OH-6A Cayuse (FINISHED) and AH-1G of the PoAF

[DogfighterZen]

After finishing my G.91YP i was trying to decide what to build and as i want to keep building something for my fictional Portuguese Air Force, i chose another model that will be framed within the 1970s timeline, as that was when the need for an urgent modernization of the PoAF's assets became undeniable.

With the weapons sales embargo imposed on Portugal by the U.S. and U.N., there weren't many countries willing to sell so the Portuguese armed forces had to make do with whatever they could get, even resorting to covertly buying American refurbished A-26 Invaders, smuggled out of the U.S. as sold to be converted to executive transport planes for different European countries.
This would quickly change after the 1974 revolution, with the change of political regime from a dictatorship to a democracy and with the embracing of UN and NATO policies by the subsequent government institution.
Although the embargo was lifted, there was still a big problem, which was lack of funds for the desired acquisitions.
With the focus and prioritization of the country's anual budget changing to improvement of infrastructures such as roads, schools, hospitals, etc, the military spending would be limited to what the payment for use of Portuguese military bases by the U.S and Germany could cover.
The then Chief of Air Staff asked for a list of what the Air Force's generals wanted to cover the holes in the PoAF's defensive and offensive capabilities, adapted to the new reality and demands of the Portuguese territories, their area of responsibility and the general European military scenario.
The PoAF wanted much more than they actually got, and what they got was nothing close to what they wanted in terms of quantity and capability but, it was what they were told to buy considering the available funds and the best deal for the capability that NATO wanted the PoAF to have for their role in case of conflict with the Soviet Union.

With reality as inspiration, i'm taking the example of what happened with the A-7P which, instead of being new planes of the latest land-based variant, the A-7D, they were second hand, refurbished and upgraded Ex-Navy A-7As, adapted for land-based use.
Besides jets, the PoAF also wanted new helicopters, with more offensive capabilities than what was possible with their SA-316 Alouette IIIs or SA-330 Pumas and, although in reality the desired fleet of 50 AH-1Q was too expensive, a mix of Ex-Vietnam OH-6A Cayuse and AH-1G, making a total of 40 aircraft was the final choice in my whiff scenario...

The Special Hobby 1/72 AH-1G hasn't been started yet but will soon be on the bench. The Italeri 1/72 OH-6A Cayuse kit has been started and this is the progress so far...

The IP has raised detail so i used a bunch of spare IP decals, cutting individual gauges to better match the detail on the IP, with pics of the real thing for reference...
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Modified Italeri NATO pilot figures for the crew, had only one seated jet pilot that lost the oxygen mask, got his arms twisted and got a microphone so, i'm modifying a standing pilot to serve as J.A.F.O. for this bird...
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[NARSES2]

Neat start 

[DogfighterZen]

Neat start 

Thanks, Chris!
Standing figure got his knees bent and is now a seated JAFO...

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[DogfighterZen]

Small progress, managed to get some more paint bits on the crew and i'm calling them ready to close inside the egg...

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[kerick]

1/72nd scale OH-6 would be tiny! Good eyes and nice work. 

[DogfighterZen]

1/72nd scale OH-6 would be tiny! Good eyes and nice work. 

Thanks, Ken! 
The Cayuse is indeed really small in this scale. Quite a cool looking bird, too... The kit is simple but i'm under the impression that joining the fuselage halves while keeping the cockpit interior aligned will be interesting...

[Wardukw]

1/72nd scale OH-6 would be tiny! Good eyes and nice work. 

Thanks, Ken! 
The Cayuse is indeed really small in this scale. Quite a cool looking bird, too... The kit is simple but i'm under the impression that joining the fuselage halves while keeping the cockpit interior aligned will be interesting...

Dude it's "interesting " in 48th and 35th so yeah..this will be " very interesting " 🤔 😀

[DogfighterZen]

Ok, seems like it's been way too long since i've updated this one...
Current state of affairs... at first i was going to have a closed egg with no weapons but then i went back  and decided to cut out the molded-on doors on the starboard fuselage half and display it with no doors on at all and with a minigun hanging out the port side.
This meant that painting would need a different approach because once i close up the egg, it's hard to mask off the interior to be able to use the airbrush on the exterior.
Spent some time thinking about it and i decided to find a way to insert the cockpit after painting... at least most of it.
There's also the issue of the interior being too narrow to stay centered within the egg when attached to the port fuselage half and also finding out if i need to add some weight under the floor of the cockpit to prevent it from sitting on its tail...
The weight issue had to be checked with the skids in place and also, all the tail parts as they're all that'll put weight aft of the CoG after i put the interior parts in, join the fuselage halves and attach the windscreen.
To be able to do several tests for weight and fit of the interior parts, i had to be able to insert and extract said interior parts without damaging the windshield frames, which are very fragile.
To do this, i decided it will be better to leave the underside seam unglued and have that slack to use after i spray the fuselage parts with some O.D., to insert the interior parts and then, glue the underside, deal with the seam, which is easy and on the less visible area of the model.
After that, i just have to respray the O.D. and the rest will be much easier to do... i think.

