Rick’s 1/72 Airfix Chinook HC1 - Bravo November - a dream sheet build

[rickoshea52]

Troop seat progress tonight with the installation of harnesses, a lot of harnesses.
2mm tape tacked onto a sheet of plasticard then painted Tamiya olive drab. Once dried it’s cut into sections at 7mm & 4mm lengths, one for the short strap and the other for the longer adjustable strap. As you can see, I ran out of painted tape so I’ve done another strip for the cockpit seats and to simulate aircrew dispatchers harnesses.

[Guest]

Good solution to making all those seatbelts.

[Waspie]

Nice Rick, good solution to the lap straps. :thumb2:

[flyjoe180]

Looking good Rick. The seats and your straps came out well.

[rickoshea52]

A feature of any RAF helicopter is the variety of “role equipment” carried; stuff like strops, blanks, kimwipe and in the case of the Chinook a step ladder and sweeping brush. Usually stowed against the left hand aft face of the cockpit bulkhead these mundane bits of kit are essential to Chinook maintenance.
I tried my LMS for plastruct ladder stock but they had none so some basic scratch building was required. My first attempt at a broom looked unconvincing so I had another go using 10thou plasticard laminated (for the bristles) in three strips, trimmed then glued to a 20thou strip as the wooden block. Thin brass wire for the handle instead of plastic rod.
Once dry they’ll be painted and the brass cut down but see what you think. Cocktail stick for scale.

[Guest]

I’d say those look pretty good.

[rickoshea52]

Ladder and broom stowed

Cockpit done, ready for varnish and weathering.


Trial fitting the floor to fuselage halves revealed a prominent pitch forward of the troop seats until I spotted the seat rail fouling against the soundproofing I added to the rear ramp area. Once a cutout was made on either fuselage half the problem went away.
Next is a touch up, varnish and weathering.

[rickoshea52]

I’d say those look pretty good.

Thanks Jakko. I went with the brass handled broom in the end.

[Andy T]

Looking great and I love the added extras.

[A_J_Rimmer]

Superb work - I do like the little details you've added.

[JayCee]

Rick, I have just had a slow reread of your build. You are doing a great job. One thing I noticed. The part G25 that you left off at the beginning. I am probably wrong but does it not fit underneath the cockpit rather than as the instrument panel ?
John.

[rickoshea52]

Rick, I have just had a slow reread of your build. You are doing a great job. One thing I noticed. The part G25 that you left off at the beginning. I am probably wrong but does it not fit underneath the cockpit rather than as the instrument panel ?
John.

Light bulb moment!!!!

Thanks John.

[rickoshea52]

One of the glaring errors of this kit is the lack of yaw pedals. Following on from my lightbulb moment for the cockpit floor bulkhead I made some yaw pedals from brass wire and superglued them into holes drilled in said bulkhead. Once painted they’ll look better.

[rickoshea52]

More role equipment added. Chinooks are well known for their underslung load carrying capacity so I had a go at making some HUSLE (Helicopter Under Slung Load Equipment) strops. These are large diameter fabric covered strips with large hooks at each end.
Using rolled up tissue paper and PVA I made the coiled strop first, the hooks are assumed as hidden in the coil.
Then I had a go at a strop laid out straight using plastic rod with carved hooks at each end. Creases in the fabric were made by cutting into or sanding folds etc.
after a lick of paint they were glued into position so the crude finish isn’t so obvious.

[Waspie]

One of the glaring errors of this kit is the lack of yaw pedals. Following on from my lightbulb moment for the cockpit floor bulkhead I made some yaw pedals from brass wire and superglued them into holes drilled in said bulkhead. Once painted they’ll look better.
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Missing the pedals out seems a big omission from Airfix. Grand job in rectifying their error.