Academy 1/48 AH64 A

[kpnuts]

Hi ok so I ordered a gundam as some relief from the Cutty Sark bare with me, after scanning the stash for some light relief nothing took my fancy so I ordered a gundam (never built one before and it looked fun)

Would be delivered by the 6th, now it's the 30th rescan of the stash, hey I've never built a helicopter before, how hard could that be, might even be fun.

Answer very hard, anyway onwards and upwards.

[Jack12477]

Lookin good so far. 

[popeye the sailor]

pretty knarly chopper you got there KP    the interior looks really good......looks like you've done the paint to the exterior as well.  a very good start   

[Old Collingwood]

I will  take a seat  cant have enough choppers  and Apache is rather excellent.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

Of course I will be following this build just like I have done your others kp. I am certain it is going to be quite the looker when you are done. Welcome to the rotor head club!

[mtaylor]

Ah, nothing like a well-armed gunship... it means victory.  To sort of paraphrase.   I'm in.  I've not seen this kit but will follow along.

[kpnuts]

Well this was supposed to be light relief from the Cutty Sark I think I will be doing the Cutty as light relief from this. What an awful kit I thought sorting the mistakes my brother did on the Cutty was a challenge that was a walk in the park.

Anyway here is progress so far.

[lmagna]

So what kinds of issues have you ran into KP?

[kpnuts]

It's mainly fit issues I had to slice fair amounts off the cockpit to get the fuselage to fit round it and all of the parts so far have needed bits shaved and adjusted to get them to fit together.

[kpnuts]

Anyway what a load of rubbish this kit is (wish I hadn't started it)

After herculean efforts to get the landing gear pods to fit I thought I had it then after priming the b#$$%y thing pinged apart again.

The cockpit glass is a stupid 3 part thing which I managed eventually to glue together only to find after priming it had pinged apart again (I only hope that was after the primer and the cockpit isn't full of primer.

Edited April 19, 2020 by kpnuts

[Edwardkenway]

Despite the kits faults, you are making a nice job of it!!

[Old Collingwood]

Yep KP  as Edward said  despite the pit falls of the kit  you are getting there,  some kits certainly test of skills and patience.

 

OC.

[popeye the sailor]

I found issues with the Academy Titanic.......one of these days,  I'll get back to it and try to resolve them.   sadly,  your finding them here with this kit    your not doing too badly with it though......looks pretty good  

[kpnuts]

Kits like this should be banned.

I like to think I'm an ok modeller but I'm really struggling with this pig of a kit, if I were a youngster with no experience in modelling I would have given up and probably never touched a kit again.

Dont these kit manufacturers realise when they release a kit like this they're shooting themselves in the foot, every new modeler is potentially lost with a kit like this.

I'm just glad I decided before I started building it I was going to depict it blowing up.

[Egilman]

2 hours ago, kpnuts said:

I'm just glad I decided before I started building it I was going to depict it blowing up.

Just goes to prove my theory.....

 Models should to be treated as ladies, it's easier to understand them that way, there are some where you have to go back time after time for more, those you got to tease and tease the beauty out of, those that are just simply there for you, those who have to be shown who's boss, and finally those that wind up in divorce/judgment/cemetery. (shelf of doom/trash can/binned)

 

Looks to me like you have her well in hand..... {chuckle}

Edited April 25, 2020 by Egilman

[Canute]

Some manufacturers should just be avoided, I guess. I've found a site where they collect inputs from a number of modelers to figure out the best kit for a given scale for a MacHeed Widget or whatever. They rate, aircraft, armor, scifi and ships (not many ships. These guys are a/c and armor folks, primarily).  I looked up the Apache in this scale and they recommend the Hasegawa kit. Pays to search around for reviews and build articles. Check this out: https://www.cybermodeler.com/special/topgun.shtml

 

I also like Scalemates because you can find out if a kit is available. https://www.scalemates.com/ and gives you an idea of the aftermarket goodies for said kit. I'm starting to look for an A-7D; what I wanted to fly. before the USAF decided otherwise.

 

Hope other guys read this and check out these sites before they dive into a kit and find out it's a lemon.

 

[popeye the sailor]

it's too bad.........looks like a neat model.  had a few myself.

[kpnuts]

More work on this one.

[Old Collingwood]

Despite the issues you have had with the poor fit -  you are doing a great job,  I love the paint finish.

 

OC.

[kpnuts]

Hi all did some work on the explosion and added some decals

Hoping it will look a bit like this (maybe not so big)

[mtaylor]

Ah.. exploding bits.  Nice work on race car.  You captured a moment it time.  It's best to see them from the outside than from the inside.  From inside usually requires a change of underwear.  I'll decline to answer how I know.

