Academy AH-1Z Viper
Comments
Sérgio LuizAmazing finish and very balanced weathering! Congrats, man! Just seeing this build made me itch for buying the kit.
Brett PThanks Sergio. It's definitely worth getting! My only frustration was the decal colours matched the paint so they're mostly invisible. So definitely check the colours you use.
Album info
2021 Model Build #1 - 1/35 Bell AH-1Z Viper
This kit his huge! In hindsight I should have gone 1/48. I used to be a big fan of the AH-64 Apache, but the AH-1Z is now my favourite. I think adding the extra blades just gives it a fantastic new look. It's a shame Australia recently decided to buy the Apache instead. This is the Academy kit. Due to the size it's got an aftermarket Legend Productions blade fold kit installed. I would've loved to keep all the blades out, but it would be impossible to display. It's also got aftermarket Eduard seatbelts which add really nicely to the cockpit. The bare seats would've been a bit of a let down.
The kit went together amazingly well. I need to improve my skills with photo etch as some of the edges are sitting a bit too proud and some are not aligned properly. Overall that's pretty minor though. Due to the size I painted it in parts (body, wings, weapons, main rotor, tail rotor) and glued it together at the end. I tacked the two open windows shut using PVA glue to make it a lot easier to paint, then popped them off at the end. It was so close to my first kit without losing a part, but with only a few bits left to go on, I lost one of the window hinges (argh!).
It's painted with Vallejo acrylics. Weathering is done with AK Interactive washes and oil paints. Decals are fitted with Micro Set. It's clear coated with Alclad Aqua Gloss and Vallejo Matt Varnish. The decals went on really well except for some silvering on the top of the main rotor blades. The decals on the lower fuselage also blended in a little too well with the fuselage colour so they're mostly invisible. Either the decals or my choice of colours wasn't quite right. The instructions were also a bit unclear about what colour some bits were. Online photos showed a lot of variations making it tricky to figure out.
Overall it took a couple of months to complete.
The lessons:
- White washes are really hard to remove if over done (tailfin)
- Dobbing the thinned oil paints on as part of weathering is a great way to ensure the effect isn't too strong
- PVA is great for temporarily fitting windows to avoid difficult masking
The good:
- The fit and general construction
- The decals were really nice
- Cockpit details
The bad:
- A few seams that I thought wouldn't be visible turned out to be (mainly around the windows)
- I cleaned the windows with water, but that left water marks which were hard to remove once assembled
- The replacement window hinge looks a bit average
- There's some visible ejector pin marks inside the intakes
Next up is a 1/72 GWH F-14D Tomcat. I've done a Tomcat before, but this one will have as much open/deployed as possible.
