Here´s a sketch for a Huey dio dropping troops.
This idea just came to my mind when I saw the pic of Sturmovik in the "Flying aircraft in a diorama" thread. I´m going to try to make the signal smoke act as a background in this dio.
Thanks for the info about smoke colours! Now I can choose any colour I see fit.



I´ll probably go for a 1/72 scale dio.
Does anybody have a clue what kind of troop kits there are available in 1:72, Vietnam era?
What about a 1:72 Huey? Any recommendations?

Feel free to suggest any ideas, I haven´t decided the theme yet. It could be a medic chopper or just plain reinforcement drop...
I just want to try the smoke!



Toni

Nice sketch Toni!

Do you have an idea on how to make the rotors look like they are rotating?

Rotating blades...hmmm...
Only thing I come up with is to bend the blades slightly upwards, and put the chopper off-ground. Once again, I wouldn´t try it if there is a danger of spoiling the whole thing with it.
Unless...
The blades could be made of clear plastic, quite wide, thinning towards the edges. Airbrush them in a way that the colour fades near the edges...

Actually you can freeze the blades in a normal photograph of a flying chopper, so the rotation speed of the blades is not very fast. In this perspective it could be acceptable to freeze the blades in a dio...

Toni

I was thinking about the same thing. Maybe take a sheet of circular acetate, rip the edges randomly, and paint it grayish-black. As you pointed out though, badly done effects can ruin a good dio

I found a review for a photo-etched prop blur product at the Aircraft Resource Center. This might help

I saw a model at our local IPMS of a helicopter in flight. The blades were replaced with a circular disc and the rotating effect painted(?) on. It looked pretty good considering that this isnt the easiest thing in the world to replicate. To take this further, with your artistic skills if you could produce this realistically in some artwork/drawing programme and print it onto clear printable sheets used for "overhead" projectors, then cut out the circle and place it in the blades position. Would this work?

Another option would be to have the helicopter landed and still have the smoke blowing in the background!

Just my thoughts on the matter!!
Frank

You could also wait for the Panda 1/35 UH1D Huey Slick or the Trumpeter Mi8 or Mi24 Hind!
Now THAT would be a diorama!

Mike
Anxiously awaiting both kits.

I´m already waiting for winning a lottery, buying a 200m2 house and using the attic for a diorama featuring all of these helos!
#:-)


I REALLY have to keep it small...
Toni

Mike,
I am an avid builder of 1/35 helo's. I have heard about the Trumpeter releases and can't wait for the MI-24 Hind. Although I'm not looking forward to the pricetag. By the way, why are Trumpeter's 1/32 and 1/35 A/C and Helo's so expensive (MI-4 = $99) when their armor models are some of the most reasonably priced around? I have not heard of the Panda 1/35 UH1D Huey Slick. Do you have any further info and possibly a link to it? I have several of the old, but very good, Revell 1/32 UH1D models. I am very interrested in an accurate 1/35 version.
Any info would be helpful.

Here's a 1/72 Huey that I completed a short time ago. Was a decent kit and went together well. You'll have to do some research because the instructions are kind of vague in places.

http://www.squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=HE00141



HTH

I was thinking of a simmilar idea but in 1/35... With Huey and figures from Legend productions:







I think this could be great... Toni, what do you think? 1/35 is more demanding, but also more fun to do...

Mario M.

Maki, that looks just fantastic...I bet the signal smoke would also look better in bigger scale...
And yes, I would really like to do it in big scale but I bet it´ll get expensive...besides I have kits for at least three next projects already.
Do you know what those figures cost and where to get them? How about a 1:35 Huey?

Thanks,
Toni

You can start with this beauty:



It's available at Hannants .

Just found out that there is a Monogram Huey Hog 1:48 available in my local store.
That could be ok for this project I guess! The figures may be difficult to find, though...
One possibility would be to display a medic chopper landing on the smoke and make the absence of people the main point, title "Where the hell are they?" or similar...
It would be more of a vignette than a diorama then...

How is that kit to build? Any experience? Are the pilots included?

:-)

Toni

Just found out that there is a Monogram Huey Hog 1:48 available in my local store.
That could be ok for this project I guess! The figures may be difficult to find, though...
One possibility would be to display a medic chopper landing on the smoke and make the absence of people the main point, title "Where the hell are they?" or similar...
It would be more of a vignette than a diorama then...

How is that kit to build? Any experience? Are the pilots included?

:-)

Toni

One idea for a scene could be the assault landing at LZ X-Ray with the Huey bringing re-inforcements in Ia Drang Valley.
Could rent We Were Soldiers to see what it would look like....lots of tall grass I think.
Just an idea.

Tall grass....
Now THAT would be a dio, having the smoke AND the grass for displaying the air flow from the rotor blades!!!
Good idea!

:-)

Toni

The figures look great and I want to get my hands on those for quite some time now. They are from Legend Productions: http://www.www-legend.co.kr/ and I think Great Models has them... I've never bought a kit from Legend, but they look good and I have seen some really nice comments on Legend's armor conversions.

About Huey; guys have a topic on those helos on aircraft forum so I suggest to follow that tread... Just imagine: a big chopper with blades rotating, tall grass, violet smoke and grunts jumping out. It could be a winner... :-)

Mario M.

A long time ago, I scratchbuilt part of a Huey (all except the tail) hanging over a rice field in 1/15 th scale with a friend. It's still one of the best dioramas I've ever worked on, even among the best I've ever seen (though that was mostly due to the modeling qualities of the other guys that worked on the diorama). The diorama is about 80 cm by 80 cm in the form of a box. Against the sunset backdrop, a 1/72 scale Huey creates depth. We tried several solutions to create a rotating blade with clear plastic, but that never looked convincing. We decided to use the blades in a "frozen"position in the end. Since all those years, the diorama is in my friend's waiting room (he's a dentist).

Italeri / Revell has a nice 1/72nd huey.
If you want to build a dio, you'll be better off in 1/72nd than 1/48th because there are far more figures available. Maybe you can still find ESCI 1/72nd figures. I don't know if they've got something for the era... The problem with these figures is that they are molded out of yucky soft plastic.
I think that preiser has some nice figures, but I'm not sure.

Right to the point, eh?
Well said, m1garand!
Could you play some Wagner for us?
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Toni

I used to work on the huey and it is one of my favorite aircraft. Also thought you could use some inspiration. Can't wait to see it when it's finished.

Ahhhh crap.I JUST looked at a guy who did a 1/72 Huey dio and looked pretty good.Only prob was it was a gunship and not a troop carrier.Guess the guy didnt do his homework.I'll try and find the pic ASAP.

Here it isIf you look closely you can see the waterfall below it.The guy said its supposed to be about 1965.
Heres another view

Careful with throwing a smoke in the tall grass as you'll create too much smoke and the LZ won't be of any use to anyone. :-)

Thanks,
Kevin Keefe
Mortars in Miniature