Hello fellow modelmakers,

This is my first post under a new account...I decided it was time to make a serious one.

Anyway, this is my current project: a 1/48 scale US Coast Guard HH-60J Jayhawk...easily my favorite Blackhawk variant. I will post some pictures of my current progress, but posts may be few and far between, as I am a full time, 19 year old college student, and rarely am I able to come home to work.

So for this build, I am using Skunkmodel's 1/48 Jayhawk kit that my parents gave me for Christmas. From what I understand, it is the Italeri Seahawk kit with some added parts and different decals to bring it up to speed for the Coast Guard. In addition, I have been using the Cobra Company resin Jayhawk conversion kit, mainly for the interior parts (which are great!), Fireball Modelworks Jayhawk decals to supplement the kit-supplied ones and some scratching.

Here are some shots:


(note the crumbling walls...my workspace is in the old basement)


Main cabin & cockpit assmebly pretty much complete:



I added the wiring from the back-side of the instrument panel...not sure where they lead to so I just hid the ends inside the nose. I will probable remove the styrene ones because they don't look natural.









Started working on the sling seats from reference photos I found on PrimePortal. Right now, I just have the horizontal poles with mounting brackets made from spare 1/35 Tiger I photo etched parts (I think the ones used to strap down tools).




The two body halves dry-fitted:



If there's interest, I'll keep posting. Thanks for looking!

-Andrew

I'm interested! The wiring looks great.

Andrew,I'll be following you with great interest. I have seen 6022 at the MacDill Airfest in Tampa, for the last 4 years.

I understand that the extra parts that Skunkworks added to the kit are clear molded. How are you planning on gluing them together? Also, I noticed that the pilot/co-pilot seat frames and the pitch and colletives are metal pieces, are they part of the kit or after market items?

Semper Par

Thanks for the interest. I will continue to post updates then.

Bruce, the seat frames and pitch and such are white metal, they come in the Cobra Company kit. My only beef is that the frames were slightly warped and don't fit very well with the resin seats, but they definately work and look the part. The white metal controls are 100x better than the kit-supplied ones. And yes, Skunkmodels has included a sprue of clear parts to which includes the fuel tanks and new windows and doors etc. I am planning on using Tamiya extra thin glue or super glue for the fuel tanks because they will be painted white in the end anyway...will this not work?

Here's last night's progress:

Overhead control panel, styrene piece from the kit, resin pieces from Cobra and photo etch levers from the kit with white glue to add a third dimension.

A bit of rounding to be done on the knob still...



Here is the stack/rack of avionics and medical equiptment supplied by Cobra. Each piece comes molded onto a "shelf" but they were all uneven so I made my own shelves out of Evergreen styrene. The vertical styrene comes with the Cobra kit though...quite nice!




Removed the Evergreen nose wiring...I think it looks better this way.


And the beginnings of the rotor assembly


That's all for now. Thanks for looking!
-Andrew

Forgot these shots of the avionics stack in the cabin:

Fire extinguisher mounted on the avionics stack:


Finished sling seats:


Rescue basket...quite the delicate PE assembly.



Starboard side stowage and some unidentified "box" on the wall, along with the controls and mount for the winch. Note the wire is not yet attached to the joystick, it's just sitting there so i can paint everything and then glue it in it's proper place.




Backpack made from putty, sans straps.


Putty jump bag, as we call them in the EMS world. Sling looks a bit thick in places though.


Thanks for looking!

Great work sir please continue I watch in interest

this is really going somewhere

I wasn't originally intending to add this much detail...buttttt one thing leads to another (we all know how this works) and last night I would up ordering Eduard's SH-60B Seahawl exterior photo etch set, and 2 sheets of Archer's finest rivets with the intention of adding the missing rivets on the body of the aircraft...hopefully the rivets will be small enough.
I'm back at school until Saturday, so updates to follow in a few days.

Andrew, LOL AMS is insidious indeed Clear plastic isn't polystyrene so the Tamyia glue probably won't work. Since everything is going to be painted anyway fogging caused by superglue shouldn't be a problem. Anyway, the build is looking great so far Andrew.

Later

The two halves are closed up now, but here are some photos of the finished interior, completed over Thanksgiving:

Slight hiccup, just after completing the sling seats, they fell on the floor unbeknownst to me, and I literally stomped on them. Some repairs later, they look fine.














Apologies for the blurry picture, trying to learn how to use a new camera properly.








Thanks for looking!
-Andrew

Andrew,
Excellent work!!
The details wich you add are beautiful!!!
I don´t know the conversion kit of Cobra.... I need to pick one for me

Thanks Jose, I would definately recommend the Cobra...it'll save you from a lot of scratch building. They also have many other conversions for different helos and aircraft.

Happy modeling!

Christmas break updates!

It's coming along well.




Adding a lot of leftovers from the Seahawk PE set to dress it up according to photos I've found online.



Some putty work due here.

Bit more sanding to do here too.




Good fun removing the seam here




That's it for now folks, thanks for looking! More to follow!

Merry Christmas,
Andrew

Andrew,
AMAZING work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update: assembly completed awaiting priming with my new Iwata Neo airbrush and my new Husky air compressor!
She's pretty ugly right now, but not for long.












Just a few touch ups and maybe even some rivets, then on to priming!
Thanks for looking adn happy modeling!
-Andrew

Andrew,

This is a work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wish to see finish....., you are making an amazing work in the interior.
Congratulations my friend

Hi all, got a quick update. Got a lucky break from school with the 3 day weekend for President's Day.

Primed with Tamiya grey primer, decanted from the rattle can and sprayed with my new Iwana Neo (which is fantastic). Sanded with paper towels, cleaned and sprayed Tamiya White from the bottle with a drop of acrylic paint retardant so slow the drying and give it a bit of a glossy finish. Let it dry for a day and today I masked and painted the orange stripes, Model Master International Orange with a few drops of Chevy Engine Red.

Here are the pictures:



Of course there are little errors here and there, but nothing terrible and will be easily cleaned up.




Thanks for looking!

Looking really good Andrew, and a great colour match for the Coast Guard orange, that one is always a bear to get right.

Later

Hi,

Yes, really a cool model..!!! Congrats...!

Diego

Fantastic my friend!!!!!
You only need to retouche a few parts with white

New update: She's very close to being finished! Decals are on and overcoated...all that's left is the black on the nose and fuel tanks, and to paint the rotors.

Pictures:













http://s681.beta.photobucket.com/user/apalella/media/IMG_6288_zpsc1e2f705.jpg.html#/user/apalella/media/IMG_6295_zps73c8f890.jpg.html?&_suid=136330305525007352213887862822









Gotta work on getting smoother finishes...maybe not thin enough or too low pressure?

Thanks for looking!

missing:



Solvaset works really well.

really nice build !
great !

Wow, wow, wow...what a beautiful work and the end result is looking awesome.

Mike