CH-53 Sikorsky by mtaylor - 1:48 - Revell - FINISHED

[Old Collingwood]

8 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Lou, show us the parts!!!!!!!   Mine still haven't shown up.  Maybe they went into the Twilight Zone.

 

No heaviness today.   I've focused on painting.  I'm going to try to paint first (where I can) and then assemble.  Though it looks like somethings should be assembled first like put the sponsons on the fuselage.    I noticed that there will be a lot of "extra" parts.  Apparently Revell made one set of parts to cover everything.   Includes a jeep, and towed howitzer and parts to turn the bird into later models with the added tanks on the sponsons, etc.   

Yep Revell are excellent for doing that.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

Looks like another mistake on my part Mark. I had no idea when I sent it that it was going to be that nice of a kit. Send it back!

No, really Mark, it is right where it belongs just like we discussed. A CH-53 has to be your build not mine. Besides I will have my hands full with my Huey.

 

I have been going through my new parts and to be honest I am kind of mixed about what I got. I may have wasted a lot of money. I will try and get pictures and comments over the next day or two. Most of today was spent on Honey Do's and all I really had time for was a fairly thorough look over. 

[Old Collingwood]

I have learned a new talent  - staring at the spru's  in the box  - looking over different parts and  imagining how they will fit against each other   -   shhhhh   dont tell the admiral.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

18 minutes ago, CDW said:

What parts are you painting now, Mark? Interior parts all need to be painted first, that's for sure.

I'm trying to remember if this kit has raised or engraved panel lines? I had this same kit many years ago, but cannot recall. I do remember it was a nice kit.

Uh...hmm.... all of them.  I will hold off on some until I put them together and smooth out the seam lines before painting.  I'm kind of winging this as I go. 

 

22 hours ago, lmagna said:

Now THAT has to be a first Mark! I don't think I have ever seen a field promotion to E4 for outstanding KP!

 

In our unit, being on flight status pretty much excused you from all extra duty so after advanced training in Ft Sill Oklahoma I never had to do KP again. Maybe I should have. I didn't see E4, (Specialist first class for us Army types) until I was in country and working as a door gunner. I stayed that rank for the rest of my time in the Army.

 

That afternoon and later night when the pain meds wore off I felt like I had been hit with a baseball bat in the jaw and I had my doubts that I would survive. By morning it was a good thing he was gone, because if I had seen him I think I would have pulled my .45 and shot HIM in the jaw! My face was so swollen that I could not talk. My pillow was totally wrecked it was so full of blood. My Housemaid was in a panic when she saw it, unknown to me and thought I had been shot. I was told she was really upset until she was told what really happened. I was still in pain but luckily I was able to get the company medic to give me something and felt that life just possibly may have been worth living after all. The first day I was pretty much left alone in my misery, but a body drawing pay with nothing to do seems to be something the powers that be could not stand, so I was assigned to the company office for errand duties keeping notes and making coffee or some such. As it turned out I was assigned along with a 2nd Lieutenant whom I did not know who had been pulled off of flight duty because he had contracted VD from one of the local village girls. It was then that I found out that being an officer had a couple of disadvantages as well, one being that his "illness" counted as a black mark on his record as conduct unbecoming to an officer. I think they EXPECTED enlisted men to get it at least once!

Lou,

We had guys getting promotions for less than that.   It was a time of fast promotions for us.  I was a E-4 for a little longer than a year and my name came up on the Sargent's list.  I got E-5 the week after I got to 'Nam.   I was seriously thinking about re-upping.  The bonus would have been about $25,000 based on my MOS and rank.  But with the stress from wife at the time, I left.   I should to her to take a hike and stayed it.  The bonus would have been tax free by signing in 'Nam.

 

We had pretty good docs on base.  If an injury was serious, over to the Medevac crowd.  

 

You had "housemaids"?   Wow.   The Air Force was getting "sub-standard housing" pay because their lovely barracks didn't have air conditioning.  We had wood shacks.  

 

Yeah.. different rules for junior enlisted, senior enlisted, and officers.  Along with different benies.

 

There was one... though.... he had it in for me and I for him.  He insisted on being saluted all the time.  So when I was on perimeter guard duty, if he was the officer of the day and showed up, I made sure, in a very loud voice to call the guys at our position to attention.  <evil grin>   The bad part was he was my OIC.  A rear-echelon paper pusher.  Due to minor paperwork problem, he had me busted back to E4.  The re-enlistment guy told me if I signed up, not only the bonus, but I have my E5 back in a week along with the E5 bonus.  

