1/72 EH-101 Merlin "Helo-Link Offshore Shuttle Service"

[Hajo L.]

This is my latest Merlin, built out of the VH-71 kit by Italeri. I bought that kit mainly because I wanted to use the decals for a VH-3 "Marine One", so I had a spare EH-101. I decided to build it as a commercial helicopter flying for a fictional company called "Helo-Link", providing shuttle-service for offshore oil-rigs.

I started by changing the interior to a more commercial look, mainly adding a lot of seats for the passengers.

I "borrowed" some of the seats from an already finished EH-101 and another one that was then waiting for the build.

I also changed the front left passenger window into a "bubble" to allow a better view outside in case of a tight manoevering space.

This part also acts as secondary entrance and emergency exit:

The main entrance:

Floatation bags are stored in the main gear sponsons:

Getting ready for painting, first time that I was using tape for the paint job (I brushpaint all of my models).

[Hajo L.]

And the finished helicopter!

First set of pictures, the winch is still missing:

Second set, beeing a little bit more "creative":

HAJO

Edited April 15, 2009 by Hajo L.

[phantom]

Rather nice job, very believable as well.

[Grant]

Terrific!. I like that a lot. That is a great finish with a brush.

The only problem I have is with that dam on the nose. I do hate it when kit manufacturers push out kits of prototypes, without positively identifying them as such. That nose only existed for a very short time, on one test airframe, and has never gone into production.

Still, it's a What-if, so whose to say....(shame there aren't any actually in commercial service)

A cool model Hajo.

cheers

Grant

[Mr B]

Lovely brush paint and nice subject with an awesome green ! love the green

Rgds

Mr B

[Trojan Thunder]

Lovely brush paint and nice subject with an awesome green ! love the green

Rgds

Mr B

Totally agree with Mr B, great scheme and paint job! :(

[Jack-Swiss]

Very nice job!!!

cool scheme indeed!

Cheers

[arkhunter2002]

I must say, this is one of the best brush painting jobs that I've seen. Not to mention, this is a very believable/lovely scheme too.

-Austin

[Aggressor Supporter]

Beautiful looking Merlin, especially in those colors. Big

[Pirata]

Excellent model. Bravo on a well-painted, silver and bright colored aircraft. It takes a brave man to attempt so much silver with a brush. I fouled up some silver with an airbrush just a couple of days ago, so, I'm jealous.

This was also a very believable whiff. I like well-done, civilian schemes. If you hadn't told me that helo-link was a whiff, I never would've known. You can park it with your models of "real" subjects and nobody will be the wiser.

:(

Edited April 23, 2009 by Patman

[Hajo L.]

Thank you for the nice words! I have to say that brushing silver is not that hard, at least that´s the way I feel. The only problem you´ll get is when the surface is bad, like having parts where a lot of sanding was done without proper cure of the surface.

One strange thing I noticed some weeks ago was that the very old models I did years ago, where parts haven been painted with Revells silver 90, look like real metal, with sometimes even mirror-like effects. I have never been able to replicate that effect with Humbrols silver 11 I used in the past few years or the Revell acrylics 90. The downside of the Enamel 90 has been it´s extremely long time until it completely dired up, I had the expresssion it would even take years.

HAJO

[Hajo L.]

Oh, and I completely forgot to mention that the first coat was done with Revells Acryllic Aluminium 99 on this model, then followed by the second and final coat of silver 90.

HAJO

[merlin101]

Nice scheme! Way the sales are going there might be civy '101's yet!

job well done!

Dave

[ChernayaAkula]

Wow! Now that's a cool one! As phantom said, very believable!