepen and widen the slots a bit. After gluing in the front four and one rear fin, I found out that I was doing all this to the wrong body. I wanted to use the one where the clear dome was on the front. I didn’t realize that there were three different body types. I pulled the fins off the wrong one and built the first correct one. I changed my routine…Instead of using gel CA and then applying accelerator to the finished joint, I switched to medium CA and applied a thin coat of accelerator to the widened slot. This worked better… not perfect, but better. This one is a bit sloppy and it will be on the bottom inside on the rack. I’ll get better as I go on.
I’ll paint these and decal them and the put on the clear lenses. Not sure what to paint that hemisphere inside. Any ideas?
BTW: if you get the chance, ask you dentist if he has any tools that are being scrapped. They get dropped and damaged, but they’re pefect for us modelers. They can be resharpened to use for panel scribing, micro-scraping, glue application, etc. I use them all the time.
5 Likes
They are AGM-114 Hellfire Missiles and the inner hemispherical part is chrome silver. Also, the body is black, not green.
2 Likes
Thanks Gino! That’s good info. Also I note that the front fins are square edged. The kit’s have a taper front and don’t fit. I’m cutting off the angle and that will solve that problem.
I attempted to do one more missile with the PE. I still was very unhappy about how it was going and decided to take a different tack–styrene. First I cut little peices for the front fins… which have square, not slanted front edge. Thanks to Gino’s response, I now stand corrected that the missiles are the AGM114 Hellfire, not the Maverick, which I’ve been calling them. And I know their correct color.
I used the PE parts as templates for the fore and aft fins and used the Chopper to cut them to length.
It was sooooo much easier to install them in the slots with just a thin application of Tamiya thin cement. I did widen and deepen the slots just a tad with the dental tool so the styrene parts would bed down better.
The front fin trial worked okay.
The tail fins required some additioal crafting to do the front edge and relieve the back portion where the rudders were. Interestingly, the rudders don’t show up in the images of the real missile.
I completed the missile and am happy with the results. Again, sometimes, PE is overkill, annoying and frustrating, and it takes the joy out of the hobby. The installation is so much cleaner that my poor attempts at CA’ing the PE on the styrene body. All the tailfin trimming was done with a single-edge razor blade.
Next session will finish the remaining missiles.
6 Likes
Thanks guys! Got all the missiles assembled using the styrene method. I left them dry overnight since the glue surface is minimal. I drilled a .032" hole in the exhaust pipe to accept toothpicks that I used to hold them for painting.
I airbrushed Tamiya Semi-gloss black. Two of them fell off the toothpick when I turned the foam holder over to spray the exhaust end. One of them had the PE fins and, of course, one of the long ones broke off. I didn’t even want to think about use CA to put it back on. I scraped out the slot and glued in a styrene replacement. Right to the end the PE parts were givng me trouble.
I’m letting them dry overnight because tomorrow the decals have to go on. Having the glossy surface will help with the decals. I may shoot flat on them afterwards.
While all this was drying I assembled the racks that hold them. There are right and left hand versions of the racks and their upper fairings. I’d like to be able to fully assemble the two-level Maverick racks before installing the missiles. The racks have to be painted O.D. I test fit one of the missiles to see if I can shoehorn the missile into the lower rack when assembled. I think I can do that. It would simplify painting and gluing.
I was able to assemble the unguided rocket pods to their racks and the upper rack to the fairng.
There were a coupled of seams on the rocket pods that needed filling.
I glued the end caps to the stub wings. There’s another fragile antenna/static discharge electrode (don’t know which it is) that broke and I replaced it with phos-bronze of the same gauge (0.020" .5mm). I may have to replace all of these. I’m also getting ready to add the grab and foot rails before painting. I may use phos-bronze wire to replace all of them and not even spend the time using the styrene versions.
We’re moving along nicely here… Meanwhile, I’m working on another edit of my 3D Printing book. With the help of the preview readers and my daughter, I’ve had a lot to do on it. I’ll let everyone know when the final, final version is up on Apple Books.
