1/48 OH-58D Kiowa

Gallery Article by Nick Williamson on Mar 29 2013

 

 

This is the Italeri OH-58D, built straight out of the box.  This was only my second attempt at helicopters, and although it had a few issues, I like to think I managed through the harder parts without much issue.  I used Model Masters helo drab for the overall paint finish, as oppose to the call out from the directions for Olive Drab.  All the references I was able to come across showed this helo in the darker colors, so I opted to go with it, and am happy with the outcome.  For the most part, the kit went together really well.  Some usual filling and sanding of the fuselage joins was required, but minimal filling, only being needed on the forward part of the fuselage, near the rotor.  I built entirely out of order for the build in order to prevent doing any extensive handling of the kit with rocket pods or the rotor installed.  I did panel shading, and decals, followed by a flat coat and light use of pastel chalks around certain panel lines, and for fuel staining.  Once completed, I did some paint chipping with a silver gel pen around certain high use panels, and the rocket pods.  As far as fit, the only real issues that I had was getting the front end properly aligned.  My biggest caution when working with helo's is the high use of clear parts, especially around the front end.  This one required quite a bit of work to get them to fit properly, and even then, some modifications were required to eliminate steps around where the doors fit in place.  All in all, it took some minor skill, but came off without much further problems.

 

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I used Mr. Mark Setter and Softer to get the decals in place, and this was my very first kit to use those solutions on, as I've been a Micro Set / Sol user up until this point.  I must say that the outcome was absolutely great.  The decals looked painted on, and smoothly blended, which was what sold me on the stuff via others builds.  I used irridescent film over the MFD's, mast lens, and tail boom radar.  These produce a variable colored reflection, and provide a very cool effect. 

Enjoy the photos.

Nick Williamson

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Photos and text © by Nick Williamson