Apocalyptic Mobile Heavy Transport Huey

[Wardukw]

Thank you chaps  ..if ya want a good time consuming task try making ammo feed chutes..its a great way to let ya coffee go cold i can tell ya 

[DogfighterZen]

That Huey is looking so good... excellent work, mate!   
I also had to scratch some ammo feed chutes for the M134 Miniguns on my 1/72 Huey, but they look nothing like yours. I also had to scratch the sway bars that connect the pylons to the fuselage. https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=48452.0

[Wardukw]

Cheers mate 
I took a looksie at yours and dude what a cool little bird  ..i am so glad im not building helis in 72nd anymore..built dozens as a kid..oh so many yrs ago now 

[DogfighterZen]

 

I like 1/72 cause it's so much easier to find space in the cabinet for them but i do have quite a few helos in 1/48 and 3 in 1/32 in my stash. These 3 are another Blue Thunder, a Jet Ranger and an OH-6 that i'm going to try to convert into the MD-500 to have the 3 helos that are featured in the Blue Thunder movie. The only aircraft featured in the movie that i haven't bought yet is the F-16A but i guess i'll have to get one for the sake of completion.

[Wardukw]

Oh i wish i could do 72nd mate but very small things are a real pain with my left hand being buggered like it is and trying to hold anything very small you can bet it will spend more time on the floor than my work table 
Im pretty sure i got some bad news for ya my Portuguese buddy ..the MD500 wasnt in Blue Thunder..it was a D model 500 ..same as TCs in Magnum PI ..has a much more rounded front on it .
So i be thinking wiffy time..Blue Thunder wasnt left on rail tracks and destoryed..it got updated and a new paint job and thr new bad guy has a MD 500   
Oh i wouls love to have all the 35th scale heli kits out there but if i did that i would have to live outside 
Ive got the Academy 35th AH1 ZULU ..chrissy present  and im trying to figure out where that goes 
Yeah 72nd is so good for size 

[DogfighterZen]

  My mistake, i thought the MD was the designation since the OH-6 series. The one you're referring to is the MD500E. That scenario is similar to the idea i have in mind for a Blue Thunder II chopper.

[Wardukw]

Welll   
When blue thunder was built a long time ago the MD 500 was still on the drawing board's ..i think at the time even the NOTAR 500 was still a pipe dream and the 500 they flew was a t tail model.
First chopper i ever flew was the 300 ..sweet little bird..didnt land it mind you but i did take off 
Then ya had the V tailed 500..the first and then the T tailed model..which was the Hughes 500D ..the MD was used when they brought out the new version .
The D was the main version of the 500 since 1976 ..its been a fav chopper of mind for decades..now i will find one of those in 35th...if someone makes one that is 
Oh also blue thunder was a police chopper..not military so you csnt use anything military against it ..rules thay yapped about in the movie..yup being padantic 
Oh6 was for the old V tailed birds..their called MH6 Little birds now and heres something..every pic ive found shows the military MH6s are all the original rounded fronts not the pointed MD500 or MD530 styles.

[DogfighterZen]

Yup, the kit i have is the first type, OH-6A, the classic round canopy and V tail. It's the Hobbycraft kit. In 1/35 there is the Kittyhawk kit of the AH/MH-6J and M - https://www.scalemates.com/kits/kitty-hawk-kh50003-ah-6j-mh-6j-little-bird-nightstalkers--994344

My kit: https://www.scalemates.com/kits/hobbycraft-hc2109-hughes-oh-6a-cayuse--1152421

I Know i'll have quite a bit of work to convert this into the 500D but i believe i can pull it off so, i'll see when i get there... which will be after i finish the Blue Thunder.
The second Blue Thunder kit will be military, not a police asset so it'll be equipped with some upgrades...

I'm Jealous... i's love to fly in one of those little helos. The 500 is also one of my favorites. 

[Wardukw]

Your in for a fun amount..the T tail is quite angular in its profile but the tips qont be any real problem ..the real fun part will be the twin 20mm cannons that had mounted to it 
Never flown the 500..sat in one at Ardmore areodrome ..bit more modern is all    flown a early jetranger but the one id love to fly is the uh1 huey which my good mate Guy has flown..lucky bugger  ..thats not likely to happen here in NZ cause theres absolutely bugger all hueys here in civilian hands.
One way or another i will have one of those MH 6s from KittyHawk..im very surprised Academy dont do one ..i think.

[DogfighterZen]

Academy didn't but there's the Dragon 1/35th kit of the Little bird and MD500/530G. They reboxed it in 2021 so it's probably not that hard to find.