 

 

[mtaylor]

51 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

I have learned a new talent  - staring at the spru's  in the box  - looking over different parts and  imagining how they will fit against each other   -   shhhhh   dont tell the admiral.

 

OC.

Mum's the word, sir.

[lmagna]

Yeah we had a couple of officers like that. REMFs that had no idea just where they were. They either changed or left to parts unknown.

 

I had forgotten about possibly our worst until reading your account. For a VERY short time we were assigned a Lieutenant Colonel straight out of the Pentagon it was rumored. Like several officers before and later he was there to get his combat time so he could make full Colonel. Why he was assigned to a flying unit I will never understand, I think the bond between Pilots and crew is a little closer than in many other branches of the military and the separation between officer and enlisted while still observed is also more respectful, in both directions. At any rate, within a week of taking over one of the many changes and possibly most egregious alteration he made was that each morning the enlisted and non com personal would gather on the flight field for 30 minutes of calisthenics like in basic training! Officers were not included. You can guess that this went down like a lead balloon. After just a few days of this the uproar became intense especially among crewmen as we were already getting up before dawn on many days to get the chopper ready for the days operations. Not all days, but many. When it reached the point that it was obvious that this fool saw no problem with gathering a couple of hundred people in relatively concentrated groups at the same place and time every day, was pure insanity while in a combat zone. I think our officers stepped in for us. While they never really said anything official against the Colonel's practice, at least in mixed public, the practice was withdrawn within a week or two. I think they may have informed him of the practice of fragging that was supposedly popular in some units. His other "reforms" also went by the wayside shortly as virtually without notice he left for parts unknown and was replaced.

 

Yes, promotions for us came fairly fast as well. I never reached E5 even though not long before my ETS they sent me off to NCO Academy, probably as an inducement to reenlist. I think my VRB would have been $10k I can't remember, but it almost certainly would have meant another tour and six more years with possibly more tours. I was not told that we were winding down in Vietnam. How rude of them. I could have possibly gotten to go to Germany, (With my wife) or England or the other places the older NCOs talked about as great duty stations. But I was sick of Vietnam and wanted to go home and left when my time came.

 

We has housemaids because the system was set up that way. My buddy and I resisted it at first because it cost us out of our pay each month and even with flight pay, overseas pay, (Less than $2 if I remember right) and combat pay, E4 pay was pretty slim. But we soon learned that if you wanted to get your uniforms and boots done properly and not have to take precious time that could be better used for sleeping and eating, you paid for a housemaid, (Or Hoochmaid) to take care of the Army stuff. Besides they did a better job! In my tour I lived in two locations. One had wooden hooches with sand bag decorations and the other was large tents. To be honest I don't know which was better/worse. I don't think the Army had "Sub standard housing pay" If they did they didn't tell us. I think they should have had sub standard base location pay. It seemed like the Army got what was left over after all of the other services got the good places!

3 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

I have learned a new talent  - staring at the spru's  in the box  - looking over different parts and  imagining how they will fit against each other

I call that "Petting your models" OC It is permissible in non mixed company but it is rumored that you can go blind if you do it too often. May be why I need to wear glasses these days as I do it all of the time.

[Canute]

OC, as long as you're not drooling into the box, should be OK. I've been know to open a box and ogle the parts, too.

 

We had hooch girls to clean rooms and do laundry and boots.  And for the same reasons as Lou. They all could have passed for your Grandma. Interesting stuff they'd heat up for breakfast. Oh, yeah, we were buying new undershorts every month. The "girls" cleaned them with steel brushes.

 

Where they helped was getting fresh fruit downtown. We'd go and spend big bucks for pineapple, papaya and the rest. And wind up with a small bowl of goodies.  Give mama-san $2 US and they'd fill the hooch refrigerator with fresh fruit. Go figure.

[lmagna]

HA, At last we beat out the officers on something!

 

My Hooch maid was really quite good looking and young, I suspect she was half French. More than one of the guys tried to get extra service out of her but were turned down every time. She would have nothing to do with it even though she could have made ten times the money. We made it as clear as possible to any New Meat that arrived that she was not to be pressured too hard as we really valued the quality of her work and didn't want to loose her. Even at her young age she was "Mamma San" to us. I had forgotten about the smell of their cooking.  Ours used a bucket and washboard for scrubbing but when they were done your uniform was CLEAN like no washing machine has ever done.

 

I assume when you say $2 US you meant MPC. I didn't see a greenback but once or twice my whole time there.

