Zulu Up! - 1/48 Kitty Hawk AH-1Z Viper - FINISHED 4/15

[JimD]

The fit of the glass is encouraging. I'm assuming this will have to be a self mask job...at least it doesn't look too complicated. Though the little "lookey ball" in the nose may be a bit more complicated.


Did you need nose weight?

[coro69]

great work so far doogsatx... i found out that there are decals of the 303 hmlat group with this kit... i am looking a while for these in 1/35... do you think it is possible for you to scan these decals and send me jpeg of them???

[doogsatx/]

Feb 19, 2015 13:56:48 GMT -5 coro69 said:

great work so far doogsatx... i found out that there are decals of the 303 hmlat group with this kit... i am looking a while for these in 1/35... do you think it is possible for you to scan these decals and send me jpeg of them???

My scanner's down at the moment - will see if I can get it up and running again

[doogsatx/]

Feb 19, 2015 13:08:37 GMT -5 JimD said:

The fit of the glass is encouraging. I'm assuming this will have to be a self mask job...at least it doesn't look too complicated. Though the little "lookey ball" in the nose may be a bit more complicated.


Did you need nose weight?

If Eduard didn't continually give KH the shaft, I'd be tempted to wait for a mask set. But while they can pump out masks for Tamiya and HK and whatnot in weeks, it seems to take them a year to get around to Kitty Hawk kits.

I'm a lot less afraid of the lookey ball after getting a good close-up view...especially considering the kit positions it in this "hidden away" state.



As for weight, the kit comes with a ball bearing that goes inside the chin turret. That's it. I'm frankly shocked that so little a thing actually balances it perfectly.

[coro69]

it is no hurry... :-) it it will work out it is ok.. if not i think i will try to brush the greek helmet anyway... i think in 1/35 it is possible to get it done... :-)

[JimD]

Ah..it doesn't look so bad. I don't know what Eduard's deal is. They pump out some stuff so fast..and other stuff takes forever. I was sitting around waiting for sets for the first Academy Phantom that I got tired of waiting and lost interest...I think it took them close to 6 months.

I wasn't sure about the weight balance. Looking at pics it really looks like it could go either way (tail or nose heavy). Probably doesn't take much up front to keep things flat...hence the single bearing.

[doogsatx/]

The Zulu continues to progress. First up - the M197 20mm cannon. The Master brass is infinitely more detailed than the kit representation, but infinitely more fiddly. Getting the final "triangle" over the cannon tips took more dexterity than any rigging I've ever done on any biplane.



Rather than risk my luck, I immediately glued the thing into the chin turret.



As for the rest of the ship, more PE screens (including a challenging one just above/behind the canopy), more little bits. I got started on the rotors as well, and had a scare when I glued one down upside down. Thankfully I realized it pretty fast and was able to pry everything apart before the glue really set.

Aside from the exhaust housing and fussy-ish skid assembly, I think the other real challenge point of this kit is going to be the rotor actuators. These are small and fragile bits that glue into the rotor bases near the head, and then slot into holes in the fuselage base. And by fragile, I mean one snapped clean in half just in the act of getting it off the sprue tree. Definitely a situation where a metal replacement would be ideal.

[dupes]

Oh man...those cannon barrels look SWEET! Are the kit parts passable?

[doogsatx/]

Feb 23, 2015 10:50:16 GMT -5 dupes said:

Oh man...those cannon barrels look SWEET! Are the kit parts passable?

They're so-so. The center bracing triangle is lacking in any detail and way too thick. Weird, given the amount of PE screens, that they couldn't toss in one little triangle.

The front brace is a bit weird too, in that it incorporates the business ends of the barrels as well. This is nice because you have holes, but there's no space around them.

The Master set is definitely a big step up.

[JimD]

Not at all surprised about the fiddly-ness of that gun, but wow...it really brings life to the front end of this thing.

[TRM]

Very nice work Doogs!! Seen the stress factor pics on the Fakebook! Excellent recovery! The tri-bang-bang looks fantastic! Looks like you're closing in on the color!!

[coro69]

the kitty viper looks really great... i think i have to add it besides my 1/35 supercobra... ;-)

[doogsatx/]

Feb 23, 2015 14:28:04 GMT -5 TRM said:

Very nice work Doogs!! Seen the stress factor pics on the Fakebook! Excellent recovery! The tri-bang-bang looks fantastic! Looks like you're closing in on the color!!

