Takom 1:35 scale AH-64D Apache Long Bow Attack Helicopter

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I attempted to do one more missile with the PE. I still was very unhappy about how it was going and decided to take a different tack–styrene. First I cut little peices for the front fins… which have square, not slanted front edge. The missiles are the AGM114 Hellfire, not the Maverick, which I've been calling them. They are painted black, not O.D. This was posted by HeavyArty on the Kitmakers Forum in response to this thread that I replicate there.



I used the PE parts as templates for the fore and aft fins and used the Chopper to cut them to length.



It was sooooo much easier to install them in the slots with just a thin application of Tamiya thin cement. I did widen and deepen the slots just a tad with the dental tool so the styrene parts would bed down better.

The front fin trial worked okay.



The tail fins required some additioal crafting to do the front edge and relieve the back portion where the rudders were. Interestingly, the rudders don't show up in the images of the real missile.



I completed the missile and am happy with the results. Again, sometimes, PE is overkill, annoying and frustrating, and it takes the joy out of the hobby. The installation is so much cleaner that my poor attempts at CA'ing the PE on the styrene body. All the tailfin trimming was done with a single-edge razor blade.



Next session will finish the remaining missiles.
 
Thanks guys! Got all the missiles assembled using the styrene method. I left them dry overnight since the glue surface is minimal. I drilled a .032" hole in the exhaust pipe to accept toothpicks that I used to hold them for painting.



I airbrushed Tamiya Semi-gloss black. Two of them fell off the toothpick when I turned the foam holder over to spray the exhaust end. One of them had the PE fins and, of course, one of the long ones broke off. I didn't even want to think about use CA to put it back on. I scraped out the slot and glued in a styrene replacement. Right to the end the PE parts were givng me trouble.



I'm letting them dry overnight because tomorrow the decals have to go on. Having the glossy surface will help with the decals. I may shoot flat on them afterwards.

While all this was drying I assembled the racks that hold them. There are right and left hand versions of the racks and their upper fairings. I'd like to be able to fully assemble the two-level Maverick racks before installing the missiles. The racks have to be painted O.D. I test fit one of the missiles to see if I can shoehorn the missile into the lower rack when assembled. I think I can do that. It would simplify painting and gluing.



I was able to assemble the unguided rocket pods to their racks and the upper rack to the fairng.



There were a coupled of seams on the rocket pods that needed filling.

I glued the end caps to the stub wings. There's another fragile antenna/static discharge electrode (don't know which it is) that broke and I replaced it with phos-bronze of the same gauge (0.020" .5mm). I may have to replace all of these. I'm also getting ready to add the grab and foot rails before painting. I may use phos-bronze wire to replace all of them and not even spend the time using the styrene versions.



We're moving along nicely here… Meanwhile, I'm working on another edit of my 3D Printing book. With the help of the preview readers and my daughter, I've had a lot to do on it. I'll let everyone know when the final, final version is up on Apple Books.
 
Before I get into the chopper build, I have some news. I finally got some good working drawings of the Battleship New Jersey's #3 Engine Room. John Miano and I were trying to figure a painless way for him to send me some very large files. Turns out that the solution was right in front of my nose… DropBox. I have it, but John didn't and he didn't want to load it. I found out that I can send a file request to another person WHO DOES NOT HAVE DropBox. He just had to drag the files into the box that showed up on his eMail and I got them. He still has some more to get me, but I have enough to start digging in. I'm going to start a new thread covering the Engine Room build so stay tuned.

Meanwhile… I put the first (and apparantly only) decals on the Hellfire missiles. I incorrectly have been calling them Maverick. The AGM-114 is the Hellfire and there's a specific model for the Long Bow Apache. The Takom decals are very difficult. The film is very stiff and doesn't conform to anything. I used tons of MicroScale Micro Set to get them softened enough to curve around the missile's body. I also added some very old Walther's Solvaset. The review of the model suggested Mr. Mark Setter and Mr. Mark Softer are effective for Takom. I'll check my hobby shop for them since I've got a lot more decals to apply… a whole lot more. BTW: the instructions have no information about decals for the missiles. And these insignia do not appear on any Hellfire images I found. It's not going in a judged contest, so it won't matter. If if were, I have to print my own or find some commercial ones.



