**** DONE: GB-35 1/72 UH-1 B ‘Huey” - Vietnam French/American War 1950-1975

[Crimea_River]

You did well on that Michael.

 

[Airframes]

Yep, nice one.

 

[parsifal]

Thanks guys much appreciated.

I had some issues with this build and the paint finishes were just a little short of my aspirations. I noticed that the horizontal fins on the tail are not straight, which is very disappointing. still I'm glad I built this kit and I will be keeping it for my RAN display.

As far as the kit is concerned, I have only good things to say about the Italeri kit.. the aftermarket PE stuff was useful, though I didn't use all of it. I liked the engine bay stuff, wished I could do better with it.

The RAN decals were generally marvelous, being those provided by Novascale. ive had issues in the past with novascale, they are generally a bit too finicky and easy to tear, but these performed very well apart from my hoofy use of setting agent that ruined one of them, followed by me accidentally lifting one of the "5"s from the side hatch . both recoverable. Even though the paint work came up a bit rougher than I wanted, I'm happy because I was able to get a nice crisp edge along the white seam, something ive struggled with in the past. The simple process of sealing the masking lines with clear varnish before applying the second colour solves this problem.

All in all, this build was a real blast and I would recommend a helo build for anyone, pluse the kit is a marvelous kit at a very reasonable price.

Just so I don't upset anyone, can one of you enlighten me on what I should do next to finish this project?

 

[fubar57]

You did well Michael. You had some tough going in spots and overcame them

 

[turbo]

Came out well Michael

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far!

 

[Crimea_River]

Well done Michael and you have touched on where you have learned from this build. To me, misaligned parts are the primary reason that good builds can become mediocre and its usually a very easy thing to fix. Before gluing parts always spend some dedicated time to check that they are correctly aligned and this bit of attention will pay off in spades. We judges assign the highest weighting of GB scores toward build quality including alignment of parts and its quite common to see things that are very obviously crooked.

As for "finishing" the build, you need to start another thread in this section with your introduction info and the word "FINISHED" in the title. That's where you post your 6 mandatory pics. Take a look at my Skyhawk thread for format.

Again, a good job on this. Looking forward to your next one.

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Your skills have improved a lot. Well done.

 

[A4K]

Nice job Michael!

Checking in very late here, but just to confirm, the red rectangular decals on the fuselage are indeed to highlight the hand and footholds, as Geo said.

One thing I noticed - the open engine covers: they hinged rearwards towards the exhaust, not upwards.

Great job in any case, well done!

 

[parsifal]

Thanks for dropping by. With regard to the engine bay access hatches, the hatches could be removed for major work, as you say. Ive seen that done myself. But for quick inspections, especially whilst in the field, the hatches were hinged to open upward, as demonstrated in the following walk around shot

Aviation Heritage: UH-1 Huey walk around & camo schemes

Ive seen several photos of "EMU" Force RAN machines with the hatches opened like ive shown them, and also others with the hatches completely removed.

 

[A4K]

Cheers Mike, though pics on that link are UH-1Ds, which have longer fuselages and different access hatches. Pics I have of the shorter UH-1B/F all open like I said.