Splash's UH-34A Choctaw ***Finished***

[splash]

I have decided to have a go at the HobbyBoss 1/72 Choctaw.



Regards
Splash

[Dirkpitt289]

Outstanding. This is the one I was hoping to see you build.

[splash]

First impressions of the kit are good, it has fine engraved detail with little sign of flash.

There are a few injector pin marks but they have been generally placed where they don’t show, with the exception of a couple inside the rear cockpit, which if you model the door open will need sorting. One detail I do like is the Rotor blades, they have moulded them with a droop.

The plastic feels quite crisp and hard and might cause problems when it comes to removing the parts.

You get two sets of markings one for the French Navy and the other for the Belgium Air Force. Both Navy Blue with Orange Yellow colour schemes.

[jssel]

Looks rather nice in the box. I have both the 34 and Wessex in the Italeri releases. A little trivia. The US Navy called them the Sea Bat.

[splash]

Looks rather nice in the box. I have both the 34 and Wessex in the Italeri releases. A little trivia. The US Navy called them the Sea Bat.

More trivia it was also known as Sea Horse.

Did you know Westlands bought one, shipped it over to the UK assembled and flew it, then removed the petrol engine and fitted a gas turbine?

The Gas Turbine engine had less power than the original engine but due to it being much lighter the a/c finished up with a better payload.

Westlands then built the a/c under licence with the new engine and called it the Wessex Mk1.

[splash]

I think I will do it in this scheme from the 219th Helicopter Squadron, Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF).

Nice and sneaky with no markings.

[splash]

I have had a moment of madness, I thought I would check out the Italeri Wessex 3 & 5 to see how they looked against the Hobby Boss UH-34 and to my surprise the Hobby Boss kit looks like a copy, the part make up is similar but the quality of detail is not as deep or crisp as the Italeri kits.

So as all three boxes are open I might as well attempt all three at the same time, as you can see from my workbench space might be an issue, but as I’m building them all with the back doors closed they should build quite quick and the painting should not be to challenging.

Tonight I have sprayed all the interiors and the rotor blades so work on the cockpits can start tomorrow.

[jssel]

Hey, lets get that #$%@hook finished on the tray

[TimJ]

It looks like you've got your own Group build going on there with the Choctaw, two Wessexes and the Chinook.

[splash]

To finish the Chinook would be cheating as I started it before the GB started, but I will work on it whist the glue and paint on the Wessex's is drying.

Don’t you just love the smell of glue drying in the morning

Regards
Splash

[jssel]

Still love your avatar. Somewhere I have a picture of me leaning out the door of a Huey underway. I'll be danged if you could get me to do it now 40 years on. When you're 20 you can do anything.

[splash]

Don’t you just miss the smell of burnt avaiation fuel, being sat in the door with yiour feet dangling out side doing 90kts at 50 feet.

You could always tell a Wessex aircrewman they always had oil stains on their right shoulder of their flying overhauls, due to the constant dripping of oil from the transmission tunnel that ran from the engine to the main gearbox.

I notice that all three kits would need major detail added to the rear cockpit if you intend to leave the doors open. The Wessex 3 needs a complete sonar set plus two seats and the radar and sonar consoles. The Wessex 5 needs more seats and a large avionics’ box opposite the door.

[jssel]

I love the smell of JP4 in the morning. We are going somewhere far away to do something dangerous. Wonder were I found the strength to hold an M60(20+ lbs) into a 70-80kt slipstream. Fixed mount or free, it was a lot of work.

[splash]

I have started work on all three a/c, the parts on the Hobby Boss look very much like the Italeri parts, look how well the wessex 5 and UH-34 parts match.

The Italeri wessex 5 is the darker blue parts

[MerlinJones]

Looking good, Splash.
I started my HAS3 in the Anti-shipping GB and chose to keep the cabin door firmly closed, for the same reasons as yourself.
How detailed is the Hobby Boss cockpit?

Regards,
Bruce