Knighthawk
this little "lifehack" will save me ~ half the build time...there are a lot more sprues than seen here...all mixed from Seahawk and Pavehawk, and the parts are distributed totally random it seems. Also there are two different "B" sprues, one of them is supposed to be "K" from the instructions, and so on...
Knighthawks dont air refuel and they usually carry this extra tank
there is a blackhawk tank in the kit which is different, bigger, twofold and more pipes. I putty the joint and saw off a quarter or so
needs to be flush with the doors
scratched some holding brackets
I add some canvas whith alu foil
no tank but I like the canvas overlap over the doorframe (also because the frame does not offer the needed detail...)
done! I fear not the only portion I have to recreate myself though...
The kit does include a lot of photoetch meshes, but not where it matters most
have to make my own
rather easy to fix, not 100%, but better
some (i guess older) machines come with this cockpit layout
as does the kit - the marked parts are my problem
I need something like this: computer input panel on top, so called "Mission grip" (the ugly mouse thing) and a joystick for the FLIR next to the middle console
The Pavehawk parts in the box luckily come with 2 large input panels
which I am stealing
need to shorten the screens a bit
preparing the space
screens installed
and mission grips, or something resembling those from afar
some cables and rings
fuel tank, before weathering
Driverseats
it does look pretty used in there - which I like 🙂
trying to replicate it with scratching the grey acrylic off of the yellow lacquer coat
as I feared: the tank is not the only thing I have to improvise. This is supposed to be the 20mm ammo container for the M197 + Power Unit. Built from sheet and random stuff.
painted port side
weathered the cockpit with beige oil wash and silver abrasion marks
tank installed, also the shutdown button on the left added
also built a cute little axe
progress so far, more to come to get things to look busy inside
some luggage from milliput
I began with the bottom as the top part is mostly hidden by the engines. quite a bit of warping and tension had to be overcome but with careful step-by-step glueing with extra thin it was doable
same on the roof, I also used some superglued bridges during the process to keep things together. Needed quite some pressure but it worked out
Didnt know the gear struts are actually mounted to the roof...think its a great way to absorb a lot of energy in a crash and keep it away from the crew
here the resin part (which is the M197 gun mount) is actually the wrong way round, I fixed it later
same for the motor housing...fits with enough pressure
painted, tinted, detailed a bit
This quite prominent hole is sadly forgotten in the kit (the pavehawk style part is included)
time for surgery
made the hole much bigger later on, nearly to the black line
covered it with sheet, its not 100% perfect but will blend in better after primer & stuff
What else did I add? Most MH-60S have these rounded shapes on the MLG "stub wing" (though some dont, check your reference pics) I added them with milliput and also added the little curve on the lower end.
I also shortened the MLG strut by about 5mm, seems to be in the inflight extended position OOB. Same applies for the rear LG, shortened this strut as well.
I also shortened the MLG strut by about 5mm, seems to be in the inflight extended position OOB. Same applies for the rear LG, shortened this strut as well.
Filled this shape with liquid putty and sanded (Now I was quite happy the kit didnt come with raised rivets like the original!)
Also beware the "dent" the kit has on the rear upper spine for the slime light- should be filled for the Knighthawk and the slime lights placed on the sides
Also beware the "dent" the kit has on the rear upper spine for the slime light- should be filled for the Knighthawk and the slime lights placed on the sides
the other side of the tail needs the folding mechanism, some wire and sheet triangles employed here
(The aforementioned dent was under the black area on the spine)
(The aforementioned dent was under the black area on the spine)
Filled the round hole and drilled the elongated ones instead. Those are on both sides.
good pic to see the sensors on the back
I closed the first bump where the disco light would be installed. Heard they actually dont use those anymore since the MANPADS nowadays are not fooled by this anymore.
The little disc antenna was not in the kit and scratch build from some spare parts
The yellowish disc in the pic before will be installed after painting, also not in the kit...
The little disc antenna was not in the kit and scratch build from some spare parts
The yellowish disc in the pic before will be installed after painting, also not in the kit...
Last pic before primer, looks already pretty badass me thinks 🙂
vallejo primer down, only a few little problem areas appeared and got fixed easily
shading with AK RC022
main colours down
though they are full of mistakes, the decal quality is great, they work like a charm with all of my solvents and for tricky bits really well with mark fit super strong 👍
All the time I was like "if only I had a replacement for these incorrect inbox decals"...and now that I am halfway through decaling I read that AOA Decals are coming out with a decal sheet for this awesome chopper. Which is the one I always wanted to do from the getgo...AAAARGHH!! But I dont really see me buying and building another one of these kits.
topside of stabilator, I really like the art on this
Underside - had to paint the holes in the "e" and "a" myself
warpaint applied
all decals down
those decals really conformed perfectly, every rivet is visible 👍 But it was not easy to get the decal over the bulb without wrinkles...mark fit super strong did the magic. I painted the flag part on the mesh with molotow markers
I had to improvise a C for HSC-6, I cut up the national insignia decals for a red+white stripe (insignias not used as they come in the wrong blue anyway) carefully painted the gaps with molotow markers.
