Alouette gentille Alouette III *FINISHED*

[did_nev]

As the description says: Alouette III Belgian Air component

The kit is the well known Heller kit.

[ShaunW]

Two choppers in one GB - it can't be said that we won't be getting our money's worth with you Did Nev I'll be lucky to finish the one!

[did_nev]

Two choppers in one GB - it can't be said that we won't be getting our money's worth with you Did Nev I'll be lucky to finish the one!

I'm even considering a third one but I'll see how these two will progress.

[martin hale]

Interesting choice. I keep promising myself that I will do one of these in 1/48 scale one day, probably in Irish Air Corps markings.

Martin

[did_nev]

Stop promising and start building then, this is a good place to start

I know what you mean Martin, I've got lots of subjects awaiting their fate as well.

[did_nev]

And off we go!

Box and sprueshots





I did some minor subassemblies today
I needed to cut out this boxshaped thing first





And glued up



That's it for today on this one.

[mightymikeD]

Votre Alouette semble tres bonne! Bravo, mon ami.

[AndrewR]

Good start!

[ShaunW]

Great start Did-nev, is there enough bend in the rotor blades?

[did_nev]

And that is a handsome helicopter. I flew once with an ecureuil. That was a memorable day!

Bon, quelques photos!

Putting together the basics



And slapped on some paint



And I didn't touch those rotorblades.... yet

[ShaunW]

This is a nice looking helicopter Did Nev, the cockpit interior looks pretty decent OOB, though there is a lot of glass.

[did_nev]

Nothing much to talk about on this one, it's coming together nicely. My Seabat is another story, that one kicks like a mule.

Anyway, I managed to glue the greenhouse in place :-)

[ShaunW]

Looking good Did, very neat looking masking for the glazing.

[did_nev]

And the Alouette is back on the bench.

I noticed a gap aft of the rotorshaft. I don't know if needs to be there, but anyway if it's left open, it's gonna be very white in there.



I blanked it off with some plastic card.



Time to spray some orange. Firstly I taped off the area, I remember this from my Seabat.

Painted it black first for the interior colour.



Some grey as a basecoat for the orange.



And of course, some orange.... a lot better as with the Seabat.



The Alouette III in Belgian service has flotation bags fitted to its sides, so I started to scratch these.



I added some alufoil-tape and some Tamiya tape



Some more alu-tape and a coat of superglue and voila, flotation-bags awaiting their fit to the airframe.

[ShaunW]

Good progress and less trouble with the orange this time. Nice work with the floatation bags, I'm intrigued to see how they will look when fitted.