1:100 OH-58 Kiowa Multi-Role Helictoper

The OH-58 was originally developed during the early 1960s as the D-250 for the Light Observation Helicopter (LOH). While the rival Hughes OH-6 Cayuse was picked over Bell’s submission in May 1965, the company refined its design to create the Model 206A, a variant of which it successfully submitted to the reopened LOH competition two years later.

The OH-58 was primarily produced for the United States Army. Only two months after the type’s entry to service, it was first deployed into the Vietnam War. The US Army would make extensive use of various OH-58 models across numerous warzones over the decades, seeing active combat during the Gulf War, the Invasion of Panama, and the War in Afghanistan amongst others. During 2017, the US Army opted to withdraw its remaining OH-58s and replace them with newer rotorcraft, such as the Boeing AH-64 Apache and Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota, as well as increasing use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Furthermore, the OH-58 has been exported to Austria, Canada, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and Greece. It has also been produced under license in Australia.

This is my 1:100 or 15mm scaled rendition of the Kiowa and comes complete with a full package of assets you can attach to each side. While I used a variety of resource materials, websites, books, you get the point… I wanted to make it a little bit me and a whole lot printable. I originally started this year and put it on the back burner until my skill set would allow me to finish it.

I have not broken this model up too much. I prefer to print these on my Peopoly so not only can I print them in 1 piece I can print 12 at a time.

Aside from that, on printers like Elegoo Mars and Anycubic Photon, if you rotate the model 60 degrees with the end down, just add your supports, hollow it out, add a couple of holes underneath for drainage, and print away. I would HIGHLY suggest printing the weapons out individually from the fuselage and then once cured I would glue the 50 cal’s to the half doors on each side. The M240 ramp gun will have a springy stand that will allow you to put it on the ramp easier and allow for different elevations.

For resin I prefer to use Siraya Tech Simple Clear mixed with Tenacious. I use 75-80 Simple to 20-25% Tenacious. This has not given me any problems since I started this mix and the only time I get failures now is when I am experimenting with things or forget to do my supports right.