Also put some highlights on the wave with the white marker and hid the cuts with it:
The wave decal was cut into 3 parts to get it from straight into the round shape - as said: its not the correct art, this was on a different helicopter but I'll live with it
Also put some highlights on the wave with the white marker and hid the cuts with it:
The wave decal was cut into 3 parts to get it from straight into the round shape - as said: its not the correct art, this was on a different helicopter but I'll live with it
those doors are another clever design by sikorski and also serve as a maintenance platform
making the non skid on the engine bay doors
love this stuff, makes it too easy
done
silver parts waiting for further coloration
big resin gatling, looks quite menacing. sure is...
resin quality is mediocre
resin quality is mediocre
50cal platforms (wonder why they sit there all ready to go and dont have ammo feeders connected?)
also used non skid on the 50cal plateau
WIP
thats what the instruction says, just bend it, install it, done ...
... and this is what reality looks like. If you try to bend it folded up its a cuboid - its rigid, does not bend, it breaks (see top right) i had to cut all chain links on each side of the belt so they move freely and then fold them up in small groups. Then bend the whole thing without too much pressure+damage, think I came out victorious in the end but it took some hours of no-fun
little drybrush with gunmetal always brings quite a boost on this kind of hardware
washed and first work on the engine
think its crazy that 1 such small engine can keep this lump of a heli airborne
(Here you can also spot the color transition running between the disco light bump and the disc antenna, subtle and tactical and all that 🙂 )
(Here you can also spot the color transition running between the disco light bump and the disc antenna, subtle and tactical and all that 🙂 )
Semi-Matt in the morning light
Bee-efff-geeeee!
This is the orange shader and a dark grey one
love how you can work ever-so subtle with those shaders, I added dark grey shadows on all "shadowy" parts of the heli, and as before some black and orange on the hatches
checking the blade fold before rotorhead construction to get the right orientation and separation between the blades. there are some orientation issues with the folding if you blindly follow the intended construction. Photos are a much better guide.
thats how it should look like later
and this is the dreaded wiring but being a very prominent part on the model...no pain no gain
and I am happy not to recreate the part where the dude is sitting
and I am happy not to recreate the part where the dude is sitting
rotorhead construction finished (excl. swash plate but thats easy)
Using a dark background color to get some automatic shadows in the recesses when spraying light gray from the top
Looks like its belonging to the nightstalkers like this
Looks like its belonging to the nightstalkers like this
Finished rotorhead, now the most finicky parts of the build are checked off
Again using my abteilung "starship filth" oil and the "grime" shader by ammo
painted the colour stripes with a molotow marker
Metal-Slime! Never had something this alien-looking on my workbench 😄
Its the FLIR pod with liquid mask and metal powder for shiny nails 🙂
Its the FLIR pod with liquid mask and metal powder for shiny nails 🙂
Decontaminated the metal-slime off
Always hard to display...
...the iridescent effect in a single photo
This is how the ammo feed for the 20mm should look like
Starting with aluminium wire used for bonsai bending
Test fit
Cover the skeleton with alu foil
more alien looking stuff on my desk 😄
glad its only milliput and not alive, looking for a host...
glad its only milliput and not alive, looking for a host...
straps
another test fit, its a bit cramped with all the guns
Wire added and some repairs done
looks less like an alien parasite worm in black primer
also finished the LAU 61
Kommentarer
73 25 September 2021, 12:58
Danielthanks spanjaard, hope I can keep up the momentum (not the "weekend edition" this one 😉 )
25 September 2021, 13:25
DanielSome more modifications done!
Welcome to the chopper show Adam, WhiteGlint and Neil!
26 September 2021, 20:11
Danielfinished the basic interior painting, now some weathering and then add some bits and pieces to it
5 October 2021, 19:27
Konrad -Damn! How cool is that! Awesome work so far Daniel! Looking forward to your next steps!
11 October 2021, 10:25
DanielEric, Konrad, Harry WhiteGlint and Dietmar, thank you for your nice comments and welcome!
mini-update: sculpted some cabin accessoires from milliput
14 October 2021, 20:06
Casey RupleyDaniel, dude! Great scuplting skills. Contemplated something similar for my Panther, but bailed on the idea. Youre killing it. Looking forward to more.
