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

[Airframes]

Nicely done !

 

[Crimea_River]

Well done Michael!

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[Wayne Little]

doin' good..!

 

[parsifal]

So guys I'm about to move onto the engine bay and am trying to work out the appropriate colour scheme. there are not many contemporary photos of the RAN HF around, and the couple I did manage to track down from the RAN FAA museum are black and white. Ive attached them for people to have a look at.

I know the colours are basically darker grey for the underskin, perhaps charcoal for bits like the turbo, silver or aluminum colour for the surface pipework . I was intending to apply a base coat and then dry brush the ancillary elements like the aluminium pies and turbocharger ducting as either separate elements (the turbo comes as a separate piece) or further careful dry brushing. I'm looking to get the effect of the engine grey overlaid with the lighter pie colours over that. I think it will be tricky, but I cant think of another way.

Any suggestions on technique, and any further suggestions on the Tamiya colours I should be considering for this element. how much of the engine I will make visible will depend on the quality of the finishes I'm able to achieve. I can button it all up if its not that good.

Anyway here are the b7W shots I found:

source

Our Heritage: The RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam | Fleet Air Arm Association of Australia

 

[Crimea_River]

Do a google search for "Huey Engine" and there are plenty of colour pics.

 

[T Bolt]

Looking good Michael!

 

[mikewint]

Saw a few being worked on and my impression was basic grey and bronzing toward the turbine exhaust

 

[parsifal]

Yeah, that's my impression as well. I hear what andy is saying, and its pretty good advice. But I found a LOT of variation whilst trolling the net for clues. Everything from a darker green through to many shades of grey, even a dull red-orange. Some were museum pieces. They appear to be not too concerned about authenticity, Im guessing because the engine and engine bay might only be viewed rarely by the visiting public. Maybe also the particular mark subtypes may have contained differences in the paint selection for the engine/engine bay.

Having said all that, I did go back and have another look in the net. I think ive found a reasonable rendition for the colour scheme. It's a museum site in England. I have the link at home and will post a link later today. Basically it confirms opinions we are expressing….grey, some charcoal around the gearbox, lighter silvering for the surface pipework, splashes of red and white tubing and control boxes (by the look of them) attached in various ways and places on the engine.

Last night I basically prepped the engine and engine mounts, which come as after market resin additions. I also cut apertures in preparation for the attachment of the mesh grills that are inserted to the inspection covers. I cut and trimmed the gearbox assembly and a fluted exhaust nozzle making sure everything fitted as it should. The engine bay is meant to slot into a gap behind the main crew positions and be glued to the two fuselage halves when I finally button them together.

I'm not entirely happy with that arrangement, as the engine bay can very easily slip or shift during the assembly process. I want to attach the engine cell to one of the fuselage halve first, but to do that I will need to make a connecting bracket, that will need to be very accurate as to length. If I can get it right the engine subassembly will be much more secure and im hoping that final assembly of the two halves wont be as problematic as im thinking

 

[parsifal]

this is the link I was most happy with

Restoration of the Huey Helicopter

 

[Wurger]

 

[Wayne Little]

Go for it...

 

[parsifal]

yeah ive made a start on the engine subasse. Ive settled on dark sea grey for the engine base colour . The engine bay is based around a royal light grey. I used a bronze for the large pipe under the turbine, and painted the gearbox and main shaft gunmetal. I dry brushed in aluminium for the pipes and switches in the engine bay, but not directly attached to the engine.

I have yet to drybrush the engine and paint in some of those mainly red and white bits that you see in the photos. but is is slowly coming together......

 

[mikewint]

Michael, yup, that's what I recall seeing. Gray and the bronze color

 

[javlin]

Your skill level has moved forward Mike over the last couple of years looking really Good

 

[parsifal]

Have some progress shots which I will post tonite. Ive applied base colour to the turbine and then dry brushed with mostly aluminium with some white and a touch of red to bring out the pipework. Ive painted the gearbox gunmetal grey with some exposed aluminium shafts and the like. I attached the gear box to the rear firewall only to realize a bit later that I might have put the gearbox in back the font. On the port side that is an opening into which what I think is some kind of breather is supposed to stick out. I have this breather pointing backwards, with a smaller appendage pointing in the direction of the small arched cowling aperture. I think this smaller appendage is actually a spacer meant to point forward and be glued to the firewall and the larger bit currently pointing rearwards turned 90 degrees to port so that it half stick out of the arched aperture. So long as the gearbox is aligned vertically so that the rotors has the correct tilt to it , I can recover from this error. I have cut a small length of metal which I can attach to the inner side of the cowl making it slightly visible, as is suggested in the attached image, painting it either black or aluminium (sources conflict on this).

 

[parsifal]

so ve gone back and had another look at the MTM instructions for the gearbox assembly, and this has changed my initial opinion tghat perhaps I installed the gearbox 90 degrees out of kilter. The following is an extract from the MTM aftermarket kit instructions

The gearbox as ive put it together looks as follows

 

[parsifal]

And here are some other shots of progress made over the weekend

This is the best detail of the turbine. My apologies for the blurriness, but its the best my crappy camera will take. Fome reason it did not like this colour. at least you can get some idea of the dry brushing I have applied to get some of the turbine details the real thing shows.

This is a slightly better image of the engine bay. ive only painted the innards at this point

These are the unpainted engine hatch covers, with PE grills installed. ive made efforts at pre-shading

Finally this is my efforts to produce an authentic looking main shaft. it will slight into the gearbox assembly

 

[Wurger]

 

[mikewint]

Impressive Michael. If you have any manual controls on your camera use a smaller aperture like f22 or f32 to give you greater depth of field. Then you'll need a longer exposure time or more light. If longer exposure you'll need a tripod or something to hold the camera steady.
Found some pics that show your "vent". Not much detail though