The Alternate History Apache - Background Story and Winter Camo

We're getting to the final stages of this project. Since this is called the "Alternate History Apache" it should have a story, so maybe it goes like this.

In January of 1941, the German scientists stumbled across an alien technology while digging out the area that would become Peenemünde. This allowed them to time travel, but only a maximum of 70 years into the future. With this device they voyaged looking for military technologies that could help them win the war. Among other things, they were able to capture this U.S. Army Apache and bring it back to 1941 to give them an advantage in ground support operations. They were also able to capture enough rocket pods and missiles to make it worth while.

Do you think if they traveled from early 1941 to present day, they would have still invaded Russia in June and declared war on the United States in December? What if they would have fortified Normandy, and not waited for the invasion at Calais? Would an appropriate and earlier deployment of the Me-262 in a fighter role make a difference in the air superiority battle over Europe?

These kinds of questions keep me up at night. Not really, let's get on with the build.

Cutting out the decals. Those don't look like U.S. Army decals!

A mix of WWII German armor paint scheme and a modern U.S. Army Apache.

It was somewhere around this point that I realized that if this was a captured helicopter by Nazi Germany, the "United States Army" would have been painted over with the Panzer Schwarzgrau. "Why didn't they put Luftwaffe colors on?" Because, this was the color scheme we wanted to do and it's alternate history.

After the chipping fluid was applied, Thing Two started on the white wash.

Getting coverage. Look at that beautiful airbrush.

Thing Two did a really good job at laying down this color. Although the purpose was uneven coats. He also kept the spray pattern in a vertical motion per instruction.

The winter camo scheme applied.

Now for the fun part. We only had a limited time for the chipping fluid, so we needed to act fast.

We both chipped together. I bought a package of cheap brushes to have a variety of sizes and uses. I took a couple of them and cut them so they would be stubby and scratchy. It really made a difference scraping at the paint.

This side nearly done.

Successfully chipped!

Gave the underside some attention!

I wanted the propeller blades to have some wear as well.

After masking, I sprayed Tamiya Flat Aluminum.

Then, with the help of Thing Two, we applied some Maskol to the blades.

I sprayed the blades with Model Master Aircraft Interior Black. I found it has a nice soft black for propeller blades.

Thing Two is removing the Maskol via the finger method. Over one month on, and I'm still finding Maskol that needs to be removed.

Here, Thing Two is brush painting the blade holder a steel color. There are a lot of nooks and crannies with this part. It's amazing how you realize the complexity of a part when you're brush painting versus spraying.

Painting the machine gun with Model Master Gun Metal.

We painted the exhaust with Model Master Jet Exhaust. I don't really care for the goldish color. We'll darken it down with weathering in the next stages.

There it is. The Apache has slightly progressed since this post was originally crafted and I will provide an update when I can get to it, you know, because life.

Merry Christmas!

Stug IV Construction Continues

Apparently little effort was given to getting more Stug updates posted as I casually mentioned at the end of the last Stug post. The first and only post was at the end of September! I'll keep this brief and just proceed with the pictures. On to the pictures! Could it be anymore brief?

The plain old side of the basic lower hull.

The wheel things are attached. Don't feel like looking it up right now.

Hmm, I don't think those holes are accurate to the real vehicle. I'll have to take care of that.

It appears that this kit must have had some sort of battery drive back in the day to be a motorized "toy".

Covered the holes with some sheet styrene and glued into place with some Extra Thin.

This was a new method for me. I took an old bottle of Extra Thin and added pieces of sprue. Over time, it melts to make liquid plastic. The down side is that this takes a number of days to fully cure.

After a day or so, I started to sand it down and found it was still a bit mushy underneath. A number of air pockets were uncovered during sanding. I added some Dissolved putty to fill the micro holes. Filling and sanding seemed endless with this method. I just had to accept that it was "good enough" for the bottom.

The thing about armor kits, seam lines!

Cleaned up and removed from this part and all the other ones.

Here's the other thing about armor kits, all the wheels!

And the return wheels.

Just when you thought that was it, the drive sprockets and the idler wheels.

Another challenge with armor kits are two part barrels. Glue it together and try to make that seam line disappear on a cylinder! You won't be eliminating the seam inside the muzzle, that's for sure. Some better kits have rifled aluminum barrels instead.

The best I could do with some Mr. Dissolved putty and sanding.

No seam on that muzzle. I said "on" the muzzle.

Ejector pin marks to fill and sand.

The gun assembly.

Completely assembled. No, I didn't realize it until after I added the picture to the post.

After gluing everything together, I dry fit the gun into place and noticed that when it is elevated, the gun was going up and to the side. I took a piece of strip styrene and glued it to the offending side.

The upper hull with the gun installed.

That's where we'll end this week. I have another draft post of the Stug and the other projects in the queue. Well, they have pictures added anyway. Time to watch Bob Ross paint with shades of gray.