Soon, I hope! The lookey ball is going to be the bear. Have to install two pieces around it, and then install the whole assembly onto the nose. But I guess I have to paint those elements first since it'll be hard to get to them later.

[TRM]

Yeah, just took another look...don't envy that one! But I am sure you will handle that just fine!!

[doogsatx/]

Finally exhausted the Viper's PE fret last night. So many mesh screens!

[deafpanzer]

Those PE looks killer!!! Hope you didn't have any fit issues?

[JimD]

That's a lot of PE, but much better than could have been done with plastic. Looking forward seeing you tackle the painting weathering on this one.

[doogsatx/]

Feb 25, 2015 13:20:16 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Those PE looks killer!!! Hope you didn't have any fit issues?

The curved one just above/behind the canopy was tricky with the slope/curve combo, but other than that they were pretty painless.

[doogsatx/]

The time came to throw a bit of paint last night. Have to get the sensor ball and its housing painted before I can get the assembly together and onto the Viper's nose.

This is Gunze 338 Light Gray, which, I forget the exact FS#, but I believe is actually Light Ghost Gray.



I also got a bit carried away with the primer...which is good since it showed me some areas that still need cleanup attention (like some previously invisible sink marks in the rotor cuffs).

[doogsatx/]

Coming back around to the Viper now that main paint is wrapped on the Leo C2. We're not quite ready for paint yet...last night was focused on getting the rotor hub sorted (including the fussy little linkage struts). Got these knocked out by Tamiya Extra-Thinning them to the rotors, then using tweezers to match them into the mounting holes on the chopper. They do a great job holding the rotor upright - I just hate that the sprue attachments are right in the friggin' middle of the strut, and the struts are so fragile that you don't really dare to sand them.



I also got the sensor ball and housing installed last night. Pretty solid fit. Though I'm going to call TOTAL CRAP that there is basically nothing between the cockpit and the ball itself. I opted to paint everything black, but there should really be a plate of some kind there. Not the first surprise of this kind I've encountered on this build.



Closer and closer to paint!

[deafpanzer]

Man, it is really looking sharp... can't wait to see it painted soon.

[doogsatx/]

Started throwing primer around yesterday...ALMOST ready for paint but not quite. Didn't knock out the seam on the sensor ball housing as well as I thought, and the sink marks in the rotor cuffs are being frustratingly persistent. More sanding and more priming tonight.





At some point, I have to mask all the glass. Ugh.

[JimD]

Sometimes the primer goes down and you get that awesome feeling of not having any cleanup...most the time this happens though. Hope tonight was productive in dealing with it and one step closer to paint.

[doogsatx/]

Mar 17, 2015 0:23:34 GMT -5 JimD said:

Sometimes the primer goes down and you get that awesome feeling of not having any cleanup...most the time this happens though. Hope tonight was productive in dealing with it and one step closer to paint.

Alas, didn't even get out to the bench last night. Stupid lingering cough had me feeling like I'd been gut-punched so I just continued my rewatch of season 4 of Game of Thrones and called it a night. And of course now it's rain in the forecast for the next week...

[JimD]

That sucks, but it's not going anywhere. Now...about those Intruder thoughts....

[doogsatx/]

They're dangerous thoughts, indeed...

[JimD]

I'm intrigued. Will keep an eye out.

[doogsatx/]

It was supposed to rain yesterday, but the clouds moved out around noon and yielded a gorgeous, clear night. So...I finally bit the bullet and masked the Viper's canopy parts.



Next time I'll hold off until the mask set becomes available. The main greenhouse wasn't so bad, but some of the angles on the side glass were frustrating.

Also finished cleanup and priming on the nose housing, Hellfires and so on. I'm STILL having difficulties with the rotor cuff sink marks. Tempted at this point to just coat the entire upper sides of them in Mr Surfacer 500 or something.

Anyway, apart from the cuff troubles, the sucker's ready for paint.

[Deleted]

I am in utter awe of this build. Great job.

[JimD]

Glad the weather is finally cooperating. Ready to see some paint. I'm gonna hold off on this one until someone does some masks though... Or until they release something in 1/35

Where do you source the tattoo ink cups...those could come in handy.

Is it an acrylic, lacquer, enamel?