Cross-kitting Blackhawk parts: a way to improve the Academy kit.

[thierry laurent]

Hi guys,

 

The Academy Blackhawk is not a bad kit but it has some major detail or shape issues here and there. As I'm now the lucky owner of the full Kitty Hawk range of S-70-based kits, I realized that many of them have spare parts. The situation is very variable from kit to kit but without any doubt the best donor of the lot is the Navy MH-60S. Out of my memory, you can retrieve the following Army spare parts from that kit:

 

- the cabin roof

- the cabin floor

- the nose hatch

- the nose windows ('Navy' with pitot support area but very close to the Army ones and this helps a lot in correcting the Academy nose)

- the front doors with internal details

- the front seats side armor

- the extinguishers

- some IP parts

- the main rotor blades (compatible with the Reskit rotor head parts and this also helps a lot in improving the kit)

- M240 machine guns

- the internal fuel tank with hoses (but without the fixing straps)

- the external winch

- rocket launchers

 

Useless to say this will need some work to be combined with the Academy kit but this looks feasible without too much fuss for most parts (except the nose windows). If you add to them the Reskit sets (both rotors and LG wheels) plus the Eduard sets, few areas still need major improvements to get a beautiful replica. The other annoying areas are the cabin rear bullkhead, the internal fuselage areas on both internal sides of the large doors and the tail rotor fairing shape. The cabin parts were available from Cobra company.

 

Note that with some re-usable rubber (blue stuff) and resin, I've been able to cast some copies of the corresponding sections of the Kitty Hawk parts after some attempts. If you have never tried that stuff, do it! It is reusable as many times as you want in some minutes, does not shrink, does not age badly, does not have storage issues, does not have bubbles problems, etc. etc. For sure that is not comparable with silicone rubber and is mainly useful for small parts but I even succeeded in casting a flat bulkhead that is close to 5*5cm! Terrific product!!!

 

I'm considering making a tweak list for this old dog if someone is interested.

 

One may wonder what is the purpose of using the Academy kit while the KH kits have been released. Well, there are some features that are clearly useful on the old kit. First, if you want to make an early Blackhawk, the kit does not have all the fuselage reinforcement parts. Moreover, the kit does not have all the divot lines of the KH kit. So, there are far less lines to fill before adding Archer rivets and finally some very specific areas such as the meshes are better depicted (the best example being the large rounded one on the top of the tail rotor head). THAT one is awful on the Kitty Hawk kits. I'm still wondering how to improve that.

 

HTH

 

Thierry

[blackbetty]

let us know the brand of rubber and what resin you use please

Edited July 15, 2021 by blackbetty

[Neo]

Very nice list. 

 

I have an academy kit in the stash, this is a good laundry list of part to get if after a friend finishes a build

 

Cheers

 

[thierry laurent]

Hi Karl.

 

I've been desperately trying to find one of the two Isracast Blackhawk conversion sets without any success for quite some time before I posted on the LSP trade forum. As a close friend had a set, he lent it to me. Initially, I wanted to use the parts as templates to scratchbuild all the components. However, I made a casting test in a blue stuff mold I quickly made and finally, in less than two weeks, I succeeded in copying all the resin parts with a more or less acceptable result. I would still prefer buying the original set with the photoetched parts but without any solution and the fact Raanan Weiss postponed a possible re-release because of the Kitty Hawk demise, this was the only time-saving option. With that rubber and a clever re-design of the casting I finally made all parts. The castings still need A LOT of work to clean and improve them. So, this is not very effective from a time perspective and results in a lot of resin waste. In conclusion, this is just a solution when you need a very small amount of part copies and are stuck. However, as a modeller, I've been in such a situation more than once!

 

This is the 'Blue stuff' from the Green stuff company.

 

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/reusable-blue-stuff/8-blue-stuff-mold-8-bars.html?search_query=blue&results=113

 

The resin is a classical two-components polyurethane cream resin (the one I'm using is the PUR MC5 made by VossChemie in Belgium). My bottles are becoming old but the resin is still usable. Look for the German description PDF here:

 

https://www.vosschemie-benelux.com/nl/product/polyurethaan-hars-pur-giethars-v-sure-pur-giethars-mc-5-a-b-2-kg

 

I'm getting it cheaper from that reseller:

 

https://www.schleiper.com/onlinecatalogue/articles/VOS1620111--vosschemie-mc5-polyurethane-resin-2-components-2kg?category_id=5473&lang=en

 

But I'm sure you can find an equivalent product in Austria.

 

HTH

 

Thierry

 

 

 

 

[thierry laurent]

I just realized that my list was not complete as the kit also gives two full front doors with internal details and this is also something that really asks for additional details in the Academy kit. I updated the original post accordingly.

[blackbetty]

thanx thierry

[thierry laurent]

By the way I didn't know that the Australian aftermarket company Black ops had released two sets for the Academy Blackhawk! One has detailed front doors with the later glass pattern whereas the other is an opened nose black boxes bay for the Pave Hawk.

[Nigels modelling bench]

Thierry, I just made a video on this very subject over on You Tube. The spare parts in that kit are astounding!!

