SH-60B WIP

Bart Goesaert
nice build so far... love these small gems....

Spanjaard
very nice detail added. i am certainly in.

Thomas Bischoff
incredible work

ice
Thank you mates! I found some more time for Seahawk-origami. 🙂

Christian Bruer
Excellent work and detail 👍
Good to know there is a problem with the dashboard. What have you done to make it fitting?

Bart Goesaert
nice micro-work so far...

Holger Kranich
Very cool build!

Choppa Nutta
Seahawk-origami. Very cool 🙂

Bryn Crandell
Amazing how something so small can have so much detail. Great work on folding it up.

Adam Gudynowski
Following

ice
Thank you so much! Today I installed the first cables on the rotorhead. Right now I am thinking of how to do the small locks for the rotorblades. I also need the supports for the rotorblades that are attached to the tail.

Christian Bruer
What is about 0,2mm brass rod, or better silver nickel rod?

Vincent Heemskerk
Man, that's crazy cool!

ice
Christian: I'll try evergreen 0,5mm but if that looks too massive I'll go for the brass rod.

Vincent: Thank you!

The build passed a critical point, where most of my builds get stuck: The interior is done. 🙂

Scott Dutton
I looked 3 times to ensure I read scale correctly, so much blade fold detail in this scale

ice
Thank you - that's the biggest compliment! 🙂
Today I scratched a new holder for the rotormast, filled and sanded the seams and made the first two locks for the rotorblades on the rotorhead.

ice
Build is on hold - I broke my left arm... 🙁

Choppa Nutta
sorry to hear that, was it a dangerous hobby or did you fall out of bed ? 🙂
My brother broke his foot getting out of bed once, true story 🙂

ice
Inlineskating.

Zsolt Czegle
Ich wünsche gute Besserung. Ich hoffe , dass Du so schnell wie möglich weiterbauen kannst... 😉

Thomas Bischoff
Gute Besserung!

Spanjaard
I wish you a fast recovery

Bart Goesaert
nice work so far and good recovery...

ice
BACK IN BUSINESS! 🙂
Thank you all for the good wishes. It took quite a time to get the elbow moving again but now it's almost as good as before. For the next months my elbow will look like the surgeon wanted to give it some extra details by using wires and nails. For eveyone interested: google: tension band wiring and olecranon fractures.
Sadly my recovery wasn't fast enough for the arc-groupbuild but I'll continue anyway. Today I made a hinge for the foldable tail and used some bits and pieces to give the area some extra details. It would have been great, if I was able to use pe-parts from the Brengun-set but that tailfod-thing was designed for the MH-60S that folds it's tail at another part of the tail were it is thicker. That's why the Brengun-parts don't fit.

ice
The rotorhead is done. I added the locks and some cables and I hope it looks convincing. The radarhousing and the doghouse are in place and now we can start with the smaller parts that need to be placed before painting is done.

Spanjaard
glad to hear that your elbow is almost as good as before.... your fingers did not seem to have lost any of their abilities....convincing rotorhead???? it looks fantastic! so tiny and with so many details! amazing

Bart Goesaert
nice to hear about the recovery, and the rotor looks like the model... very very good... I've seen worse in larger scales...

Björn Leichsenring
Das schaut gut aus. Habe diese Teile auch auf Halde und werde dies mit wachsamen Augen zuschauen.

Holger Kranich
Scheiß die Wand an! What a great looking rotorhead!!!

Christian Bruer
Good to hear you're back on the bench. Keep on the excellent work 👍

Burkhard D
Das sieht Klasse aus! 👍👍👍

Glenn
nice work!

ice
Wow! Mates I'm speechless. Thank you for your great support.
I'm a little bit sorry, that I can't show too much progress today. I added some more parts like air intakes, antennas, radar receivers etc. and some of the parts had a really bad fitting accuracy. So it took me some time to make them fit.
I also started applying surfacer to prepare sanding. Right now my mind starts finding a way to produce the clamps that hold the rotorblades in place. The struts they are placed on top will be 0,5mm rod.

