AH-6J gunship "160th SOAR Nightstalkers"

[Hank79]

Hello gents, this is my first real scale helicopter build as i'm still new to the hobby. I have always loved the AH-6 "little bird" and thought it would be a good plan to model one in a semi scale way. This heli is by far no means accurate one to one. I'm aiming to get the right look while its in the air with most of the main details covered with leaving out details that can't be really seen in the air. The markings will be of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) "Nightstalkers" from Fort Campbell as they are the only air regiment that use the highly modified Hughes 500 with a six blade head and uprated engine for special operations. The AH-6/MH-6 is based on the MD530F and is vastly different to civilian Hughes 500's. I have equiped this model with:

Hellifire missiles
M134 gatling guns
M261 19 tube launcher with 2.75 inch hydra rockets
FLIR
Uprated "M" specification (Mission enhanced little bird) with six blade rotor and four blade tail
Fully functional rocket launchers using my Trex 500 AH-1 Cobra as a live moving target.

Heli specs:
Century Heli NH-500E and 500D fuselages/700size
OF Helitechnik six blade head, swash plate, swash follower and aluminum M blades from Germany.
Scorpion 330kv engine, 12t pinion, 1250rpm in governor mode.
Castle cremations 160HV
Mikado vbar 5.1
Sky hunter hobbies four blade tail
Lengthend main shaft by 25mm

Detail specs:
10 x Estes 13mm A-10 OT solid fuel rockets (scale 2.75 inch hydra rockets M261 19 tube launcher)
2 x Estes 18mm C6-7 solid fuel rockets (scale Hellfire missiles)
2 x custom ignition systems
2 x 1/6 Hot toys pilot and Navy seal
2 x Hellfire missiles kit from (starwood models)
1 x Hellfire missile launcher kit (starwood models)
2 x 1/6 M-134 Gatling guns from eBay
1 x custom made M261 19 tube rocket launcher with 2.75 inch hydra rockets
1 x cockpit from sky hunter hobbies (front and rear floors made from scratch)
2 x joysticks
Fins, access hatches, mounting points made from various plastic/wood/ and aluminium parts I bought from the hobby shop
Decals made by Callie graphics.





Mechanics are a Trex 700E







Some pipe i found on a work site and some M134 galtling guns i brought of ebay

OF Helitechnic rotor head

Hellfire missiles from starwood models

[Mercuriell]

Absolutely beautiful piece of work

[SidewaysLS4]

Real nice . Who makes the 6 bladed head?

[Hank79]

Originally Posted by SidewaysLS4

Real nice . Who makes the 6 bladed head?

It's is an OF head from Germany. The head, swash, swash follower and blades were brought from Starwood models...quite pricy, around $1500 total.

[Hank79]

[Hank79]

[Hank79]

[Hank79]

[june8781]

That is beautiful. Keep up the good work. Truly inspiring.

[Hank79]

Thanks mate, i'v been working on it for around six months now due not anticipating the amount of work in converting into AH-6 form. Next thing I have to do is modify the landing skids by shortening them. Hopefully in the next month I will have her in the air

[SidewaysLS4]

That is looking excellent, my favorite Hughes 500 . Are you going to do the cascade tail with offset from vertical also?

[nuttzzy]

hank im gathering my stuff to build a little bird also.. have ben for a few weeks now.. frame is on the way along with servos and motor.. gonna be a 600 so wont be as big and fancy as yours but ill be a little bird to

[Hank79]

Originally Posted by SidewaysLS4

That is looking excellent, my favorite Hughes 500 . Are you going to do the cascade tail with offset from vertical also?

Thanks friend, I'm not sure at this stage, I'll have to see if it's possible with the 700 tail mechanics if it can be offset. Would be cool if it could be done thought

Originally Posted by nuttzzy

hank im gathering my stuff to build a little bird also.. have ben for a few weeks now.. frame is on the way along with servos and motor.. gonna be a 600 so wont be as big and fancy as yours but ill be a little bird to

That's great man, just be prepared to put in a lot of time in modification. The AH/MH-6 is very different from any civil Hughes 500, try to gather as many pics as you can. I totally under estimated how much work would be involved in transforming it to a AH-6 lookalike. Started the project in January and till have a fair amount of time to go. When you start if you want any advice on what materials I used to make the various custom parts I would be happy to help

[Luvmyhelis]

Outstanding work!!!!

[cobra_attack]

man that is one sweet bird!! So are the rockets really gonna be able to fire? If so that's wicked!!

[Hank79]

Thanks for the complements guys. Yes it will have fully functional rockets. There will be seven each side that can fire all at once or one side at a time, so fourteen rockets in total. At the moment I am constructing dual ignition systems and the launch tubes which look similar to the M260 7 tube launcher that the AH-6 is usually armed with instead of the 19 tube M261 launcher in the picture at the start of the thread. Both systems in real life fire the 2.75 hydra rockets.
I have purchased a new 500 size Align AH-1 Super Cobra that I'm going to destroy mid air using it as a live moving target(drone)
I will also engineer scale Hellfire missiles with bigger rocket engines for more range. So with that there will be the option firing both depending how I arm the helicopter. If anyone has an old heli they want to donate for a live target let me know

[cobra_attack]

Why not destroy a cardboard tank instead of a Cobra? That's a big chunk of change to blow up!! Or build a enemy compound and blast it lol!!

[Hank79]

Good thinking, I just have to get a 1/6 figure of Bin laden to put inside the compound

[cobra_attack]

Originally Posted by Hank79

Good thinking, I just have to get a 1/6 figure of Bin laden to put inside the compound

That would be awesome!! Check here for figure parts to make bin laden and some taliban to blow up on the cheap www.classictvtoys.com haha!!

[Hank79]

Here is the first test fire of the missile system.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hASwgGOR8BU[/ame]