Area 88 1/144: Kanzaki Returns! (CH-53 Sea Stallion)

[strobez]

One more project to update.  While I was waiting patiently for the CH-54 Tarhe to show up on order, I decided to take my frustrations out on a CH-53 as a "warm up" project.

In the Area 88 manga the CH-53 plays a bit part, but there's a memorable scene where Kanzaki and Shin meet face-to-face in Japan and Kanzaki announces that he's returning to Asran... and then a CH-53 flies in with the sun at its back and picks up Kanzaki and carries him off while Shin can only stare as the wind whips around him.  Not a huge scene, but it's kind of marking the "beginning of the end" of the story.  Besides, who cares, I get to build a helicopter!

Ahh... the classic Revell blue box.  I don't see many of these in my stash for some reason.



Nice clean sprues, as I expected.



Main pieces dry fit to check the DC motor is going to fit... looks like we're go!



Started with the rotor so we can test fire the motor... otherwise there's no point moving to the next step.



Rotor painted and assembled to the dry fit shell... will it spin?



Contact! We have spin!



I'm not sure why I'm bothering with interior paint... but I am.



After a bit of surgery, the DC motor fits... barely.  Why is it always barely?



Cockpit painted and assembled. Nice to see the A.G.F hires paraplegic amputees to fly their helicopters...



All button up, and yes, I checked to make sure the rotor still goes ?round and round.



As always... putty.



Paint on, but I'm not sure what to do about some of the visible seams... sand them, and the surrounding details, out of existence? Or just agree to disagree?



And... just to prove the rotor does spin - https://youtu.be/QtX8VgvQKT0

[zenrat]

Box art appears to show the CH-53-800 stretched version.

Not one of Revell's best efforts.

[strobez]

Box art appears to show the CH-53-800 stretched version.
Not one of Revell's best efforts.

I'm not familiar with the various CH-53 versions, so I have no idea if it's stretched or not... regardless, the only thing you can really see in the manga is the front view, so I'm saying whatever version I built is the one in the manga... and that's that.

I'm a bit surprised that you don't think it's one of Revell's best efforts.  I haven't built many Revell kits, but I haven't found any major issues with this one (other than one of the windows popping out somewhere along the journey).

Anyway, despite struggling a bit with the CH-53... I've made some progress with it's cousin here. I was somewhat dragging my feet because I knew I had to scratchbuild some tanks for the side and I wasn't really looking forward to it.  I dunno, they seem to have come out all right I think, even if I didn't put my heart and soul into their crafting...



Meh, close enough, right?



After all the cutting up of wavy lines on tape, for several different coats of paint, on the F-100D and two Kfirs, I decided to just freehand the camouflage this time.  Again, there's not much of this helicopter visible in the source manga, so I'm working off inspiration (such as it is). I think it worked out alright as well.



The rotor still spins, so that's good.  It's too bad I couldn't get the tail going too... I was contemplating converting it to a clear disc or something, but most of the time the model is displaiyed unplugged and stationary, so there's no really point in doing that.



Is that the right placement for the scratchbuilt fuel probe?  Still need to add a few more bits.

[Rick Lowe]

Refuelling Probe location looks about right:

https://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/detail.asp?aircraft_id=178

https://www.airliners.net/photo/USA-Marines/Sikorsky-CH-53E-Super-Stallion-S-65E-80/2111635


Cheers


Whups, Wombat beat me to it.

[Old Wombat]

Here you go!



So, maybe a little bit lower. It seems to fit into the middle of the lower right transparent panel.

[zenrat]

Box art appears to show the CH-53-800 stretched version.
Not one of Revell's best efforts.

I'm not familiar with the various CH-53 versions, so I have no idea if it's stretched or not... regardless, the only thing you can really see in the manga is the front view, so I'm saying whatever version I built is the one in the manga... and that's that.

I'm a bit surprised that you don't think it's one of Revell's best efforts. ...

I was taking the proverbial out of the box art.  It's badly drawn appearing to show a CH-53 with a stretched fuselage.  The actual kit looks fine with the only problem being its not in the one true scale.

[strobez]

I agree about the box-art.  I've looked at it several times as a reference image and it just confuses me more than anything.

Anyway, I was able to get this one finished off.  First I got the wheels and bits and bobs all painted and glued in place.



And a  couple of minor touch ups...



There's wash and the decals... and we're all done!



And then some glamour pics.













I did manage to somehow lose one of the fuselage windows in the process, but I only noticed it while putting on the decals... so... Meh... battle damage~  or maybe the guy at the back just had to open the window even though the AC is on...

[sandiego89]

Great job! and in 1/144 scale even more impressive. 

I like it very much. 

[Old Wombat]

Nice!

[kerick]

Would never know its 1/144th scale! Very nice!
How do you make those bases for your models? I know I can't get a piece of wood through my printer!

[strobez]

Would never know its 1/144th scale! Very nice!
How do you make those bases for your models? I know I can't get a piece of wood through my printer!

Have you tried? You never know... 

I do all my Area 88 1/144 project bases the sane way... I buy a cheap wooden coaster for a dollar, flip it over and sand down the "Made in Vietnam" mark. Then I make homemade decals of the scene from the Area 88 manga and then print them off from my inkjet printer. After I spray/dry them, I cut them to fit and then slide them on to the wood using a low flat plate full of water. It's tricky to get large (especially homemade) decals on, but it comes easier with a bit of practice.

Then, after the water dries, the decal usually lifts off the wood (because no matter how much I sand it, it's always just a little bit uneven). So then I peel it back carefully and apply a coat of future to the wood and press the decal back down and smooth out the bubbles. Then I use a sharp knife to pop any leftover bubbles under the decal and apply another coat of Future on top. Then I usually take a hairdryer to the whole thing. Usually after all that, it's very hard and sturdy.

I've tried to apply the Future before the decal. but the wood usually just soaks it up if I let it dry first, or the water washes it away if I don't.  Either way it's a useless endeavour.

[PR19_Kit]

That's a VERY clever way of applying those large decals, good job Greg! 

[Scotaidh]

Would never know its 1/144th scale! Very nice!
How do you make those bases for your models? I know I can't get a piece of wood through my printer!

Have you tried? You never know... 

I do all my Area 88 1/144 project bases the sane way... I buy a cheap wooden coaster for a dollar, flip it over and sand down the "Made in Vietnam" mark. Then I make homemade decals of the scene from the Area 88 manga and then print them off from my inkjet printer. After I spray/dry them, I cut them to fit and then slide them on to the wood using a low flat plate full of water. It's tricky to get large (especially homemade) decals on, but it comes easier with a bit of practice.

Then, after the water dries, the decal usually lifts off the wood (because no matter how much I sand it, it's always just a little bit uneven). So then I peel it back carefully and apply a coat of future to the wood and press the decal back down and smooth out the bubbles. Then I use a sharp knife to pop any leftover bubbles under the decal and apply another coat of Future on top. Then I usually take a hairdryer to the whole thing. Usually after all that, it's very hard and sturdy.

I've tried to apply the Future before the decal. but the wood usually just soaks it up if I let it dry first, or the water washes it away if I don't.  Either way it's a useless endeavour.

Oh - I thought you just printed them (the manga scenes) on regular paper and then used white glue to affix them to the bases ...

[NARSES2]

Remember it's 1/144, remember it's 1/144  - fantastic work 

[loupgarou]

Oh - I thought you just printed them (the manga scenes) on regular paper and then used white glue to affix them to the bases ...

It would be too easy! Wait till he manages to print decals with working LEDs included.