Revell 1/48th Hueys

I am assembling three Revell Hueys at the moment. After doing some research I've found that some modellers have given up on completing these as the fit of the parts leave a lot to be desired.

The interior parts went together well but I seem to have a problem with the left pilots hand and the right control fouling the body so may have to trim those parts back.

One of the Hueys will be crashed, hence the blood trail.

I have just undercoated the outsides of the body halves as it looks like it will be better to do that now rather than when they are glued together.

I will update this build when I make more progress.

Grunts

This is the first section of my second Platoon of the US troops I am painting up. Also painted were the Platoon Sergeant and the Platoon Command stand. I miscounted and need to add another member to the squad so photographed the section leader twice. ( I really like the talk to the hand pose)
The Sergeant is also one of my most favourite figures that Westwind produce but added length to the shirt to make it a jacket. For some reason I keep calling him Sergeant Rock but know its the wrong War.

The Section comprises seven Westwind figures and two from TAG. The Command group are from FOA who are a little bit larger than TAG and much bigger than the Westwind figures. Some of the Westwind figures look like they are meant to be Marines but I'm not going to worry about it.

I thought that this would be a good time to show the Mutt Pencil sharpener which I am thinking of turning into an Armoured version.

More Vietnam Militaria.

I bought a 3rd pattern Jungle fatigue jacket from Ebay. I paid more than the one I missed out on Trade-me, but this looks in much better condition and would be from unissued stock. The only issue I can see with it is some small black marks which is probably mould.

I also bought a Bayonet and entrenching tool.

The Bayonet has some serious knicks on the blade and has a broken edge on the handle. You cannot tell once its sheaved though. The M51 entrenching tool cover was bought locally on Trade-me. The seller came around to my house and gave me a choice of three. He explained that he had found a crate full of them in his Father In laws shed. I chose the one with the best labelling. The tool was bought at the local Comrades store. I figured that there would be a bidding war once the crate full of covers was sold. So went with a 44 model tool for the moment. It has original paint on the handle and Yugoslav Army green paint on the blade.

I also dug out a British pig sticker Bayonet from my spare room. I am a bit angry with myself as it has always been in good condition since I bought it at the age of 12 or 13 in the early seventies. (Much to my Mums horror). I have normally kept it in a drawer where it has been ok but recently left it outside on the top of the drawers where it has rusted up.

28mm Helicopter stands.

I have been scratching my head about how to mount my Metal Helicopters safely for several years. I have heard of people using plastic wine glasses. I have not seen anything like what I thought they should look like until I saw some cheap party glasses. The glasses have separate bases which I left off and fitted a cut down rivet into the top which fits nicely into the screw hole of the Cobra I am using. I will drill similar sized holes in the other metal and plastic Helos I have.

Of course these will do for landing Helos so I will need something a bit taller for higher flying aircraft as these are no higher than my trees. Somewhere in my spare room are some TV aerials which I want to try and fit to a glass.

Weird War Vietnam Hot Rod Truck.

I have finished my M35 Truck. I could have spent more time on it but decided that larger scaled models do not interest me as much as it used to. I painted it and the figures using Wargaming methods and did not use an airbrush for a change. I intend fitting a Stars and Stripes decal to the Woman's helmet when I can locate it in my spare room. She was painted like this photo of Raquel Welch but unfortunately does not look like her at all.

The Truck got an engine and pipes from a Hot Wheels set, a chop job on the roof and the chassis was shortened. I quite like the finished model but doubt I will do anything similar for awhile.

Games room shelving and worktops.

I've made some progress with the interior of my room.

I built some worktops for putting figures and books on which should keep the tabletop free of clutter. These are mounted on some old shelves which are spaced away from the wall to give me some storage space behind. These tops were cut from a sheet of leftover flooring which I fitted a strip around and then stained. I also mounted some old display cabinets which I also stained while I was doing the worktops.

Today I spent some time putting together some desks which will be used as workbenches and also table extensions. One of them was made to be level with the table while the other was made 50mm lower to enable me to use my Dads Army Seafront and pier. I intend to add a bit more width to these with extensions to match the table width. They are not very tidy at the moment.

The black metal shelving is to house my Militaria collection.

Games room table installed.

On Saturday I finished installing the carpet tiles. It was an easy job even though matching the patterns of each of the six boxes took a bit of effort.

 As the weather was too foul to paint yesterday I instead moved the table and a couple of display cabinets into the room.  I have changed my mind of how to arrange the room as I found that I have over 1.3 meters either side of the table and 600 to the nearest window. I need to make a couple of bench tops next so I have somewhere to temporarily put the TV on, which will also give me some storage room behind and will leave about 700mm to the table once installed. Today was really nice and sunny so I finished some wall painting outside and undercoated the inner part of the roof over the walkway.

I am really loving that green paint and may use it on my table top at some point.