1/35 MRC OH-58D Kiowa

by Fernan DeGannes

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MRC's Kiowa is a good representation of this nimble scout/attack helicopter, but in 1/35 scale the kit cries out for lots of additional detail.  First the cockpit.  The collectives and joysticks were enhanced with buttons and switches.  The instrument panel's layout looked correct but had to be augmented with switches around the various display screens.  The cockpit was painted with black with a couple of drops of white added.  Seatbelts from aluminium strips and photoetched buckles from Reheat were installed.  Finally the whole assembly was dry brushed with Testors GunShip Grey. 

The Kit includes a basic representation of the engine and bay. Having seen a couple of shots of this area on ARC's Walkarounds I decided to test my scratch building skills and detail this area. Wires of different thicknesses, additional bracing, aluminium foil straps and careful painting completed the job. 

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The Kiowa has very prominent wiring and harnesses on the universal weapons pylons. I added these and attached them to the Hellfire launchers and to the 50cal machine gun. The Hellfire fins were thinned for better scale appearance. The gun seemed to be too long for its cage when compared to references so I trimmed the barrel. The gun was painted with Model Master Burnt Metal and given a dark grey wash to enhance the details. 

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The mast mounted sight was next. I wanted to create the impression that there were electronics inside so I created some details out of styrene pieces and installed them accordingly. The lenses were painted with Tamiya Clear Blue and Smoke. 

The shape of the infrared jammer's base is incorrect but it would have taken far too much effort to make accurate. I satisfied myself by scribing an oval access panel on either side and added wiring and other details to the rear of the base. To achieve the disco light effect I painted the jammer in silver and checkerboarded it with gold (it looks much better in real life than in the photos).

Other areas that received attention were the tail rotor and the nose. Photos showed wiring at the back of the tail boom which I installed. MRC's molding of the nose sensors was shallow so styrene disks were added to build up this area. 

The model was painted with Model Master Green Drab with a few drops of Military Brown added. When I am building helicopters I paint the fuselage before assembly and touch up after gluing and sanding. This technique relieves me of tedious masking of the open areas (cockpit etc.). The model was then weathered with a lightened version of the base coat, dark pastels and a dark grey wash. 

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Fitting the wind screen proved to be the most challenging part of the build. I thought I had installed everything properly but the instrument panel coaming was obstructing it. Curses!!! To discover this at this stage was my worst nightmare. The fix entailed prying out the coaming, filing it down, test fitting and refitting to the cockpit. Needless to say some spot painting had to be done. 

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Finally the formation lights, various beacons and the cockpit doors were installed. MRC provides no attachment points for the doors so I used aluminium strips as hinges and secured these with super glue. The model tends to be a tail sitter so some weight in the nose is necessary. 

Hope you like the model. Until next time.

Fernan

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Photos © by Michael Wyatt and text by Fernan DeGannes