Edited January 20, 2020 by lmagna

[Kevin]

lol have you finished it yet?

[HIPEXEC]

My USMC squadron buddy , Bob Guay, went to work at Sikorsky after our Viet Nam tour and talked the powers to be to loop and roll the H-53 which they did in the late 1960's. If you Google looping and rolling the H-53 you can see the video.

Good luck with your build

Rich

[mtaylor]

23 hours ago, lmagna said:

Yeah we had a couple of officers like that. REMFs that had no idea just where they were. They either changed or left to parts unknown.

This guy was a work of art.  He'd inspect (at random even if not on as OD) the guys on perimeter. Write them up for dirty uniforms or dusty rifles.   I actually had to carry my M-16 on guard duty instead of my "prefered" weapon.  CO told me just take the M1 with me and stash it in the bunker because he was tired of seeing guys getting written up.

 

This OIC actually hounded people he didn't like.  On lad was overweight and he was first target.  Eventually getting him kicked out on a General Discharge.  Others.... any reason at all to write someone up.

 

My final act of nastiness occurred while turning the rotors under power while trouble shooting a funky gyro problem.  The bird suddenly shot straight up about 20 feet before I could kill the autopilot.  On the ground, I climbed out the cockpit, and he's standing there holding a gyro in hand yelling "I found your problem stupid... the gyro is loose".  I didnt'say a work, I threw a wrench and hit in the forehead.  Then walked out side, sat on the ground and had cigarette waiting for the MP's.  They showed up in the morning and took me to the Colonel's office. He fined me $10 and told me not to do it again.  As for the Captain.... he had a royal asschewing that was heard well out into the hanger.

 

11 hours ago, Kevin said:

lol have you finished it yet?

Uh... no.  

10 hours ago, HIPEXEC said:

My USMC squadron buddy , Bob Guay, went to work at Sikorsky after our Viet Nam tour and talked the powers to be to loop and roll the H-53 which they did in the late 1960's. If you Google looping and rolling the H-53 you can see the video.

Good luck with your build

Rich

Ah yes.  Anyone who flew a 53 or is flying them have probably seen that video.  He won a Navy Cross as I recall.  Semper Fi, my brother.

 

[Canute]

No, Lou, we used Yankee dollars on base. The Thai currency was the baht and they were 20 to our dollar. If we went off base we had to use baht.  I forget how we paid for food when we'd land at Da Nang and Bien Hoa, in South Viet Nam. Gas, rearm and grab a bean at the flight line snack bars (well, that's stretching it, but they weren't mess halls either). Da Nang's was the "No Hab". They had a posted menu for us aircrew, but almost everything we ordered got the answer  "no hab", (no have in pidgin English). One time I got a BLT (that's bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich, less the lettuce and tomato. That was typical. The cook did load it up with bacon. AAAH.😀

 

Mark, 🤣, What a piece of S***. That clown was supremely ate up.

Edited January 20, 2020 by Canute

[Old Collingwood]

15 hours ago, lmagna said:

 

I call that "Petting your models" OC It is permissible in non mixed company but it is rumored that you can go blind if you do it too often. May be why I need to wear glasses these days as I do it all of the time.

That's all  I'm allowed  till the Pearl is finished  I know my place😉

 

OC.

[Old Collingwood]

6 hours ago, Canute said:

Chris, as long as you're not drooling into the box, should be OK. I've been know to open a box and ogle the parts, too.

 

The box contents looked up at me  and said  "don't stare its rude"😜

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

4 hours ago, Canute said:

No, Lou, we used Yankee dollars on base. The Thai currency was the baht and they were 20 to our dollar. If we went off base we had to use baht.  I forget how we paid for food when we'd land at Da Nang and Bien Hoa, in South Viet Nam. Gas, rearm and grab a bean at the flight line snack bars (well, that's stretching it, but they weren't mess halls either). Da Nang's was the "No Hab". They had a posted menu for us aircrew, but almost everything we ordered got the answer  "no hab", (no have in pidgin English). One time I got a BLT (that's bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwich, less the lettuce and tomato. That was typical. The cook did load it up with bacon. AAAH.😀

 

Mark, 🤣, What a piece of S***. That clown was supremely ate up.

 

LOL.... you're right about Da Nang.  The times any of us went over to Da Nang, we stopped at the USO.  

 

As for the "good Captain", I heard that he got shot a few months after I left.  Seems a VC sitting outside the wire.  Apparently they were watching.   He wouldn't wear the black rank insignias and I think it was the troops saluting him that made him a target.   Oh well...  long time ago.  "I was so much older than, I'm younger than that now." - The Byrds

[lmagna]

Wow, you guys got to really get around, Thailand, Da Nang, Bien Hoa. We never got to go anywhere. 

