Helicopter Resurrection

I decided to invest in a test purchase of some Hurlbat etched rotor discs to help resurrect some tatty old helicopter models.

I ordered two of the rotors designed for the Westland Lynx and two for the Mil Hind or Hip.  I also ordered a single AH-64 Apache rotor.  Sadly I completed the order without remembering to add on some tail rotor discs.

The discs come with one side covered by a blue coating that you need to peel off.  This can be a little tricky.  I get the impression that heat used to cut out the disc may slightly weld the plastic coating to the disc.  Here are a couple of four-blade Lynx rotors, one with the coating removed.

I tried a Mi-8 Hip first as it had a nice, clean surface into which I could drill a hole for the length of pin I intended to use to mount the rotor.

I snipped about 5mm off the head end of the pin to act as the rotor head gear.  I carefully superglued the pin to the disc (which comes pre-drilled) and then superglued the pin into the drilled hole.  The result was OK I think.

Note, that's the original tail rotor disc that came with the model.  It's noticeably yellowed compared to the Hurlbat disc.

Among the helicopters I need to upgrade are a couple of Pumas.  Hurlbat don't make a Puma disc (it wants to be four bladed and 52mm in diameter but I thought I'd have a go trying out the smaller Apache disc.

Below you can see a Puma with an Apache disc next to one with the original, cast, white metal rotors.

I think that looks OK.  I shall invest in a couple more as well as the large number of Chinook discs I need for my seven Boeing Sea Knights!

More photos to come when I get the rest of the current batch of helos upgraded.