Joe's 1/72 Italeri Bell 47G Sioux

flyjoe180

Joe
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Made a start on this one. Some of the parts required cleaning up to remove flash and some sink marks, but considering the complexity of the subject, overall so far I reckon this is a well-engineered kit.

Built up some sub-assemblies (cockpit tub, instrument panel, seats and sticks, basic engine).
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Then the basic rear framing was assembled.
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flyjoe180

Joe
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Prepared the main framing, fuel tanks, rotors (tips painted yellow and masked) etc for airbrushing the green colour. I have also scrath-built a mirror on the pilot side as seen in reference photos.
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flyjoe180

Joe
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Highly recommend this kit so far, cheap as chips too.
 

flyjoe180

Joe
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I then picked out some items, namely the (oil?) tank at the rear of the engine area, and the now-red box half way down the boom. Sorry, I'm not very rotor-savvy!
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I've drilled out the exhaust pipes, and the mouth of the (intake?) piping running from the engine to the front of the boom between the fuel tanks, which will be fitted later.

Then the top framing went on. Surprisingly this is pretty easy but requires a bit of dry fitting to ensure the frame patterns line up.
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The aerial which appears on the kit half way down the boom framing was removed from RNZAF Sioux in the early 2000's and so I haven't attached it either.
 

flyjoe180

Joe
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The blade aerial painted black, base of the boom rotating beacon silver, and the masking removed from the front. The windshield/canopy has been masked and the framing, along with the rest of the front of the helicopter, brush-painted it's first coat. The white spot on the port landing skid frame is where the mirror used to be...
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I've left my super-trusty 30+ year old tin of Humbrol 117 for scale. These older paints smell different. A free trip to the 1980s :smiling3:

The mirror is back!
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Food for thought: the RNZAF service life of the Sioux, at the time of their retirement in 2013, was equivalent to having kept WWII RNZAF Corsairs in service until the late 1990s.
 
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flyjoe180

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Tail rotor shaft partially fitted and the brown/red coloured intake pipe fitted temporarily

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Main rotors, mast and tail rotor are finished, the canopy framing is done, and the tanks are waiting for one final coat of red.

A dry fit of the canopy has revealed a small issue with the fit. The bubble needs to be bent slightly or I'm going to have to get creative. We're talking 1mm or so, but it stands out like dog's jewels in this scale.
 

stillp

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I had the same problem with the canopy Joe. Are you going to fit the doors? (They don't fit either!)

Pete
 

flyjoe180

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No pics or major construction to update, but I have scratched some fuel lines, got the pesky canopy on, masked it up and ready for gloss and decals...
 

flyjoe180

Joe
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I've since completed decal application, and we're into the final stages. Hoping to complete this little one DSC_0035.JPGin the next few days...

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Nice work in this tiny cute helicopter mate. Nice build and paintwork. Masking or even handling the thing would scare me a lot, it seems so fragile. Seems you handle it well thoug!

Cheers
 
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