1/48 Monogram AH-1F 'Vivacious Vonnie'

Gallery Article by Floyd S. Werner, Jr. on Dec 9 2010

 

Hello everyone here is my latest and greatest, my very own helicopter that I flew in Desert Storm, 79-23221, 'Vivacious Vonnie'. Kind of appropriate that I finished this on my wife's 50th birthday since it was named after her. 

I must say the build brought back lots of memories. I have some people to thank. First off is William Beasley, who did the artwork for the Werner's Wings AH-1F Cobra decal sheet. Without him there is no doubt this would still be sitting on the back shelf of my mind. The second person is Chris Barretta who did the masters for the IPS/Debris Deflectors again without I would not have built this model. There are plenty of others to thank as well, Joseph Osborn for his decal help when I realized I forgot some armament decals on the decal sheet and Two Bobs for having the M-130 and M-261 decals on their Iron City Apache sheet.

I will be submitting this to Scale Aviation Modeler International so hopefully you'll see it in print sometime soon. The article is written now I just have to take the beauty shots.

Click on images below to see larger images

So am I happy with it? I couldn't get much happier with it. Is it perfect? Nope, no model is. Is it my new favorite model? Heck ya. I need to design a pedestal mount with unit markings and personal info etched into the wood for it. I will try to do the same for all the Cobras I build. 

I used every Werner's Wing product that I could, including the Werner's Wings resin Kit (OOP), Decals, IPS, Upgrade, TOWs, and Rocket Pods. That is why I either designed them or had them made by others. Everything worked as advertised. There is scratchbuilt details throughout. I cut out the pilot's door. What a pain in the butt and I ruined three canopies until I was happy with it. So if any of you have extra canopies I sure could use them. LOL Eduard PE set for the HUD and other small items. MV lens landing light on the belly. Separated some rockets from a set of seven shot pods to 'load' out the model like the real thing. Eduard Remove Before Flight flags, by the way, the one on the tailboom is for the M-130. String and wire was used to represent the Main Rotor tie down with D ring clip. Mig Pigments and Sin Filters were used for the weathering. What more can I say, I love it. If you have specific questions just ask. 

I'm on a builder's high right now and it ain't from paint thinner. Thanks for sharing in my pride and joy.

Floyd S. Werner, Jr.

Photos and text © by Floyd S. Werner, Jr.