[Canute]

Lou, we had 4 F-4 bases in Thailand, plus a number in South Viet Nam (SVN). When I got there, the bases in SVN were mostly refuel and rearm spots for we Thai based F-4s. We didn't always have tanker support for these missions in the south. I stopped in 2 others bases in Thailand. Since I lived at Korat, our nearest divert base for weather or other issues (a/c closing the runway) was Ta Khli, north of Bangkok. The other base I stopped in was Ubon, a ways east of Korat, in the corner of Laos and Cambodia. Never went to Udorn, Nakon Phanom (Naked Fanny), and Nam Phong, a USMC base between Korat and Udorn. No travelogs about these. I did get to take an F-4 to Taiwan, where our depot was. We passed thru Clark AB in the Philippines to get there.

[lmagna]

All that makes you seem like a world traveler to a poor Huey crewman who on any given day probably flew 200 miles or less Ken. Wasn't there an advertisement back then that said "Join the Army and see the world"? Or was that the Navy?

[Jack12477]

1 hour ago, lmagna said:

Wasn't there an advertisement back then that said "Join the Army and see the world"? Or was that the Navy?

I think that was the Air Force, Lou ! But they forgot to mention you can only see it from 30,000 feet or higher !  

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, Jack12477 said:

I think that was the Air Force, Lou

Well SOMEONE was getting around more than I was Jack.

 

Basic Training in northern California, (At the base I was born at in fact), Advanced Infantry Training in BEAUTIFUL?  Oklahoma! Then off to the ever glorious mud hole of SE Asia. One glamour station after the other. 30,000 feet would have been an improvement on some days.

Edited January 21, 2020 by lmagna

[Jack12477]

I left NY for the wilds of NJ for Basic Training at Fort Dix then up to north western NJ for the duration of my tour on active duty.   All I got to see was NJ .   But I did get to see a few Broadway plays for FREE courtesy of the USO  - one in particular was Annie Get Your Gun with Ethel Merman (at about age 60 or so) and I got to take a "date" too) - and they were really good seats too, not ones up in the nose bleed section but down in the orchestra section.  And I did meet my wife there too, been married to her for 52 years, so all in all I guess it was a good tour.

[Canute]

I think it was the Navy with that motto.  In fighters, it was "Fly, Fight and Win".

 

30K only if we were going a long way. I spent a lot of time around 500ft and sometimes a lot lower. Like below 100 feet. At 420-480Kts (480-550 MPH). Not much time for sightseeing. Usually de-conflicting us from the ground and keeping the jet on course. 

[lmagna]

OK............ You win for limited duty travel Jack. (I still think the duty as you explained it the other day was at the bottom of the list though) 

 

Now we also know what you were doing 50 years ago as well. Good job! I don't think my wife could tolerate me for that long. We are only at something like 38 years now and she is letting me know that I am treading on thin ice! Congratulations on your war prize.

 

100 feet + 480 kts sounds like you were doing the fast tour Ken. Look quick and don't look back! No wonder the F-4 that buzzed us that time was gone so fast! We were probably only going about our normal 50-70 kts! Truly the turtle and the hare!

Edited January 21, 2020 by lmagna

[Old Collingwood]

German AF   F4F  doing its stuff  at RIAT Airshow UK  2003   it was Loud........

 

OC.

 

 

 

[mtaylor]

21 hours ago, lmagna said:

Wow, you guys got to really get around, Thailand, Da Nang, Bien Hoa. We never got to go anywhere. 

Da Nang was just up the road from us. Remember that TV show with the nurses in Vietnam... China Beach?  That was between us and Da Nang.  The only other place I go to overseas was Malaysia to haul Agnew around.  Wasn't there long enough to qualify for R&R.  

7 hours ago, Canute said:

I think it was the Navy with that motto.  In fighters, it was "Fly, Fight and Win".

 

30K only if we were going a long way. I spent a lot of time around 500ft and sometimes a lot lower. Like below 100 feet. At 420-480Kts (480-550 MPH). Not much time for sightseeing. Usually de-conflicting us from the ground and keeping the jet on course. 

 

Hmm..  500 feet... you would have been flying under us then most of the time.  

