1/32 Kitech Blue Thunder

Gallery Article by Duncan on Nov 13 2014

 

      

Hiya everyone, here I present you the 1/32 Kitech the “Blue Thunder” helicopter from the 1983 motion picture movie. I got it from ebay for a lousy $15.00 Free shipping. It is a copy from the Monogram kit molding and comes with a small decal sheet which won’t get you far ;) Happy me, Fireball Modelworks made one, a useful tip from of one the guys at the forum! 

Later I decided to look for a replacement for the 20 mm rotating gun as the one in the kit looks like a toy. Master series offered one and I discovered during this tough build that superglue wasn’t the right answer to this. I used transparent nailpolish mixed with acetone to get it done and sure who can’t resist to add some Johnson’s Klear on top? Unfortunately this kit doesn’t include a helicopter pilot resembling Frank Murphy so I used one from a Dragon 1/35 Vietnam series, still a larger scale but better then an empty seat.

 

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I created the cockpit instrumentals, etc. myself with Illustrator: I found plenty useful research material on the web. Drilled the holes in Blue Thunder’s tail section, scratchbuilt the parts like the anti-collision and lighting tubes used on both pylons and landing gear used for special effects during night operations during the movie!

Adding the transparent cockpit tube is a challenge. I used Evergreen strips glued to the inside and moved it in position. The kit needs quite some putty & sanding. Paint I used was Testor’s Insignia blue. Maybe I plan to create a diorama with some buildings with red dummies and white innocents but now I need to move on to start my next model: an Astro Division Police Jet Ranger. 

Happy Modelling!

Duncan

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Photos and text © by Duncan