Academy 1/48 scale CH-53E Super Stallion

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Bill.  The interior pieces have 80 some ejector pin marks.  I filled about 20 or so that were close to the rear ramp.  I had the bench seats in there, but ripped them out as they are more specific to the CH-53D than the E.  I added seat harnesses made of paper strips.  The rest looks pretty good right out of the kit, but one could go to town on all the detail one could add to this kit, starting with photo-etch screens to replace the solid kit versions.  Add the missing rivet detail that Ryan mentions, plus wiring for the rotor head and you can easily see a 100+ hour project.  As it was, I spent 65 hours building mine, and was exhausted by the end.  I have a new-found respect for helicopter modelers.

Lee K

[Bill L.]

Looks great.  Interior looks better than you described.  Guess we'll see it at Christmas for the Year End Review before it disappears into Warehouse 13.

Bill L.

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Joe!

Lee K

[Joe M]

Hey Lee, great build! Having logged some time on the D models, I can really appreciate this bird!

[Lee_K]

Thanks, Bill.  I think those blisters are Radar Warning Receivers.

Lee K

[Bill L2]

Outstanding work Lee. I have seen these built up at a few contest and they are very impressive to look at. Must have been a very challenging build.


One question. What are those big blisters just beneath the pilot/copilot windows?

[Lee_K]

Thanks Ryan.  Dave Roof provides a photo CD with the decal sheet with hundreds of photos of the subjects.  ED11 was one of the cleaner ones, and it did indeed have a Medium Gray set of wiper blades.  Others are black.  These big helicopters can get absolutely filthy, so overweathering isn't a concern.  When you see it in real life, you can tell that the tail section was dirtied up a bit with a wash and some pastel work.  Rivets -- yeah, I know about them but wasn't really interested in that tedious task.

Overall, it's a much better kit than the CH-47 I did for Adolf.  Fit is generally very good, although there was quite a bit of seam work after gluing the fuselage halves together.  Strangely enough, the tail and main rotors don't fit in their respective holes at all and it required quite a bit of fussing over.

Lee K

[Ryan K]

Looks very good.....the tail looks to clean. I was going to say something about the wiper blades not being black but a quick check shows both colors being used. Any problems areas and was it better then the Italeri Ch-47 you built?

Oh yea your missing about a billion rivets. You could contract out the Trumpeter rivet guys for the job, I hear he is great at it.

[Lee_K]

Academy kit, with Flying Leathernecks decals for an Echo at MCAS New River in April, 2008.  I'm glad this one is done.











Lee K