Regarding the BT movie's 500D, i've read on some site that the cannons were, as was the 02 number on BT, that the inspiration for those came from the Apache's 30mm chain gain. They're actually very similar but the muzzle is different so i'm thinking of getting a pair of 1/32 guns and see if i can scratch the muzzles and the rest of the parts needed for their set up.
I think that the hardest part will be the 5 blade rotor... i haven't done the proper research yet so i'm not sure if it'll be easier to fully scratch up the rotor's main parts or to use the kit's parts and modify them...
It will take quite a bit of work, i know but, i don't care. Sculpting Murphy and Lymangood figures for the BT was a first for me and a lot of work so i don't care. I'll give it my best.

BTW, the 02 number for BT was used as a tribute to the second apache prototype and it's crew who died when they crashed at the time the movie's prop designers were finishing up on the BT's design.
Not sure where they got their info from cause all i can find relating to that is that it was the AV-04 prototype not AV-02 that crashed in 1980.

[Wardukw]

Oh thats good news Zen on that MD500 ..will make it easy.ish to get these days 
Least it wont be like the last one i saw on a auction site here..it was the LAPD version and it went mental in the bidding..it sold for nearly 3 times its retail price and heres the kicker..at the same time i could go to my local LHS and but it for $59.00  but the even better thing is i already had one .

Ok this is strange about the guns..the M230 30mm chain gun is a big piece of kit and so is its ammo system and since thr 500 carried two of them there would have been alot of crap in the back of the thing .
Part of the issue im having with the 30mn idea is that the M230 uses linkless ammo which means the entire feed system is huge over what would be a normal ammo box and thr little 500s electrical system would to be upgraded to handle all the extra power it would need to fire the guns as the guns have to have alot to power the firing mechanism and feed system .
Another thing  is the barrels look to long for a M230 and a bit thin..to me they look alot more like RH202 20mm cannons..thr barrels look very close and so does the breach and firing mechanism and it being a movie they can say what ever they want..they did it in the first robocop..said these guns the bad guys got were 20mm assault cannons..were in fact Berrett .50 M
82s ..so there ya go 
Mate your in for a crap load of work to turn a OH6 4 blade into a 5 ..a entirely new rotor head for a start and new rotor blade..least you dont need to worry about BT as that was a Aerospatiale Gazelle and that only had a 3 bladed rotor 
That BTW bit is intresting mate but it dont surprise me about the mistakes..seem the director John Badham didnt know much at all cause he kept saying BT was a Alouette not a Gazelle 

[DogfighterZen]

So, you already had one in the stash and didn't remember...  Don't worry, i believe you're not the first and not alone in that boat
The price of models has been going pretty crazy lately, especially on auction sites. It's almost like kits are made of gold instead of plastic.

Well, regarding the Badham's knowledge, yup, i agree. He knows very little about choppers and it also doesn't surprise me. The weird thing is that they had quite a crew dealing with the choppers' details but they're minor details, mentioned in the "Making of" of the movie, by Badham himself.
And yes, i have the movie, the series (which, IMO, sucks! ) and the "Making of" in my PC's harddrive, along with all the pics i could find of all the aircraft in the movie...
I've found my lost reference of the guns, the site IMFDB(Internet Movie Firearm Data Base) and IMPDB (Internet Movie Plane Date Base), they say the gun is a mockup of the M230 and the Hughes chopper is actually a 369D model.
I knew the guns were fake so i was only going by what seemed closest in looks. It will need work to resemble the ones in the movie anyway.
The gun you mentioned also looks close but the barrels seem too long, the muzzle is too different (horizontal slots instead of vertical like the ones on the movie have, and the barrel tapers down toward the muzzle, which is wrong for the ones in the movie. I think i'll still be better off starting with M230s as a base.
http://www.imfdb.org/images/0/06/BlueT002.jpg

As for the 5 blade rotor, i know it's going to be a challenge but i'm willing to try. I've turned the 2 blade AH-1W into a 4 blade AH-1Z Viper prototype with a Fenestron tail rotor in 1/72 so, i will try this stunt. I'll use Academy's 1/48 MD500 parts as a guide and do it in 1/32.
AH-1(4B-FNT)W SuperCobra - https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=47618.msg875085#msg875085

[Wardukw]

God mate i could go on and on about kit prices these days on auction sites because sometimes i think gold is cheaper than plastic now..some prices being asked are just plain nuts and yes i know shipping costs have gone bonkers cause of fuel prices but asking $99.00NZ for a 25 yr old Hasegawa F104 in 48th is beyond reality so the only thing i hunt for now is bargains and i found one yesterday when i found the F104..a Tamiya 48th Mosquito for $65 NZ one add below the 104  and yes i got it..ok it was my money for food but who needs that  ..super happy to score that mate i can tell ya.

