Loach Driver Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I never thought I'd hear anyone say anything positive about the Starfix HH-3. You're doing a good job with yours. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JakubJakepilot Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I am still surprised that Italeri or Revell didnt make nice new kit of HH-3E in 72. Plenty of choices: Italy, Tunisia, USAF Vietnam, USAF Gulf war, US Coast Guard ... all we have are crappy kits (Starfix, Lindberg, old Revell) ..... I still dream about new-tool Gulf war MH-3E :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 John, Great work with the Starfix kit! I like to see lead turned into gold! Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arkhunter2002 Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 Jeeze, you look like me with blackhawks :) The HH-3E is such an awesome helicopter. I did mine in the the ODS scheme... If you ever get a chance to pick up the Revell HH-3E, do it. It's probably the best HH-3 out there, shape wise. How's 'cold crazy legs' goin? Take care, Austin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 That's a really great ODS HH-3E you built Austin . I did buy a couple of Revells HH-3E kits from Old Model Kits in the U.S . They were a little expensive but it was the only place I could find one or two . Hopfully the should arrive here in Sydney sometime this coming week . I was thinking of building one of the Revell HH-3E's as you did in the Desert Storm scheme and the other in the "Lizard" Euro One wrap around scheme . As for Cold Crazy Legs , I've made a little progress ; Starfix don't offer any type of front landing gear boxing or wheel well , only a slight recess on the underside of the fuselage halves ; So I went scrounging around the spares box's and found an old H-53 front landing gear wheel boxing and decided to use that ; At first I cut a notch out of each fuselage half to accommadate the boxing but it looked a little to long , so I shortened it a bit and fill in the gap with some plastic strip ; Next I extended the rear of the cockpit floor and glued the bulkhead in place . Then I filed out the equipment rack bulkhead and added some strip to represent some shelves and I found a nice little fire extinquisher to add as well ; With a piece of plastic cut from an old CD case for the rear cabin floor , everything seems to fit nicely in place ; All the other parts are seperated and waiting for few coats of interior gray along with fuselage insides so hopfully tomorrow I can get some interior painting laid down ; I'm moving along nicely with the build but I still haven't figured out how to make that small APU unit for the left side rear rotor housing . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I am still surprised that Italeri or Revell didnt make nice new kit of HH-3E in 72. Plenty of choices: Italy, Tunisia, USAF Vietnam, USAF Gulf war, US Coast Guard ... all we have are crappy kits (Starfix, Lindberg, old Revell) ..... I still dream about new-tool Gulf war MH-3E :) I think that is one of the most overlooked helo subjects. It was a very successful helicopter, fairly widely used, and has quite a bit of cool factor to it. It just seems like a no brainer for any company that has tooled a Seaking since there is a fair bit of interchangability. Slap a new body sprue together and a handful of other parts and RoG or Fujimi could have a new kit. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 I started searching around the net for images of the APU unit (bulge) thats on the rear left side of the rotor housing and saw that a modeler over at FSM put a link to some walk around pic's he took of an USAF HH-3E Jolly Green Giant ; http://yolo.net/~jeaton/Helicopters/hh3/hh3.htm I printed out a couple of pic's to use as reference for my build ; So I thought I could try and make something similar by adding layers of tamiya putty to the side of the rotor housing and build it up and hopfully be able to sand it to shape . However a small disaster happened when after 3 days of adding putty , the putty started to eat into the plastic ; I've dug out the dried putty from the outside face of the rotor housing to see the damage ; I guess the best thing to do now is open the second Starfix kit and use the left side fuselage piece to replace the damaged one . Oh well , mishaps happen . I'll have to try and figure out some other way of making an APU unit ? Also I did discover while searching around the internet that the Starfix HH-3E is the identical kit to the Plastyk kit from Poland . Anyway , hopfully I can work something out and I'm open to any suggestions . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Yeah putty can do nasty stuff to plastic. I had a similar discovery several years ago when I tried to use putty to weight the nose of a plane. The whole front end wilted in that case. I've got some stuff called Magic Sculpt, it is a two part epoxy putty that won't hurt the plastic and has a consistancy like modelling clay. It gives you at least 30-45 minutes of working time. I think it is similar to Milliput which I have seen many use. http://www.magic-sculpt.com/ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Amen Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Oups it seems that the kit has no combatible plastic to work with all modern modeling materials. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Aaron , thanks for the tip on the sculpting putty . A local on-line hobby store has some of that Milliput sculpting putty , so I ordered some this morning . I've really become a little frustrated with my slow progress with crazy legs and now I'm in a bit of a dilemma as to which kit , Lindberg or Starfix to continue on with ? When I made the fix style landing gear struts , my measurements were to suit the Lindberg fuselage . When I compare both kit fuselage halves together , the lindberg fuselage is 3mm wider (height) ; This will make the fixed gear struts too long for the starfix fuselage . So I guess my best solution is to go with my original idea of using the Lindberg kit with the Starfix cockpit pieces . I'll have to modify the little lugs on the under fueslage hoist as the Lindberg kit is 2mm wider than the Starfix kit . I'll keep building both but concentrate on getting the Lindberg Crazy legs done first and I'll make up another set of fixed gear struts to suit the Starfix kit and paint that one with the SEA camouflage for the Vietnam War . Anyway I'll make the seat backs from masking tape next and then I can finally get some interior painting done , glue the cockpit and cbin pieces in place and close everything up . