The SAAF Forum

Gregair dared me to buy this kit and make a SAAF version. I think it's going to prove to be one of those nasty kits.....

Quite a few mods are required to make this a SAAF bird - windows in the rear clamshell doors, changes to tail boom, changes to engine/gearbox bay cowlings, intake air filter and extraction fans......

At least it has the hoist. However, the interior is totally incorrect. Anyone have any interior photos of SAAF BK117s ?

Here's the tail boom with a ventral fairing which is not present on the SAAF birds. So away it must go ....



Big fat hole to be filled :



Filled up with lots of Milliput, Squadron putty and Tamiya primer.

The moulding on this kit is really crap and the brittle yellow plastic doesn't help either. NACA intakes cleaned out - just need to put a backing in :



Engine and gearbox cowlings :

Exhaust holes cleaned out and thinned on the right hand one. You can see how bad it was on the left hand one - need to get some nice brass tubing for the exhausts :



The cowlings are different on the SAAF birds - so a couple of modifications are needed. In this pic I'm busy drilling out one of the louvre vents. The hole which has been cut will be backed with some fine wire mesh. The long vertical mesh on the kit parts must be filled in for SAAF birds. Beneath this, a small flat intake is fitted :

Here's the main rotor hub. Some minor details to be added but they are generally quite simple being ridged rotor heads. Sink holes to be filled in later :

Looking good so far.

Only the ambulance BK117 operated on behalf of the Johannesburg General Hospital ZS-HRP had the ventral fairing on the underside of the tailboom.

Geoff

Between you and Gregair we have a masochist and a sadist!

Best of luck....looking forward to this one!!

Yeeeeeesssss. What did the masochist say to the sadist ? "Beat me, beat me"; what did the sadist reply with : "No !!!"

Here's the cowling complete with fiddly bits - fastening latches to still be added once cowlings are on fuselage :

Well wallowing around 100km off Denmark in really sad weather...poor internet speed...I cannot see the pics on the forum but I am sure this build
I going great......

Pity there is no Puma to go with it.......

Agree to that one!

An Oryx will also look just as good in 1/32!

No, not ready to tackle the Revell (Matchbox) Puma quite yet. Need to build the 24th scale Mozzie first.

OK, so a bit more progress :

Interior painted white and lightly pastel led to provide depth. Not much will be seen anyway as the kit's doors are not open. Revell seems to excel at producing these cabin modules which get assembled separately and then clamped between the fuselage halves - quite clever.



Cabin, floor and instrument shroud :



Nice decal sheet provided with kit. Only problem is with all those warning lights red, this aircraft is in serious trouble . Decal applied with Future. Sticks like mad once dry.....Scratch built collective sticks as kit had none (complete with thumb print on the left one.. )

Now for the cowling and the exhausts. The kit pieces are horrible and undersized. Luckily I had some appropriately sized hollow plastic rod which was cut at an angle with the edges thinned down with a sharp knife :



Here I'm using Prestic as a "jig" to keep the exhausts in place at the correct angle while I wait for the plastic stock supports to dry. This is to allow me to install the exhausts once the cowling is all painted up and glued in place.



View of the exhausts :





Thanks to Geoff (AT6C) for the lekker close up photos.

And now for the nasty part - those rear windows :

Extent of windows marked out with Tamiya tape :



First rough cut with dremmel tool - best thing after sliced bread :



All cleaned up :



Now just need to figure how to bend the clear plastic to make the window.....

[quote="Mistral"]
Thanks to Geoff (AT6C) for the lekker close up photos.

Glad I could oblige.

Looking good so far!

Geoff

I'm loving this build Mistral! BK-117 is one of my favourite helicopters.

Your pastel shading technique looks amazing! Do you mind giving us a little tutorial on how you accomplish it?

_________________
http://www.aviationlink.co.za/
http://saafinscale.blogspot.com/