Ok gun time again and heres one thing i want to hunt down..close up pics of the so called guns on airwolf...take a real close look at the muzzle and tell me what you see 
Thr main reason those guns one the 500 look naff is well they made em up..thats why the barrels dont match anything..there to long and thin for the M230 but also have the wrong taper for the RH202 and length again..i could build those to look like anything i wanted to and in the US especially some paper pusher would make a stink about copies of their guns being used without permission so make your own then no one can do anything about it .

Ya know im really looking forward to your work on this rotor head mate..yep i would be easier to just buy the right chopper but like ya said..the  price and also..wheres the fun in that ? 
At the moment ive got a mate in the UK whos sorting out a BT for me as ive longed for another one for yrs so hopefully that goes ahead without any hassles.
I do get quite annoyed when ppl who think they know what their talking about when it comes to weapons ..like alot of reporters talking about the weapons being supplied to our mates in the Ukraine..howitzer cannons is my fav so far and one reporter called this bog stock standard BMP2 a specialized tracked military vehicle..huh?..there is absolutely nothing special about this 40+ yr old IFV ..really gets on my pickles mate 
The only thing special about it was this new burnt camo the Russians are trying out  and the all steel road wheels

[DogfighterZen]

Wow... those prices are way off the charts..
Let's leave it at that cause it's frustrating to think about such ridiculous prices for what we get with a kit like that Hase 104. Good deal on the Tamyia Mossie.

Yup, the were mockups and that's why i will only buy one of those 1/32 Brass M230 to test it. If that one doesn't fit, i guess it's just a matter of repurposing it on something else...
I know that i'll probably have to scratch most of the gun's "body" and pylons so, if i can't find anything appropriate, than it means i'll have to completely scratch both guns.

I don't know very much about guns but i also hate it when people who think they know everything get something wrong and fail to admit it. I normally do my research but i don't know everything so i always hear what others say and take it as truth until i find info on the contrary.

I think that it would make things very complicated for the movie production to have real weapons on set... What you say makes sense, copyrights and permissions could get the studio into some legal battles so, if the guns have to be fake, why not take your liberties while making them, right?

I don't think there are MD500 kits in 1/32 on the market, besides the 500C and OH-6A by Revell. I think my kit is the same as the Revell, just in a Hobbycraft box.
I've also looked for the RH202 in 1/32 but it seems there's only the RB barrel set in 1/35 so, i'm really limited in choices.
The rotor is also something i've looked for as aftermarket parts but to no avail so, scratchbuilding is my only real option... unless there's anyone with a 3D printer willing to print it out and sell it at a fair price.

[Wardukw]

I am still tickled pink on the Mossie..ive wanted one for yrs but Tamiya prices here a nuts at the best of times so finding this was a real surprise 
One thing you have to love about wiffy world is nothing goes to waste..everything can have a use ..oh specking of which check out Scratchbashing on youtube..he builds some geeat models out of total rubbish..brilliant stuff 
Guns have been in my world since i was born..my dad had well over 300 in his collection ..mine was a lot smaller and i mean alot  ..still had a couple of very nice weapons tho but laws change..money gets tight ..ya get blown out of your own home ..ya know..thr normal things 
Ive got one left and i cant get ammo for it so its pretty safe 
One bit of info for ya matey ..they use fake and real guns in movies all the time..ive got a mate who lives in Wellington whos in the movie industry here and his pile will shock ya..hes got fully working belt feed machine guns..hand guns and assault rifles and ive used a crap load of them..testing thrm i should say 
To use a real gun on set they are modified..semi auto and full auto use thr gases from thr bullet firing tonmove the block back to load another round..called gas blow back ..well they modify the guns by fitting a do hicky called a BFD..blank firing device..since a blank does not have the power of a live round theres not enough gas to make the action work..these device traps enough gas to make the bolt move...non blow back weapons are a problem..like 6 shooters and bolt action rifles and lever action..these will fire blanks or live rds with not mods and mistakes kill.
Totally fake guns like yours choppers has use gas..propane and a spark plug to go bang..its pretty damn simple .

It would seem that 32nd scale choppers are getting less and less now and 35th is leading the way so to speck..so much more can be done to a 35th than a 32nd which makes your life just plain annoying mate..same for your guns ..you can use the M230 barrels since they are what your looking for anyway and finding pics of the mech will be dead easy ..you'll have no real problems building those bud..so go for it ..oh 3D printing the rotor head is a brillaint idea and while ya doing that..a new set of blades too.
I am pretty damn sure you gonna find thr help you need matey 
Well crap...if ya gonna spend some coin on those bits then find out the M230 as well..all birds ..one massive stone