[Canute]

The crew of that Apache will, too. Aviation is hours of boredom interspersed with moments of stark terror.😲 DO NOT ASK me how I know. And no, I've never bailed out of an airplane.

[popeye the sailor]

don't do that....you would have had to bail out over the loo!   good you didn't evolve into pyrotechnics.......you'd only be able to do it once  

[mtaylor]

5 hours ago, Canute said:

The crew of that Apache will, too. Aviation is hours of boredom interspersed with moments of stark terror.😲 DO NOT ASK me how I know. And no, I've never bailed out of an airplane.

Isn't the first rule of aviation "Don't bail out of a perfectly good airplane"?  If it's flying... it's a good airplane.  The second rule (the one I learned) "don't bail out of a helicopter)".   

[Old Collingwood]

21 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Isn't the first rule of aviation "Don't bail out of a perfectly good airplane"?  If it's flying... it's a good airplane.  The second rule (the one I learned) "don't bail out of a helicopter)".   

And make sure if its out of a heli  you are actually falling and not  going the other way.

 

OC.

[mtaylor]

24 minutes ago, Old Collingwood said:

And make sure if its out of a heli  you are actually falling and not  going the other way.

 

OC.

Right, beware the egg beaters, both the big one on top that the little at the back.

 

We did do drops of recon troops from 1000-2000 feet up.  That wouldn't be bad.   It would be bad bailing out of one falling out of the sky.   They did for about a year, issue all fliers in the -53's parachutes.   No one ever wore them, just tossed them in the fuselage and returned them to the paraloft we we got back.  They had elaborate plans on how we were supposed to do this which, if one thought about it, the pilot might as well just try to land it.  The method was to pull the nose up and those that could (the crew, any passengers were up the proverbial creek) went out the back.  Then the pilot would roll the bird slightly and the co-pilot would go out his window.  Then the pilot would roll it so his side was down and exit his window.    And then were was issue that the pilots couldn't wear chutes in the seats or get out the windows with them on.   Just a few minor details.....

[Old Collingwood]

2 minutes ago, mtaylor said:

Right, beware the egg beaters, both the big one on top that the little at the back.

 

We did do drops of recon troops from 1000-2000 feet up.  That wouldn't be bad.   It would be bad bailing out of one falling out of the sky.   They did for about a year, issue all fliers in the -53's parachutes.   No one ever wore them, just tossed them in the fuselage and returned them to the paraloft we we got back.  They had elaborate plans on how we were supposed to do this which, if one thought about it, the pilot might as well just try to land it.  The method was to pull the nose up and those that could (the crew, any passengers were up the proverbial creek) went out the back.  Then the pilot would roll the bird slightly and the co-pilot would go out his window.  Then the pilot would roll it so his side was down and exit his window.    And then were was issue that the pilots couldn't wear chutes in the seats or get out the windows with them on.   Just a few minor details.....

Upss    didn't sound good   kind of a rock and hardplace situation.

 

OC.

[lmagna]

2 hours ago, mtaylor said:

The second rule (the one I learned) "don't bail out of a helicopter)".

We always figured we would use the Bill Cosby method of surviving a helicopter crash. Wait until just at impact and jump up! (You have to be familiar with the old Bill Cosby comedy records.) 

[Canute]

Mark, one of those "unintended consequences".

 

The tankers had parachutes for us crew dogs, pax were out of luck. We were supposed to blow the crew entry door in the forward fuselage, which shot a panel down below the fuselage. We opened the deck grate, after donning our harnesses & chutes and jumping thru the hole. The panel was supposed to disrupt airflow so we wouldn't hit the belly of the tanker.   Don't know if anybody ever did it, probably similar the the helo bailout procedures. The Phantom had superb Martin-Baker ejection seats.

[mtaylor]

17 hours ago, Old Collingwood said:

Upss    didn't sound good   kind of a rock and hardplace situation.

 

OC.

Or rock and a meat grinder.

15 hours ago, lmagna said:

We always figured we would use the Bill Cosby method of surviving a helicopter crash. Wait until just at impact and jump up! (You have to be familiar with the old Bill Cosby comedy records.) 

I remember that one.  There was also the rule for falling elevators... jump up just before impact.  What?  How would you know?

7 hours ago, Canute said:

Mark, one of those "unintended consequences".

 

The tankers had parachutes for us crew dogs, pax were out of luck. We were supposed to blow the crew entry door in the forward fuselage, which shot a panel down below the fuselage. We opened the deck grate, after donning our harnesses & chutes and jumping thru the hole. The panel was supposed to disrupt airflow so we wouldn't hit the belly of the tanker.   Don't know if anybody ever did it, probably similar the the helo bailout procedures. The Phantom had superb Martin-Baker ejection seats.

I wonder if the guys who came up with those ideas on exiting every tried it?