 

P.S. Would you happen to have the resin/brass M117 from the S kit that you could loan me to copy please?

 

Nige

Edited July 20, 2021 by Nigels modelling bench
Forgot signature..

[thierry laurent]

If you mean the M197 cannon, I wasn't either part of the lucky team of guys who got one! The only easy solution is the Werner wings set. At least it has the ammo box you do not have with the elusive kit resin parts.

[phasephantomphixer]

Thanks for looking into this, and posting Thierry.

But I of course bought the KH MH-60R Seahawk.

A quick look in the box showed two blade sets, but didn't snoop further.

Any chance you checked the R boxing for similar extras?

[Hawkwrench]

On 7/15/2021 at 8:10 AM, thierry laurent said:

Hi Karl.

 

I've been desperately trying to find one of the two Isracast Blackhawk conversion sets without any success for quite some time before I posted on the LSP trade forum. As a close friend had a set, he lent it to me. Initially, I wanted to use the parts as templates to scratchbuild all the components. However, I made a casting test in a blue stuff mold I quickly made and finally, in less than two weeks, I succeeded in copying all the resin parts with a more or less acceptable result. I would still prefer buying the original set with the photoetched parts but without any solution and the fact Raanan Weiss postponed a possible re-release because of the Kitty Hawk demise, this was the only time-saving option. With that rubber and a clever re-design of the casting I finally made all parts. The castings still need A LOT of work to clean and improve them. So, this is not very effective from a time perspective and results in a lot of resin waste. In conclusion, this is just a solution when you need a very small amount of part copies and are stuck. However, as a modeller, I've been in such a situation more than once!

 

This is the 'Blue stuff' from the Green stuff company.

 

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/reusable-blue-stuff/8-blue-stuff-mold-8-bars.html?search_query=blue&results=113

 

The resin is a classical two-components polyurethane cream resin (the one I'm using is the PUR MC5 made by VossChemie in Belgium). My bottles are becoming old but the resin is still usable. Look for the German description PDF here:

 

https://www.vosschemie-benelux.com/nl/product/polyurethaan-hars-pur-giethars-v-sure-pur-giethars-mc-5-a-b-2-kg

 

I'm getting it cheaper from that reseller:

 

https://www.schleiper.com/onlinecatalogue/articles/VOS1620111--vosschemie-mc5-polyurethane-resin-2-components-2kg?category_id=5473&lang=en

 

But I'm sure you can find an equivalent product in Austria.

 

HTH

 

Thierry

 

 

 

 

Would you be willing to cast a copy of the Isracast rescue hoist???

If so  how much would you charge?

I need one for a H-60 build.

Thanks 

 

Tim

[thierry laurent]

8 hours ago, phasephantomphixer said:

Thanks for looking into this, and posting Thierry.

But I of course bought the KH MH-60R Seahawk.

A quick look in the box showed two blade sets, but didn't snoop further.

Any chance you checked the R boxing for similar extras?

I will do and will let you know.

[thierry laurent]

6 hours ago, Hawkwrench said:

Would you be willing to cast a copy of the Isracast rescue hoist???

If so  how much would you charge?

I need one for a H-60 build.

Thanks 

 

Tim

Hi Tim. I made three castings but only got one more or less correct and had to retrieve the support from another casting. This was actually the most complex part to get. Unfortunately I do not have anymore the set. I gave it back last Friday as I'm leaving for holidays this week. I can send you one I casted for free but you will need to make the support and a huge work of filing and sanding will be required. In the worst case you can use it as a template to make a new one. In any case, even if it was pristine I would never sell a copy of someone else work even if unavailable.

[Starfighter]

The biggest issue with the Academy / MRC kits is the totally incorrectly shaped nose / windscreen section. I have spent a few years looking for a solution and when I finally found one - i.e. a 3D printed replacement nose section - the KH kits were announced. I think I'll stick with the KH kits I have in my stash and keep my Acedemy SH-60F conversion on the shelf of doom... 

[thierry laurent]

If you compare closely both kits as I did you can observe different things:

 

- the windscreen: They are actually very close. The obvious difference is the external sides: too straigth on the Academy kits whereas they should be a little bit rounded (as they are on the KH kit). However, even if that is visible this does not jump to the face if you do not put both kits close to each other. No way to solve that without modifying the fuselage sides and this means fully rebuilding the kit! However, we are considering a portion of a mm there. So, I will live with that.

- the nose hatch: The KH part covers nearly perfectly the Academy nose. So, they are very close. No problem to me.

- the front lower windows: Here is the really terrible part. I did not believe my eyes when I made the comparison! The part length is more or less 7mm bigger and the width 5mm than the dimensions of the equivalent Kitty Hawk windows! I'm really surprised that aspect is not discussed in reviews or assemblies of that kit as to me this is what really spoils the look. Even the Black ops nose is copying that problem whereas the Academy parts are close to 1/24th scale!

 

My conclusion: if you solve the lower windows nose issue, I'm sure you will get a visually acceptable result if not fully accurate. This is not the easiest thing to do but I've some ideas to experiment.