Italari's 1/48 V-22 Osprey

[RedRoo]

I built this model from the first ever issue of a model of the V-22 Osprey in 1986, produced by the Italian company, Italari.

The V-22 had just started doing its testing for the US armed forces and was featured in a Flight magazine with some photos.

I was fascinated by the colour scheme so I wrote to Bell Textron in Texas in the USA and I received from Mr Terry Arnold, the Tilt Rotor communications manager, 10 glossy 8"X10"prints showing the V-22 in various flight configurations.

The black striping on the upper surface were made by painting a clear decal sheet gloss black and then cutting the strip to the required lengths.

The Bell-Boeing logo was achieved by seeking the required font and ink jet printing it to a clear decal sheet.

The US flag on the tail was found on a sheet of "Letraset" rob down sheet.

[steve131]

Excellent work as ever Roo

[morrigan]

Lovely stuff, top work on the striping.
How did you manage that without the stripes making you go crosseyed!

[RedRoo]

I still wear the highly magnified glasses today !!! LOL

The striping was hard as the edges of the stripes is where the paint 'shattered' and I had to devise a way of eliminating that from happening , so I sprayed liquid decal all over the black painted sheet and it worked a treat.

Again, thank you gents for your comments.

Roo. (boing boing)

[chill]

Wow looks amazing

[DJG Downunder]

Very nice RedRoo, the extra effort required to get that prototype version right, was well worth it.
Maybe you'll inspire the manufacturer to produce that option for everyone.
'k' on the way.

[DJG Downunder]

Oops, a bit of parallex error with the iPad. I hit the wrong thumb by accident and took a 'K' off instead of adding one. Apologies for that, I'll rectify that problem over the next couple of days, as the site lets me.

[DJG Downunder]

Ok, after a bit of research, I've worked out how the "Appointing Karma" system works. You'll have your point back, and the additional one, by the end of the week.
Damn, I'll make sure I put my glasses on next time.... sorry about this RedRoo.

[casper]

Excellent work Roo she looks really good
great tip for making decals, never thought of doing that
Have a K matey

[RedRoo]

All you wonderful people with the encouraging comments are really good for my ego !!!.

A bit of history about the V-22. When I saw the article and the comments Mr Terry Arnold made about the tragedy the attempted rescue of the hostages from the US compound it Tehran, he said that if the V-22 was around then, it would have been a simple case of them being able to go straight in, all the way from US soil, refuelling on the way, land in the Compound and be gone before any one knew what was happening, but as we all saw, the failure of the c-i30's and the "Jolly Green Giants" pranging into each other in their own man made dust storms, and when the V-22 finally made it to the final test flights and the prangs they had, it was all down to incorrect wiring connections of all things. .

I have seen other models done in prototype colouring, like the early "Box car" transport aircraft, and as the usual camo colours are all well and good, I really wanted to challenge myself and come up with something different and when all the beautiful photos came in the post with Bell-Textron on the face, I was convinced that I would do it.

I also sent some of the pics to Mr Arnold who was quite surprised at my efforts and invited me to go to Fort Worth in Texas to see how they build helicopters, but I never made it there. Oh Well