Italeri OH-13S in 1/72nd

Have been working on this tiny model for a few days together with the other ones. I need to give it another wash to bring out some more details and some matt varnish to hide some spots of super glue, even tough when it's in place not much will be visible. The framework of the tail boom is too thick for this scale but it's the limit of injection moulding technology. I am going to spray the boom and fuel tanks seperately, and then install the engine afterwards. Can someone confirm the interior colour of these early B47? Italeri is stating pale green FS34227, but the few photos I found in color show a darker green, but it may be due to old photographs etc.

Nice work, love the detail

Gordon found this site ...

http://guerradevietnam.foros.ws/t338/bell-oh-13-sioux/

and some Vietnam war photos......

Lovely photos Marco, however, there is no problem with this one, gordon can visit the Aviation Museum and take as many photos as he needs of the real thing.

bcauchi wrote:Lovely photos Marco, however, there is no problem with this one, gordon can visit the Aviation Museum and take as many photos as he needs of the real thing.

Yes of course Brian , but the thing is that early versions were diferent , even the cockpit colours...

And he can see these walkarounds...

http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/michael_supko/oh-13_bell_47/

The 47G there is at the aviation museum is different than the OH-13S. The engine is different and the cockpit colours, which probably were different from the start, may have been changed a lot of times. As I mentioned to Marco, Italeri instructions suggest pale green, and I think that in some photos there is evidence of green on the floor, but the instrument coloumn is always light grey. Even the photos in the site mentioned, which is a restored a/c, may not be accurate, as are a lot of aircraft in aviation museums worldwide! Thank a lot for the help.

Cockpit painted and assembled. I still have to add seatbelts and maybe a little wear and tear paint before closing the fishbowl!

Neat painting Gordon & yes its crying for some subtle weathering

Some more photos after completing the cockpit and closing the fishbowl, which wasn't easy! I know that probably the door would have been removed during the active periods, but I chose to install them to keep the cockpit clean, assuming it has just arrived from delivery! I polished the clear parts with Xerapol which is intended to polish car headlamps after becoming opaque with UV (ALL "modern" cars).

The clear parts looks real Gordon.......

Lovely Gordon, looking really sharp!

And temporaarily put together without glue! There is still more painting to be done on the propellers and other details.

ta l ghageb.

Coming realy nice ..Gordon don't forget to bend a littel the baldes...

skyhigh wrote:Coming realy nice ..Gordon don't forget to bend a littel the baldes...

Marco,
I have already bent them a lot because Italeri moulded them bent the wrong way round! I had bent them a little downwards but yes you are right, they are now straight. I will bend them once more before finishing it, although it still need some more work.

What a neat little helicopter model. I still remember living at my parents house that we moved to after I grew up, there was a farm field one acre from us and during the summer, a helicopter just like this would come flying over crop dusting skimming over the tops of the crops and then at the end of the field right before the trees would pull straight up and kick the tail over coming straight back down in pulling out right above the crops. Amazing to watch. Wish I would've had film of it. My brothers and a guy still crop dusts with helicopters down there, I'll have to ask them if it's the same kind and see if he can get any and film as it so much easier with phones and cameras nowadays.

Lovely work so far Gordon, neat job indeed and not easy with all that clear plastic

Here are some more photos. The blades seem to bend back slowly back to straight, but in real life they are only lightly bent. The engine and fuel tanks are now glued in place. It still requires paint on the props and the armament on the skids and some weathering before the final matt coat.

Good work Gordon...

Looking good. I could try just a little bit of heat on the blades to see if that will help them them and then keep them in that shape. I'm not sure about the blades on this helicopter, but on some of the later Bell helicopters, the blades wouldn't actually start bending until about halfway out.