5 Likes
Before I get into the chopper build, I have some news. I finally got some good working drawings of the Battleship New Jersey’s #3 Engine Room. John Miano and I were trying to figure a painless way for him to send me some very large files. Turns out that the solution was right in front of my nose… DropBox. I have it, but John didn’t and he didn’t want to load it. I found out that I can send a file request to another person WHO DOES NOT HAVE DropBox. He just had to drag the files into the box that showed up on his eMail and I got them. He still has some more to get me, but I have enough to start digging in. I’m going to start a new thread covering the Engine Room build so stay tuned.
Meanwhile… I put the first (and apparantly only) decals on the Hellfire missiles. I incorrectly have been calling them Maverick. The AGM-114 is the Hellfire and there’s a specific model for the Long Bow Apache. The Takom decals are very difficult. The film is very stiff and doesn’t conform to anything. I used tons of MicroScale Micro Set to get them softened enough to curve around the missile’s body. I also added some very old Walther’s Solvaset. The review of the model suggested Mr. Mark Setter and Mr. Mark Softer are effective for Takom. I’ll check my hobby shop for them since I’ve got a lot more decals to apply… a whole lot more. BTW: the instructions have no information about decals for the missiles. And these insignia do not appear on any Hellfire images I found. It’s not going in a judged contest, so it won’t matter. If if were, I have to print my own or find some commercial ones.
I also started painting the rest of the model with painting the ammo racks. I needed to paint them now so I could assemble them with the missiles. They’ll go onto the model as complete and painted assemblies.
I airbrushed straight Tamiya Olive Drad and then over-sprayed with a lightened version with about 20% flat white added on upward facing surfaces to show fading.
Details have to be picked out on these sub-assembies and there’s some nomenclature that goes on. I’ve got to start putting on more of the delicate parts on the fuselage to get ready for the major painting activity. This model should be finished in a couple of weeks.
5 Likes
Several sub-par things happened today. It started when I found out that the rail on the missile that I “assumed” was fastened to the rack, actually was supposed to be on the exposed missile bottom. If I glued them on correctly, all my decals would be upside down. So I glued the long rail into the rack’s rail. Then there was the almost impossibility of assembling the upper rack to the lower. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t. My scheme of putting the missiles on first and THEN assembling the upper and lower racks, seemed like a good idea. Trouble was the shape of the standoffs that connected the two. They have a flange that direcltly interfered with the missiles’ rear fins. Couldn’t even slide them into place without risking breaking fins. I ended up removing the rear flanges so they would slide betwen the fins. If I did the inverse, gluing the racks together and then installing the missiles, would have equally difficult. Neither approach was ideal. I used Gorilla Construction Adhesive to hold the missiles with its greater volume to glue uneven surfaces. It takes about 1/2 to set up for handling.
This was the missiles waiting for the glue to set up.
This view shows the front standoff with its flange and how tight the clearances are.
And when you look at the rear, you see how the fins are in the same space. Didn’t matter if they were PE or styrene. They still got in the way.
This shows the removal of that flange. It’s not visible and didn’t have to be there. Forcing it in would have broken more fins.
Both sets are now complete waiting for installation on the chopper after the fuselage is painted.
Speakiing of painting. I got the main rotor hub, tail rotor and Long Bow antenna painted today. I also painted the main rotor blades, but were still drying when the day ended.
Happy Friday… not work on the weekends. See y’all on Monday.
6 Likes
I’m still a bit freaked out in trying to figure out just when to add the smallest details. I decided to paint the fuselage, gloss coat it, apply the decals and then put on all the hand grabs and remaining antennas. I didn’t make this decision lightly, but after the realization that even de-masking it requires handling, pulling & tugging where things will get touched and broken. So today I masked the engine bays and exhaust coolers and painted the upper half O.D. and then over-coated with light O.D. on the very upper surfaces to simulate sun fading.
The edges are masked with Tamiya tapes of various widths. The engine bay is stuffed with wet paper towels.
I chose to just to top side to let it fully dry and then turn it over and do the bottom tomorrow. After gloss coating (for decal adhesion) I’ll also add panel line accenting, which works much better on gloss surfaces than flat. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already done so, check out the new thread on building the New Jersey’s engine room #3. I got more terrific engineering drawings today from John Miano. I now have the actual casting drawings for the high and low presseure main propulsion turbines and the main condensor. He’s also sent me part of the Main Reduction Gear. There’s still more for that. Having such dimensioned drawings is a new thing for me.
7 Likes
I agree Myles… I always add all the little greeblies on after the paint has been done and touch up with the hairy stick where necessary…
Looking good by the way! 
