1/48 Academy CH-53E U.S. Marines

Gallery Article by Jason Hudson on Apr 11 2012  

 

 

I'd like to share the latest addition to my series of USMC rotary winged aircraft.  After completing the Italeri AH-1W & UH-1N I had been waiting along time for a manufacturer to produce the "echo" in 1/48.  I snapped one up as soon as I could & spent the better part of 18 months on the build.  It's a well engineered kit with excellent fit but a little lacking in detail, the real things are covered in rivets. Along with a Cobra Co resin kit, Eduard 'BIG ED' set & MAW decals, I enhanced a few areas with some detailing & scratch building.

I used hat pins, fuse wire, solder wire & plastic card on the tail fold, IFR probe & rotor head. I believe the rotor head is the weakest area of the kit, with the head sitting to high on the dog house. I corrected it by cutting various kit parts down for a more scale appearance. Unfortunately it means the blades sit on or too close to the folded tail, an issue I am prepared to live with but I may get around to making blade holders one day
as you only get x2 in the kit. As I had drilled & hinged the tail fold and also omitted the kit parts which provided the structure stability, I needed to re-enforce this area. Problem solving is one of my favourite aspects of modelling & after much thought I decided to install a small brass pin between the tails horizontal stabiliser & the spine of the fuselage which is almost invisible. It's this pin & the hinge pins that hold the heavy folded tail to rest of the model. Yes I have given it an accidental nudge & thankfully it remained firmly attached. 

 

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The best part of the build was trying some new paint techniques which I had read about on ARC, amongst other sources.  I prefer to post shade & after coming across some reference photos of a very weathered upper surface on the sponsons, I tried salt weathering.  It doesn't show too well in the pics but I'm happy with it.  Good reference photos showed the exhaust pipes to be a real focal point so I was keen to get the weathering right.  As a result I tried Alclad II for the first time which I was also happy with, there's x6 different colours on those exhausts.

After modelling for 30 year in a 'man cave', I joined my first club & at the encouragement of fellow members I entered the 'Stallion' in my first show which was awarded 'BEST IN SHOW' as voted by the judging panel at the 2011 annual Western Australian Model Expo.

Thanks to all the guys at the club for the kind words & encouragement.

Regards,

"HUDDO"

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Photos and text © by Jason Hudson