15 October 2021, 21:10
DanielSpanjaard and Casey, thanks again mates 🙂
Casey, in 1:35 everything is easier, I guess I would have shied away from it in 1:48 as well, so my respects to what you are achieving in that scale! 👍
17 October 2021, 17:53
Daniellast shots of the interior before the main body comes together (hopefully, heard people have had fit problems there )
25 October 2021, 21:51
RenéGreat model! I've build the trumpeter version that came without all the folding options. This one seems much better.
26 October 2021, 08:15
DanielMany thanks Rene, Dietmar, Villiers and Patryk and welcome all!
@ Rene: you mean the academy kit? Was a hard choice paying double price for this one🙈 ...and I was expecting much less need for scratch building for it...well, the Sea Hawk series and the black/pavehawk by KH seem to be much more accurate and maybe worth all the money, this ones just a hybrid of both kits with a lot of typical stuff missing. This also really shows if you look at the instructions, total mess...many mistakes in the decals as well sadly
@dietmar: it's ok for my first time working with epoxy putty, but I just watched some videos of a japanese guy sculpting photorealistic stuff in 1:72 with just a toothpick as a tool and now this looks more like play-doh "art" to me😅
26 October 2021, 19:28
Robin (WhiteGlint)Oh nice. Looks like the fit was not so bad as you feared at first.
31 October 2021, 21:17
Danielseveral lightyears away from tamiya, but I've also had much worse on my table^^
31 October 2021, 21:21
Daniellol, there might be some similarities, but I can say it fits better than revells 1:32 hornet 😄
But I wouldnt have managed without using super-glued bridges here and there to keep up the tension while the plastic glue dries...
thanks roland!
31 October 2021, 21:30
Danielits prime-time! got around the construction of the fuselage so far, and starting primer now the doors and motor hatches are just glued with blue tack for later treatment.
Thanks Dietmar, I added some more things now where the kit seems wrong or lacking stuff
12 November 2021, 17:14
Danielthanks a lot Zach, I recently admired your R-model, real stunner! 👍
thank you Bart, the hairy parts are yet to come (Rotor head and engine compartment...and bending the PE-Ammo-feeders...)
12 November 2021, 17:41
DanielThank you James and Guy!
Productive afternoon: Got the main colors down
FS36495 on the belly, followed by FS36320 that I lightened up heavily (so more in the direction of light ghost gray) and FS35237 on the upper areas, also ligthtened to nearly look as the other gray. You maybe still see the subtle transition diagonal across the engine doors.
The light blue is a custom mix of three vallejos and the dark blue is vallejos signal blue FS35044. I will tweak the transition to the gray a bit after the decals with white and light blue.
14 November 2021, 16:28
Mark KaneMy god, that's both dedication and talent. Pure modelling gorgeousness. Keep it up! Wow
26 November 2021, 21:27
DanielKonrad and Marek, thanks a lot mates. I feared that this model will be .. ehm .. dedication-intensive 😅
Speaking of, I am currently bending the PE 50 cal ammo feeders. Or trying to... its a true nightmare 😪
Thank you for the encouragement!
Updates >pic 64
26 November 2021, 21:37
Bruce HuxtableAre there no limits to your skills? Loved the handmade luggage 👍
26 November 2021, 21:59
DanielThank you very much bruce and guillaume! yeah, you could tinker on forever on this one I guess, theres just a lot going on on a helo compared to the usual jet.
And there still are the engines and the rotor head on the horizon...
27 November 2021, 12:14
Guillaume BlanchetOne thing I like about the current military helicopters is that they have received a tons of add-ons over the years of service. They went from a slick aircraft with the ''A'' version (usually dating from the 70's) into a mess of utilitarian secondary systems (like overs sized engines, extra winchs, radar etc.) in there current form. That makes them very good subject to details builds.
27 November 2021, 12:30
DanielGot the wash down, a step I always like as it adds a lot of life to the model.
I used abteilungs "starship filth" oil for the first time, really happy with that, I think its the perfect wash for navy models as it has just the right balance of black/green/brown and does not add too much brown as many washes do
7 December 2021, 18:48
Dietmar BogatzkiImpressive building and detailing, hope my AH 60 will be only as half so good 👍
8 December 2021, 08:54
NeilAgreed. WOW! Daniel this is so accomplished - very much enjoyed the album, great detail throughout. Just awesome work 👍 🙂
8 December 2021, 10:44
DanielDaniel, Konrad, Roland, Dietmar, Sergej, Neil, Eric and Ryan: Thank you very much for your kind comments!🙏 This is indeed quite a journey and a challenging one. And not about to be finished soon, still some peaks ahead. But always a pleasure to share some steps with you here 🙂 👍
8 December 2021, 22:34
DanielThanks a bunch jos! yeah, being my first cargo heli I can now see why our scratchbuild-gurus like bernhard and ronan love this topic.
