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Academy AH-1W nts cobra


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Hi folks, been posting my progress with this kit on another forum since ARC has been down...

 

This'll be my second attempt at this frankly terrible kit, my first attempt being in 2014 when it beat me into submission....second time lucky. I've started gathering info about the inaccuracies of the kit which are well documented across the net. I don't think I'll be attempting all of the fixes but the main ones I'm aiming to correct are:
1-correct the nose shape
2-level off and adjust the height/shape of the dog house
3-add werner wings corrected canopy
4-correct the tail height

Sure they'll be plenty more to do along the way

Adjusting the nose shape with milliput 

http://DSC_0300.jpg

 

dog house

 

http://DSC_0299.jpg

 

Detailing the oil cooler shroud, still lots to do

 

http://DSC_0289.jpg

 

Some adjustments to the cockpit to make it resemble an nts. Not going over board here with detail or quality of painting etc as the canopy will be closed

 

http://DSC_0307.jpg

Edited by zaktwist
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http://DSC_0315.jpg

 

Added a few extra consoles and gubbins that resemble what's in an nts cobra

 

http://DSC_0313.jpg

 

Quite a number of scratched elements here, screens, buttons control stick etc

 

http://DSC_0311.jpg

 

The cannon. Entirely scratch built and the only thing I've salvaged from my last attempt at this kit. Ignore the wonky, oversized barrels. They'll be replaced with master brass at somepoint

 

http://DSC_0308.jpg

 

http://DSC_0309.jpg

 

And finally I made a milliput plug of the werner wings vac canopy incase I screw up the original! Not that I'm any good at vac forming...

 

http://DSC_0298.jpg

 

 

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Finished the exhausts, I used a thin plasticard, thin brass stock and 0.3mm tubing to detail according to my ref pics. Painted with gunze super metallic silver and alclad burnt iron for the staining

 

http://DSC_0419.jpg

 

http://DSC_0417.jpg

 

Bit more work on the pit, scratched the collective and added seat belts (a mixture of HGW fabric belts and eduard PE) 

 

http://DSC_0431.jpg

 

http://DSC_0430.jpg

 

Next the FLIR camera thingy. I bulked this up a little with plastic stock and milliput as the kits version appeared under scale and thinned down the nose area so it sits back a little more. Quite happy with how the lenses came out but my crappy camera doesn't do them justice! Trust me there's alot of detail in there!😁 Still alot to do here tho, panel lines and the left side camera 

 

http://DSC_0422.jpg

 

 

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Additional hatches added made from annealed brass stock

 

http://DSC_0396.jpg

 

http://DSC_0398.jpg

 

Fuel filler cap was amended as lacking a panel line and detail

 

http://DSC_0405.jpg

 

Surgery time! I took some measurements of the tail from the refs I have and scaled them to the kit, may not be perfect but certainly looks more accurate to the mk1 eyeball....

 

http://DSC_0395.jpg

 

http://DSC_0426.jpg

 

Next began cutting the engine area to attempt to make the vent that's not present on the academy kit 

 

http://Cobra20turning20hard1.jpg

 

http://DSC_0406.jpg

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http://DSC_0442.jpg

 

Detailed the sensors

 

http://DSC_0441.jpg

 


Another missing panel added, I've been spotting and adding alot of these. And missing panel lines....

 

http://DSC_0440.jpg

 

Added some brass around the nts unit, this is my second attempt, still not sure if this is good enough yet. 

 

http://DSC_0434.jpg

 

Adjusted shape and thinned the cannon faring. Added thin plasticard around the top to replicate what I've see on my refs

 

http://DSC_0443.jpg

 

OK finally got it buttoned up, kit is now 90% milliput. I reduced the fuselage height by around 4mm, which isn't really noticeable but seems more accurate to my eye anyway. Slapped together some bits from the spares box to fill the void that was there before, not at all accurate but won't be that noticeable.

 

http://DSC_0478.jpg

 

Drilled out a hole to accommodate the alq, I'll be using fireball models 1/32 one which is lovely and fortunately an acceptable size for 1/35. Added doghouse access panels and scribed in locks, they should be almost flush to the doghouse so may change at somepoint 

 

http://DSC_0474.jpg

 

 

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More milliput work on the exhaust vent thing, going to be fun sanding that when it's dry....

 

http://DSC_0473.jpg

 

Cut out the turret and thinned to an inch of its life

 

http://DSC_0477.jpg

 

Bit more eduard PE

 

http://DSC_0475.jpg

 

Made a boom access panel from brass as it's slightly raised on the real deal, just tacked on to check size

 

http://DSC_0472.jpg

 

Thanks for looking guys

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46 minutes ago, hawkwrench said:

Nice looking Cobra so far!

