AH-70a Taipan

[chrisonord]

I posted this thing over on the current builds thread, but MartG said to shove it over here also.
As some of you will have read, it is a boneyard bits special. AH-64 fuselage, OV-10 wings,PAH-1 rotor blades, a Grumman Tracker prop, F-84 wing tip tanks and some plastic card. Oh and lots of putty and super glue.
This thing is a sort of westernised Kamov V-100, of sorts, depending on what I have in the bits boxes. It is a high speed heavy attack helicopter hybrid. It has the vertical take off/landing capability, and manoeuvrability of a Helicopter, with the heavier weapons load and higher speed of a fixed wing aircraft.
These are a few pics of what I have done so far.



Cheers,
Chris.

[ChernayaAkula]

That's an estimated 50 different kinds of "awesome"!

EDIT: Looking at it again, do you have a "beefier" prop? More like the Hawkeye's or Griffon Spit's. I don't know, but the Tracker's looks kinda anaemic with the long and slender blades. It somehow doesn't fit the otherwise modern and powerful design, in my humble opinion. 

[Jschmus]

You mentioned the Kamov V-100, but it seems that Mil also worked on something similar, at least going as far as building a mockup.



Nicely done!

[sotoolslinger]

COOOOOL

[chrisonord]

That's an estimated 50 different kinds of "awesome"!

EDIT: Looking at it again, do you have a "beefier" prop? More like the Hawkeye's or Griffon Spit's. I don't know, but the Tracker's looks kinda anaemic with the long and slender blades. It somehow doesn't fit the otherwise modern and powerful design, in my humble opinion. 

I am still experimenting with props at the moment, as I need to get one to both fit the tail, and clear the ground, I will find something that is a tad better......hopefully!!
Cheers,
Chris.

[Sauragnmon]

I might consider suggesting a Native name for this bird rather than a snake name, as the majority of the newer attack helo names from the US are Native Tribes - Cheyenne, Apache, Kiowa, etc.  Perhaps Blackfoot might be a consideration.  As it stands, this is quite muchly a Cheyenne on drugs.  The Cheyenne had the dash prop design on it, but this is even more so than just that.

She'll be a beauty when she's done, I'm sure of that much!

[chrisonord]

That's an estimated 50 different kinds of "awesome"!

EDIT: Looking at it again, do you have a "beefier" prop? More like the Hawkeye's or Griffon Spit's. I don't know, but the Tracker's looks kinda anaemic with the long and slender blades. It somehow doesn't fit the otherwise modern and powerful design, in my humble opinion. 

Well, I had a good look at the rear prop and decided to change it, but what with I couldn't decide on. Then I found the left over prop blades from the Jet Pucara, and thought, hmm, I know.
So out came the drill and a piece of aluminium bar, and away I went, machining a contra prop hub. I drilled six small holes in the hub and then glued the prop blades into the holes, and moved the around a bit to line up correctly.
I think it looks a lot better than the previous tracker prop, and should do its job better.
Another thing I did was put a pair of ejector seats in from a F-16, I put these in as the thing would be a tad quicker than your average helicopter now.
Cheers,
Chris. 

[chrisonord]

Well this thing has now got some paint on it, but has taken a bit of a back seat now the Canberra has started to be built.
I will get some decals on it, yes you read right I am going to put decals on!!
Then I will get some more pics done of it.
Cheers,
Chris.

[Captain Canada]

Neat idea...looking forward to seeing some more of this beauty !

[chrisonord]

Here are some more pictures of the AH-70, it is now in paint, and waiting for a clear coat and some decals. The weapons can then be loaded.
The tail rotor has been revised and I think looks a lot better now, I will do some more pics when the decals and weapons are on.
Cheers,
Chris.

[ChernayaAkula]

Wow! That turned out fantastic! Really like the camo. I think the new prop(s) look a lot better than the slim Tracker prop.

[cthulhu77]

LOVE IT !!!!! Yeah, that is one bad *ss looking serpent !

[kitnut617]

How did I miss this one, that is very cool Chris.  Brilliant job 

[chrisonord]

Thankyou all for the kind comments
I have to finish the painting of the weapons load out, then I will get it stuck on after decalling.
Iam arming this with 4 rocket pods, 8 hellfires, 2 mavericks, 2 sidewinders and on the 2 fuselage pylons, 2 AMRAAM's.....cos I can
Cheers,
Chris.

[MartG]

Excellent job there