Pappy121 Posted January 10, 2016 Share Posted January 10, 2016 G'day people, I was a little late to the party but I have arrived. I will be building the 1/72 AZ Models AH-1G Cobra kit with a little PE thrown in. The story so far, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 G'day people, A little progress today.The canopy is a little thick but reasonably clear. I cleaned up the sprue gate points and gave it a dip in some Future, There is still a little distortion (due to it's thickness)but it has considerably improved the clarity. Meanwhile, I have added some of the internal parts to the fuselage in preparation joining the two fuselage halves. Finally the cockpit has been painted up cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Platycqb Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Like the job you did painting the office. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 Like the job you did painting the office. :)/> G'day, Thanks very much! I gave the fuselage interior a quick spray and closed the fuselage halves up yesterday, The fuselage seam cleaned up very easily with only a touch of filler required here and there. I have managed to get the stub wings and skids on. The chin turret is only dry fitted. My cobra will be a late model so the tail rotor will be on the r/h side. The kit supplies both left and right options. I also added the 'toilet bowl' exhaust deflector cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) Ooops! Sorry double post Edited January 12, 2016 by Pappy121 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 (edited) G'day people, I thought I was done painting the cockpit Until I realised that the instrument panels should be painted black, so these were re-painted with black instrument panels and installed. The canopy fit is okay, but I found that the back of the canopy wanted to step out and would need some pressure while drying. I decided a better solution would be to open the canopy access doors so I very carefully sawed the doors from the canopy. The canopy fits much better now! I have also painted the weapons. The kit supplies a pair of rocket pods and a pair of XM-18 mini-guns. I have read that the XM-18 pods were not very popular as they had a tendency to jam. Unmodified, the openings for teh XM-18's are crude and chunky, so after the two halves has set, I reamed out the opening. Here is before and after pic, The weapons have been painted up now The main and tail rotor are also ready, cheers, Pappy Edited January 13, 2016 by Pappy121 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 You build fast! And good, too. This should look great when finished. :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 You build fast! And good, too. This should look great when finished. :)/> G'day Pete! Thanks, but there really is not that much to this kit. Once the fuselage is closed up and the canopy is in place, it is ready for paint,which is basically one colour (olive drab) so that should not take long either, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PhantomPhreakII Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 Nice .. very nice. I have a few of those kits in the stash, as they were cheap at a few shows..... Very nice. Keep up the good work. Harald Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 14, 2016 Author Share Posted January 14, 2016 Nice .. very nice. I have a few of those kits in the stash, as they were cheap at a few shows..... Very nice. Keep up the good work. Harald G'day Harald, I must be popular in the Netherlands! Thanks very much for the nice comments. I also have a Special Hobby AH-1G which is a nicer kit, but not by much. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sebastijan Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Nice to see another Cobra in this GB! Good work so far! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 17, 2016 Author Share Posted January 17, 2016 (edited) Nice to see another Cobra in this GB! Good work so far! G'day Sebastijan! You can never have too many Cobras, and yours was pretty nice too! G'day people, Well a little more progress today. The canopy has been masked and the cockpit interior grey was sprayed on. My Cobra will feature a shark mouth, so I shot a coat of white followed by red. The red did not look right, it was too cold a shade so I added a little yellow to warm it up and I was much happier, cheers, Pappy Edited January 17, 2016 by Pappy121 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 G'day people, Well, getting a little closer now. I sprayed the red and masked off the area for the shark mouth (snake mouth?) The aftermarket decal set provided pre-cut masks for the shark mouth. I am not sure if they were sized to fit the AZ kit,but in theory any 1/72 AH-1G kit should be fine? I found that the cockpit access steps preventsed the masks form sitting flat so I had to experiment with cutting holes for where I thought these access steps should be. It would have been nice if these holes were already present. I also found that I had to trim the lower sections of the masks as they would have covered the chin turret which needs to be painted black. The black was now sprayed on and left to dry. Once the black had dried, I then spent a couple of hours masking off the upper section. My subject will have a black upper fuselage extending from the cockpit, over the engine and doghouse and along the tail boom. Olive drab was then applied. The masking was removed and apart from a few small spots, i was pretty pleased with the results. cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 G'day people, Well, thinks were going a little too well.... I was picking out some panels with black when the toothpick I had jammed into the main rotor housing let go. I watched the whole thing unfold in slow motion as the little chopper crashed onto the floor. The damage luckily seems minimal, the canopy popped off as a complete unit and the nose mounted pitot was bent. The tail fin also snapped off completely but I have glued it on again. The tail rotor shaft was bent but i should be able to straighten that out once the glue has set. I have removed the shark mouth masking to check for paint bleeds It all looks okay, I just need to touch up the cockpit access steps, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Niiice! I'm happy you can fix the incident mate,I feel the same pain when ,some tima age,my Thud dived from the workbench... Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Awesome build so far. I wish the one i was working on looked as good as yours AFTER it's nose dive! Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pappy121 Posted February 12, 2016 Author Share Posted February 12, 2016 Niiice! I'm happy you can fix the incident mate,I feel the same pain when ,some tima age,my Thud dived from the workbench... Gianni G'day Gianni, Thanks for the support, I had to walk away at first as my first impulse was to throw it in the bin, but when I looked at it the next day it did not seem as bad. Awesome build so far. I wish the one i was working on looked as good as yours AFTER it's nose dive! Ray G'day Ray, thanks man, it ain't perfect but it wil do, cheers, Pappy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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