Hey gents. Working on Trumpeter’s 1/35 AS365N2 Dolphin 2 helicopter. The kit is fundamentally wrong. The kit’s box art and decals are for a French Navy helicopter but the kit actually has parts for a civilian business helicopter. Typical Trumpeter!
I am making a Dolphin in Spanish Civil Guardia configuration. I opened up the rear wall of the kit’s rear bay and scratch built an aft compartment. I used my handy shape definer tool to determine the shape of the rear compartment wall. I will then move on to adding wiring for the area.
After that I will scratch build the crewman’s fold down seat (one side) and pilot’s storage area (other side). Once done, the interior will be just about done and I can insert the cockpit/rear bay and put the fuselage together. Updates to follow!
Here are my trophies from Maraudercon. I got 1st place for my WW1 dio, and the tow truck. I also got best diorama (only because Scott was not there). I got 2, 2nd place trophies for my dino head, and my Kozak-2 armored car. I took 3rd place with my rocket panther. I also won these items at the raffle. It was a very successful show for me.
Here are some pics of the start of the build on the tow truck:
The chassis completed.The cab interior. The cab interior. Cab on chassis.Cab on chassis.Engine with wench cable. I used twine to simulate the rope.Finished kit.I added a tool box set that is also made by Miniart.A pic with all the awards I have won with it.
Scott has a photography exhibition coming up in November. If anyone is interested in checking it out, please see the images below for more information:
The October meeting went pretty well. Of special note was Tom Lacy speaking about an airbrush class he has been taking and the new skills he has learned from the class. The instructor has an invitation to come to one of our meetings (likely the January 2025 meeting) to speak about airbrushing and will happily look your airbrush over if you bring it to make sure it’s in proper shape. Tom will coordinate with him to make sure what specific meeting of ours he will attend. The instructor lives/works in Pennsylvania so his investment in time coming to see us will be much appreciated.
Congratulations to Randy for his impressive bling at ARMORCON and for Scott for IPMS Journal seeking him out to write an article about his Woody’s Garage diorama. That article should be out in early 2025 and will be Shenandoah Valley Modeler’s second article in the magazine!
The December meeting is moved to 21 December at 2pm. Remember, this meeting is a pot luck (bring your favorite dish) and a gift exchange event like we did last year. At the November meeting, Scott will speak to how the gift exchange will take place. Chad will put up a tool on the site to sign up for pot luck dishes but, in general, we will need about three deserts, drinks, paperplates/plastic forks/napkins, and five or six homemade food dishes.
We can try and sell kits at the February ODO show, but I need to know by 20 October if you have kits to donate and if so, how many. If we do not have a “commit” of at least 40-50 kits, it will not be worth reserving a vendor table. We have 5 kits leftover from the Roanoke show. Email me if you have kits to donate soonest so I can make the appropriate plans/decisions.
Scott is having his annual photo show in November at the Lake Frederick community restaurant building (a rather nice place!). Show up and check out Scott’s photographs! Speaking of photographs, today was John’s last meeting with us for a long time. In such a short time, he has been a solid club member who has ingratiated himself within our club and I certainly will miss him. Good luck John in your hunt for that perfect place to live in your retirement!
It’s finally done. This is a project most of you probably had no idea I was working on and its way outside what i normally build. It took almost 2 years for me to reach the finish line but I finally made it. I wish I could bring it to a meeting to show it off but it’s already in a display case in my boss’ museum (it’s also far too fragile to transport).
This was a commission build for my boss. He provided the kit and asked that I build it to look like the cutaway engines we build in the shop, so I used the same paints we used and marked things the way we would. Its designed to turn if you build it unpainted, but in its current state it does not. Regardless, he seems very happy with it, despite how long I took.
This build required every skill I’ve developed while modeling. Filling, Sanding, masking, airbrushing, brush painting, 3D printing, and scratch building. I used model cements, super glue, and even epoxy. I used Alclad paints, Vallejo acrylics, industrial lacquer, rattle cans, and I even decanted some other rattle cans to use the paint in my airbrush. I did a ton of research, both online and in person.
I put in way more effort than I probably should have but in the end I’m very pleased with it. I consider this to be one of my best builds to date, but it’ll probably never see a show because of how large and fragile it is.
I liked the kit so much I ended up buying one for myself abouta year ago. Unfortunately, after how much work this was I doubt I’ll ever build it. I need to go back to my ant-scale planes for a while….
-Chad
P.S. Here’s a couple examples of cutaways that we make:
Allison 250Pratt & Whitney PT6 (in-progress)
Also, I probably won’t be at the meeting on Saturday. I’m swamped with other projects and family stuff. Things should slow down for me before the NEXT meeting.
I just returned from Armorcon. Had a good time there. They had record show with 343 entries. The most in their 25 years of doing this show. I won 2 silver, and three gold.
Here are the Silver winners:
Here are the Gold winners:
This is the bling:
The way AMPS works is if you win with kits in the same category, you only get one award. They award you with the higher award. That is why you only see 3 gold medallions. I also got some of the tokens that are becoming more and more popular.
Gents, I am not a fan of the V-22 since it appears to be a death trap, but nonetheless here is a very cool shot of it at night approaching a refueling aircraft. The prop edge electric charge in this photograph gives this Osprey a ghostly appearance. Enjoy!
Finally something to report. I have applied around 80 decals to the body. A few were layered, not many. Tamiya Decals from the late 1990’s are very thick but laid down nicely with MicroSet & MicroSol and some Heat from a Hairdryer. It took about 3 weeks working about 2 hours per evening. I then left them dry for around 10 days. I was very fearful of any clear coat causing bubbling or attacking them. Any moisture trapped underneath can cause bubbling of the decals. My favorite Go To Clear is Mr Color GX100 clear thinned about 80% with Mr Leveling Thinner. I sprayed the rear bumper first to see if there world be any adverse reactions. Seeing none, I went ahead and put on a light, misting coat. Four coats later I was satisfied with the coverage and not seeing any Orange peel.
After letting it out gas for 2 weeks, I looked to polish the finish before moving on to adding the glass and chrome. Examining the Rear Body, I saw what looked like fine pebbling. Running my fingers over it, it was smooth. It looked like I used a Flat clear coat, yet the Front section was very Glossy. So, I started with Tamiya Course polish. Didn’t touch it. Then I used my Proxxon with a buffing wheel with the Tamiya Course polish. Still no effect. Just a shinny pebble finish. Before resorting to Hand polishing, I tried the Mr Polishing Course paste applied with a sponge applicator and buffed with the Proxxon. That did the trick. Took around 3 hours to buff the body. The results were amazing. I took my time and went very slowly as it is very easy to chip or damage the decals and/or paint. Once I get the glass and chrome attached, I will buff the body with Mr Polishing Fine and Extra Fine to get that Glass like finish.
Next up is polishing and installing the glass and adding the Fuel Filler. The interior needs to be painted black. Once that is accomplished, I will glue on the front part of the body and add the last little details. Maybe Late October or early November completion date.
Shenandoah Valley Modelers 