AREA 88: Bell 206 Jet Ranger (Honichi Times)
![Album image #1 Album image #1](/albums/img/2/6/9/1080269-26441-75-720.jpg)
This ought to be interesting...
![Album image #2 Album image #2](/albums/img/2/7/2/1080272-26441-24-720.jpg)
First time to build a vaccu-form kit. Where to start?
![Album image #3 Album image #3](/albums/img/2/7/3/1080273-26441-58-720.jpg)
It's tricky to know how much to cut off around the edges.
![Album image #4 Album image #4](/albums/img/2/7/1/1080271-26441-83-720.jpg)
I cut as close as I dared and then started sanding down the edges until the two pieces looked like they met in the middle. Using the cockpit interior was a helpful way to measure progress.
![Album image #5 Album image #5](/albums/img/2/7/0/1080270-26441-68-720.jpg)
Interior coming together.
![Album image #6 Album image #6](/albums/img/1/0/4/1132104-26441-30-720.jpg)
Interior painted. Not much to look at really.
![Album image #7 Album image #7](/albums/img/1/0/3/1132103-26441-25-720.jpg)
Cutting the other pieces out from the vacuform won’t be easy. Looks like scratchbuilding the rotor is the way to go.
![Album image #8 Album image #8](/albums/img/1/0/5/1132105-26441-96-720.jpg)
Invisible fuselage makes placement tricky.
![Album image #9 Album image #9](/albums/img/6/9/4/1132694-26441-90-720.jpg)
![Album image #10 Album image #10](/albums/img/0/4/2/1133042-26441-26-720.jpg)
Comments
18 29 September 2021, 15:36
![](/profiles/img/26441-134-s.jpg)
This should be interesting. First time to attempt a vacuu-formed kit. Luckily I have another one in the stash in case this all goes horribly wrong. 😉
29 September 2021, 15:42
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
Taking a seat, of course 🙂 Myself I feel a "horror vacui" when it comes to such kind of kits 😉 ...
29 September 2021, 19:03
![](/profiles/img/21997-347-s.jpg)
This is the most beautiful helicopter ever built! 👍 It appears in almost every movie of the 70s and 80s. So I have to watch!
I still have a kit in the basement. Don't know the scale, around 1.5m length of the fuselage.
29 September 2021, 19:23
![](/profiles/img/user-s.jpg)
Loving the simplistic instructions in piccie 5 😉 What sprue? Watching, enthralled 🙂 BTW, what era is the kit from?
29 September 2021, 20:07
![](/profiles/img/26441-134-s.jpg)
What sprue? I'm more worried about where I get a dress sequin from… 😉
It seems this kit is from the 1970s.
30 September 2021, 03:20
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
@ Greg: dress sequin? It is simple: you have to go to an official reception at any embassy and ask a lady in a sequined dress to dance... like James Bond used to 😄
30 September 2021, 05:54
![](/profiles/img/48972-166-s.jpg)
If there are no embassy receptions in near future, however, you could go... I have seen sequins in few handicraft shops in my local mall.
30 September 2021, 07:38
![](/profiles/img/20363-907-s.jpg)
Always interested to see Greg tackling a kit that may be older than himself
...
23 December 2021, 12:03
![](/profiles/img/26441-134-s.jpg)
Hah! I was already two years old when this kit came out! I'm not sure the two sides are 100% aligned, but close. I'll mask the windows and then give it a spray to see what details can be used to adjust the fit if necessary.
23 December 2021, 16:17
![](/profiles/img/42610-971-s.jpg)
Not only that vacuform kits are hard enough to master, no, it's even so tiny! At least it doesn't have the amount of rivets like the Italeri Oh-58. Great work so far!
23 December 2021, 17:59
![](/profiles/img/26441-134-s.jpg)
Yeah. It's tricky to be sure. After spraying it with a light coat of white, I realized I needed to readjust the alignment of the two halves. Luckily I popped them apart without breaking anything… although I did have to re-glue the cockpit back in place.
24 December 2021, 07:25
![](/profiles/img/17841-866-s.jpg)
Coz u coulda just popped a 1:72 Wonder Woman in and left it unpainted
24 December 2021, 15:47