AH-6J gunship "160th SOAR Nightstalkers"

[SidewaysLS4]

Hahaha, I like it . I havent played with those since I was a kid, refresh my memory, what is the smallest motor that can use an electronic ignitor?

[Hank79]

All of the Estes rocket can be fired with 9V. Iv got mine all wired in parallel, there super cool

[helipainter]

nice build,,,, subscribed.

[Hank79]

Thanks man, I'v just put the base coat of black down. It has to be weathered and decals applied next. I'm using Cobra and than 2k clear with 70% flatening base in it to get the dull look.

[JurassicJet]

The 4th picture from the bottom on the above post..........

Curious how that tail system works? Is that an "original design"?

[Starcruiser]

Is that the new Fenstron tail unit?

[Hank79]

Yes! with the outer casing being an old billy cart tire

[rightto360]

Beautiful helicopter. Subscribed.

[helipainter]

whens this thing gonna fly?

[Hank79]

Hard to say at this point, shaft is been made but it's slow being done I have set the phasing on the head setup up and all the mechanics are ready however the fuselage has a fare bit of work left in the painting and detail area. I was considering painting one straight colour but judging by the photos the majority of the 160th Littlebirds are very faded, so I will have to weather it with an airbrush before she goes in the booth.

[helipainter]

if your talking main shaft, you can get about any size, but you'd need a drill press to relocate the holes........ Get all mine from vario, mainly because they offer em really long to really short and they offer them in 10mm diameter. it's important to get the disk sitting just right, super low.

[Hank79]

Thanks mate, i'v just had a look and there are a few I could use and cut down to size. I will have to source a 12mm collor as the 700E has a machined one.

[helipainter]

look at there main shaft thrust bearing for the 12mm, it has a pretty nice colar, if already made, no since in re-inventing the wheel.

[newbheliguy]

Hey, whatever happened to this. Been watching it but haven't seen anything in a while.

[badfrog]

Hank79,

Beautiful work! I have yet to build a scale bird, but that is probably my favorite category of helis... yours is stunning! what did you use for the rivet detail?

by the way, I love the face on your pilot... he looks pissed about something!!!

[Hank79]

Thanks guys, a few update pics of the paintwork, i still need to paint a few parts and get the mechanics sorted out.

[helipainter]

weathering is looking sharp. replaced rivets without paint, sweet! the dark around the rivets is from em getting dirty and when you wipe em down, the black oils and exhaust is harder to get out cause of the raised rivet heads........ can you rub it along the rivets now to make it more weatherd? Your really so close to nailing this thing.

Whats with the tailfin? What was it's purpose in real life for getting whacked like that?

This thing is racking up some hours. Excellent work

[Waxweazle]

Looks great!

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

[Hank79]

Thanks for the complements guys, she coming along quite nicely now

Hellipainter, i tried to do a basic wash on another of my spare fuselage with rivets and unfortunately the rivets really did not come out anymore, which was disappointing because what you were saying is what i wanted initially. I also made a fair mess so I'm not really going to be able to give it that last tenth in the realism department. The other aspect is the 2K has already gone on and i have far build up of paint on her now...don't want to wash the detail out

The longer tail is for better stability over the civilian versions. The AH-6M was extensively modified with stronger landing gear, 650hp engine, new gearbox's, six blade main rotor, four blade tail for better tail authority, structural modifications and a myriad of others changes for special ops. It says there are only 51 in existence out at Fort Campbell.

Hopefully she's bee in the air soon, all the parts are done now

[satsuma]

Looks fantastic, well worth all the time taken, no rush, it's done when it's done, better take the time than regret it when looking and saying, jeez, i SHOULD have done this or that.
Keep up the great work.