1/32 Revell AH-64A Apache

by Jeffrey L. Appleba

--------------------

  USA Independence Day 2005 

 

First off, I would like to thank ARC for the opportunity to do an article.  This is a great honor, Thank You!!  Now, Back in early 2000, while in the USAF....I went to the BX with my wife.  My wife told me she loved this helicopter, so I bought it.  When we got home I tore the shrink wrap off, as most of us do, to inspect the kit.  I started to think about a different scheme instead of the olive drab scheme.  I figured I could do a red, white, and blue scheme, but how I didn't know.  Well, I closed the box and we moved in July 2000 back to the Eastern time zone.  Then, on the fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001, the World Trade Center was hit by terrorists.  A lot of Americans got really patriotic over this incident.  I remembered this AH-64A Apache that I had bought a little over a year ago, and decided I would paint it in an American flag scheme to go along with the patriotism I felt and most Americans at the time. 

This is a BIG kit.  I started with the interior.  I didn't do anything to it except paint it flat black.  I was wanting to concentrate on the exterior of this particular model.  After I finished the interior, I glued the 2 halves together.  I sanded the seam lines smooth and put on a flat white primer coat.  After I was satisfied with the filling, I painted the whole Helicopter Gloss white.  I wanted the colors to blend across the engines.  I then went to the store and bought the stars that teachers use for kids on poster board and put them in a random pattern on the front half up to where I was going to blend the colors.  I sprayed gloss blue over the entire front half and tapered it off at the blend.  After this dried a couple of days, I cut strips of the blue low tack masking tape and applied them in a "wavish" pattern.  In other words, I didn't want them to be straight.  I actually wanted all the colors to blend and after I sprayed the gloss red, I realized The white stripes did not blend.  I didn't want to strip the paint as I was overly pleased with the results. 

Click on images below to see larger images

On this Independence Day, let's remember those who have fought and died, and those continuing to fight for our freedom.  This build is dedicated to them. 

Jeffrey

Photos and text © by Jeffrey L. Appleba