I also started painting the rest of the model with painting the ammo racks. I needed to paint them now so I could assemble them with the missiles. They'll go onto the model as complete and painted assemblies.

I airbrushed straight Tamiya Olive Drad and then over-sprayed with a lightened version with about 20% flat white added on upward facing surfaces to show fading.



Details have to be picked out on these sub-assembies and there's some nomenclature that goes on. I've got to start putting on more of the delicate parts on the fuselage to get ready for the major painting activity. This model should be finished in a couple of weeks.
 
Thanks, but I don't share you enthusiasm. I dropped two on the floor in fussing with getting them on the racks and more fins came off. A real pain in the butt!

Several sub-par things happened today. It started when I found out that the rail on the missile that I "assumed" was fastened to the rack, actually was supposed to be on the exposed missile bottom. If I glued them on correctly, all my decals would be upside down. So I glued the long rail into the rack's rail. Then there was the almost impossibility of assembling the upper rack to the lower. I was damned if I did and damned if I didn't. My scheme of putting the missiles on first and THEN assembling the upper and lower racks, seemed like a good idea. Trouble was the shape of the standoffs that connected the two. They have a flange that direcltly interfered with the missiles' rear fins. Couldn't even slide them into place without risking breaking fins. I ended up removing the rear flanges so they would slide betwen the fins. If I did the inverse, gluing the racks together and then installing the missiles, would have equally difficult. Neither approach was ideal. I used Gorilla Construction Adhesive to hold the missiles with its greater volume to glue uneven surfaces. It takes about 1/2 to set up for handling.

This was the missiles waiting for the glue to set up.



This view shows the front standoff with its flange and how tight the clearances are.



And when you look at the rear, you see how the fins are in the same space. Didn't matter if they were PE or styrene. They still got in the way.



This shows the removal of that flange. It's not visible and didn't have to be there. Forcing it in would have broken more fins.



Both sets are now complete waiting for installation on the chopper after the fuselage is painted.



Speakiing of painting. I got the main rotor hub, tail rotor and Long Bow antenna painted today. I also painted the main rotor blades, but were still drying when the day ended.





Happy Friday… not work on the weekends. See y'all on Monday.
 
I'm still a bit freaked out in trying to figure out just when to add the smallest details. I decided to paint the fuselage, gloss coat it, apply the decals and then put on all the hand grabs and remaining antennas. I didn't make this decision lightly, but after the realization that even de-masking it requires handling, pulling & tugging where things will get touched and broken. So today I masked the engine bays and exhaust coolers and painted the upper half O.D. and then over-coated with light O.D. on the very upper surfaces to simulate sun fading.

The edges are masked with Tamiya tapes of various widths. The engine bay is stuffed with wet paper towels.





I chose to just to top side to let it fully dry and then turn it over and do the bottom tomorrow. After gloss coating (for decal adhesion) I'll also add panel line accenting, which works much better on gloss surfaces than flat. Meanwhile, if you haven't already done so, check out the new thread on building the New Jersey's engine room #3. I got more terrific engineering drawings today from John Miano. I now have the actual casting drawings for the high and low presseure main propulsion turbines and the main condensor. He's also sent me part of the Main Reduction Gear. There's still more for that. Having such dimensioned drawings is a new thing for me.

 
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Thanks guys. Although progress has been slow with a lot of work concentrated on the engine room, I've been working on the Apache too. I painted the bottom straight OD and then added some of the fragile antenna and grab handles. I hope I can handle it carefully nough to not break them off. I hand painted these after I took the picture.



I used four plastic grabs on the aft fuselage. They're sticking out far and could easily be broken when manipulating the model in the cardboard carrier.



The next group of handles didn't fare as well. I got one plastic one removed from the fret, but broke two and use phos-bronze wire of the same gauge and drilled out the tiny mounting dimples so the handles will go all the way through. These won't break.



On the starboard side both handles broke before I was able to attempt to install them so both are now metal. I don't know why I even spend a minute trying to use so thin plastic parts, and just go metal in the first place. I use a dividers to determine the sizing and have a pair of full-size long nosed pliers that I use the tapered jaws as the spacing guide when bending them. These all need painting before clear gloss for decaling.



Next up is painting and detail painting of Reskit supperb model of the chain gun, and the then installing it.
 
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