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NAS FALLON UH-1N RESCUE

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When I began working on the front doors it became apparent that the glass was going to stand out from the inside. I thought about masking it internally myself and am no slouch at this task, yet a mask set would be quicker. Luckily Eduard offer the inside/out set but be advised it is not inexpensive. You'll find they have taken all the clear parts and scanned them, meaning all the variants these parts are for are included in their mask sets. The instructions are easy to follow and thankfully everything is well labeled.

With the masks in place it was time to get back to building. Job one was to fix the top nose part. The curved edge that butts up to the dash needs to be widened or it will not fit. The instrument panel and dash were also removed and reseated to help with the fit as opposed to removing a ton of material. Then I painted black the edge where the windshield sits just in case the finish color wouldn't cover the entire width. Now that that part was happy I took to test fitting the chin parts. The middle section does not line up and needs a decent amount of persuasion. You need to pull up and in at the same time and I've yet to find a clamp or clamps that'll perform that plastic miracle thus it was two hands and a heart beat for 30 minutes. Before that even started though I added the nose weight by using the gap between the stamped out front supports. The dark photo shows where I stopped half way into a circle. No clue as to how much but enough to shift the center of gravity when placed a on a balancing pole.

Moving on to the doors it took all of 2 seconds to notice somethin' wasn't right in China town that day. As you can see a decent amount of material had to be removed from the inside panel parts and the lower corner had to be reshaped to conform with the door. The fit is determined by the outside door piece and is very snug. Since doors were being done I finished the interior painting and weathering on the main sliding doors along with the narrow ones behind the main posts. Again, these doors have a really tight fit and the large ones are better slid into place... imagine that.

Time for some glass work now. Couple of things to keep in mind, you'll need to drill out some holes which is not indicated in the instructions yet the holes are started. Also, there is a nice piece of photo-etch just behind the windshield connected to the ceiling part. It holds a component and does a super job covering the join with the roof. You'll really like the detail in the upper control panel which is easily seen from several windows. Here again is the option to paint or use the decal. I painted using the decal colors as a guide. Despite all the work done on the upper nose and roof I still had to use some force to make the windshield part conform. Only a few bullets were sweat though in worrying about a cracked clear part. Initially I was going to use PVA glue but that went out the window with the gaps needing to be addressed. Try your best to bend the middle of the roof down to mate up with the middle of the windshield part then cement and wait to set before moving on to the lower area. Don't fret, I make it sound much worse than it really is.

At this point you're probably asking, "what about the figures?" for which I would reply, "where in the blazes were YOU when I was putting this together?". Yeah, I got so caught up in the build I forgot to put them in and the kicker is they were one of the first things I did for this project HA HA. I'll get to that later but for now know they were easy to paint yet a hassle to find the right colors!!! I didn't want them the same color as the orange, which is common, and knew there were other options. Finally stumbling across a photo I was relieved that the flight suits would be a contrasting tone to the body and interior. Kitty Hawk did a splendid job on these fellows with sharp edges and pronounced folds in the jacket and trousers. They cleaned up easily with a No. 11 blade and my micro files finished the job. After taking more than a few looks and photos determined they didn't need a wash. The shadows would provide all the needed definition to the body and the faces. I hope you agree that they turned out pretty good. There are about 7 different Tamiya colors here and if I ever come across anything small enough to resemble shoulder patches they'll go on. In test fitting you'll find the thumbs need to be widened ever so much to make them fit around the control sticks. A bit of hot water and they move easily.

In this section of the instruction it asks to complete the landing skies... or are they called skids? The foot steps need to be shaved to resemble the real thing. Also the back part needs to be hollowed out. The inside photo-etched rings are best attached by drilling a small hole in the plastic and leaving the brass sprue gate on as a pin. You can bet these will pop off with an unkind word otherwise. Later they will be painted semi-gloss black with a self leveling thinner and left until after the wash stage is completed.

To finish preparing for paint a coat of clear green went on the upper windows, masking fluid filled the exposed spaces of the lower windows and all areas were sealed as best I could from over-spray.