AH-61F Sea Eagle (S-67 for the USMC)

[Spino]

Photos of the added lumps and bumps.  Several blade antennas, four MAWS apertures, and four flat fairings/bulges.  Also added the TADS/laser turret to the nose.

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[kerick]

To me Ghost Hawk is cool but might be better for something stealthy. The US Army always names helicopters after Native American tribes. US Navy usually starts with Sea something. How about Sea Eagle? Just my $0.02.

[NARSES2]

I spent some time yesterday adding various lumps and bumps to the model, though part of me felt like it was a shame to put stuff like that on a helicopter with such clean lines. 

I know what you mean. Sometimes when building aircraft I want to hang every bit of ordanance possible on it, but with certain types you just want to show off their clean lines.

[Spino]

To me Ghost Hawk is cool but might be better for something stealthy. The US Army always names helicopters after Native American tribes. US Navy usually starts with Sea something. How about Sea Eagle? Just my $0.02.

Sea Eagle actually sounds rather appropriate to me.  Especially considering that this helicopter has such clean lines (aside from all the stuff I added  ) and it actually has wings that provide lift.  Sea Eagle it is.

[kerick]

To me Ghost Hawk is cool but might be better for something stealthy. The US Army always names helicopters after Native American tribes. US Navy usually starts with Sea something. How about Sea Eagle? Just my $0.02.

Sea Eagle actually sounds rather appropriate to me.  Especially considering that this helicopter has such clean lines (aside from all the stuff I added  ) and it actually has wings that provide lift.  Sea Eagle it is.

Great! I'm glad that all made sense as it was late and I was tired when I wrote it!

[HarryPhishnuts]

Ok this is absolutely amazing.       

[DogfighterZen]

This is looking very interesting indeed! 

[Spino]

I'm undecided about whether to include the troop compartment, since this is a USMC helicopter anyway and they would likely want more range than a limited troop carrying capability.

Next up is to print twin racks for the rocket pods and get the cockpit fully painted.

[Captain Canada]

Looks great ! She is a big machine, that's for sure. Almost looks like a BAe Hawk from the front upper view.

[Spino]

Looks great ! She is a big machine, that's for sure. Almost looks like a BAe Hawk from the front upper view.

It does look a bit T-45ish, doesn't it?   

I'm printing the main rotor blades now, they'll have to be assembled as I had to cut them in half to give the printer any hope of getting them right.  I'm seriously thinking that they might need wire reinforcement, in which case I'll have to add a spot for the wire and re-print them, but we'll see.  I'd also have to find some wire worth reinforcing them with, a real challenge considering how thin the blades are 

[Spino]

After a redesign of the main rotor hub, the main rotor is finally on.  The original hub somehow ended up far too big 

Not sure if I'll add back the longbow radar or not.

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[Wardukw]

Dude that looks brilliant ..sleck and deadly   
Since your going Navy with it the Longbow part is pretty much useless as there's bugger all things to hide behind in the ocean
If yours going to of course support landing op's  which i suspect your gonna even then its not much use really as you'll have things like Hawkeyes high up flying recon and things like that to also help out ,,,,and one more thing,,,it looks epic without it ,,which i think is the most important part 

[Wardukw]

Damn i'm having so many evil ideas now from this build bud for a AH-64   

[Spino]

Dude that looks brilliant ..sleck and deadly   
Since your going Navy with it the Longbow part is pretty much useless as there's bugger all things to hide behind in the ocean
If yours going to of course support landing op's  which i suspect your gonna even then its not much use really as you'll have things like Hawkeyes high up flying recon and things like that to also help out ,,,,and one more thing,,,it looks epic without it ,,which i think is the most important part 

Well the Longbow is just as much a targeting system as it is a situational awareness system (though I guess it's a bit of a moot point with a load of AGM-179s  ).  With a load AGM-114Ls, the Longbow can actually allow the helicopter to shoot at targets from behind cover/concealment, with just the radar mast poking up (although that doesn't really work on the AH-1Z because they put the stupid thing on one of the stub wing pylons instead of atop the rotor mast  ).  With all of that being said, I do like the way it looks without the radar, so no radar it is.  Besides, Apaches actually have a fairly significant reduction in top speed with the Longbow fitted on the rotor mast, that's how much extra drag it causes!

Now I have to print the tail rotor and the twin racks for the APKWS pods.  Still a fair amount of work to be done.

[Captain Canada]

Defo looking better and better with every update ! Great stuff !