 

 

And now for the build log....  I painted and assembled the first sub-assembly consisting of the swash plate, rotor head, blades, and top hat.  I notice I have some glare on the one blade... weird since it's flat black.    Working on the rest.  I did get my first batch of extra "goodies".... sadly, they weren't a) what I expected and b) were missing half the parts.  I strongly worded email has been sent about the missing parts.

 

[Old Collingwood]

That was some rotor diameter on the 53  wasn't it something like 50feet?

 

With the flat black  I sometimes had the same issue  -  with me it was paint not mixed well enough  - then a  second coat on top.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

I think it was around 50 feet.  I'll have to go do some Googling as tonite, for some reason, my brain is mush and I haven't had my brandy yet. 

 

I check my mixing from now on.  I have some flat clear around here somewhere.  If not, I'll swing by the hobby shop.

[mtaylor]

I checked OC.. main rotor diameter was 72 ft 2.8 in (22.01 m).   Just for kicks and grins, here's all the specs (copied from Wikipedia):

 

 

General characteristics

• Crew: 2 pilots, 1 or more crew chiefs
• Capacity: 38 troops (55 in alternate configuration) or 24 stretchers
• Length: 88 ft 6 in (26.97 m)
• Rotor diameter: 72 ft 2.8 in (22.01 m)
• Height: 24 ft 11 in (7.6 m)
• Disc area: 4098.1 sq ft (380.48 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 0011 MOD
• Empty weight: 23,628 lb (10,740 kg)
• Useful load: 8,000 lb (3,630 kg)
• Loaded weight: 33,500 lb (15,227 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 42,000 lb (19,100 kg)
• Width (stub wings): 28 ft 4 in (8.64 m)
• Width (fuselage): 15 ft 6 in (4.7 m)
• Rotor systems: 6 blades on main rotor
• Powerplant: 2 × General Electric T64-GE-413 turboshaft, 3,925 shp (2,927 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 170 knots (196 mph, 315 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 150 kt (173 mph, 278 km/h)
• Range: 540 nmi (1,000 km)
• Combat radius: 100 mi (160 km) 95 mi
• Ferry range: 886 nmi (1,640 km)
• Service ceiling: 16,750 ft (5,106 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,460 ft/min (12.5 m/s)
• Disc loading: 8.95 lb/sq ft ()

Armament

• Two door mounted .50 BMG GAU-15/A machine guns. Some have a ramp mounted .50 BMG GAU-21 machine gun.
• German CH-53Gs can mount two 7.62×51mm MG3 machine guns in the side doors, which are to be replaced by two .50 BMG M3M/GAU-21 machines guns in the doors and one on the ramp.

 

 

Here's the video the first 53A doing the loops and rolls.  

 

And another one from the inside but this is a 53E:

 

[lmagna]

Were you using new paint for the rotors or older paint Mark. If it was old possibly all you need to do is mix it up a little better. 

 

Those stats and videos are something else! Here are the stats on the Huey:

Specifications (UH-1D)

General characteristics

• Crew: 1–4
• Capacity: 3,880 lb (1,760 kg) including 14 troops, or 6 stretchers, or equivalent cargo
• Length: 57 ft 1 in (17.40 m) with rotors
• Width: 8 ft 7 in (2.62 m) (Fuselage)
• Height: 14 ft 5 in (4.39 m)
• Empty weight: 5,215 lb (2,365 kg)
• Gross weight: 9,040 lb (4,100 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 9,500 lb (4,309 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming T53-L-11 turboshaft, 1,100 shp (820 kW)
• Main rotor diameter: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 135 mph (220 km/h, 117 kn)
• Cruise speed: 125 mph (205 km/h, 109 kn)
• Range: 315 mi (510 km, 274 nmi)
• Service ceiling: 19,390 ft (5,910 m) dependent on factors such as weight, air temperature, etc
• Rate of climb: 1,755 ft/min (8.9 m/s)
• Power/mass: 0.15 hp/lb (0.25 kW/kg)

There is not even a comparison anywhere you look It's like comparing the Captains Gig to the New Jersey!

I loved flying and don't normally get nervous no matter what, but watching those videos of the CH-53 doing acrobatics made my hair stand up. Not so much the barrel roles but the loops! The strain on the main rotor must have been massive! If I had been on board I think it would have required a uniform change after that kind of flight. The most maneuverable helicopters I ever saw were Cobra's and Cayuses with a close third by Loaches. I never saw any of them do anything like that!

[popeye the sailor]

that is what I call ghosting.........mostly due to the paint not being mixed enough,  or too thin.  simply give it another light coat and it will be alright.   sometimes changing to a softer brush will produce different outcomes.