Vorcha's Builds

[kerick]

Are you going to leave the front doors off or hinge them also?
Don't worry about painting, lots of people here brush paint everything and get great results.

[Vorcha]

Are you going to leave the front doors off or hinge them also?
Don't worry about painting, lots of people here brush paint everything and get great results.

Yes, I'm planning to hinge them like the back doors, but that will come much later, first I'll work on the interior...
Thank you, I have already bought brushes and some aqua-color paints from Revell, I'll take it very slow with the painting though because I have too little experience with it and could really ruin it :/

[kerick]

Two thin coats are always better than one thick coat. Get glossy colors if you can since you will have to put gloss over any flat paint to allow the decals to go on properly. I found brushing Future/Klear floor coating over the flat works well. I'm not sure what its called where you live.

[Vorcha]

...had a little time for my Kiowa again and began with the interior...


i've added the back seat and will continue with the interior. My plan for now is to add four figures, once the seats are finished... though the space is really cramped...


in the meantime I thought about the background story... 

In the late nineties the government of the Federal Republic of Belmak (www.nationstates.net/nation=belmak, www.nationstates.net/nation=belmak/detail=factbook/id=432328) decided to acquire a replacement to their old Mi-2's. The FRB army called for a smaller, lighter and faster helicopter that would be used in the reconnaissance and close air support role and could still be used for VIP transport. The OH-58D that was on offer by the Bell Company was ruled out at first because the back part of the cabin was almost entirely filled with electronic equipment, though it's other characteristics were highly appreciated. Bell then modified its offer, presenting a version with a classic jet ranger back cabin, with the fuel tank moved to the lower part of the fuselage and simplified electronic equipment, now concentrated in the nose and in a box at the back of the fuselage. In 1998 the first helicopters were delivered as OH-58RB to the army command in Budapest. One year later the government decided to build the licensed OH-58RB at its own factories, in a move to create jobs and economic growth. As of today about 300 OH-58RB have been produced and production continues...

A number of OH-58RB were transferred from the army to special units of the ministry of interior and the military police, some were designated to politicians of high rank to serve their personal needs, flown by their bodyguards...

This model will be the personal helicopter of László E., minister of defense of the Federal Republic of Belmak (2005-2009). In the front seats will sit his personal bodyguards/ pilots. And in the backseat himself, on the left, working on top secret documents on his military laptop, while on the right there will be his girlfriend, Irén V., chief prosecutor at the Budapest high court, looking out at the landscape, a book in front of her... Both are on their way to a pleasant weekend at the personal chateau of a millionaire from Prague, who was quick to offer him his whole castle for whenever he would wish to rest from his duties...
Of course what the minister doesn't know is that Irén spies for the Kingdom of Poland secret intelligence... 


Well that is what I plan to do with the model, of course the Kiowa will keep it's mast mounted goggles and what will be changed will be the rotor, I will put one with five blades instead of four and of course the avionics-box in the back and the fuel tank on the bottom. The weapon stations will be interchangable, i've thought about two stabilized NSV heavy machine guns, but I prefer additional fuel tanks for this one. 

[Captain Canada]

Wow, is the space in there ever small ! Good luck wedging 4 guys in there  Love Kiowas tho.

[Vorcha]

Wow, is the space in there ever small ! Good luck wedging 4 guys in there   Love Kiowas tho.

yes i am unsure too... i've found this picture in the net

...the soldiers have more space here... so i guess either the soldier is too big or the model is too small after all...  

[Captain Canada]

One or the other, or maybe both !

[Vorcha]

Hi everyone,
i've begun a new project and i'm pretty excited about it. In this i'm going to try and realize some building techniques i've been thinking about for a long time... so it's (hopefully) going to be a bit of a "science fair" model...

This time it will be a battle tank - again in 1/72, my favourite scale. I am designing it in MS Paint and building it from scratch on the basis of the well known russian T-55, of paper and cardboard. However it is an entirely new vehicle...  

So here is the plan:



...and here is the first step: The basic structure of the turret.



... basically i got inspired by the TR-85 MBT from Romania, which is a redesigned T-55 with new engine, new wheels and some other custom features. That brought up the idea of my Republic of Belmak building it's own version of the T-55 too: The TM-59A Farkas. The model is supposed to have been built in the early eighties...


...as for the Kiowa, i stopped building it for a time, until i found a solution to the scale issue - that really upsets me more than i would have thought...  
 

[Vorcha]

Hi everyone,
while I try to figure out some tricky things about the tank, I've begun yet another project until I make some progress with it:





...luckily the soldier won't have to shoot open the hatch with his RPG 



...these little figures are awesome by the way, they are from different Zvezda-Kits, the details are amazing...

the hatch however will need some work to get to the standart of the rest of the kit...





...this is a prototype of the roof that didn't work out as I thought, but I will keep the idea to add a little turret with a light gun, making an IFV out of the APC...





thats it for the moment, more to come soon 

[Captain Canada]

That's some excellent small scale work ! Glad the soldier didn't have to blow the hatch open lol.

[Vorcha]

haha thanks 

[Old Wombat]

Hey, Vorcha!

As the Boxer is a modular vehicle system, why not put the small turret as part of the rear module, thus keeping it in line with the phylosophy of flexibility of the vehicle?



(The ziggy-zaggy line between the troop hatches & the commander's hatch is where the module links to the forward hull.)

[Vorcha]

Hey, Vorcha!

As the Boxer is a modular vehicle system, why not put the small turret as part of the rear module, thus keeping it in line with the phylosophy of flexibility of the vehicle?



(The ziggy-zaggy line between the troop hatches & the commander's hatch is where the module links to the forward hull.)

Hi Old Wombat,

i get your point and I'm particularly fascinated with the Boxer because of it's modular structure   But look at the model:



You are right, the rear section can be exchanged, but the point where the rear begins is actually right after the driver's cabin, everything behind that can be changed!      
And you are actually right about the ziggy-zaggy line, the part behind it defines it either as an APC, like in my kit - or just by replacing that part you can convert it into the Command-Vehicle for tactical battlefield control. But apart from these two versions there actually is an official IFV version by Rheinmetall, it looks like this:



But what I have in mind to build is actually something in between, a smaller turret, most likely unmanned and controlled by the commander from a panel (I will dismiss the separate aimer for one additional seat for the infantry), but also with a 30mm gun, looking somehow like the one on the BTR-82... This will reduce the accuracy, because a lighter turret means more vibration... but that gets compensated by a slower rate of fire, I naively suppose...  

EDIT: You can see the separation line on the picture of the official IFV version 

[Captain Canada]

Neat vehicle. I never knew any of that about it.

[Vorcha]

Neat vehicle. I never knew any of that about it.

yes, it's a particularly lovely machine