Thanks guys. Although progress has been slow with a lot of work concentrated on the engine room, I’ve been working on the Apache too. I painted the bottom straight OD and then added some of the fragile antenna and grab handles. I hope I can handle it carefully nough to not break them off. I hand painted these after I took the picture.
I used four plastic grabs on the aft fuselage. They’re sticking out far and could easily be broken when manipulating the model in the cardboard carrier.
The next group of handles didn’t fare as well. I got one plastic one removed from the fret, but broke two and use phos-bronze wire of the same gauge and drilled out the tiny mounting dimples so the handles will go all the way through. These won’t break.
On the starboard side both handles broke before I was able to attempt to install them so both are now metal. I don’t know why I even spend a minute trying to use so thin plastic parts, and just go metal in the first place. I use a dividers to determine the sizing and have a pair of full-size long nosed pliers that I use the tapered jaws as the spacing guide when bending them. These all need painting before clear gloss for decaling.
Next up is painting and detail painting of Reskit supperb model of the chain gun, and the then installing it.
5 Likes
Thanks guys! But… it’s the grab handles that give the model the level of detail we’ll all seeking… right? That’s especially true with model trains.
Put the gloss coat on the whole fuze, one side at a time. I’m using allclad Water-based gloss coat (Aqua Clear?). I also detail painted the enormously detailed ResKit chain gun. I don’t know how they’re printing the electrical wiring and such. I’m pretty well-versed in 3D printing now and still don’t attempt that level of fine detail.
I’m going to paint and attach the ammo feed track separately. There are a number of tiny decals that came with it, which is why I gloss-coated this along with the main model. Once it’s a decaled I will dull-coat it. It will be the last thing attached because it’s just waiting to be whacked sticking out like it does.
I’m going to start decaling the whole deal today.
4 Likes
Getting near the end. All the decals are on. What a mess! I was using Mr Decal Softener and Mr Decal Setter as suggested by the build review I had. The Takom decals were so stiff that MicroScale products didn’t work very well. These two new solutions worked… oh boy how they worked! They set the decals and also removed the AllClad Aqua Clear clear coat and the color coat beneath it, making the model almost a wreck. I should have tested this stuff on something before doing it on the model. 20/20 hindsight.
I touched up the O.D. as best I could, but it doesn’t look very good. Hopefully, a nice dull-coat will cover a lot of sins. I also used some Tamiya black panel accent color on seams and doors. While handling I broke one of the few plastic foot rungs.
And quickly replaced it will metal. DOH! Don’t know why I ever attempted to use the plastic in the first place. The one below this one is still plastic. Anyone want to make a wager about how long it will last?
I got the Chain Gun mounted and haven’t broken it yet… The Reskit model is superb!
And the I got the wheels installed. I have some marker lights to install and the another set of very fragile antenna that go one each engine pod. When the tape is removed I have to add the windshield wipers, the underwing stores and white decal weather stripping that goes around the windows. The are Takom decals and I hope they work.
I got the clear domes on the hellfire missiles after using Molotow chrome on the sensor that sits below. When the canopy glue cures I will take pictures of them. I sure hope the flat coat hides a lot of the garbage on this model. It really annoys me that you work a lot of hours get a tricky kit together and then get a disaster at the finishing stage.
6 Likes
The dullcoat (Tamiya clear gloss and Tamiya Flat Base) worked to hide a passel of defects. I got the underwing stores installed and did some touchup painting. Broke off two of the remaining plastic foot rungs. Sounds like a broken record. I purposefully held off putting them on until the last minute. I should have waited longer… like after it was out of the workshop. I attempted to using an old-school ruling pen (from my drafting set I bought when in college 60 years ago, to hand rule the fine white weather striping around the non-opening cockpit windows. Came out a little rough and I’ll clean it up on Monday. I didn’t want to atttempt to use those lousy decals included in the kit for this purpose. All in all, it’s coming out as a respectable model… definitely not a show winner—miles away from that—but my friend is happy with it.
Here’s a closer look at the transparent noses on the Hellfires…
And the targeting optics on the nose. I found out after building this that my color choice of the telescopes inside were different colors. Too late… that ship had left the dock.
