DONE ! SA 341 Gazelle - Stop Poaching !
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/6/4/4/725644-10307-92-pristine.jpg)
This beautiful Gazelle at Rand Airport/South Africa
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/6/4/5/725645-10307-94-pristine.jpg)
in action,...
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/6/4/6/725646-10307-57-720.jpg)
in action,...
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/6/4/2/725642-10307-63-720.jpg)
my Heller Kit is a 342M - I need a 341,...
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/6/4/3/725643-10307-46-720.jpg)
...so I had to do some modifications.
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Made some progress on the interior.
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No decals or stencils available for that Digi Camo scheme....
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...so I have to do a little "Trial and Error" until I find my way to appy the livery.
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I forgot to put weight into the front section,...even the not finally assembled kit shows a tendency to skip.....
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/8/8/5/734885-10307-84-720.jpg)
...with exhaust attached it is a full Tailsitter - OMG. What a stupid mistake of mine. Need some lead...
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So I had to open up the hole at the main rotor shaft...
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Some lead balls used by fishing guys to weight the lines on their fishing rods.
![Album image #13 Album image #13](/albums/img/4/0/1/735401-10307-20-720.jpg)
I glued the lead with CA onto the back of the backward cockpit panel in order to bring load to the front as much as possible.
![Album image #14 Album image #14](/albums/img/4/0/2/735402-10307-70-720.jpg)
Operation sucessful - the chopper sits on ths skid now, no longer on the tail,...🙂
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The driving shaft for the tail rotor is too short. The kit part ends outside the fairings of cowling respectively tail fin. I decided to make my own "extented" shaft.
![Album image #16 Album image #16](/albums/img/6/7/9/736679-10307-96-720.jpg)
Open up the carrier bracket with 0,5 mm drill.
![Album image #17 Album image #17](/albums/img/6/8/0/736680-10307-63-720.jpg)
Dry fit...
![Album image #18 Album image #18](/albums/img/6/8/1/736681-10307-77-720.jpg)
New shaft seems ok.
![Album image #19 Album image #19](/albums/img/9/7/1/738971-10307-39-720.jpg)
I decided to "pimp" the rotor head, as the kit parts show some inconsistency in geometry and reduced details,...
![Album image #20 Album image #20](/albums/img/9/6/8/738968-10307-94-720.jpg)
Scratched some swash plates.....
![Album image #21 Album image #21](/albums/img/9/6/9/738969-10307-37-720.jpg)
...extended the shaft a bit, strengthend the base plate and...
![Album image #22 Album image #22](/albums/img/9/7/0/738970-10307-84-720.jpg)
...and added pivot rods (as good as possible).
![Album image #23 Album image #23](/albums/img/7/9/6/748796-10307-77-720.jpg)
White as a base color is on, as well as gloss,....it's decaling time!
![Album image #24 Album image #24](/albums/img/6/8/9/750689-10307-48-720.jpg)
The printed Decal sheet - my safety buoy. I got desperate with cutting those tiny squares to get a paint mask,....
![Album image #25 Album image #25](/albums/img/5/3/6/754536-10307-20-720.jpg)
All decals on - so the bird is dressed. Finishing line is coming closer,....
![Album image #26 Album image #26](/albums/img/2/1/2/762212-10307-21-720.jpg)
de-masked and "standing" on skids (you do not recognize it on this picture but man, those parts are in pretty bad shape - RH side shows a bad twist. On the dry fit trials I thought this is mainly caused by the weighting issue I had at the beginning. But: no, not only - it's also the struts of the landing skids. Unfortunally they are not perfect laterally reversed,.....mmh).
![Album image #27 Album image #27](/albums/img/0/3/8/768038-10307-29-720.jpg)
Done ! -
![Album image #28 Album image #28](/albums/img/0/3/9/768039-10307-48-720.jpg)
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Kommentarer
20 25 March 2020, 20:07
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Hi Bart
🙂 It was a coincident that I saw that Picture at FlightZone - that camo was the only reason why I finaly decided to start that kit. It was on the shelf for ages.
25 March 2020, 20:18
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Until I wait for some paint I have on order, I will put the project on hold - and do some experiments with the digital camo. There a no decals or stencils for that livery, so I have to find my own way,....
