Moments of Zen

[DogfighterZen]

Ok. just had to do some minor adjustments to the length of the blades but it's all done now. Now i just have to take care of the canopy fit issue and it's ready for paint stages... I'm really happy with how this chopper is coming along, it's exceeding my expectations and i cant wait to get it finished! 



I'll try to take care of the canopy issue today because i want to get it ready for masking and painting before my vacations are over.

[Old Wombat]

Bloody marvelous work on the rotor, mate!

[DogfighterZen]

Thank you, Mr. Wombat!
I'll admit i'm pretty chuffed with it, didn't think i'd be able to get it looking as is. All i can think off now is putting a Fenestron tail rotor on the Dream Model 1/72 AH-1Z Viper, when i get one, that is. 

Gonna work on the canopy now, last day of vacations so i have to make the most of it...

[NARSES2]

Bloody marvelous work on the rotor, mate!

Totally agree 

[DogfighterZen]

Glad you like it, Chris, thank you! 
Been taking care of the canopy fit issue and had to put a few styrene strips on the rear and front to eliminate the gaps.



This kit is really showing it's age with all the fit issues it has, besides the raised detail. Not that i mind the detail but it's not a good thing for this type of conversion if one has to sand putty on the seams. Luckily, the PPP did its job and i was able to keep PSR to a minimum.
Seeing that this chopper has a big canopy and the cockpit will be quite visible, i wanted to compensate the lack of detail by adding pilot and gunner figures so i ordered a set of PJ resin Apache crew figures  for it but today i remembered that the Hasegawa Apache has figures in the box so, i decided to leave the PJ ones for a better kit and steal the Hase ones for this build.
Poor fellas will need some attention, though, quite a bit of flash and mold lines to clean up but anyway...



So, i'll just have to tidy up the styrene bits on the cockpit area, all i have to do is add some small bits like antennas and this one will be ready for canopy masking and paint.

[Old Wombat]

Hey, at least they don't have the old masturbating pose that used to be the aircrew standard!

[Captain Canada]

That looks so good ! Great idea.

[DogfighterZen]

Hey, at least they don't have the old masturbating pose that used to be the aircrew standard!

Yup, these look like normal pilots doing their thing instead of weirdos in the cockpit.

That looks so good ! Great idea.

Glad you like it, Captain! Hope you're keeping warm! 

Well, the fact that the pilots aren't masturbating didn't help with one small detail... they don't fit inside the cockpit... 
They're Hasegawa, what makes me believe that they're in scale so, being from a 1/72 Apache, i thought they're fit the Cobras 1/72 pit but no... so i went and test them on the Hasegawa F-16 pit and they sit perfectly in the seat so, what's going on here?
So, i got the Revell US/NATO pilot and ground crew set out of the stash and tested one of the pilots in there and guess what? Although they're a bit smaller, they don't fit either...

Left is the Hase pilot and right is Revell...



This is how the smaller Revell figures sit in the pit...



So, my guess is that the Italeri kit is not 1/72 scale, confirming once again that the kit sucks... BIG TIME!
After this, i don't believe that the PJ figures will fit in there so i'll just forget about that idea and just add the seat harnesses and get it going again....
With that said, i won't be doing anything on any models today as i got back to work after 12 days off and i'm just too tired.

[Old Wombat]

Well, the fact that the pilots aren't masturbating didn't help with one small detail... they don't fit inside the cockpit... 
They're Hasegawa, what makes me believe that they're in scale so, being from a 1/72 Apache, i thought they're fit the Cobras 1/72 pit but no... so i went and test them on the Hasegawa F-16 pit and they sit perfectly in the seat so, what's going on here?
So, i got the Revell US/NATO pilot and ground crew set out of the stash and tested one of the pilots in there and guess what? Although they're a bit smaller, they don't fit either...

So, my guess is that the Italeri kit is not 1/72 scale, confirming once again that the kit sucks... BIG TIME!

Yup, that definitely sucks.

[zenrat]

My theory of variable sized figures is this;
You may find that if you measure it the external dimensions of the kit are accurate and in scale.  You may also find that the internal dimensions of the cockpit are, due to material thickness, undersized.  Which means that to get a figure to fit they made it smaller.

[DogfighterZen]

Well, probably i'm being unfair with the kit, it is a 1987 mold. And i agree, making the cockpit to scale is probably very difficult so that might be the case here but the figures aren't very different in size and i even sanded the butt of the Revell ones to see if that would be enough but no cigar...   

[NARSES2]

My theory of variable sized figures is this;
You may find that if you measure it the external dimensions of the kit are accurate and in scale.  You may also find that the internal dimensions of the cockpit are, due to material thickness, undersized.  Which means that to get a figure to fit they made it smaller.

Undoubtedly true mate, although I always had a sneaking suspicion  that back in the day the Airfix crew figures were originally tooled by the same guy who did the OO/HO figures as they were about the same size.

[DogfighterZen]

Knowing that the kit doesn't have crew figures, i guess it wasn't meant to have any in the pit anyway but the truth is that almost every model i've built so far didn't take much effort to fit a pilot in the pit even with a closed canopy so that's why i was so disappointed.
Still, this won't stop me from finishing the model, it's just something i'd like to have to make it more complete to my eyes. As i've said before, i like to have pilot figures in my models but i guess it's something i'll have to live with...
So, getting back to the build itself, i'm going to mask the canopy tonight.

[TheChronicOne]

This is coming along nicely, if stubborn?  Funny thing is, I just built one of these like....4 months ago or whatever but I can't remember a damn thing about it!    Was it difficult, was it easy, what I did i have to do to it??? Nothing!! It's like an alien stole the memory of the build from my brain.    So, while it should be fresh in my memory, I can't offer any insider tips.     The only thing I remember is one of the gun barrels being short-shot so I had to put stretched sprue in there...

[DogfighterZen]

This is coming along nicely, if stubborn?  Funny thing is, I just built one of these like....4 months ago or whatever but I can't remember a damn thing about it!    Was it difficult, was it easy, what I did i have to do to it??? Nothing!! It's like an alien stole the memory of the build from my brain.    So, while it should be fresh in my memory, I can't offer any insider tips.     The only thing I remember is one of the gun barrels being short-shot so I had to put stretched sprue in there...

I didn't have any problems with the gun barrels at all just the fit of the turret itself but nothing too bad. Did you build your real world? I don't remember seeing it on here... guess we're both having memory issues...
The fit isn't great overall but it's also been taken care of so, i just have to get it painted... didn't mask the canopy cause i'm just so tired that i preferred to watch a "Stranger things episode with the missus... Maybe tomorrow i'll have more energy to concentrate on some modelling.