I knocked off one of the missile sets from it sway braces to the pylon. I put it back and it’s drying over the weekend. Next week it will be finished. We’re delivering it on a visit back East over the 2nd week in December.
6 Likes
Looking great. Nice job on it so far.
Thanks Gino! It’s been a tough model…
You are all too kinds. There are many defects… But well hidden.
I replaced the plastic large antenna that graces the tail with a metal assembly without even trying the plastic one. I didn’t even give it a second thought. I just measured the plastic one and built a metal one. I epoxied into the airframe. It’s chances for survival are much better than plastic that had a very tiny mounting pin to holld it. I still have to paint it. I was also putting on the very fine windshield wipers. I accidentally cut one of the parts of the front windscreen and thought it was on the top. After I corrected my mistake I proceeded to break it, then lose it. Instead of attempting to build one out of brass, I’m going to draw the parts and 3D print them.The printer can handle it. Should be interesting. Stand by.
4 Likes
The end is nigh! One more day and this will be done. I drew and 3D printed a windshield wiper for the front window. It’s draining now on the printer and I’ll install it during the next session. It’s very delicate so I printed 12 of them thinking that I be able to cut at least one of them from the supports without wrecking it. I attached what appear to be ram air turbines that hang off the engine housing. This was another case of very fine styrene moldings breaking in the sprue before even getting a chance to remove it. The solution: more tiny drilling and wiring. During the assembly process one of them broke in the middle of the shaft and that too got the wiring trick.
To print tiny parts I draw them on a stick and draw my own supports. The supports function in the slicer is light a sledge hammer to small stuff like this. They printed succssfully on the new printer. There’s still the challenge of getting them off the stick without breaking.
Here’s the ram air things broken on the sprue.
And here’s the parts repaired including the additional fracture in the center of the shaft. 0.015" phos-bronze wire is used to make the joint.
Here they are on the model along with the engine door supports. I was going to make those out of metal too, but they didn’t break and I got them installed okay, so I set aside the scratch-build plan. They both need to be painted… tomorrow.
I attached the remaining subassemblies including the main rotor hub, Long Bow antenna and tail rotor. I decided to install them now and not bring them as pieces to be installed on site. I will protect the model so nothing will happen to them (Famous last words).
And then there was none. I went through all the remaining sprues and any parts still remaining are either for different AH-64 versions, options for this model or parts that were replaced or ignored. It’s good to see this…
With the addition of the missing wiper, painting both wipers and the parts insalled today, the model will be DONE.
4 Likes
I’m declaring the Apache ready for delivery. The print of the new wiper assembly was completely successful and the new printer with it’s 12K LCD screen, better UV lighting and Titl Vat tech all combine to produce parts of smaller cross-section than I thought was possible.
All the rest of yesterday’s work was painted, and that’s done too. All that’s left is attaching the main rotor blades and that will wait until it arrives at its destination. It was a tough model… great detail… but it made you pay the price. I think I’ve finally learned to not use ANY kit handgrabs and will substitute them for metal from the get-go.
After back painting and using a toothpick to remove any errant paint from the glazing, the handpainted window stripping is passable, and frankly, probably was more successful than attempting to use those awful Takom decals.
It sure is a menacing looking machine and I think that was intentional.
Next plastic kit in the hopper is a Trumpeter 1:32 scale Lockheed F-135B STOVL Lightening II. I plan on buiiding it with the engine installed and another engine on a display stand. I don’t know which engine will be the one I attempt to super-detail for the exterior display: the kit’s or a 3D printed one I plan on creating. But this model is a little while a way from building. I have a ton of work to do on the Engine Room and do want to add one more custom building on my large model railroad. My #1 grandson also indicated he may want to build the F-35 and I may let him.
8 Likes
Not an Apache fan but built looks great. 
F-35 sounds like a stunning project as well, I have a few 1/72 kits with Reskit engines/exhaust.
Congrats on a fantastic build Myles 
Thankyou for sharing also.
Always great to see how these builds come together 
PS I probably missed it, but what make and model of 3d printer do you use?
I’m now using the new Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra. It’s the 3rd Elegoo I’ve owned and the technical evolution in just five years is staggering. It is 10X faster than my 1st gen Elegoo Mars, 100% larger and 4X the horizontal resolution. I would highly recommend it. And it cost $50 more than the original at the introductory price of $399 I paid.
1 Like
