Don't know how I missed this thread before now...but following along intently to see where it goes.
That's some fine looking whiffery going on, Jeff!
It has been almost two years since my last update to this project. Not that anything was done in the interim but it was nothing worth providing an update to the thread. The greatest obstacle was me trying to not go overboard on the rotor blades. The original idea was to use the main rotor from a 1/35th scale UH-60 or AH-64 but that turned out to be stretching the limits of something believable. The blackhawk blades are too long but the Apache blades are almost ideal in the sought after length for the replacement main rotor blade. I may still go with using the Apache blades but that will require some careful surgery create a main rotor hub that can accommodate five or six main rotor blades. The appeal of the 1/35-1/32 scale main rotors is that they are broader in chord which looks like a better performing rotor blade that could result in less noise during operation. The current attempt using the 1/48th scale Academy Blackhawk main rotor blades is still a coin toss on success or failure.
***Addendum***
Some additional comments on the Sea King what-if.
I have yet to consider the nationality of this craft so for the moment, it is without a master. One of the original ideas I had for this project was to try and find the Westland Commando landing gear for the Mk.5 version that has no floats and a more simplified main landing gear arrangement. I finally gave up on this idea after considering other main landing gear from other models in 1/48th and 1/35-1/32 scale and decided that if the craft were to land on water the floats would be necessary so that finalized the path I was to take with this project. Some of the other features that I would have enjoyed attempting on this model would be to remove the upper works for the engine and transmission and replacing it with the same features from the Sikorsky Blackhawk. Since I was going to stick with the floats it was obvious I would have to use floats that did not have the dedicated MAD device and ASW Smoke Marker features so I acquired the
BelcherBits Sea King floats that are offered without these features as a drop-in replacement. I liked these replacement floats enough to order two additional sets of floats for the two complete Sea King kits I have in the stash.
Other options that have been considered were the incorporation of the Blackhawk/Sea Hawk main rotor and tail rotor as-is to replace the Sea King main rotor. This came about because of the poor state of repair that the kit parts were in from the previous owner's attempt to build those components. The main rotor was in a shambles and the tail rotor was broken and beyond repair. While the main rotor could have been salvaged, it was testing my patience so I binned it and got on to other projects. Returning to this project now has made me realize that I may have been too hasty with my decision to bin the problem parts (the main rotor hub and rotors) but the damage was done and it forced me to get out of my zone of comfort and explore anew alternatives that would look the part but in turn be purely fictional. The most recent attempt to modify the Academy Blackhawk main rotors is the first step in that direction. It may or may not be successful as the cuts have to be precise and the strength of the new main rotor blade have to be strong enough to withstand some further modifications to either be used with the resin replacement Mi-24 Hind main rotor hub or to be used with the original four-blade main rotor hub from the Blackhawk. It all depends on how many of these Academy Blackhawk kits I am willing to destroy in order to obtain four or five longer span main rotor blades. While I was fortunate in having "stocked up" on at the time relatively inexpensive Academy Blackhawk kits it pains me to have to destroy three kits in order to create five new main rotor blades.
For now, unless I can acquire replacement Sea King tail rotors the current plan is to use a Blackhawk tail rotor to replace the now discarded kit tail rotor. The Black Hawk tail rotor is a bit more robust in construction and does not impinge on the main rotor arc so it is a good fit and choice for a replacement.
***Edit for spelling errors--jjf