1/32 Revell AH-64A Apache

(South Carolina National Guard) 

by Paul Myhill a.k.a Green-Meanie 

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Here are some pictures of my most recent build, a Revell 1/32 AH-64A finished in the colours of the South Carolina National Guard. Regular visitors to the ARC forums may already be familiar with this particular model, however those that haven't seen it, I hope you like it.

I love building extra details into my models and this was no exception.  On the main fuselage I added some wire mesh to simulate the grilles under the right engine nacelle. The nacelles themselves were detailed using styrene strip and foil tape. The engines exhausts were removed completely to be replaced with scratch built versions made from styrene sheet and mesh.

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Before adding the canopy I had to complete the two crew figures.  I removed the moulded helmet monocles and replaced them with scratch built items again using styrene and twisted copper wire.  The monocle eye glass itself was made using a tiny piece of clear styrene painted with Tamiya clear green.  I also incorporated a small piece of clear styrene to simulate the visors which was painted with Tamiya smoke.  I detailed the inside of the canopy frame with styrene strip and brass wire before painting it.

With the canopy added and masked I gave the whole thing its first coat of paint to act as a primer.  This was necessary to allow me to preshade before airbrushing the main colours.  I used an approximate 50/50 mix of Tamiya sky grey and white (with a tiny drop of blue) for the lighter of the two greys, and a mix of dark sea grey, light sea grey and white for the darker upper surfaces.

After the paint was dried a gloss coat was oversprayed and decals added.  I made most of the decals myself using an ordinary inkjet printer.  The sharkmouth was masked up and sprayed using the same grey mix as for the upper surfaces.  The first lot of weathering was done using artists oils, mixing yellow ochre and burnt umber and then washed around the main panel lines and edges.

 

Once everything was flat coated and dried the canopy was unmasked in readiness for the final stages.  The TADS/PNVS turret was detailed using a small piece of a DVD-R disc sanded to shape.  The slightly holographic shine of the disc gave a quite convincing effect.  The 30mm cannon was detailed with styrene rod to create the wire strike framework, and also with wires and photo etch ammo chutes from the Eduard set.  The final few parts and details were finished and some last minute weathering with pastels to simulate dusty footprints on the sponsons was added.

Big thanks to all the guys on the forums who helped me along the way with this build providing me with extremely useful photos and info. Cheers.

Paul

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Photos and text © by Paul Myhill a.k.a Green-Meanie