Be building this wonderful set for a competition end of November 2012. This is what i have done thus far.

- kit of choice

- MRC figures

- dry fit 1

- dry fit 2

Comments and constructive advice please.

Thanks.

Dear David, I'm going to follow your build , since I've one each Dragon AH-6J and MD500E w/Crew in my stash.

Hi Daniel, thanks for your support but do allow me to do it slowly as I am very busy with other "live size" build as well. But do be assured that I will be posting updates as and when I can.

Updates: Canopy and doors masked with tamiya masking tapes

Looking good so far. The DML Littlebird kits are really nice. They can come out great. Good luck with it.

more picture updates tomorrow. Just finished with the tail and body... Tired... it is 3 am over at where I am...

No problem there, David. I'll be happy when you point out any hiccups and trouble you come across building this kit.

so far so good.

I will be shopping for tamiya acrylic thinner over the weekend. Meanwhile, I am thinking should I motorize the rotors...

I just prime the transparent parts.

Be posting the pictures after I process them.

Stay tuned.

First layer of priming:

Photos:


















Critics and comments please.

Thanks.

Looks like it is coming along. You have a strange way of assembling/painting. Usually I build the whole fuselage with the painted and installed interior, then mask off the doors/openings and glass, then paint the whole fuselage as one with an airbrush or spray can. This eleminates the need to scrape paint from joins, sand, fill, and repaint what has already been painted. To each their own though.

How is it going to be marked/what country is it representing?

Looking good! Will you use aftermarket sets/PE apart from the MRC crew?

Hi guys,

thanks for the kind words.

Gino, the reason as to why I am building the bird this way is because I find that I can be neater this way and knowing how clumsy I can be(i build armour model most of the time), I just want to extra careful as I am taking part in my very first competition at the end of this year.

Daniel, I will not be using any after market parts.

However, I am now in the process of scratch building the seat belt for the crew though. I am trying to build a OOB as possible.

The aircraft will eventually depict a IAF MD500 and I have plans to display it by building a diorama with 1 IDF Fitter, 1 Zelda and the bird flying by.

NOt sure if i can pull it off though.

Nice to hear about your plans, David! At the moment I am waiting for a shipment from Luckymodel to arrive, containing Eduard PE for my AH-6J and MD500E. I will possibly have the time to buld one of the kits in the coming weeks. The AH-6J will receive RB models M134 miniguns and wonderful M260 7-shot rocket pods from Fireball Modellworks (altough in 1/32, the difference is negligible). At the same time I hope to find a solution to add a FLIR to the AH-6J...

Cheers, Daniel

David - It sounds like youyr plans will look good. Keep us posted and good luck with the rest of it.





Adding the FLIR is pretty easy. You can either get the Cobra Company MH-6J MELB set which includes a FLIR turret, mount, and screens for in the cockpit.

They are pretty easy to scratch yourself too. I used a left over FLIR turret from the Academy 1/35 MH-60L DAP kit and the extra rotor head cap piece in the kit (intended for the Mast Mounted Sight, MMS, version) as a mounting disk for the FLIR. I simply attached the disk to the front light mount using the nub on top of it. I scratched the screens from left over resin blocks and a couple flotation connection box pieces from an old M109 kit for buttons on top of them.

You can see how it turned out on my MH-6J MELB.




I later added a crew and Operators to it.

Thanks, Gino, for these suggestions. I thought about the Cobra Company set, but it is difficult to take hold of in Europe and the manufacturer doesn't seem to accept credit cards anymore (?); and I also don't want to build an MH-6. I had the idea to use the FLIR turret which is in the Revell 1/32 EC145 MEDSTAR kit, but it looks different from the AH-6's. So I might indeed go for the Blackhawk's, which I have sitting araound somewhere, a left-over from my early modelling experience.
Cheers

awesome figures there!! May I ask where you get them from?

Also, can i ask for a close up view of the securing harness for the crew?

Thanks

seat belt first draft done. incorrect position of shoulder harness... back to drawing board.

Pictures later.

The pilots are out of the Academy OH-58D kit and already have the seat belts molded onto them. They are very nice. Sorry, I can't really get any closer on them. They are a 4-point system with a lap belt and two shoulder belts. I made a similar set on the same Vietnam figures you have with foil.



The operators were pieced together from legs cast by a friend and torsos and arms from a few sets, mainly the Dragon US Rangers in Somalia '93 set.

So I've finally found some time to work on my own "Little Bird", the AH-6:







Cheers!

Looking good Daniel. One point for you. There is no need to mask the upper rear windows with the antennas attached to them. They are painted over on Littlebirds.

Thanks for your comment, Gino. I've also noticed that I don't need to mask these windows...

Daniel, your handiwork blows me away... You are way far better than me. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, David! But you're to kind with me... We'll both see how our choppers turn out!

Updates:

Over the weekend, I did nothing on the bird but focus on the crews.

Scratch the seat belt and painted the crew.

Photos:



version 1 mounted on crew(dry fit)




version 2 mounted on crew(dry fit)




version 1




version 2

painted figures later.

Thanks all for reading.