Hasegawa 1/72 Apache

[boatman]

The plastic in Hasegawa kits can be a bit thick, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with actual fit problems or more than light flash, even very old kits.


PNVS/TADS — Pilot Night Vision System/Target Acquisition and Detection System (I think, I could have one or two words wrong). PNVS is the small one on top of the nose, TADS is the bigger one underneath; they can turn independently of each other, if you want to pose them other than straight ahead on your model.


Looking very nice so far :smiling3:


Not me. My Lightning is posed on acrylic rod as if in a zoom climb, but it’s not lit up (though I did consider putting LEDs in to light up the exhaust, I decided not to).

Jakko that was what I was on about a jet lightning like you did an a stunner not the prop job
chris

[Guest]

Jakko that was what I was on about a jet lightning like you did an a stunner not the prop job

Sorry, misread — I read lighting, not lightning …

[boatman]

Sorry, misread — I read lighting, not lightning …

OK its easy to make a mistake
chris

[Guest]

PNVS/TADS — Pilot Night Vision System/Target Acquisition and Detection System (I think, I could have one or two words wrong). PNVS is the small one on top of the nose, TADS is the bigger one underneath; they can turn independently of each other, if you want to pose them other than straight ahead on your model.

Cheers, sounds better than my term :smiling5:

Most of the images I've seen seem to have the lower one reversed in a kind of "parked" position. I assume that is to protect the lenses etc when it isn't in use?

[Guest]

Cheers, sounds better than my term :smiling5:

Yours is less clinical than the Americans’ beloved wordy description-of-function And reading it back, I realise now I got the D wrong: Designation, not Detection. (My excuse is that I got most of my knowledge on the AH-64 (and the AH-1 Cobra) in the days when you had to get all that kind of information from books, and I dug the name up from my memory this morning )

Most of the images I've seen seem to have the lower one reversed in a kind of "parked" position. I assume that is to protect the lenses etc when it isn't in use?

Exactly right, they turn the lenses towards the aircraft so they won’t get hit by anything. Also, both the gun underneath the fuselage and the PNVS/TADS can be slaved to the gunner’s or pilot’s helmet, so they always turn where he’s looking. This isn’t much help to make your model more interesting, though, as the figures are looking dead ahead

[Guest]

Also, both the gun underneath the fuselage and the PNVS/TADS can be slaved to the gunner’s or pilot’s helmet, so they always turn where he’s looking.

Yes, was aware of that from something I saw years ago, I just hadn't got a clue what it was called! :smiling5:

Canopy masking this afternoon. Hasegawa have included the kind of double frame detail the real thing has - the main structural part then an inner Frame or beading that clamps the glass in place. Whilst this is a nice detail it made the masking harder as there was virtually no edge to work to as much of the frame part was thinner than my tape, and completely flush in some places with just a hint of a line where it should be.

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Got it all done to a reasonably acceptable level though

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The frame was given a coat of the dark grey I'd used for the interior (German Grey lol) in case any was visible when looking into the cockpit, then the whole thing had a decent coat of Mr Surfacer 1000 to show if any more sanding was needed on the seams. On the whole it looks pretty good, but some of my rescribing needs more work

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Leaving that to dry overnight I added some colour to these exhaust parts. MrC burnt iron, as per the call out. The instuctions would have you fit these much earlier on, before the engines, but I can just about squeeze them into place. This means I can leave them off until the whole thing is painted to save masking.

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[scottie3158]

Andy,
This is looking very nice mate.

[minitnkr]

The brush guard for the gun was added later as experience showed the gun & ammo feed could get hung up on stuff like tree limbs & wires in the heat of action. I see they modeled it as early production as shoulder armor plates for the crew are missing also. Shaping up nicely. Can't wait to see the finishes. PaulE

[Guest]

Cheers Scottie.

No Paul, nothing like that in the box.

[Guest]

Busy day so didn't get much shed time, but progress is progress.

I finished the final sanding and had another attempt at rescribing the panel lines. Then a full coat of black Mr Surfacer, which went on lovely and smooth, then some pre-shading with the white version which didn't.

I'm not sure if it's just white being white or whether the cold has affected it, but spraying was very stop/start and splattery due to tiny lumps in the primer which blocked the nozzle momentarily. I'll make sure I give it a good filter next time as it made the job hard work, not enjoyable, and the results aren't quite what I wanted. Should still look good with the topcoat on though

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That's this at a standstill now until I get some more paint. I still haven't settled on what paint line to fully invest in so keeping stocks low. I really must try MRP as it gets rave reviews everywhere, but since it's not the most widely available line I'll have a go with the Tamiya lacquers first. Not that I've anything against Mr Color as I really like it, but there might be something out there that's even better :smiling3:

[flyjoe180]

Coming along nicely, for an older kit it's building up well.

[Guest]

Thanks Joe.

Got some colour on this morning. I decided to go with the Model Air I had rather than waiting for something else to arrive. As ever I've struggled to pick up the pre shading on camera but it's probably my best effort yet. I'm not a fan of the massive contrast seen in some models anyway, but each to their own :smiling3:

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[Jim R]

Hi Andy
Great progress. All looking very good. Masking looks neat. Rescribing is quite a skill - I find it so easy to mess it up. White is a difficult colour to spray - almost as problematic as yellow in my experience.
Jim

[yak face]

Looking good andy , as Jim says white can be a bugger in matt finish modelling paints . The pigment seems to lump up more readily than other colours for some reason , cheers tony

[Guest]

Thanks Jim, the rescribing was quite successful in places in places so I'm happy with that. Not so much in other areas where I now have "tram lines" but there's more good than bad so I'll take it as a win lol

Cheers Tony. I need to pay more mind to my stirring and filtering. I wouldn't dream of skimping on those in the day job so ought to bring that home with me. I filtered the Model Air olive drab for this and was amazed at how many lumps were left behind, and the paint sprayed beautifully afterwards!