Mike Daniels
Talk about working at micro scale!! Amazing what you can achieve with a bit of wire. I struggle at 1/48 but 1/144!!

ice
Thank you Mike. Simply it's just trial and error. Not every idea works.
Today I started with the clamps for the rotor blades. Sadly the blades are a bit too short so the clamps don't hold the blades where they should. The blade shouldn't end before the tail-hinge. I'd say they should be 1cm longer.

ice
As I mentioned yesterday, the rotor blades are too short. I was #%§! scared to lengthen them but since Dragon always puts two kits in a box I thought "How hard can it be?" 😄
I started making a rig to allign two blades parallel so at least the first cut would have the same angle on both blades. After that I cut a 4mm piece out of the donor-blade. On a piece of Tamiya Tape I alligned all the pieces and glued them together with ethyl acetate. To my surprise it worked out quite well. Hope I don't mess up the other 3 tomorrow...

Björn Leichsenring
Hmm, da hat der 2. Heli dann viel zu kurze Blätter.

Spanjaard
wow, well done!

Bart Goesaert
nice thing with the main blades... You'll put more work in a 1/144 model than most on their models...

Spanjaard
And more details than many in models with much bigger scale....
It is a pleasure to follow this build

ice
Mates - thank you for your motivating words. And it wasn't really planned to put so much work into this little fellow but at some point it just got out of hands. 🤔
@Björn: Es wird wohl keinen 2ten Heli gebem. Irgendwann is auch mal gut mit H-60ern.

Today I lengthened the other three rotor blades. I also was able to nearly finish the rear holder for the folded rotor blades. I used tons of photos but it wasn't easy to get the angles right. A nice 3 dimensional puzzle...

ice
The holders are done. They'll need some sanding and a little bit of filler but the hard work is done. Some of the rotor blades need some careful bending.

Bart Goesaert
magnificent work....

bughunter
ise, nice to see you and your work of art back 👍

ice
Thank you Bart and bughunter for your very nice words. 🙂
Today I tried to finish the pre-paint work. I added, repositioned and removed some of the antennas. I also had to reposition the position light from the tail to the front of the rear landing gear. In front of the windscreen I added the two typical "antennas" and in front of the doghouse the rails for the hood were added by using pe parts. The MAD Pylon received a support. Don't care about the long rods on the white antennas. They will be shortened after the glue is completely dry.
Next stop paint!

Andy W.
Beeindruckende Arbeit ice. Diese ganzen Details in diesem kleinen Maßstab. Der Hawk wird richtig Klasse, Hut ab.

bughunter
Sorry for the typo in your user name, ice! Can't change my last post anymore.

ice
Andy: Danke dir - aber der braucht auch noch reichlich Zeit. 🙂
bughunter: No problem. 😉

Sorry for the delay but time is valuable these times. I finally started adding some paint to my little Seahawk. I have chosen black basing as painting technique because those NAVY-birds often have very irregular paintjobs and I think black basing is the easyest way to reproduce that effect. So the basecoat is Tamiya XF-1 and then I mixed some Mr. Hobby Aqueus H307 with white for the scale effect. Painting this little fellow will take some more hours...

Alexander Grivonev
This is pure masochism 😄

Andy W.
Die Zeit hat er auch verdient. Der wird ein Schmuckstück. Top

ice
@Alex: Sometimes I think exactly the same as you... 🙂
@Andy: Den Tag nicht vor dem Abden loben - noch isses nicht fertig und Murphy schläft nicht.

More paint added! I startedt with FS36320 with 25% white in it (scale effect). First I do some stripes and dots in an irregular pattern and then I use highly dilluted paint to cover the pattern until it's nearly invisible. For the top of the doghouse and the cockpit I used FS35237 with 25% white.
I took me long enough to overheat the compressor two times. 🙂
The tail and the horizontal stabilizer were painted white for the tiger decals.