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[Wardukw]

Ok, seems like it's been way too long since i've updated this one...
Current state of affairs... at first i was going to have a closed egg with no weapons but then i went back  and decided to cut out the molded-on doors on the starboard fuselage half and display it with no doors on at all and with a minigun hanging out the port side.
This meant that painting would need a different approach because once i close up the egg, it's hard to mask off the interior to be able to use the airbrush on the exterior.
Spent some time thinking about it and i decided to find a way to insert the cockpit after painting... at least most of it.
There's also the issue of the interior being too narrow to stay centered within the egg when attached to the port fuselage half and also finding out if i need to add some weight under the floor of the cockpit to prevent it from sitting on its tail...
The weight issue had to be checked with the skids in place and also, all the tail parts as they're all that'll put weight aft of the CoG after i put the interior parts in, join the fuselage halves and attach the windscreen.
To be able to do several tests for weight and fit of the interior parts, i had to be able to insert and extract said interior parts without damaging the windshield frames, which are very fragile.
To do this, i decided it will be better to leave the underside seam unglued and have that slack to use after i spray the fuselage parts with some O.D., to insert the interior parts and then, glue the underside, deal with the seam, which is easy and on the less visible area of the model.
After that, i just have to respray the O.D. and the rest will be much easier to do... i think.

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Bloody hell that is small bid..I can see the Bic lighter in the upper right and it looks gigantic compared to the chopper 
Lovely work so far matey 👍 😀

[NARSES2]

. and the rest will be much easier to do... i think.

How mny times have we all siad that ? 

Neat little bird 

[DogfighterZen]

Bloody hell that is small bid..I can see the Bic lighter in the upper right and it looks gigantic compared to the chopper 
Lovely work so far matey 👍 😀

It is a small bugger indeed... 
Thanks, Phil!

. and the rest will be much easier to do... i think.

How mny times have we all siad that ? 

Neat little bird 

Can't say that's been the case every single time but i think i can say the success rate is higher than failure so, i must be doing something right...
I think this plan can work, i just have to be careful when blending in the paint and clear coats on the underside to the rest of the coats on the top, after it's glued and sanded smooth. I have done something similar in the past where i had two colors instead of one and was able to pull it off successfully so, i'm confident it'll work this time.
When i built the Monogram 1/48 Spitfire IX, i had a problem with Tamiya rattlecan flat clear sprayed a bit too heavy and being too hot, melting the paint on the top engine cowling, just behind the prop and, i had to let it dry, sand down smooth to the plastic around and on the affected area, gently respray both camo colors and clear coats in very thin layers to build it back to match the rest of the finish.

So, last night i finished applying a strip of styrene around the firewall behind the crew, this will close the gap between the interior of the fuselage.
There should be no gap and it also helps to place the interior in the correct place, preventing it from wobbling about while i'm trying to hold the fuselage together and in the correct shape.

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Now, on with masking the interior of the windshield to spray some grey for the framing and clear green for the small aft windows and aft section of the main part...

[DogfighterZen]

Just a small update, today i finally dug out the second kit for the duo from inside one of the big boxes...The kit i'll be using for the PoAF's first real attack helo is the beauty by Special Hobby and time has come to get it going... 

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I bet this kit will be a bit easier to build than the Italeri kit i've used for my AH-1W with the Fenestron tail rotor and i feel the mojo increasing just from looking at the sprues...   

[Captain Canada]

Nice work ! Love helicopter builds. I've got three or four of those Cobra's half built somewhere.....and for sure, they are nice kits ! Lots of spares as well.

[DogfighterZen]

Nice work ! Love helicopter builds. I've got three or four of those Cobra's half built somewhere.....and for sure, they are nice kits ! Lots of spares as well.

Thank you, Captain! 
The Special Hobby Cobras seem like they are good kits but i haven't started it yet. I just finished spraying some clear green on the interior of the Cayuse's bubble but i'm having a couple of friends coming over tonight and i have a busy day tomorrow so i'll only be able to get back to work on these two during the weekend.

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[DogfighterZen]

So, almost another full month gone by and very little progress has been achieved on the "egg"...
The heat has been draining my energy and mojo... gardening hurts when done with over 40ºC temps, even while wearing a hat, i feel like my brain is cooking during most of the day...
Still, i've managed to get the cockpit in place, after some Olive drab and a gloss coat was sprayed on. After that, i closed the underside seam, which needed some filler.
The windscreen had the interior framing masked off and some grey was sprayed on it, then i masked off the exterior and it was also sprayed with the O.D. and gloss coat.
First round of PSR done, second to go but, hopefully, it'll need less work.
Also, main rotor was assembled after the blades were painted with NATO black.

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After the PSR, i'll give it the O.D. and gloss on the underside and then it'll be time for the markings...