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UH-60A - time to walk the walk...


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Love the walks dude! Are you gonna put the dzus fasteners on them?

Tim

Thanks Tim! Yeah, I would like to add the dzus fasteners, but I have been trying to figure out how I will do that with my pudgy fingers and the tools I have. I am leaning towards using wine bottle foil, tiny scissors and stock plastic rods.

Are you doing them? What is your method?

-Ramon

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Ramon, any ETA of when you will finish this one? I hope to finish mine on late Oct.

Rod.

Its hard to say when I will finish this one Rod, but I am still kind of hoping to finish it this year. In January, I entered this one in a couple of group builds on Facebook with a deadline of this July, but I don't think I am going to make that. I am ok with that though. This project is a labor of love, and I want to not rush it so that it can look as close to how I remember it as possible. Like Tim said, having that first hand knowledge is a blessing and a curse because there is so much to correct on this kit and as a former crew chief, its hard to let it go.

Last year, I set a goal of completing 7 models and I reached my goal, but this year my goal was to at least get started on this project after so many years of procrastination, knowing that there would be a lot of scratch building. Just so I can feel accomplished though, I am also juggling a few other kits on the side. In fact, I just finished my second Airfix Lynx kit, and I have a few others that will be built strictly OOB.

At this rate, its very possible I will most likely not finish this until sometime next year, but the good news is that when I do finish I will have learned enough about this kit to make my DUSTOFF bird go by a little bit quicker.

:D

-Ramon

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Thanks Tim! Yeah, I would like to add the dzus fasteners, but I have been trying to figure out how I will do that with my pudgy fingers and the tools I have. I am leaning towards using wine bottle foil, tiny scissors and stock plastic rods.

Are you doing them? What is your method?

-Ramon

I'm not sure how I'm gonna tackle them. Probably your way with wine bottle foil and I'll probably just punch some very small discs for the fastener itself. We might as well not even try to round one end of the foil strip to make it look real (here we go again) because that will be more trouble than what it's worth unless you got an idea.

If so, I'm all ears crew dog!

Tim

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So this week I have been working on the crew chief window frames. I installed some wiring, added the kick plates, and drilled out that hole in the center of the bottom window frame. That's where I used to stash my bag of sunflower seeds during long boring instrument flights

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Also,I noticed the real blue falcon move Academy did on the pre scoring of the cockpit doors. Thank you, Academy, for giving me the opportunity to practice my precision plastic cutting skills on the cockpit section...

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-Ramon

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Moving onto the cabin ceiling...

So I wanted to represent all the zip screws that hold the soundproofing up. My idea was to drill a bunch of tiny little holes into the ceiling with a pin vise, then push stock plastic rod through.

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result:

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I am not sure I am completely happy with it. The zip screws were a goldy-brassy color, but I might go back and dry brush them with silver or steel or something. I might also trim them down a bit too. Lesson learned was that this was A LOT of work for what I think might not be a lot of return. Drilling all these holes by hand and cutting short plastic rod to fit was work, and I might try to find a faster easier way for my next Hawk. After all, this is supposed to make me relax!

Lastly, I went and installed the drain tubes on the drip pan with CA glue. Same brownish plastic rod that I used for zip screws.

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I painted the attached part with the same color grey as the rest of the drip pan. In reality, they are clear plastic hoses that turn a gunky reddish brown from passing hydraulic fluid and transmission oil, as well as whatever other dirt and mud gets washed down through the top. I coated the non-grey portion with Tamiya clear red, and it kind of looks like what I was going for. Kind of. I guess...

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Once I go back and tidy up the zip screws, the ceiling will be done and I can move onto the bare plastic walls by the rear row of seats. More scratchbuilding to follow!

-Ramon

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Oh man, that roof looks so nice, hope mine turns half good as yours.

Why did you remove the upper console?

Rod.

Thanks Rod!

I removed the overhead console because I will be replacing it with the Cobra Company piece. It can be seen in this picture that I had previously taken:

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Just to make sure I line things up properly, I will be installing it onto the windshield instead of back on the ceiling piece.

-Ramon

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Oh i see. Now can you tell me what did u use for the roof fabric? I plan to use paper tissue or some other material.

The roof looks so damn real, im impressed.

Thanks.

Rod.

Thanks again Rod! For the soundproofing I just took a sheet out of my printer and cut that to size, then stuck it on with white glue. I thought about using tissue but I was afraid the texture would be out of scale. Looking back, I think it would be just fine and might even stick better. Don't leave us hanging, lets see some updates of your DUSTOFF build!

:D

-Ramon

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So I am almost done with the cabin interior. Floor is about done, crew chief stations are about done, ceiling is about done. I added some detail to the aft cabin wall. The hellhole frame protruded a bit too much, so i shaved that down. I filled the ovalish depression in the center of the upper portion, then covered it with sheet plastic and added a flap on the top portion of that center section, only to discover after I was done with all that that the proportions of the hell hole covers are wrong.

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the green portion should reach a bit lower on the aft wall, and the hell hole covers should be a bit bigger and more square. Drats. Next one will be better. Again, no one will notice unless they used to crew, and even then I didn't notice right away so...

The last part that I needed to tend to is the aft corner walls between the rear of the cabin doors and the back. Academy left this bear bones, so some scratch building is in order. On this, I wasn't trying to be so anally accurate, I just wanted to simulate the soundproofing and exposed lower portion with drain lines and wires and such.

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Ribbing has been built up with stock plastic, tonight I will cut out some soundproofing out of wine foil and add the plumbing to the lower part. once all that is done, I can finally begin trying to assemble the fuselage halves. That's where the work will really begin!

-Ramon

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Great work so far brother! You're really making this hawk look sweet. Nice job so far scratchbuilding the aft corners.

Can't wait to see this done and then get to see the DUSTOFF bird built.

Tim

Thanks Tim! I am hoping my DUSTOFF bird goes by faster due to almost no cabin seats and straight pipes instead of HIRSS!

-Ramon

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Last night's efforts: ok, so apart from the troop seats, I think the cabin is done. I even added the crash ax between the pilot seats, and the little field expedient electrical clamp used to hold my ICS cord next to the right crew chief window.

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In the end, I decided that trying to add the dzus fasteners around the broom closet was more trouble than its worth to me, and I also elected to omit the APU pump handle on the back wall, since it is difficult to see in real pictures, let alone in 1/35th scale with the back row of seats up. I also carefully removed the cockpit doors by scoring along the door lines with a hobby knife, and carefully cutting the plastic away at the door hinges. This will allow a better view of the cockpit, make great use of the Cobra Company replacement doors, and also will allow me more access to the floor so that I may better align the entire interior assembly. Lastly, I opened up the grill screens on the intermediate and tail rotor gear box covers.

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Nothing like a cocktail in hand to make me braver about cutting some plastic away and committing to my ambitions!

-Ramon

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Wow dude, your hawk is looking awesome so far. So the fasteners was a no go huh? Maybe I shouldn't try it either.

Tim

Thanks Tim! I don't mean to discourage you about the Dzus fasteners though... if you can get them on and stay in your Zen while doing it, you will definitely be glad you did it. I just don't think I could have stayed in my Zen trying. Maybe on my next build I will put them in...

-Ramon

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