Blue Thunder

[steeler80]

I've done some searching but haven't come up with anything on the forums concerning this. I really liked the movie Blue Thunder (and also, sadly, liked the show that ran for 11 episodes as well) when I was a kid and have been wanting to come up with a replica for it to go with my old Ertl Airwolf. To my knowledge, there was only one model put out for the helicopter and those fetch pretty big dollars on ebay. My thought was to take a GI Joe Fang helicopter and work it in a facsimile of Blue Thunder. Has anyone done anything like this? The first thing that jumps out would be to find a similar canopy. Then it would be lots (and lots) of detail work.

 

[laellee]

Just me, but combine that with the dragonfly xj-1. (GI Joe as well)

If you really want to do this, do it right. First one can be a trainer for building anyways, but the base makes everything easier I think. The xj-1 will give you your cockpit and a lot of other pieces that you would otherwise have to scratch.

Good luck, I would love to see this happen

 

[TazMan2000]

Wasn't Blue Thunder built off of a Gazelle? Perhaps use that to start.

TazMan2000

 

[steeler80]

Thank you for the feedback! I actually have my old Dragonfly (missing a few pieces including the canopy ) that I could use. It's not in the best of shape so I don't feel bad using it for the build. I've done a few things like working on Dinky Eagles to make them more accurate but this would be the most complicated build so far (not that it's probably that complicated, but it would be for me!). So it will definitely be a learning experience.

 

[OlivierC]

The Blue Thunder was based on a Gazelle, a french helicopter, on which they built a completly different cockpit and added a bunch extra parts. The helicopter was so much heavier that it could barely fly and they had to use models for stunts.
I would actually start from an actual Gazelle model kit.

Edit : Tazman was faster than me

 

[robn1]

The 1/48 Aoshima kit is pricey, but the older 1/32 Monogram can be found at reasonable prices.

 

[steeler80]

The 1/48 Aoshima kit is pricey, but the older 1/32 Monogram can be found at reasonable prices.

Thanks! I'll try to track one down and keep my eye out for a Gazelle as well.

 

[Analyzer]

if you don't have any luck finding a reasonably priced kit...I have remnants of my brother's old Monogram kit. I have the cockpit canopy for sure, and the main body, but the routers are broken or missing

It's been in kind of a junk bin of sorts in the hopes that one day it might get restored but I don't ever see myself getting around to it.

If you are interested, I could dig it out and get some pics of what I have.

if you think it might be a decent starting point and want to give it a go, it is yours for whatever the cost of shipping would be

 

[kruleworld]

There's another Blue Thunderkit from Hitech which is an unlicensed version. it's a smaller scale kit than the monogram one.