After a long wait for a model of the Bell AH-1G "Cobra" helicopter in 1:72 scale, presenting the modern level of technology, finally, in 2014, the model of the Special Hobby company appeared on the market.
I was inspired to build this by a photo I found using google books:
I managed to find another photo of the same helicopter, this time with a slightly changed livery. This and the study of photos of other helicopters with D/227 AHB allowed me to attempt to reconstruct the original livery.
In addition to the Special Hobby kit, I also used photoetched parts from the same company and resin seats from CMK.
I started the construction in 2022 from the inside of the cabin
When finished, the cabin looked like this:
I was about to close the fuselage, but after some thought I came to the conclusion that the way Special Hobby plans to mount the main rotor doesn't suit me.
The rest of the kit is very nice, but I couldn't accept this arrangement. Therefore, I decided to design something like a main transmission and a new rotor shaft, so that the main rotor could be rotated/removed for transport or painting, and above all, so that the recess at its base would look realistic.
In connection with this, I designed a model of the main gear in a 3D design program, as well as a new main rotor control disk designed so that the rotor axis could be made from a 2mm metal rod or tube. When I received the 3D prints from the "printer", I started assembly and it looked like this:
The tail rotor straight from the kit is also immobile - I didn't like that, mainly because of its sensitivity to potential damage, and it's also inconvenient when painting the model. I decided to mount a metal axle from the inside, to which I'd finally glue the painted rotor. The parts for such a solution are shown in the photo below:
Apart from that, I started preparations for closing the fuselage. I painted the interior and glued in the engine exhaust nozzle (taken from the AZmodel kit, it's a bit nicer):
After closing and preliminary sanding, the hull looks like this:
By the way, I also found a mistake in the Special Hobby model - otherwise quite nice. It's this place:
In reality it should be something like this:
After correction, but before the primer, the panel lines looked like this:
The nose is filled with lead to maintain the proper center of gravity.
I also sanded the bottom of the fuselage smooth and made new parting lines. I glued the photoetched elements to the fuselage mainly using PVA (white) glue, only the curved ones at the tail are glued with cyanoacrylate glue:
Next I started working on the canopy. I used this kit:
Straight out of the box it looks like this (the set includes two such covers):
And again on a patterned background so you can assess transparency:
First, I used a jeweler's jigsaw to cut off the front and back:
Then the sides. To cut off the excess at the back I punched two round holes:
Then three simple cuts and I had the canopy roughly carved. It is worth mentioning that with such work you have to be very careful all the time and it is better to remove too little material several times than too much once...
Once the basic shape was initially established, the repeated dry fitting and removal of excess material began, either with sharp scissors (very carefully!), sandpaper and a file, or a scalpel (actually just scraping):
And at some point it was possible to achieve a dry fit like this:
It is worth adding that the recess in the rear panel at the top of the canopy should not be there - it only exists for mounting a wire cutter on the helicopter - but these only appeared after the end of the Vietnam War.
At this point, it was possible to continue working on the interior of the glass. I made the frames from decal strips, first painted in color, then cut to the appropriate width (gray - about 1.5 mm, yellow - about 0.7 mm). The door handles were made of 0.5 mm wire put through holes drilled in the vacuform part. The tiny door release levers came from a sheet of MPM photoetched parts and were glued using white glue, like most of the small details, the handles were made of paper painted brown. The whole thing now looks like this:
One of the things I wanted to change in this model was the attachment of the weapons turret to such that the turret could be painted separately, but also to be more resistant to damage. At first I wanted to try to somehow mount a poly cap in this turret, but recently I was struck by the idea that an unusual material could be used - LEGO bricks! After all, they have such super detachable connections of rotating elements! It so happened that I had a damaged detail from COBI, and I also had a few extra wheels:
I cut the axle out of the part, filed it round and glued it into a suitably drilled hole in the bottom of the hull. I removed the tire from the wheel, extracted the hub from it and glued it into the turret:
The end result looks like this:
Except for the nose probe, landing light and tail skid - which I will glue in after painting - the machine is built and it's time to start painting. I took a few more photos before masking the cockpit:
I started painting with a Motip primer in an unusual color. In some places I reduced the thickness of the primer, also by sanding, that's where the color of the plastic shows through:
Then I painted the nooks and crannies with Humbrol 66:
On top of that I applied the target color - Humbrol 155:
After the paint had dried well, I painted the orange elements on the stabilizers (only the upper surfaces!), the black panel in front of the cockpit and the exhaust fumes staining:
When the paint dried again, I protected the model with a layer of clear gloss, then I put decals of my own design on them and protected them with a second layer of clear gloss:
Then I made some highlights with oil paints - you apply small spots of oil paint in appropriately selected colors, and then you spread them with a brush moistened with solvent. When it dried, I applied a matt clear varnish. I clicked in the turret with weapons, mounted a probe on the nose, a 20mm cannon under the wing and an antenna and tail rotor at the back. At the top there is an anti-collision light made of transparent plastic from a car brake light cover. Additionally, I made "walkways" on the wings - the upper surface of the wings was usually in a terrible condition because it was used as a work platform for work on the engine, main gear and rotor. These surfaces were apparently sometimes worn down to the bare metal. The whole thing looked like in the photo below:
All that was left to do was to remove the masks, assemble the main rotor and the unguided rocket launchers. Please use the link below to see the gallery of the photos of the finished model.
