G
I’d say those look pretty good.
Rick’s 1/72 Airfix Chinook HC1 - Bravo November - a dream sheet build
- Thread starter rickoshea52
- Start date
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.
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.
Thanks Jakko. I went with the brass handled broom in the end.
Looking great and I love the added extras.
Superb work - I do like the little details you've added.
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.
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.
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.
Missing the pedals out seems a big omission from Airfix. Grand job in rectifying their error.
Seems to be par for the course for most Helo kits.
Superb detailing work on that interior!
Fuselage and interior all joined up. The transmission tunnel panels hide the join but before that some holes need to be drilled using the jig provided. It’s easy to use with idiot proof locating lugs to aid positioning. The lugs also aid with fitting the tunnel covers.
Thanks for all the positive comments and likes etc. so far. Happy to know this build is attracting some interest.
G
I like that they provide a jig to drill holes — though I do kind of wonder why they didn’t just mould indentations in the underside. Regardless, more manufacturers could take a cue from this example and provide jigs for tasks like this, or for bending photoetched parts into precise shapes.
Very much so - it's such an iconic aircraft and it's great to see a decent kit and build of it. You're interior detailing was a great addition.
I love that jig idea - it'd be great to see some more of this kind of thing. Airfix gets a lot of stick from some circles, but I do thin they're genuinely trying to up their game.
Another omission from the kit are the two strakes along the lower rear fuselage. How these were missed is a mystery but to be fair to Airfix, the Revell Chinook kit also misses them.
So out with the plastic strip, scalpel and ruler. Using reference photos as a guide the strakes run from the middle of a panel under the bubble window to the rear landing gear bay and along the fuselage side to underside panel. I measure this to me 37mm long. Plastruct 0.5x1.0mm strip was cut to length with the ends trimmed with an angle.
Glued on with thin cement using a steel rule to ensure straightness and the correct flare outwards this was a simple detail addition.
So out with the plastic strip, scalpel and ruler. Using reference photos as a guide the strakes run from the middle of a panel under the bubble window to the rear landing gear bay and along the fuselage side to underside panel. I measure this to me 37mm long. Plastruct 0.5x1.0mm strip was cut to length with the ends trimmed with an angle.
Glued on with thin cement using a steel rule to ensure straightness and the correct flare outwards this was a simple detail addition.
Loving the extra work you're putting into this.
The jigs are a great idea, my Airfix Gannet had something similar
The jigs are a great idea, my Airfix Gannet had something similar
Interesting that that was missed, A great bit of correction work though.
Now with paint. The grey/green is on, in this photo there is some masking tape applied where a touch up is required. Next step is to mask a wavy line for the black underside.
Coming on nicely Rick and a very detailed and informative build thread. Classic helicopter.
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