Skii

final few shots for now - as you can see I've made a start on the weathering. I'm using the oil-dot method with Mig Abteilung 502 oils, the added bonus of Mig oils is the odourless thinner which is a godsend with a wife and 12 week old son around ;) This method works best over a matt base coat hence the weathering before decals, but I'm quite pleased with the results so far. Those of you more familiar with this helicopter will note that there are lumps and bumps still missing such as nav lights and HIDAS sensors - all to come shortly :)

Thanks guys :) Glad you like it Guy, I've been chatting to Gary a lot recently and he's been more than generous in supplying reference material and advice on the build. On the subject of weathering I'm going to be using the oil dot method which gives lots of lovely tonal variations - very apt for the dark paintwork on these helicopters, I'm hoping to tread that fine line between too clean and overdone, although I suspect overdone is not something that applies to Apaches! Cheers John

thanks guys :) Tail wheel on, much of the detailing on the radar mast done bar the wiring. Now waiting on some more decals by the very excellent Paul Parkes :)

one last bump - remember, the part will be cast and returned safely to you...with beer vouchers thanks John

Thanks Shawn, yep still sticking with it. Cheers mate, I can't wait for that first build together, might be a little while yet though...! The Su-27, well I might finish that one day. John

Thanks guys meanwhile after the birth of my son time has been a bit short, so this only update I can show you so far - I've given the model the Archer rivet decal treatment and a light primer / base coat of Modelmaster acrylic Helo drab (lovely paint by the way, better than all of the enamels I've tried so far ) The engine pods are yet to be painted - you can see the archer rivets clearly on them. On the downside I've managed to lose the PNVS turret so I'm still working out how to replace that

Bump - if anyone out there can help

AArghh. How typical is that! Thanks anyway Jon :)

Hi all I've gone and made a monumental *****-up by losing the PNVS turret for my 1/32 Revell Apache project. I appreciate this isn't a 'spare' part but I'm appealing to anyone who might have got the kit as a broken up old build or just happen to have the old boxing and already have some parts missing. I'll be happy to cover any shipping costs and will happily consider getting the part casted for my own personal use if they don't want to lose their kit part. thanks guys John

Looks like Gene Cernan from here ;) amazing work, following this closely.

Cheers Alby, it'll certainly be cool to have a 1/32 scale Longbow, I think Cobrahistorian built one a while ago too. Some more work on the gearboxes - the thin shim of plastic card around the perimeter is to give the two halves a natural panel line.

very interesting build - enjoying this immensley !

Thanks Anthony :) The hinge is very simple - just a length of .5mm styrene rod (you could use lead wire or stretched sprue) and make several cuts along it with a sharp blade, lay a thin strip of styrene card along side it for the bracket :) John

Thanks guys, glad you like it. I was considering casting these bits but it proved too much work on top of the already slow build progress which I'm hoping to get mostly done before our son is born in November. John

on with a further update. My good buddy Mr Williams was kind enough to vacform the 2 halves of my radome master which I made from milliput - he then poured in some resin to the two halves and hollowed them out to give them some strength - I'm very glad he did as this allowed me to be pretty harsh with the sanding block and after much sanding and scribing, I've arrived at what I feel is a fairly convincing replica of the fire control radar. So with this assembled and primed it needs a column to sit on - this took a while but with a couple of diameters of evergreen tubing and some more d