It's begun!

[PJP]

Green/brown?

Tony

That colour is not a long way adrift from the OG helos and vehicles I used when posted to the Colonial Army.

I was frequently surprised how brown Olive Green was.

I would take that as about right.

Peter

[Guest]

Nice one Peter, that'll do for me. To be honest it's growing on me.

[tr1ckey66]

Hi Tony

I've an idea to 'green' up your olive drab without resorting to more airbrushing. Try a green filter Mig productions produce a filter called 'Green for light green' - basically this will make the colour lean more toward the green blue which should bring the colour around. I used this trick on my sherman V because I felt the Life Color Olive Drab I used wasn't the British 'Bronze' Green I was after - worked a treat for me.

If you do try the filter please test first! I would not want to be responsible for ruining such a brilliant piece!

BTW - absolutely stunning build so far - brilliant! The crew have got some real personality.

Looking forward to seeing the completed bird.

Cheers

Paul

[Guest]

Have to say it looks OK to me to, but I am no expert. Only real reference I have in my mind is the Vietnam war film/documentary on TV but I don't know if it is just me but I think all those films had a strange cast to them.

[Guest]

I'm part way through Mason's book as well! And I have the Academy 1:35 Heavy Hog gunship calling me from the stash! The OD is pretty mental across the brands of model paint! for example, if you look at Humbrol 66 it's grey, Humbrol 155 is brown and Tamiya XF-62 is murky green-brown! I doubt if anyone can say it's wrong (see my mini-rant over interior green on my Hellcat thread).

Great work so far! Can't wait to see this done

[Guest]

Back from the dead

Hi all.

After a long absence I'm back and I thought I'd update you with a few snaps.

Since you last saw it, the Huey has had it's decals applied, then left for 7 months. On returning, the decals had lifted and I wasn't happy with the under-painting, so I stripped off the decals and started again. I redid the under-painting in black and top coated with olive drab, then mixed up a slightly lighter version and added it to the top surfaces for fading. I added a little to the centre of the larger panels too.

As I had ruined the original decal for the nose insignia, I cut one from vinyl at work and used it as a mask to spray the new one on. The masking removed some of the original paint but ho-hum, I'll touch it up into scratches later.

I started painting the fiddly bits of the rotor assembly, and gave them a light wash to tone down. More weathering and staining to come to try and distinguish between certain parts.

All the decals are soaking in Micro-sol to try and get them to sit down over the rivets. I don't like the look of it but I have faith!

Hope you like it.

Tony B

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[Guest]

Oh, and the skids have had a slap of metal ready to try the hairspray technique.

[Guest]

Lovely looking huey, i've got the dragon kit in the shed waiting for my skills to improve before i take it on, if it comes out half as good as yours i'll be a happy man

[Guest]

Dont know how i missed this but it is a fantastic job your doing Tony, well done, looks real good.

Andy

[tiking]

Outstanding

[Guest]

Thanks for your kind comments.

Had a slow night waiting for the Micro-Sol to work it's magic so I played around with some different weathering techniques I saw on Scale Model Medic on Youtube.

I used a make up sponge to dab some silver onto the rotor blades. I figured they could get pretty mashed up with flying debris close shaves with trees etc. so I put a lot on there. Then I gave it a dark brown wash to tone it down a bit.

I tried the hairspray technique on the skids and it was really simple, again see the Youtube link.

The decals are bedding down but it's taking a lot of coats 'cos of all the rivets, but it's getting there. Looking forward to sealing them all in and getting stuck into some oil paint weathering (another first for me).

Comments welcome, cheers for looking.

Tony B

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[Guest]

Another instalment and I've been experimenting with oil washes. I sealed the decals in Kleer and then applied a pin wash to the panel lines in dark brown oil paint thinned with white spirit. It's amazing to watch the capillary action fill the lines!

Inspired by Scott's (Noble) Watchers Dio I pilfered some faux fur off me dad (model railway). He couldn't get on with it for his grass but I thought it was just fine. Experimented with forming some kind of concentric circles to simulate the rotor wash and was buoyed by my success. Role on the scenic base!

Tony B

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[Guest]

Another night, another coat of Klear.

Applied the rain marks tonight. Think I'm nearly done with the oil paint weathering. Then some rust for the rivets, and some oil stains, and some exhaust stains, and some more chipping, and some bullet holes...

I bravely removed the masking tape that's been on the windows for 8 months. Not too bad. Bit of glue here and there but I was expecting much worse. The books I've read all comment on the plexiglass windows being crazed and scratched up so I don't mind, I ran some rain over it and some white spirit and it cleaned up OK. The right bubble window had a bad glue run on it as it had to be stuck back on after hibernation, and this left a nasty mark. It now has a bullet hole in it.

It was nice to see the pilots again! Turns out when the cat knocked it off the stereo it dislodged the PE of the dash panel. There was no way to stick it back on so the tweezers went in the open window to retrieve the offending item. Never mind. Live to fly another day.

Tony B

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[Guest]

Finished-ish...

I think I'm finished with the weathering... It's hard to leave it alone and taking the photos always shows up more bits that need fettling.

Quick rundown as this has become a personal record so I can remember what been up to:

Added windscreen wipers with chipping and clean section of screen

Sprayed buff and ochre onto lower panels for dust

Added exhaust staining

Added rust (used MIG pigment, another first, lovely stuff)

Re-chipped the skids

If I could have done anything different I would have left the wind shield a bit clearer. I think the effect is realistic but it would have been nice to see their faces!

Next, door gunners...

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[Guest]

Stunning looking 'slick' huey, the weathering is spot on. This is one of my all time favourite military vehicles and such an iconic shape.