|
-----------------------------------------------------------.::.
vehicles .::. civilian aircrafts .::. military aircrafts .::.
miscellaneous .::.---------------------------------------------------------- |
I had this kit that had been waiting to be built as a Swedish police helicopter, so with the rescue theme at 08-Open I thought that this would be a good time to get started.
|
| But I'm not happy with the kit. It looks good with lot of details but the quality isn't what I expected from a Revell kit. |
| There is lot of flash and the clear parts doesn't fit perfectly. One window in the nose was even short shot. The rotor assembly is very wobbly even though I didn't want it to rotate. |
|
This part of the instructions is unclear to me. What do Revell want me to do? Should i cut the rotor blades, turn them around and butt join them? Well some ambulance parts included in this kit will be used on a BK117 helicopter and a EC145 will lose some of its parts to this one. I got confirmation that Revell did mould the blades wrong. But if I follow their instructions I will get rotor blades that curve upwards and that would look even worse. |
| Not being able to build according to the instructions I have started to convert it. First, I needed longer skids for the landing gear. Luckily there are some small sprues included from the EC145 model. On this are the correct skids for my chopper but the landing gears are different in the two kits, so I had to fill the recesses. The front of the skids are different for the right and left sides but I need the same type on both sides. Luckily, I have a EC145 kit that don't need this skid. |
| Included on a sprue is a video camera (I think) that my craft need. The camera is mounted on a straight pole while mine should be bent to double as a foot step. |
| I started to bend a plastic rod for this but then I found a piece in the EC145 kit that was just right for me. Some sanding to remove the attaching points and it would fit. |
| On the other side I needed an IR-camera and that one was found in the EC145 kit. My EC145 will be an ambulance and it was just a fluke that the kit I found was the police version. It has many useful parts that isn't included in the other versions of the kit. |
| Finally, I got my helicopter standing on its wheels.... eh... well what ever |
| I did a quick dirty fix on the rotor issue. I turned the whole assembly upside down and using hot water I bent the blades in the opposite direction, so they slope downwards. There is probably something that is wrong with this setup, but I think that it would be a minor fault. |
|
The landing gear became a mix of parts from the EC135 and the EC 145 kits. Now there are some part that I need to scratch build and other part that I will steal from the EC145. I just need to figure out which parts I need for that one, so I still can build it. I have mixed feelings for the kit In general, everything fits well. If I would build another one I probably split the side windows in to separate windows. But that is just a minor point, the main problem I've had is the rotor head attachment in the fuselage. It was wobbly and finally broke so in the end I filled the hole in the roof added a piece of plastic card above it and drilled a 0,5 mm hole on the roof and rotor head for a brass rod. By turning the rotor upside down, it would end up a little lower so the small plastic card i added on the roof doesn't add anything in height it just gives more stability for the brass rod. On the plus side is that I can now remove the rotor when I'm packing it for the model show. But I have one tip for any one that will build it. Don't forget a weight in the nose. I missed it as it was mentioned in the section that showed which holes needed to be drilled for the interior. As I'm not doing any of the versions of the kit I didn't take notice of that part and missed that. Later issues of the EC135 has moved the note of adding a weight to the instrument panel and made the symbol clearer but I doubt that packing the instrument panel full of lead would be enough it probably need more under the floor as well. |
| Painting was started and some spots where the masking tape lifted needed to be fixed. |
| Decals in place. |
| So, it is finished at last. Revell Eurocopter EC135 from the Swedish police with decals from Peddinghaus. |
| The blue colour from Gunze was a good match to the blue on the decals. |
 |
Next helicopter is an Ambulance from Matchbox.
|
| A new window is needed in the tail. |
| Drilling and cutting. Now I need to make the window glass somehow. |
| I decided to use the ambulance interior that is left over from the police helicopter in this build. |
| It was little too wide to fit but thinning down the sides was enough to get it in place. The new window in the rear gave me enough problems to start wishing that I hadn't tried to make one. Well the window isn't beautiful, but it is in place. |
| Most of the fuselage has been assembled. |
| With the paint on it was time for decals. The red isn't exactly what I wanted. It became too dark, but I'll let it pass. |
| Time to call this one finished. An air ambulance from Stockholm. |
| This was built together with a Eurocopter EC135 from Revell for the Rescue theme class at 08-open 2018. |
| Stockholm March 10, 2018 |  |
No updates |
----------------------------------------------------.::.
vehicles .::. civilian aircrafts .::. military aircrafts .::.
miscellaneous .::. home .::.------------------------------------------------------ |