1/48 Monogram AH-64 Apache   Part 4

MY AH-64 APACHE CHOPPER IS FINISHED

by Rodney Williams

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To start my last segment, I would like to say thanks to everyone who sent a direct email to me.  I now know what that little white box is for, which I built and attached to the aft left side of the fuselage, including the gold looking round item on top of the spine, just aft of the main rotor. 

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Someone wrote and related that the rivets were raised, and mushroomed over, and that they had photos of same.  They wondered why I sanded off all the rivets, then used a pin to replace them.  I had photos too!  The rivets on the chopper may be about 3/8" to 1/2" in diameter.  Reduce that diameter down to 1/48 scale, which is less than 1/64" in diameter.  Now make several hundred, if not a thousand or more, and put them on the model.  Let's get realistic, like the guy who wrote a story about a 1/72 scale F4F Wildcat, saying that the fuselage was short by 1/2" in scale.

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The model was painted, using Tamiya Acrylic's.  Once the paint had dried for a day or two, I carefully rubbed down the paint with a soft clean cloth, including the use of cotton balls. This method removes all of the flat acrylic build up, and the paint looks like it's semi-gloss. There were next to no decals for this model, so I  airbrush on a tiny bit of "Future" just on the area where the  decals go.  A bit of future overcoat, and some dull coat, and the model is finished.

Looking back on this project, I could have built all the parts using flat and tubular styrene stock.  One guy wrote and wanted to know what kind of metal shop I have to make all these parts.  My answer was:  I have no metal shop, just a few simple tools, that's it!!!  I have a small "Archer" brand soldering iron, two 8" long x 1/2" diameter "pencil type" butane gas torches, a small 3" long steel vice, some 1" long copper clamps, and an assortment of files. 

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Building time was just a tad over 500 hours.  I made US$9.97 per hour for my labor, which came out to an even US$5,000.00.
Happy Modeling!

Rodney

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Photos and text © by Rodney Williams