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!

Apache Priming and Painting Phase One

The painting of the Apache has begun! This was the first time Thing Two got to use the airbrush. It's good to get it in his hands young, if he keeps at it, he can be a real pro someday. Today we'll take a look at the priming and base coat.

I keep this spare piece of styrene card for testing paint and what not. It came in handy to let him practice a little and get a feel for the airbrush.

First we painted the base coat on the canopy. He wanted blue and all I had was RLM Hellblau (Light blue). It will have to do.

When the clear part was painted we got on to the priming.

Thing Two did pretty well for a first attempt, but tired after a while. There was still some humidity in the air as you can see the pistol grip moisture trap on the airbrush.

It would have helped if I had a .4mm needle in the airbrush. As I don't have one, we had to do with a .2mm. Hopefully this will be rectified when Chicago Airbrush has a sale for the holidays.

Thing Two threw in the towel so I had to take over. I was unable to complete the priming as the airbrush was not spraying well anymore and needed a complete strip down. After coming back for a second round on another day, I finished up the priming.

We've finally gotten to the fun part, laying down the base coat. Thing Two is spraying Model Master Panzer Schwarzgrau. For you non-modelers or non-German speakers, that it "Tank Black-gray".

Working it all over.

Takes a bit of practice to get even coats.

Have to make sure everything gets well covered. I took over once Thing Two tired. It took a little bit more work to even out some areas and compensate for puddley spots and runs.

Thing Two wanted a "red" tail. I just happened to have the desired paint on hand for once! This was a pretty quick and dirty mask job. I wasn't extremely particular.

I sprayed the red tail, then, only after I cleaned the airbrush I noticed that areas that were thinner coated, tended more toward pink. I'll have to remember this in the future. It won't matter too much once you see what's coming.

Here is the completed base coat.

I think we should start calling this the Alternate History Apache.

Thing One's Apache Update and Transition

If I didn't mention it before, and I'm sure I did I will say it again, this kit is terrible. The part numbers are all over the place on the sprues. Instead of going in numerical order they go 20, 73 and 36 maybe right next to each other, so finding the part is especially difficult.

Since I've been woefully behind on creating posts, we've got a lot going on this time but at least we will finish up the construction phase. Let's get to it.

The underside coming along.

Why would a manufacturer put their name on the outside area of a part? Yet another irritation from this horrendous, garbage kit. Thanks Revell.

As I mentioned in the title, this post is about transition. Just as I had, Thing One lost interest. After the runaway success of the P-51 Mustang, Thing Two wanted a challenge. He took up the mantle of this ridiculously junky kit. Brace yourself for a lot of pictures.

Okay, I actually did the masking here. It took all of about 10 minutes. I wanted to see how fast I could do it throwing quality to the wind. It was mostly straight edges, easy peasy.

Snipping parts.

Glued and clamped the back wheel together.

Snipping.

Gluing.

Attaching the missiles and rocket pod. Thing One did the opposite side.

Gluing some random part.

Gluing the rear elevator together. This was a mistake, as I will point out later.

Get all that glue in there boy!

More gluing.

Thing Two used Micro Kristal Klear to attach the clear parts. Here he is using a moistened cotton bud to clean off the ooziness. Saliva on the cotton bud does wonders. I also didn't feel like getting water. I was conserving energy!

Tada! Thing Two did a pretty good job, especially during the dry fit. Things didn't exactly line up, but show me something on this kit that does.

The rear wheel, what an exciting picture.

I taught Thing Two that little parts disappear when they are snipped without being held. I showed him how to hold the part with tweezers and cut with the knife. Not bad for a 6 year old!

All the tiny hand holds and foot holds are what drove Thing One from this model. Thing Two took it on without complaint.

Gluing more foot holds.

See that horizontal bar at the top? The two elevator halves should have been glued with that sandwiched in between. Modifications had to be made. Just for the record, I wasn't really paying that close attention to the directions either.

Construction completed!

We gave up on some of the foot and hand holds because of the poor fit and some appeared to be missing. I said the heck with them and Thing Two agreed. Now that the assemblage has completage, the model is ready for priming and painting. We will be going for a non-traditional paint scheme for this model. The U.S. Army Helo Drab just seemed too pedestrian.

Thanks for checking in!