Modern US Army: MH-6 and AH-6J "Little Birds" finished

The 160th SOAR "Little Bird" helicopters are finished. The BlackHawks will be started soon.

They don't call it a "Predator" for nothing... MQ-1 Predator UAV - DONE !!!

Well, what can I say? It's finished. :-)

They don't call it a "Predator" for nothing... MQ-1 Predator UAV (cleaning and touch ups WIP)

All right, so this is where the magic happens: I tried to remove the excess of oil paint from the panel wash (mind you - its more than 36 hours later!) and guess what: it works ! ! !

I never tried this technique before and I am stunned how good it works.

Just compare the pics from yesterday with those I made just a couple of minutes ago.

Thanks to the gloss varnish before adding the panel wash, I could simply rub off all excess of oil paint wash with an old cotton cloth onto which I applied some turpentine.

shot from above - now I am off to apply decals!
sensor turret details

Stunning: all those nice rivets and panels of the access lids

The panel lines now really stick out nicely.

Even if those panel lines are very very narrow, they still "pop out" of the grey now.

They don't call it a "Predator" for nothing... MQ-1 Predator UAV (panel wash WIP)

20mm SSgt Randy Sykes for a size comparison...

As you can see I have applied the oil paint panel wash. There is some excess oil paint scattered around the model, but thanks to the gloss varnish I will be able to remove that with ease tomorrow.

They don't call it a "Predator" for nothing... MQ-1 Predator UAV (painting WIP)

Next steps completed:
I sprayed the entire model with Light Grey and painted the details with various Vallejo colours (not many details to paint; missile, propeller, sensors, landing gear).

Today I applied a satin varnish (gloss would be recommended, but I didn't have any).When this has dried, the panel wash with oil paints will be done next.


So far it looks like that (crappy pics, sorry)

They don't call it a "Predator" for nothing... MQ-1 Predator UAV

I wanted to finish the Little Birds today but somehow got distracted by this lovely little quick-build: a MQ-1 "predator" UAV.

It was a RQ-1 Predator (which is not armed) from Italeri which I upgraded using resin parts from Unicraft. The MQ-1 can be armed with up to two M114 Hellfire missiles. I didn't like the resin missiles so I took one of my unbuilt Apache helicopter from HobbyBoss.

I will have to build a very large flying base for this one, but I simply wanted a model for the appropriate Fog Of War card in Force On Force. *evil grin*

No, the GW base won't stay - it only helps to paint this beast.

Modern US Army: MH-6 and AH-6J "Little Birds" work in progress (3)

Both "Little Birds" on their flight stands. Not really completely finished, but it gives an impression of how its going to look like.

The MH-6. The glass section of the canopy is a pain to fit. :-/

The SHQ pilots. Normally for Vietnam - but I think they well look the part for 160th SOAR from Mogadischu all the way to Iraq 2003.

The Business-End of an armed AH-6J "Little Bird". Ever since I was watching Black Hawk Down for the first time I adore those awesome little combat machines.

7-shot Hydra pods and M134 Miniguns...

Now I will need to put finishing touches to those models and start with the MH-60s.

Modern US Army: MH-6 and AH-6J "Little Birds" work in progress (2)

AH-6J
MH-6

Prime(r)-time.

So, today I applied the grey primer (Tamiya)...I've been using grey primer spray as I do hope the paintjob will turn out brighter later.

Tamiya NATO Black sprayed on top. Agreed, in my pics it looks just like Chaos Black primer, but in reality its way brighter, more like a dark grey.

Time to paint up some details.

Modern US Army: MH-6 (SOF transport) "Little Bird" work in progress

MH-6 with its typical benchs for the SOF guys to sit upon (crew is SHQ if I remember correctly, SOF guys are Caesar plastics - unsure if they will be added).

MH-6 side shot, note the new tail and the FLIR turret as well as the added GPS antenna.

MH-6 details: note the support struts on the bench (scratchbuilt) and the mounted (scratchbuilt) FRIES (=FastRope Insertion and Extraction System) over the rear doors.

MH-6 front.

Modern US Army: AH-6j (armed) "Little Bird" work in progress

The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) is a special operations unit of the United States Army that provides helicopter aviation support for general purpose forces and Special Operations Forces. Its missions have included attack, assault, and reconnaissance, and are usually conducted at night, at high speeds, low altitudes, and on short notice. The 160th SOAR is headquartered at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The 160th SOAR (A) are also known as the Night Stalkers and their motto is "Night Stalkers Don't Quit".


Hi, so I finally started with a my Nightstalkers helicopter fleet. As they took part in about every campaign since Grenada, they will be very useful for my FoF US Army and Special Forces. I am planning on a MH-6, AH-6j, MH-60K, MH-60L DAP and an CH-47E.
I began working on the smallest of them all: the "Little Birds". I used Tamiya kits, Italeri kits and lots of scratchbuilding to get me two variants. Let's start with the AH-6j (armed) "Little Bird", well known since Hollywood's version of "Blackhawk Down".

AH-6j with M134 Miniguns (7,62mm) and M260 Hydra pods (2.75" FFAR) with seven shots each.


AH-6j side shots reveals details of the scratchbuilt weapons mount and the added details (new tail, FLIR, GPS antenna etc.)

Modern US Army: Abrams tanks WIP - turrets finished

Thank you, real life - for letting me have off from work for once. Oh happy day, I was able to put finishing touches to the Abrams turrets. Due to a lot of feedback that my vehicles appear to be too "clean" for frontline armour, I had a go on those turrets with Tamiya's superb weathering sets. These sets come with three boxes of pigmet powder in various tones and a dual applicator (one side a brush, the other a pen-type Weathering Stick). Please note that no matt varnish was applied when I took these pics. It is absolutely necessary to apply a coat, otherwise the pigmets will stick to your fingers everytime you grab your toys!!! See the frontside of the armoured turret hull - the vertical weathering was done with the applicator stick.

A close up of the weathering in various tones of pigment.

Another shot of the frontside. I used "Sand", "Light Sand" and "Dust" to apply those faded lines.

See the dust and pigments on the turret top? These were applied with the brush side of the applicator tool.

I mixed all pigments that came in the sets from Tamiya and used the applicator tool's brush to "drybrush" (the technique is the same as with a acryl or enamel paint) dust and sand into all recesses. Note the duffel bags in the lower part of the pic - it shows traces of multiple tones of pigment.

With the pen-side of the applicator I brushed carefully over all weld seams. I also applied dust to where the crew would most likely have went over on the top of the turrets.

The barrel of "Columbia 2", 2nd platoon, Charly Company, Task Force 1-64

The barrel of "Carnitore", 2nd platoon, Charly Company, Task Force 1-64

Multiple pigments were mixed and applied heavily over the complete stowage, just as it would have been in a sand storm.

The strong amounts of powder in-between the items in the stowage bins creates a very realistic look.