Small Scale Military Headquarters

Barbarian333 wrote:Tman, Very cool display. Those prop blades dont look to be drooping. Do you think they will start to fall over time?

Yeah, they do look straight... I didn't really think anything of it until you pointed it out No telling if they will droop over time, but I suspect they will. The blades do not seem to be made of a new plastic or anything.

granch has an interesting idea using the nylon cord to hold the blades up. When I store my BBI helicopters, however, I tend to not have the blades mounted and keep them in a level, flat area so the droop isn't too bad when I do display the aircraft. My larger BBI helos (Blackhawk and Apache) are stored in my storage attic, which can get well over 100 degrees farenheit during a typical Central California summer, so not mounting the blades and keeping them flat is crucial.

I've never really had the bending blade problem with my BBI Kiowas, BBI Littlebirds, or even my 21c Hueys and AH-1 Supercobras.

the blades in my original BH droop a fair bit. I've used a blow dryer on them a couple of times and it works for a while but then they sag again. On the other hand, i did it once on my Apache years ago and they still look fine, no sag at all. So i gather they used a stiffer plastic on the apache vs. the original BH.

I suspect the blades on this newest BH will sag less than the original BH.

I know most of you don't display "on tarmac" but rather in the air hanging from ceiling. That's totally understandable considering their enormous size.
Displayed on the ground, though, the blade droop actually looks realistic, maybe even needs a little more droop to look like 1:1.
Obviously, in the air the blades should look straight.

pcoughran,
I think that a high speed in a narrow loop (don't know how many "G") can curve the blades upwards or, better said, lower the fuselage because it weights more. It's what I've tried with my Apache.
I would have liked that BBI made the AH-64 blades stronger, but, in fact, with time, they droop. I've considered an other reason for hanging all my big helo's blades:
If you have a look at the Huey and Cobra, the attach points are not so strong like the blades and might also warp with time, it's normal because they support the highest forces. These pieces would be more difficult to correct, if...

Got mine a few days ago along with a couple extra Night Stalkers, I love it. Obviously not 100% accurate, but looks awesome nonetheless. I'm not crazy about the "SEAL" figures, so I have a bunch of the black-BDU BBI Delta guys from a couple of years ago on mine, they look menacing as heck.

tmanthegreat, your minigun is upside down in those pics:

Ok, I am thinking about getting one of these.

The inaccuracies and molding downers mean nothing to me, I just want a Hawk better than my PTE version.

Some things I want to know:
-From tman's photo, the chopper looks grey. Is this the lighting or the actual colouring?
-How easy is it to put figures inside the cabin, and will they be flopping around?
-How heavy/delicate is this? I am not going to give this to a kid, but it would be nice to hold it in my hands without something falling off every minute.

Any advice is welcome.

Cheers~

Assuming it is similar to the blackhawk and pavehawks from BBI then you should be able to actually "play" with this. The plastic is very strong on the wheels and elsewhere. I've heard people dropped theirs and didn't have any gear break, although I wouldn't recommend trying an "autorotation" from a few feet up onto concrete.
You'll have a hard time getting figures into the minigun positions - you have to bend the legs straight backwards at the knees. As far as seating goes, the figures will not sit still on the seating if you are moving it around/playing with it. They will fly all over the inside. But, you should be able to make some good still poses for display - especially if you have figures with good articulation at the knees - if they don't bend 90 degrees or better at the waist and knees they will kinda "lay" on the seats with their legs sprawled out into the cabin area.
This version doesn't have the same number of seating on the inside as the original BBI blackhawk and pavehawk. They removed the center row seating. This might actually allow you to cram more figures in but they would mostly be piled around on the floor (this is often how we did it when I was in the Army as the seating wasn't always installed for missions).

I second everything pcoughran said. As far as the color, it is a very dark gray with dark OD markings. The antennas, rotors, and radomes are black. The real 160th SOAR helos are painted black, but the paint fades and becomes chalky on operational aircraft, so the color on this model is pretty accurate.

Don't black hawk blades naturally droop?

Flyboy,
Yes, they droop when static. Most display "in air" though due to the size, especially the 4 bladed blackhawk and apache - and in flight the blades should not be drooping.