DONE @p.3 +++ MV-10H Bronco (Project "Black Pony"), 919th SOSS; Duke Field, 2020

[Dizzyfugu]

Coming soon... 

[sandiego89]

hmmmm

[kitbasher]

Stealth Mustang!

[Dizzyfugu]

 

[Dizzyfugu]

Stealth Mustang!

Nope, but it's got something to do with horses. 

[zenrat]

Trojan Horse with arrow ports along the sides.

[JayBee]

A QUIET OV-10 ?

[sandiego89]

Up armored stage-coach!?  keep those pesky robbers away with a gatling gun! 

[zenrat]

A Clydesdale with a pair of wicker panniers mounted behind the rider in which slingshot armed Hobbits ride.

[Dizzyfugu]

Well, before things become too imaginative I rather rend the veil: the "Black Pony" is a modern-day, highly modified OV-10 Bronco for special operations. 

This Bronco update/conversion was simply spawned by the idea: could it be possible to replace the original cockpit section with one from an AH-1 Cobra, for a kind of gunship version?

The basis is the Academy OV-10D kit, mated with the cockpit section from a Fujimi AH-1S TOW Cobra (Revell re-boxing, though), chosen because of its "boxy" cockpit section with flat glass panels – I think that it conveys the idea of an armored cockpit section best. Combining these parts was not easy, though, even though the plan sounds simple.


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


Initially, the Bronco's twin booms, wings and stabilizer were built separately, because this made PSR on these sections easier than trying the same on a completed airframe. One of the initial challenges: the different engines. I wanted something uprated, and a different look, and I had a pair of (excellent!) 1:144 resin engines from the Russian company Kompakt Zip for a Tu-95 bomber at hand, which come together with movable(!) eight-blade contraprops that were an almost perfect size match for the original three-blade props. Biggest problem: the Tu-95 nacelles have a perfectly circular diameter, while the OV-10's booms are square and rectangular. Combining these parts and shapes was already a messy PST affair, but it worked out quite well – even though the result rather reminds of some Chinese upgrade measure (anyone know the Tu-4 copies with turboprops? This here looks similar!). But while not pretty, I think that the beafier look works well and adds to the idea of a "revived" aircraft. And you can hardly beat the menacing look of contraprops on anything...
The exotic, so-called "tip sails" on the wings, mounted on short booms, are a detail borrowed from the Shijiazhuang Y-5B-100, an updated Chinese variant/copy of the Antonov An-2 biplane transporter. The booms are simple pieces of sprue from the Bronco kit, the winglets were cut from 0.5mm styrene sheet.


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


For the cockpit donor, the AH-1's front section was roughly built, including the engine section (which is a separate module, so that the basic kit can be sold with different engine sections), and then the helicopter hull was cut and trimmed down to match the original Bronco pod and to fit under the wing. This became more complicated than expected, because a) the AH-1 cockpit and the nose are considerably shorter than the OV-10s, b) the AH-1 fuselage is markedly taller than the Bronco's and c) the engine section, which would end up in the area of the wing, features major recesses, making the surface very uneven – calling for massive PSR to even this out. PSR was also necessary to hide the openings for the Fujimi AH-1's stub wings. Other issues: the front landing gear (and its well) had to be added, as well as the OV-10 wing stubs. Furthermore, the new cockpit pod's rear section needed an aerodynamical end/fairing, but I found a leftover Academy OV-10 section from a build/kitbashing many moons ago. Perfect match!


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


All these challenges could be tackled, even though the AH-1 cockpit looks surprisingly stout and massive on the Bronco's airframe - the result looks stockier than expected, but it works well for the "Gunship" theme. Lots of PSR went into the new central fuselage section, though, even before it was mated with the OV-10 wing and the rest of the model. Once cockpit and wing were finally mated, the seams had to disappear under even more PSR and a spinal extension of the canopy had to be sculpted across the upper wing surface, which would meld with the pod's tail in a more or less harmonious shape. Not an easy task, and the fairing was eventually sculpted with 2C putty, plus even more PSR... Looks quite homogenous, though.


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

After this massive body work, other hardware challenges appeared like small distractions. The landing gear was another major issue, because the deeper AH-1 section lowered the ground clearance, also because of the chin turret. To counter this, I raised the OV-10's main landing gear by ~2mm – not much, but it was enough to create a credible stance, together with the front landing gear transplant under the cockpit, which received an internal console to match the main landing gear's length. Due to the chin turret and the shorter nose, the front wheel retracts backwards now. But this looks quite plausible, thanks to the additional space under the cockpit tub, which also made a belt feed for the gun's ammunition supply believable.
To enhance the menacing look I gave the model a fixed refueling boom, made from 1mm steel wire and a receptor adapter sculpted with white glue. The latter stuff was also used add some antenna fairings around the hull. Some antennae, chaff dispensers and an IR decoy were taken from the Academy kit.

The ordnance will come from various sources. The Sidewinders under the wing tips were taken from an Italeri F-16C/D kit, they look better than the missiles from the Academy Bronco kit. The quadruple Hellfire launchers on the underwing hardpoints were left over from an Italeri AH-1W, and they are a perfect load for this aircraft and its role. The LAU-10 and -19 missile pods on the stub wings were taken from the OV-10 kit.


1:72 Boeing MV-10H "Super Bronco" a.k.a. "Black Pony" (Whif/kitbashing) - WiP by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr

[Old Wombat]

Interesting! Be good to see what it looks like with a coat of primer.

[Gondor]

Looking great Dizzy 

Gondor

[zenrat]

Looks a bit nose heavy.  Particularly if the cockpit is armoured.
But still looks good.

[sandiego89]

Ugly already! perfect!!

[buzzbomb]

I like what I see so far, that is a great meld of components