Still love to work on it, but I am really not made for half year long projects and I catch myself eying the jet stash next to me more frequently...Not this year.^^
So today I semi-matt coated it which I always like as it makes the wash-effect "pop".
Aaaand then I tried my new ammo shaders. First I thought they were absolute rubbish, then I experimented, got the hang of it and now I think I need to add another layer to my usual weathering routine. Good stuff!
12 December 2021, 15:33
DanielThanks Konrad, honestly I got sold on this kit just because they had this big bad gatling on the cover 🙂 Still the same buy-it-triggers as 15 years ago^^
12 December 2021, 15:43
Danielinto the turbine wiring now, there are a lot of them, I will try to replicate the bigger ones 😅
21 December 2021, 19:01
Villiers de VosI agree with Dietmar. To my eye, the turbines came out very good.
23 December 2021, 05:30
NeilDaniel, this is an educational and entertaining build story to keep coming back to. I'm in awe of your work here. To me it looks both realistic and awesome! Very cool chopper! 😎
23 December 2021, 09:34
DanielDietmar, Villiers and Neil, thank you for your very kind words!🙏🏻 I wish you and everyone else around a very merry christmas and many new kits under the tree 😉
Calling the engine bays done now on to the next stage, small steps but we're getting there🙂
24 December 2021, 19:17
DanielThx David, yeah I feared that it would take a lot of time and dedication 😅
Finished the rotor head construction, I repeat above said 🙂
Though the kit rotor head is pretty good and detailed you have to watch out and re-check everything with photos, there are multiple mistakes, biggest being one pitch actuator arm molded on one side on the upper half and on the other side on the lower part to be glued... I again harvested the included pavehawk parts to get the correct counterpart 🙂
27 December 2021, 22:56
Jos JansenI love picture 91...absolutely great, man what a awesome build. You're a top notch model builder my friend...👍.
28 December 2021, 00:40
DanielSpanjaard, Jos, Villiers, Lillo and Guy, thanks, you guys are far to kind, looks quite crude next to some rotor heads I have seen here in 1:72 😅 But appreciate it!
Yeah, pic 91 is by far the coolest in my reference collection and very inspirational, I am thinking of maybe adding some crew as well.
I have now painted the whole thing and will carefully apply some pin wash tomorrow, will update then. Cheers and thanks for watching🙂
28 December 2021, 21:02
DanielVery kind Olivier, thanks a lot🙏🏻
Rotorhead painted and washed, on to the blades
31 December 2021, 15:47
Konrad -I don't know the word for more impressive… Anyhow it is more than impressive 🤘🏼.
Happy New Year to all of you!
See ya next year🤘🏼
31 December 2021, 16:01
DanielBart, Tommy, Neuling and Sy, thank you for your nice comments 🙏
As promised the blades are painted, weathered and its basically just small steps to the finished helo.
But still a lot of them ... antennas, radomes, pitots, struts to different parts, different lights, RWR and missile warning sensors, little climb-up-the-tail steps. also I need to sculpt a 20mm ammo feed (its wrapped in a nylon sleeve)...more weathering... journey continues
3 January 2022, 11:18
Tino DelgadoOMG!! This is Outstanding, a true piece of art in miniature!! Thank you for sharing with us all those gorgeous photos... keep them coming!!
4 January 2022, 12:02
DanielDietmar and Tino, thank you guys, I am very happy you enjoy this build doc! (though it got pretty long...)
Update on the FLIR pod
5 January 2022, 11:54
NeilHi Daniel, this is an album that deserves a long build log imo. It's a pleasure to follow when the update pops up. I am highly impressed 👍 it's awe inspiring work. 🙂
5 January 2022, 12:22
DanielAnother alien looking update! 😉
Konrad, Neil, very kind, I am glad you enjoy!
8 January 2022, 11:33
Robin (WhiteGlint)It's fun to watch and great to see what can be done with a kit when you put in the extra effort.
Keep it up, Daniel. 👍
8 January 2022, 11:40
DanielAlright, finished the small stuff and this journey is complete:
MH-60S HSC-6 Screamin' Indians | Album by halohead (1:35)
Feels good to finally have beaten it!
Many thanks for joining in, commenting and liking, really appreciate it!
14 January 2022, 18:28