Andy W.
Da hast du allerdings Recht. Der Teufel ist ein Eichhörnchen und Murphy ein fieses A.....h. Trotzdem bin ich begeistert von dem kleinen. Weiter so, ich freu mich schon ihn fertig zu sehen.

ice
Gracias!
Next step is done. I painted the underside using FS36495 with 25% white in it. Like the other colours I used highly dilluted paint and tried to build the colour up in many transparent layers.
Next step will be to paint all the little details and then Future and decals.

ice
Painting the details is done. Next: Future and decals.

Holger Kranich
Looks great, Ice!

Andy W.
Awesome paintjob Ice. I'm looking forward to the day of his rollout.

Bernhard Schrock
This all effort in 1:144: simply stunning and great! You must have eyes like an eagle!🙂

ice
Guys, I have to thank you. I appreciate every single comment.

Bernhard: My eyes are not too bad but without some lenses (magnification 2,5x) I wouldn't be able to do anything of this.

Progress has been made. Finally I was able to apply Future and decals. The decals of this kit are nicely printed (Cartograph) but sadly some are just missing (national insignia top and bottom) and some should be grey (low viz) but are printed in black.
For the tiger-tail they planned 3 decals and you'll need tons of decal softener when you want to apply them.

Patrick Hagelstein
Wow! Man!... How could I have missed this?

Bart Goesaert
Looks good, and that is a minimalistic expression. For difficult decals I can recommend Daco decalsetting, th e extra strong one...

Sarunas D
Interesting kit. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

ice
Patrick: Thank you - seeing your work makes your comment even more valuable.
Bart: I use Mr. Mark Softer - tons of it!
Sarunas: Me, too!

Today I got a little sneak preview for all of you. I couldn't wait for everything beeing done and made a little unnecessary but satisfying fitment test. Nothing is glued yet.
Tomorrow when all the decals are fully dried I'll seal them with future - wait - do a little grey and brown wash - wait - add a little Tamiya Smoke - wait - seal it all up with matt cote. Meanwhile I'll have to paint the holders for the rotorblades, the little yellow/red thingy under the pylon and then it should be done. I can't wait to remove the masks. It always feels a little bit like unwrapping a present.

Spanjaard
present indeed... to the eyes.... amazing job Ice., looking amazing. hard to believe the scale!

Michael Phillips
1:144. Wow. The detail here is nothing short of amazing!

Andy W.
Great Job ice. And as i said before, an absolute gem.. The final unmasking is always the best, i too can't wait to get to this Point of the build

bughunter
Ice, what a beauty 👍

ice
So glad you guys like it. Nothing to show today because I just sprayed the rotorblade holders red and the MAD bird in yellow. Then the decals were sealed with future.

Konrad -
Hello Ice, absolut nice your chopper. The scale 1:144, my respect I've tried this scale too but its not mine. My deepest respect, perfect.

Ben Schumacher
Mighty impressive, Ice!

ice
Thank you Konrad. Normally I'm more a 1:72-guy but this scale is nice for some "small" experiments. 🙂

Progress has been made! Washing is done. For the underside I used brown wash to simulate the oily bottoms of the seahawks and on the sides and the top I used a dark grey wash. After Washing I used highly dilluted grey to break the contrast of the decals. Finish was done by using Xtracrylix Satin Varnish.

Now that most parts are in place it's time for the smaller things like windscreen whipers and other details. Fun fact: Now that it's nearly done I came across, that Dragon got the tailrotor wrong. I rotates the wrong way around... 😠

Marcel Klemmer
Very impressiv ice !!!

Patrick Hagelstein
Just post the images mirrorwise and nobody will notice! Right?....

