I-16
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Posts posted by I-16
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Starting with the flight deck and cargo compartment. The H-19 flight deck was accessible through the cargo compartment. The kit gives a solid flight deck floor, while it should have an open section under the seats allowing the flight crew to climb in from below. The reality is, there is no cargo compartment in the Revell kit, so, I have made a firewall, which will be detailed with ladders and the sound deadening material which covered the inside of these helicopters. Also made from plastic card is a cargo deck and rear bulk head. Following a lead from Swanny's Models, I cut away 11 mm of the flight deck floor, and removed the center console, which I will remake out of card.
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Starting this project, a little late, but I hope to finish in time. The plan is to take a venerable H-19 molded in the 60's, and make it look a little less toy like!
She will be wearing the colors of a Spanish Navy S-55. There are several lumps of unrecognizable plastic on them trees.
Opening shot...
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I opted to assemble the back half, and then spread the front half to match. Mated pretty well, after a bit of sanding. There is still a minimal step, but not to bad. Finish turned out better than I expected. Was my first "bare metal finish". The gloss black seemed to help.
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In. I have an ancient H-19 that needs to be built. Would be a good follow-up to the ancient F-80 I'm building now...
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I remember building this same kit, about 40 years ago!
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Got the basic fuselage together, but not without a struggle. I ran out of Tennax, and the plastic does not like to react with liquid cement. Again, it's some brittle stuff. On to prime and a little more filling. I think I am going to go with a gloss black base, and shoot either MM buffing metalizer or Tamiya aluminum. Not sure which will be more bare metal-ish. We shall see.
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We often complain of soft plastic, but I have never had a kit so brittle! Broke a wing, trimming off a nub, and then broke off the left side of the nose, doing the same. At least it reacts fairly well to Tenax. Because I need it, to fix it! Wings together, painting, and getting ready to attack the bare metal finish.
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Moving along, slowly. I have the fins on, which I made of 3 layers of plastic card. I have been battling the filler on the envelope, finally getting the low spots out. The next step is working on the command car, and then paint. In regards to Spectre's question, yes, US Navy blimps engaged in a considerable amount of combat during the war. Predominately they were used to hunt submarines, and vector surface ships in for the kill. They did carry 4 depth bombs, 2 in an internal bay, and 2 externally, as well as radar and sonobouys. In 1943, the K74 engaged a U boat in the Gulf of Mexico, utilizing her .50 caliber machine gun offensively. Although she was shot down by the U boats heavy anti-aircraft guns, the submarine was sufficiently damaged, that it was forced to limp back home on the surface, only to be sunk by a Liberator off Gibraltar.
A couple links below.
http://www.naval-airships.org/resources/Documents/tnb77.pdf
http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/naval-aviation-centennial-blimp-vs-u-boat/
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Lots of filler, as I kind of guessed. I used a heavy bodied automotive primer to fill in the lighter imperfections, and will finish it off with a light grey primer prior to painting it silver. I began to apply the bows on the nose, which were laced into the originals. Evergreen strip and Tenax makes this a bit easier. I glued the control car haves together, and it looks like the radome is a bit undersized. I'll mull that one over for a bit before cutting it apart. The next step will be new stabilizers, which should be interesting to re-create, as the originals are inflated, not sheet material.








1/48 Revell H-19/S-55
in Helicopter Group Build
Posted
Didn't make the completion date due to work related stuff. I'll keep slogging along on her and post in the helicopter forum!