1/144 HH-3E beta build

[Texman]

Roman Vasilyev (der kampfflieger) has allowed me to do the beta build for an upcoming kit, the HH-3E Jolly Green,
a United States Air Force rescue helicopter.
The kit as published is 1/100, and I downscaled to 1/144 to fit my collection.

The kit, by my count, contains 71 pieces, 4 of which are formers.

This overview, is not indicative of the kit quality. I degraded it for
the web.


Here, the formers have been laminated



And the first fuselage section under construction. Due to the "boat hull" bottom of the HH-3,
this is a separate piece, leaving the bottom open at this stage.



More later.

[hawkman67]

Alright!! and tottally Awsome!!! can not wait for this kit to be out! been wanting a card kit of it forever..Build looking good so far Ray.
Jeff

[Ashrunner]

Outstanding Roman! And Texman...do a great job on her. The HH-3E, in my opinion, is one of the greatest helicopters of history.

Besides, I have maybe 50 or so hours in the type. 8v)

[Texman]

Progress is slow. R/L keeps getting in the way of my hobbies!
But just a couple of quick shots of the next section.
In the side view, you can see the beginning of the
HH-3 characteristic "break" in the top of the fuselage.





As the w/e is busy, I will most likely not have any updates until at
least Monday, but ya'll stay with me!

[hawkman67]

She is coming along right nicely there Ray! Can't wait to see her completed.
Jeff

[gregh]

So when the 1/144 "kit" is available, can i lease your eyes and nimble fingers for my build ? Another great 'tiny' one. Thank You

[Texman]

For todays update, the aft cabin and cockpit area have been assembled and added. The aft cabin is a
straight forward construction, while the cockpit does require a considerable bit of patience to assemble correctly.
It consists of an upper and lower part, with some interesting curves and 4 "petals"
in the middle of it to get the shape. Compared to 3 views, it looks really close to me.

The edge colors are not as far off as they appear due to the flash. I may
try and smooth them out after final assembly using the chalks and dullcote.

[murphyaa]

I'm glad somebody stepped up and designed this. Real life came up and kicked me in an inappropriate place, and I'm still recovering.

[Texman]

A couple more parts added today. The tail boom is a straight forward assembly.



The bottom hull, not as much. The bottom hull is boat shaped, and as such, has a ridge down the middle,
with a compound curve at the front. This required some paper manipulation that I have not tried before.
Good experience builder....

[hawkman67]

She is coming along super well Ray! she is looking like an HH-3, nice and clean lines. Does it have the refueling boom by the way?
Jeff