Spanjaard
It looks simply fantastic IMHO

Choppa Nutta
Good work Ice ! 🙂

Harry Eder
Very nice little Seahawk 👍

Andy W.
Fantastic build Ice. An absolute beauty.

Spanjaard
i really want to see the final details in place 🙂

Alexander Grivonev
That cotton swab really puts things into perspective, fantastic work!

valiente84
Wow!! Good job!

Christian Bruer
Excellent work and finish 👍

Marco Preto
👍

mpminiatures.wordpress.com

ice
I have no words that could express how much your nice words motivate me. I can only say THANK YOU! 🙂

@Patrick Hagelstein: Then the whole tail would fold to the wrong side. 😄

Tiny (yes, that's the right word) update today:

- windscreen whipers: check
- pitot tubes: check
- small antenna in the middle of the windscreen you can barely see: check
- fuel dump: check
- small grey bar across the small nose windows: check (done with grey decals from the leftovers-box)

The MAD-bird is in progress and I started to do small wheel chocks - they only need some paint.

Half of my checklist from yesterday is done and the rest will take a little bit more time.

To be continued...

Bart Goesaert
I've always thought that the panellines on minibitds from dragon were like craters, but seeing this make me wanna try one... Stunning, simply stunning

ice
Thank you Bart. The panellines are quite big but after primer, preshading, main colour, future, future, filter, matt cote you spray quite an ammount of material onto the model that fill's up the canyons a little bit.

ice
And the to do list is getting shorter and shorter....

- wheelchocks: nearly done - need some yellow paint
- small belly antenna: check
- mirrors: struts done, housing and paint still open
- MAD-sensor: check

On the last picture you can see the brown wash on the belly. When studying the reference pictures I noticed that many Seahawks have a brownish belly from leaking oil and fuel.

Clifford Keesler
Simply amazing job.

Andy W.
Although i repeat myself, awesome job on that little chopper. And it's getting better with every little progress

Choppa Nutta
.....
........
...........
..............you know,
a 1/144th scale Nimitz class carrier deck is only about 2.25 metres long and about 0.75 metres wide😉

Konrad -
As I said before absolutely cool. And yes Choppa is right its just 2.25 meters who cares 😉

bughunter
With every detail and decal this little bird looks more great, reference build! 👍

ice
Mates - what else can I say to express my gratitude for your comments than "THANK YOU!"? 🙂

This Nimitz carrier deck was a big dream of mine when I started modelling decades ago but to be realistic: With an output rate of 1 model every six month you can calculate, when all the 85 aircraft would be done... 😄

But back on topic:

- VHF-Antenna: installed but not painted yet. I used pe parts for the holders and stretched sprue for the wire. The wire is so thin that you can barely see it all the way down to the tailhinge.
- IR-sensors at the nose: installed but not painted yet.
- Mirrors: installed but not painted yet

I'm not sure if I use the torpedos or not. Both options are possible. I also thought about covers for the engines but that will not happen.

Patrick Hagelstein
I think adding the torpedos will make it look cluttered. She's fine as she is right now. Altough being as detailed as she is and having empty pylons would mean you would have to build the launch mechanism. Just my thoughts...

Andy W.
I'm totally with Patrick. Just paint the last details and leave her as she is. She's great.

Spanjaard
it looks truly remarkable as it is.. but if you do not do the torpedoes, you will probably thinking later that you should have done it😉

ice
Thank you guys for your input. You confirmed my plans not to arm her up.
...perhaps I display them on a loading cart. 😄

Andy W.
Displaying it on a loading cart is a good idea. Perhaps on a little piece of carrier deck😉

bughunter
Good work with finishing this little bird 👍
ice, you know now how to solder such loading cart 🙂

Eugen P.
Impressive! 👍

Bernhard Schrock
If somebody is looking in a modelling encyclopedia for an "Excellent detailed heli in 1:144", he is going to find your model. 🙂

ice
All I can say is: THANK YOU! It feels so good reading these nice comments. 🙂