The SAAF Forum

Evening Gents

Well after talking about it for ages I have have started cutting plastic. I have been looking forward to this build since the kit landed on my doorstep some months ago..... There will be lots of (attempted) scratch building and modifications along the way. Wish me Luck...I'm going to need it!!!

Here are a few shots starting with the obligatory box and sprue shots.




Now onto the build.....

I decided to start on the main rotor hub and tail rotor and was rather surprised by the amount of parts required.. there are 2 sprues containing the parts and with rather nice detail.

I have built up the main rotor hub so far using only the kit parts (21 parts so far another 12 to go) and have started to detail them.





till next time thanks for looking!

Cheers
Brenden

That is going to be one big bird...!

Will be watching this one closely bud!

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EX ALTO VINCIMUS

Good stuff!

Would it not have been easier to paint the parts first while still on the sprue?

That must be a big mother.

Please post a photo with fuselage sections and something to give an idea of scale (ruler or cutting board as shown with rotor head.)

Thanks!

Lekker man... lekker!!!

Where did you get referrence for the hydraulics? That is a very big and high helo in real life (like double-storey house) and difficult to take pics of the main-rotor head. Are the fuselage halves also slightly warped, as I've heard from many modelers?

Looking forward to more updates.

Cheers
John

As you say, it's very high and hard to take photos of. So no-one will notice if it doesn't look authentic.

Thanks Parabat



Hi

It definatly would have been easier but i am still going to add detail to a lot of the parts in the pics above and the CA glue would have ruined the paintwork. So to make life a little easier I have built the parts in sections which will be detailed then painted before final assembly.



Yip she is going to be huge!! The 2nd and 3rd pic above has a 30cm ruler for scale comparison.



Hi John

That is the reason it has taken so long to start this build, trying to get all the reference material to ages. I emailed the SAAF Museum asking for pictures, the IPMSSA website http://gallery2.ipmssa.za.org/main.php?g2_itemId=16375&g2_navId=xb172aa4b, and Patricks aviation has some great pics http://www.patricksaviation.com/photos/cl415/15734/ and where ever else I could find pics. As you can see by the Patricks Aviation link there are a lot more lines I need to add to the hub.....

EDIT: Forgot to say...... Yes mine is a little warped not to bad though, i'll take a pic of the fuse halves together when I get home tonight.



Thanks for the comments chaps!

Cheers
Brenden

Ah - I wondered why you were advertising "Bupa Group Risk", and who they were. I didn't realise it was a ruler. Blonde day for me!

Wow, it looks like it will be a interesting, giant build. That rotor head looks impessive, will be watching with interest.

Hey Metallicus

Here are some pics from W407594F









Cheers

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Brent Best

Hi Kremlin

Thanks for those, they are from Norbert's build over on ARC from a couple of years back, I am in contact with him there, really great guy!!



Thanks Jeffreynic


Hey Guys

Sorry guys no updates..... my weekend was taken up by Battlefield 3..... I just could not stop playing...... It is AMAZING!!!!

Cheers
Brenden

Built two of thease beasts in the early 80s.

Caution: The tail rotor blades fix to the tail rotor hub, is not that good. If you can, use a pin to join the blades to the hub, I do not know how the fiot on your kit looks, but was a problem on both mine.

Wow, it is the "busyest" rotor head assembly I have ever seen
Going to be a good build I am sure

Theuns

Hi Spice

Thanks for the heads up, I have not checked mine yet.



Hi Theuns

Thanks, so far I have added 48 individual pieces of wire to simulate the busyness of the rotor head....


Well I managed to tear myself away from Battlefield 3 for a couple of hours to finish the plumbing on the rotor head. I attached the folding mechanism for each blade and "wired" them up.




Thanks for looking

Cheers
Brenden