I know that helo's should technically be on the Aeroscale site but since I've seen a few builds on this forum, I figured what the heck.... I'll probably re-post this on the Aeroscale forum when I get a chance.

My subject is a Kiowa Warrior currently serving in Iraq. The kit was the MRC 1/35th Scale OH-58D "Thugs" with the Werner's Wings resin doghouse, Fireball Modelworks new decals and a PE harness set from Eduard. I can't say enough good things about the Werner's Wings and Fireball decal sets. If you have any interest in building a 58D, these are mandatory. As a side note, Floyd Werner was an Army OH-58D pilot a while ago.

Anyway, I modified much of the interior, including the rear bulkhead (crews in Iraq remove the rear seat cushion to provide a bit more room for the body armor they have to wear), added the housings for the new airbag system on the glareshield and a bunch of other small details. The exterior got all of the new resin parts plus a bunch of small details I added.

The paint job is a mix of Modelmaster helo drab (both enamel and acrylic as the have different shades that complement each other). Since helos in Iraq are usually filthy, I used tan & brown pastels to weather the fuselage. It is a real challenge to duplicate the paint job on Army helicopters due to the way they weather and attract dirt and stains. I'm pretty happy with the way my paint job came out.

In a nutshell, that is it. The full build is on ARC ( http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=166130 ) if anyone is interested.

Here are a few pictures of the bird in-progress and at the end. Any / all comments and suggestions are welcome.

John

That's a sweet looking Kiowa John, I really like the paint job on the interior. Lots of detailing too. Nice clean build thanks for posting.

Rob

Wow! Your Kiowa looks great! Where did you buy the resin set and the decals, by the way?

Yeah I like that . Well done .

The resin set was from Werner's Wings and includes the late style doghouse & rear doors, side armor panels, RWR antennas, GPS, blue force tracker, etc. WW also has a very nice alternative landing gear set for the -58 as well. I can't find the contact info for WW but you should be able to Google it. If you don;t find anything, let me know and I'll look up Floyd Werner's email.

Fireball Modelworks ( http://webpages.charter.net/osborn82/ ) provided the decals. The Fireball set is great and includes a full set of marking for approx 8 OH-58's plus the hellfires, rocket pods, etc.

Both of these outfits have great service. I had the orders within a week of mailing the check out the door.

Well, John, that looks really cool, perfect weathering.

Libor

Thanks, John--I found Werner's email address and am in touch with him about the update kit.

That interior is way too cool! And so is the rest of the helicopter. Nice job.

Darryl

Thanks very much guys! I really enjoy helo modeling, I think of them like flying tanks. You can get them all crudded up and they just look even better. Can't do that with airplane models, that is for sure!

Thanks again for the kind compliments.

John

Very nice! What did you use on the IR Jammer?

John,
Outstanding build. You have inspired me to start theThug's kit that I have in the stash. I have Floyd's parts coming an dwill have ot get the decals next. Great SBS on ARC too...
John

Hi Thomas,

I spent much time trying to decide what the best approach is to this. After some good advice on ARC, I decided to use a foil wrapper from a twix candy bar. I cut the metallic gold wrapper into thin strips and glued each section on one panel at a time. Use super glue and keep it stretched tight as you go around the jammer. I then hit selected panels with diluted clear red.

It's not quite as I would like it but all in all, I am happy with the results.

Regards,

John