Kittyhawk 1/48 UH-1D "huey"

[Johno]

My entry will be the Kittyhawk 1/48 UH-1D "huey". May be a bit till i get started since I'm pretty busy with the summer sci-fi build but here she is

[DBMiller]

Yay! Another build! And a helicopter too - nice one!

[gaz45]

Nice choice there mate

[Twokidsnosleep]

Ok oK I am here shove over, save me some space
I love heliocobopters

[Johno]

I have not given up on this build, just between sapped mojo, injury and airbrush issues not much got done for awhile. But i am powering on now.


Here are the sprue and instructions shots


Uh-1d
Uh-1d
Uh-1d

[Johno]

I also got the Big Ed detail set

[Johno]

First order of business is the elephant in the room, the big seam running down both sides of the body, ugh this thing was a pain.


so after having to lose a bunch of the little raised panels along the seam and having to do my best replacing the rivets with a needle, i got it smooth, not really super stoked with it, but after looking at some really high end builds of this model i had to super zoom in even to see the area and it seems most didn't fair too much better than i did so i am satisfied.





next i began on the interior and engine bay, which was fairly straight forward, the front seats had some fairly complex assembly and tiny pieces but wasn't too tough, the fit of the engine halves was a bit off but a little perfect putty and some sanding of the nooks and crannies got it looking good.

Love the look of the PE floor


and got the rest of the interior ready to go for primer

[digger303]

Got a feeling this is going to be special...

[Hawkmoon]

Not long built this kit myself, went together well apart from a couple of tabs that needed thinning to fit the exhaust nozzle being one of them.

Also not sure if your aware if your building a Vietnam Huey it did not have the wire cutter attached to the roof as well as some off the arials should be left off. If your doing the Thai or German versions all the equipment should be fitted as these are later versions.

There is a build of this kit on 'The modeling news' that explaines it better-

https://www.themodellingnews.com/search ... %22huey%22

[Johno]

Not long built this kit myself, went together well apart from a couple of tabs that needed thinning to fit the exhaust nozzle being one of them.

Also not sure if your aware if your building a Vietnam Huey it did not have the wire cutter attached to the roof as well as some off the arials should be left off. If your doing the Thai or German versions all the equipment should be fitted as these are later versions.

There is a build of this kit on 'The modeling news' that explaines it better-

https://www.themodellingnews.com/search ... %22huey%22

yah i saw that build, definitely got me double checking references before each step

[Johno]

So while I'm waiting for a primer delivery i have been doing work on some of the other sub assemblies and plotting my path for this build.

So i decided on the scheme i will do, the dolphin 543 "schlitz" from the 174th AHC "sharks and dolphins" from the Vietnam war

Uh-1d


and i have to say this may be the best nose art ever


one conundrum i was mulling over was how to do the doors, my plan has been to have all the doors and hatches open to really be able to show off all the interior and engine detail, but one issue was the open rear doors cover the bottom engine hatch so i was thinking one open one closed and then while looking for reference photos i came across this amazing site http://www.174ahc.org/index.php for the 174th , and wow what a treasure trove of great reference material, i definitely recommend checking it out if you are gonna do a nam huey, lots of stories and cool dio ideas as well. Anyway through that site i found out by late '68 most of them had taken off all the rear doors.





now these two pictures of "schlitz" is what i plan on modeling my build after. Notice the off color door and on both pictures the different color on the frames on the windows under the cockpit showing repairs from battle damage. I plan on trying to incorporate all this, which i think is awesome since because it seems these birds were well maintained, they didn't show a lot of effects from wear and tear like a lot of chipping or fading and built up grime and i think this will be a cool way to show the beatings these things went through

[digger303]

now these two pictures of "schlitz" is what i plan on modeling my build after. Notice the off color door and on both pictures the different color on the frames on the windows under the cockpit showing repairs from battle damage. I plan on trying to incorporate all this, which i think is awesome since because it seems these birds were well maintained, they didn't show a lot of effects from wear and tear like a lot of chipping or fading and built up grime and i think this will be a cool way to show the beatings these things went through

Part of that would have been the constant Tv news reporting with reporters around bases and the like. It wouldn't have looked good for the mum's and dad's at home to see choppers sporting a lot of battle damage. The Forces wanted to send images home of them winning.

[Johno]

now these two pictures of "schlitz" is what i plan on modeling my build after. Notice the off color door and on both pictures the different color on the frames on the windows under the cockpit showing repairs from battle damage. I plan on trying to incorporate all this, which i think is awesome since because it seems these birds were well maintained, they didn't show a lot of effects from wear and tear like a lot of chipping or fading and built up grime and i think this will be a cool way to show the beatings these things went through

Part of that would have been the constant Tv news reporting with reporters around bases and the like. It wouldn't have looked good for the mum's and dad's at home to see choppers sporting a lot of battle damage. The Forces wanted to send images home of them winning.

that's interesting, i didn't think of that, totally makes sense though

[Kevthemodeller]

Off to a great start