Love those seatbelts. What size are they? 1mm or 2mm and where did you order them from?

 

Tim

Cheers Tim! Seat belts are 1/32 HGW fabric belts set, U.S navy (I think), I think they're around 2mm, the PE parts are from the eduard AH-1W interior set. Thanks for looking!

Zak

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9 hours ago, Eastern said:

Hi Zak,

Very serious approach to the build. It's gonna be one super detailed and amazing!

 

Cheers and happy modeling!

Alexander

Thanks eastern! This kit is fighting me every step of the way but I'll hopefully get there in the end, I love the cobra!

Zak

Edited by zaktwist
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Following this one closely, looks fantastic!   By the way, you're doing us all a favor.  If experience tells me anything, it's that as soon as you finish your amazing AH-1W, somebody will release a new tool, accurate SuperCobra.:rolleyes:

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Semper Fi,

 

Ski

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3 hours ago, usmcski6502 said:

Following this one closely, looks fantastic!   By the way, you're doing us all a favor.  If experience tells me anything, it's that as soon as you finish your amazing AH-1W, somebody will release a new tool, accurate SuperCobra.:rolleyes:

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Semper Fi,

 

Ski

Thanks for dropping by! Hopefully I'll do it justice when it's done, still got a long way to go... I've got a feeling kittyhawk may release a Cobra at somepoint, here's hoping it's a 1/35 zulu....

Zak

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2 hours ago, anvil6 said:

beautiful work!  you got a lot of nice attention to detail and it looks great.  this one will be something to be proud of when you are finished with it!

 

-Ramon

Cheers Ramon! I recon you'll be pretty proud of your hook when it's finished aswell 😉

Zak

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Hey chaps.

Re-made brass access panels to replace the plastic card ones I'd made previously. 

DSC_0481.jpg

Filed in curved notches on the boom panel, tiny attachment hooks fit within the gaps which I'll make out of brass and attach when I'm closer to painting stage

DSC_0486.jpg

 

Continued work on the vent, not convinced this is entirely accurate but I've very little reference material to work from. Good enough for me anyhow 

 

DSC_0488.jpg

 

Scribed numerous missing panel lines and begun general reshaping of the tail

 

DSC_0487.jpg

 

This is in need of some serious reshaping to match the real deal, quite a few complex curves which I may not be able to create....

DSC_0485.jpg

 

Gonna have to strip back the layers of Mr. Surfacer aswell shortly due to the panel lines getting a little clogged from spraying and checking for errors. Thanks for looking people!

Zak

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Another update, man I'm enjoying my time off! I've got a pretty full schedule as of next month so I'm hoping to get the bulk of the work done in the next few weeks.

Focusing on the belly details. Im using a mixture of eduards PE and scratched stuff here. Eduard calls for this piece of etch to have the raised bumps convex but on looking at refs, they are concave.

(it's the panel directly behind the search light)

ah-1w_08_of_24.jpg

The PE is also too large so it was cut and the concave detail added from the other side, contrary to eduards instructions.

DSC_0499.jpg

Next plastic was cut away from the belly to fit the PE section, necessary so the concave detail can sit inside it. Also Drilled out the two cooling vents (think that's what they are?) and added brass mesh then drilled an opening for the search light.

 

DSC_0493.jpg

Test fitting (photo was taken before I cut the PE to the correct length)

DSC_0494.jpg

 

Made the oil cooler fan, still needs tidying up

 

DSC_0501.jpg

Test fit. Also made something with milliput, don't know what it is but I made it! 

DSC_0496.jpg

 

Added brass panel to the 'thing' (if someone wants to chime in with what it is that'd be cool 😁)

 

DSC_0500.jpg

 

Made another thing (seriously, someone chime in here!!!). Just the rough shape at the minute, it'll be removed and sanded when dry.

DSC_0498.jpg

 

Scratched the exhaust housing aerial 

DSC_0503.jpg

 

Scratched the nose radar dome, thing. This protrudes from a hole in the nose on the real deal so I Drilled a hole which is slightly larger than the dome itself, looks much better than if I'd just stuck it on

DSC_0497.jpg

 

Another missing panel added (keep finding 'em.....)

DSC_0505.jpg

 

Added tiny piano hinge decal from archers, handy to have a sheet of these around....

DSC_0489.jpg

 

Finally, test fit the nts unit and cannon faring just to check overall profile shape. Looks a lot better than the standard kit if I don't say so myself! 

DSC_0502.jpg

Cheers for looking, more soon

Zak

Edited by zaktwist
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