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Amen Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'm a little confused.Why u don't use the spare kit of starfix to replace the melted fuselage part and you are trying to combine Lindberg's kit parts? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 I apoligies for being all over the place with this build , there's been so much swapping and changing I'm not suprised that it's difficult to follow what I'm doing . I will use the second Starfix kit to replace the damaged fuselage half . It's just the Fixed landing gear struts that I made in the begining are better suited for the Lindberg kit . I'll have to make some new ones for the Starfix build as they will need to be slightly shorter in length . Mostly I'm just getting frustrated with my slow progress and I can get the Lindberg kit finished quicker . Again , I'm sorry causing any confussion , even I'm becoming quite annoyed with myself by making things more difficult than they should have been . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Amen Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It's not annoying but too many fuselages and i was confused,maybe u should change the title because u build 2 choppers here :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Trojan Thunder Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Hey John, Why don't you try and make the APU housing from laminated plastic pieces? Build up a block and then file and sand it to shape. Then you can tweak it with putty as required. That would also allow you to drill the exhaust into it. Just a thought. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 Thank's for the tip Ray ; I will definitly give that a try , I don't know why I didn't think of laminating pieces of plastic before , It's a good idea . I'm almost done on the masking tape seat backs for the Lindberg interior and I'm about to make some for the Starfix build as well . I'll keep them both going at the same time seeing I've come this far with both helicopters . John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 I gave Trojan Thunder's idea a go and cut a piece of plastic roughly the size I needed for an APU unit for the Starfix fuselage ; I used some evergreen plastic strip 6.3mm x 1.5mm and used about six pieces laminated together ; Hopfully will look something like the real thing ; It looks reasonably close ; The Starfix fuselage isn't as rounded as the Lindberg kit as it meets the rotor housing section so it is a liitle difficult trying to get it looking like the reference pic's ; I drilled a small hole in the rear for the exhaust but the white plastic tends to get washed out a little with the digital camera ; Perhaps I'll give the APU unit a couple of coats of paint and take another pic and see how it looks then . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Looks like you are on the right track now, John. I like the laminated plastic idea. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
arkhunter2002 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I drilled a small hole in the rear for the exhaust but the white plastic tends to get washed out a little with the digital camera ; Looks good! With the APU, you can always give it a very subtle black wash. It will pick up in the pictures... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted January 25, 2012 Author Share Posted January 25, 2012 Making steady progress on the CH-3E "Crazy Legs" builds . The trumpeter rivet maker seems to work okay on the smooth Starfix fuselage ; Next I glued the cockpit and cabin seats in place on both builds , Close up of the masking tape and plastic strip seat backs and UH-1D huey seat bases ; The APU unit on the Starfix build looks quite different to the Lindberg molded version ; You can see how different the shape of the upper fuselage and rotor housing are on each kit , which made it a little difficult to get the APU unit to look correct . Anyway I'll glue the fuselage halves together next and then make another pair of fixed landing gear struts for the Starfix build . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 25, 2012 Share Posted January 25, 2012 John, Great progress. I love the scratchbuilt APU and the rivits. I need to take pics of my UH-1B build and get them up. I might actually finish a build before Easter! Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Amen Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Wow wonderfull progress with the Alaskan chopper Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Loach Driver Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 John, you are doing a great job on your HH-3E. It's great to see a basic kit getting the treatment. Too many people overlook these types of kits and they miss out on the chance to build something really interesting. I need to take pics of my UH-1B build and get them up. I might actually finish a build before Easter! Ray Yea, Ray, you DO need to get your Huey up. I am looking forward to another one of your great Huey builds. LD. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted February 3, 2012 Author Share Posted February 3, 2012 Hi everyone , My progress has been quite slow this past week and all I have managed to do is glue the fuselage halves together , so It's not much of an update ; I'm hopping to get a lot more done this weekend . John . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 Get back to work It is nice to see the two kits side by side. Obviously both have their issues, but also some advantages over the other. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Helo 53 Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Get back to work It is nice to see the two kits side by side. Obviously both have their issues, but also some advantages over the other. I must confess to some "slacking-off" while the Boss has been absent these past couple of weeks . However I'm back on the job and started sanding the putty... Nice to have you back Boss ... John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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