1/72 Italeri Bell 206 Jetranger

[hrtpaul]

I finally started this for the ACAM table at Model Expo later in the year. I've also got an Airfix Seaking to do but I'd rather finish one kit for the table than none at all.



As is typical with a lot of Italeri kits, the fit and detail isn't much to write home about. Let's not even mention the scale half inch rivets that cover the outside. I started with the cockpit just for something completely different. As it's able to be seen through the big windsreen and chin bubbles, some extra detail was required. I made a collective lever from piano wire and scrap plastic. Given how small the kit is it will do. I added anti-torque pedals but as usual, after fitting them I found that they should've been inverted 'L' shaped instead I'm not sure I can be bothered changing them. I've got till I close up the fuse to decide. I also added some seatbelts to the front seats cos they were a little bland to say the least.

Dodgy anti-torque pedals


Collective Lever




Toothpick for scale


Shows how small the kit really is




The cockpit all done








See what I mean about the fit Gonna have to fill in those gaps where the skids mount



The cockpit fitted temporarily. I think it looks pretty cool.




There are some holes in the fuselage that needed filling. I used my punch and die sets to make circles to fill them in but I forgot to take a pic so you'll have to believe me. The upper hole behind the rear door in this pic is where the fuel filler cap is. So some muppet decided to drill the hole a bit bigger, blanked it off inside and made some .9mm discs for the fuel cap. They have since been painted red.




So that's where I'm up to so far. It's no wonder I take forever to finish anything given I can't help myself putting little extra stuff in. I am contemplating making the read windows taller as they aren't correct in the kit. That'll require making windows with clear resin which I have never done before so I'm not sure if I'm brave enough for that.

[RayS]

That is a nice start Paul, I know what you mean about the enhancements

It sure is small, I have one to do as an Army bird and had played around with fit a while back. That cockpit looks great BTW

[F-27pax]

Your cockpit is great and if I didn't know better I'd think it was in /48 if not even larger scale. Good luck with the rest of the model.

[hrtpaul]

Cheers guys. I might get back in the model room tonight to do a bit more on it hopefully

[tor lives]

Love it!!!!
TOR

[hrtpaul]

Got a bit more done today though cos I keep finding little shit to scratch build it's taking a whole lot longer. I've decided not to worry about making the rear windows bigger as the resin is gonna cost me $75 and I can't afford that at the moment FIrstly I laminated some scrap plastic together and made some blocks to fill in the massive holes where the skids attach. Once I have the fuse together and dry, I'll sand them down so the skids will fit without any gaps. When looking at pics of the real chopper I noticed the chopper has had a few different configurations over the years. So that makes things just a little more difficult.

One of the many things that are missing in the kit are the steps on the skids. I bought some .040" angle and scratched some up. I'm pretty happy how they came up and they'll certainly do in this scale.









The searchlight was the next toget some attention. I couldn't just slap it on without adding the wiring harness now could I So a hole was drilled and a bit of copper wire used to make said harness. Following painting, I added a 2mm lense from Red Roo's Little Lenses range for the actual light. Once again I'm happy with the result.





Terry Toothpick gets another run to add a bit of scale to the pics


Once again looking at reference pics I had another cunning plan to make various antennae not included in the kit. For starters some idiot decided that he had to make the 3 VHF Com antennae, 2 in front of the dog house and 1 aft of the exhausts on top. The aft one will be added after the fuse is closed up and all 3 will have the 'whip' parts of the antennae added towards the end of the build. And yes these are f&@%ing tiny LOL



I think this is a UHF Com antenna which I made up out of .010" card and tiny wire as it's in the reference pics. The red discs are the fuel caps. I only need 1 but I made 3 for the fudge factor



There's still 2 VOR antenna to make from thin wire and a plate with 4 homing antenna on the belly but that's for another time. I also got the rotor blades attached to the rotor head. It's coming along slowly but I am fairly happy with where it's up to at the moment

[hrtpaul]

I've done a bit more on this of late. Firstly I made some VOR antennas for the aft fuse from thin piano wire and some 1mm plastic discs. I'll fit them after paint as where they go is painted black and they are white. Toothpick for scale.





I finally got the fuse together and windows in. The fit on most of the windows was shit so I plugged up the gaps with PVA glue which worked a treat.









This being essentially a military kit with some civvie decals, Italeri were a tad lazy and didn't include the tail rotor gearbox fairing. I used Milliput for the first time to make one that looks close enough for me.






Once the Milliput is dry, it'll get a tidy up and then the vertical stab can go on. I have also attached the horizontal stabs but didn't get a pic. Anyways that's where I'm at so far in this enjoyable but slow as usual build

[RayS]

Nice detailing work Paul

[hrtpaul]

Well it seems it's been a while I may have got my mojo back over the last couple of weeks and have actually finished my first model in over a year. Life gets in the way no matter what people say. Anyways it's good to finish something for a change. Overall I'm reasonably happy with the Jetranger but it is most definitely a 10 footer. It's really only the window fit and finish that I think is a bit shit. Oh and lets not forget the bloody sanding dust inside As is usual for an Italeri kit, it left a little to be desired. Given that between missing bits that make it possible to build what's actually on the box and the average fit, with a bit of scratch building smaller details it turned out ok. I've probably forgotten some but heres some of the things I have added myself:-
*Collective lever
*anti torque pedals
*seatbelts
*VHF, VOR and UHF antennas
*Anti collision beacons and rear nav light from clear sprue
*Homing antennas and associated mounting plate
*wired the searchlight
*skid steps
*wire cutter bracing
*rotor tie down

I have another in the stash that'll be a Kiowa someday. Having learnt a few things, I'll definitely do some things different. I wouldn't mind picking up another one or 2 of these kits but they've been OOP for a long time unfortunately. Following this build I'm gonna be working through the long list of "Shelf of Doomers" to get some of them out of the way before I start anything new. anyways onto the pics

[RayS]

Wow! nice result Paul. Love the extra effort that went into it.