Putting it all Together Part III


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    On the left is a couple of close in shots of the completed interior, taken through the open ramp space.    You can see what I was referring to earlier about how it had to be detailed because of it's visibility.


    Above:Looking into the real helicopter.

    At the end of this documentary, you'll see a couple of pictures with the interior lights on, which really added to the realistic nature of it all.


    The Ramp with all the hardware installed!

    I waited until the very last to add the Ramp Gunner figure so he wouldn't be in the way of other installations.




    Now, with all the major exterior components installed and painted, it was time to vacu-form the chin bubbles and make the other cockpit glass pieces.    I used clear styrene from a greeting card box cover because the kit supplied clear plastic windows were too thick and created a magnifying glass affect.

    I had already done most of the painting and weathering around the front end so the glass wouldn't be messed up.


    Here's a closer look at the near finished cockpit transparencies.    The chin bubbles were a big concern of mine, initially, but they seemed to work out pretty smooth... you can also see the Flack Jackets inside the chin bubbles.

    I hadn't made the cover around the 40mm ammo chute yet, but that was accomplished using a small piece of wet paper towell wrapped around the chute, dried, painted and it really looked good!



Continue to the Weathering section.