5 April 2020, 18:00
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Cant wait to see how this turns out. I like this little kit. Completed | Album by Menaivalley (1:72)
7 April 2020, 14:46
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@all - thx for the comments,...Dave, Tim - I am not sure yet, but I will to some trials with decals for sure.
7 April 2020, 17:37
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Tim - you are right, this is a nice little kit. And you did a nice build.
I did not really find the kit respectively the helicopter itself very interessing until I stumbbled over the pictures from Kruger National Park - Gazelle seems to be a hidden beauty.
7 April 2020, 17:41
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do not forget to ballast the model at the front under the pit
8 April 2020, 15:23
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Hi Laurent - thx for your advice, but it is already too late. 🙁
I closed the canopy yesterday and attached the skits for a trial,....a tailsitter - omg, a stupid mistake. I totaly forgot to consider this. Guess I will need to enter some fishing lead through the holes in the engine cover,....will let you know how that worked out.....
8 April 2020, 16:53
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Let it dry well, I heard stories where after some longer time the lead reacted with CA. 👍
9 April 2020, 14:49
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I've had lead and CA heat up so much as it's curing it melted the plastic.
9 April 2020, 16:06
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"You live and learn".... thx for all your inputs - never heard of exotherm reaction of CA & lead before.
No melted plastic so far & I really hope I was lucky and the kit survive unharmed.
10 April 2020, 07:36
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Good work on the tail rotor shaft. Not easy drilling holes in small parts like that without ruining them.
11 April 2020, 20:38
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Thx for your interest and coments mates! I am excited too....I really wonder how it turns out at the end?!
13 April 2020, 13:49
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Very nice work. I'm hoping to find one of these in 1/144, but I assume there'll be a lot of scratchbuilding, so I'm following along to see how this one turns out.
13 April 2020, 14:25
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Burkhard - sorry for that and I hope that is fine for you. Honestly spoken I did not take care whilst checking the internet for Gazelle Rotorheads. NOW, with your input I was checking again and recognized the copyrights on the lower right corner - so I checked out the link to your Homepage now: great source !!! Ton's of Aircraft details - super!
19 April 2020, 10:39
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No worries, Juergen - fine for me. My website is made for scale modelers. 🙂
19 April 2020, 13:45
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After spending nights to cut squares in 1/72 for a paint mask that would do he job I resigned. So I decided to ask for help: Thx to Daniel !! Check out his website brent-air-decals.at/ - a good source for decals with Austrian background btw.
He was of great help for me on this South African bird. Looking forward to start ....
26 April 2020, 06:26
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@ Erik: It was fortuity that a read on his home page that he is doing "individual" requests as well - so if there is a good picture reference available I can highly recommend to get in touch with him, he might be interested.
@Laurent: I am curious about it - this week end is blocked with other stuff, but a trial on the vertical fin I did already. It looks great.
26 April 2020, 12:15
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I used the last couple days to dress my chopper. All decals on, without accident.
29 April 2020, 08:23
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Laurent - not sure about your question with respect to decal - l'autocollant. Fait maison (more or less, again thx's to Daniel) as there is no aftermarket product and painting seemed to be a nightmare.
Greetings to all - have a nice weekend.
1 May 2020, 07:40
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Gents - an absolute fun project has ended. The bird is finished. I added a few pic's of it's final appearance. thx for watching 😉 and your interest. cheers.
13 May 2020, 19:59
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🙂 thx to all for your kind feedback. I'm happy to hear that you like it too!
14 May 2020, 17:17
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Deine Gazelle habe ich ganz übersehen. Gefällt mir sehr gut in ihrer außergewöhnlichen Digi-Tarnung.
7 June 2020, 06:49
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Just picked this kit up today, and I remembered your awesome build, so I'm trying to "tag" it for future reference. There should be a "favourites" feature where you can collect other people's projects/galleries and keep them from getting lost.
26 April 2021, 06:19
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Greg, I use the bookmarks feature in my browser, you can create a folder of just scalemates stuff.
26 April 2021, 11:51
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Have fun with the SA Gazelle kit Greg - keep us posted when you start it up !!!
28 April 2021, 06:09
Album info