Hi all!

Here are a few pics of my 1/48 Academy MD500 to MH-6J Little Bird conversion.

All conversion parts were scratch-built and the decals were home-made. (slight silvering on the one side, but not too bad)

I hope to take some decent pictures later.

Cheers!
Quintin

Wow looks real good there Quintin. Being in 1/48th the details look great, right down to the grab handles and belts. You should entry it in the "Capture Aidid" campaign. You have any other plans with it. BTW welcome aboard

Hey, this is cool. Is that the chopper that was used in the movie "Black Hawk Down?"

It's beautiful! You should do a feature on converting this baby. Can you teach us?

It needs a little weathering such as dust, oil stains and fading paint. About the decal silvering, try to prick the decal with a pin in the white areas and apply decal solution. It should do the trick.

Very nice.

Angela

Thanks, Joe!

I only plan to make a base for it, maybe add some rotor tie-downs. Thanks for the campaign suggestion, I'll definitely look into it!

Cheers
Quintin

Hey Angela!

Thanks for the kind words. I haven't thought about doing a feature, but I'll see what I can do.

I was planning on doing some dust weathering with MIG pigments, but to be honest, I'm a bit scared I might ruin the model!!!

Thanks for the tip on the decal silvering, sounds good.

Quintin

Scared? You build like a pro and it's hard for me to imagine that you are scared in weathering. Well, you could always say that's its an out of the factory build.

What color did you use to paint the Bird?

Angela

Thanks for the encouragement, Angela.

I used MM Aircraft Interior Black for the interior of the helo, it has a slightly faded look to it.

For the outside I used Tamiya NATO Black, as it has a greenish tint to it, similar to what you'll find on the 160'th SOAR birds.

I think I'll try the weathering some time this week, just need to let the clear varnish cure.

Quintin

Nice Little Bird.

Keep it up.

Really nice "Little Bird" Quintin. You did a great job IMO. I'd love to know more about the conversion process also.

That looks wonderful!

Roger

Howdy Quentin,

Aside from lovin' your avatar (big Grommit fan ), I am really enjoying your "Litle Bird" conversion.....nice stuff.

Since you didn't provide any interior pics, I too would be interested in your conversion process steps. You have obviously done a bang-up job on what we used to call a LOACH back in the day.....
Your choice of colour is pretty accurate as well, since the 'skinny' on SOAR colours is still a debate about whether it's a true flat black....or a deeply faded green {you can pipe in her any time Gino ).
If you're looking for potential 'nits', the only thing I can come up looking at your handywork is, didn't the SOAR birds have SPECOP footrests mounted above the skids? I thought they did, but I'm probably wrong about that.......need to look into that more

Again, good work Quentin....if you could, please share a couple of interior shots with us all.

Tread.

Hey Tread!

Thanks for the kind words! From the reference pics I have, I couldn't see any special footrests on the bird. However, there were these little metal loops on the skids, but I didn't make them.

I'll definitely post a write-up on the build, with some pics as well.

Cheers
Quintin

OK guys, here's the write-up!

I used the Academy 1/48 MD500 Defender kit for this project.

Firstly I removed the two front doors, as they were molded in, and sealed up the two windows above the rear doors. Using piano wire, I then added the rappel bars (not sure what their correct designation is) by drilling small holes in the body and CA glueing them in place. I must admit, it was much easier than anticipated.



Next, the cockpit. The rear floor was not the correct height, so I built it up with plastic card. The fuel tank (I think it's a fuel tank) was also built up with several layers of plastic card and Tamiya putty. The floor ribbing was also done with plastic card.

I added minor details such as the box between the two seats, as well as the cables running down the back of the seats. The collective control was added, using piano wire.

The instrument panel was also trimmed down, as it was too wide. Painted masking tape was used to make the seatbelts.



Fuselage halves mated, cockpit looks good:



The planks were made from plastic card with the ribbing made from insulating tape. To get the downward angle right for the plank brackets, minute little triangles were cut from plastic card and glued to the cabin ribbing. The planks were glued directly to these triangles. It looks rather flimsy, but turned out quite strong!



The cockpit glazing was then added, with the IR spotlight and pitot tube. Bottom antennas done with plastic card.

Masking done, ready to paint!!



Base coat done!



I made the decals myself, using Micromark's excellent clear decal paper! Really a fantastic product!






And the finished bird!!!





I'll post some decent cockpit pics over the weekend!

Cheers, hope you enjoyed my little adventure!
Quintin

Howzit Quintin

Looks great. Whirly-birds aren't my forte but that looks like a great job you did one this one!

Is this what the decals sheets were for? How did you do the printing on them?

Rudi

Hey Rudi!

Thanks for the compliments! I printed the decals using a colour laserjet printer. I found that the decals didn't smudge when dipping them in the water, so I didn't seal them at all before use.

I must say, the Micromark decal paper is really a great product!

Quintin

Thank you for the write-up.

Now, it would be better if you submit it to the Features section. You can ask Slodder for info on how to do that.

Angela