OIF Blackhawk

[SwissFighters]

18 hours ago, John1 said:

I’m still in shock that Kotare didn’t deliver on this.   Would have been a license to print money.    Thought about trying to scratchbuild a D into a K but that’s simply overwhelming.   Maybe by the time I finish gluing 10,000 microscopic solder balls onto this model, someone else will have stepped up.   Let’s all keep our fingers crossed.   

Looking for some enlightenment...I don't quite follow the comments regarding the P-51K as the Tamiya P-51D/K kit is still available On the other hand I reckon the H model would be a brilliant kit to produce...just sayin'

[John1]

1 minute ago, SwissFighters said:

Looking for some enlightenment...I don't quite follow the comments regarding the P-51K as the Tamiya P-51D/K kit is still available On the other hand I reckon the H model would be a brilliant kit to produce...just sayin'

I'm sorry....  it's a bit of an "inside joke".   Don't pay any attention to my pining for the holy grail of model kits!  

[John1]

Bit of a milestone, I've got the cabin assembly completed.   Still will be adding bits to the cockpit.    Next up is a decision - whether or not to add about 10,000 tiny .030 "solder balls" to fill in all those recessed "divots" on the fuselage.    I'm conflicted on this one.   The real thing is covered in raised rivets, not little dents like KH opted to use.  I'm gonna do a trial run in an inconspicuous area to see how hard it is and then make a final decision.    In the meantime, a few pics:

 

 

 

Also placed a helmet on the CE's seat.  

 

The other CE pilfered a pilot's seat cushion for his seat (a common occurrence for those crew chief's who no longer had a "4 hour ass", according to a couple of vets). 

 

 

That's it for today lads, thanks for checking in. 

[Loach Driver]

That is a busy-looking cabin!

 

LD. 

[John1]

3 hours ago, Loach Driver said:

That is a busy-looking cabin!

 

LD. 

The vets I’ve dealt with sent me some of their personal pics from OIF.  The amount of crap they had in the cabin was amazing.   And that doesn’t include the cargo or gear that their passengers brought along.  

[John1]

So I'm back.   Lost a bit of interest in this build due to headaches trying to assemble the fuselage.  Came close to just opting to put it back in the box and call it quits.  I had major clearance issues trying to sandwich the cabin assembly in between the two halves.    I had to do a crapload of sanding to get the cabin to fit.   Whilst doing this, I of course end up knocking off a good number of those solder balls and some bits from inside the cabin.   Very frustrating.   I kept plugging away though. The final product required a lot of superglue, putty and sanding.   I've got a pretty pronounced seam along the upper fuselage, but the good news is that area will be covered by the "doghouse" assembly and won't be visible.   The lower fuselage has some issues as well but nothing I shouldn't be able to rectify.    Here are a few pics, keep in mind this is still very much a work in progress.   Once done sanding, etc, I'll go back in and rescribe the lost detail. 

 

 

 

Next up was a nose job.    I mentioned in the beginning of the build that the MH-60S kit has most of the parts to construct an Army UH-60L.   One part that was missing were the two nose-mounted housings for the CMWS (missile warning sensors).   I had to scratchbuild those housings using spare parts in the kit, along with some thin sheet styrene.  After sanding them down to a more accurate taper than what I showed earlier in the build, I was pretty happy with the final appearance.   The nose housing seemed to fit perfectly.   

 

 

So I guess I'm back in the saddle again. Comments, critiques and questions are welcome. 

[Martinnfb]

How would you rate the coolness of this build, on the scale where the 1 is the lowest and 10 is the highest ?

 

25

[John1]

Thank you Martin.    I have to admit that the model looks "rough" right now.   I'm optimistic that once I get all that putty cleaned up, rescribe and apply 100,000 of those solder balls, it will start looking a bit more presentable.   I expect I'll be done around 2025 (which, coincidentally, is when ICM will be releasing their new tool UH-60 series).  

[John1]

Plugging away on some sub-assemblies.   First up are the engine inlet sand filters.   These were fairly common in Iraq due to the "moon dust" that was so prevalent.    Less so in Afghanistan and other areas.      These come in the kit, the filter elements themselves are pretty nice PE.     Got a bit of touchup to do and I'll tone down the start paintwork when I get to the weathering phase.   

 

 

 

Here's the real thing.  The forward part of the sand filter has a door that can be opened once at altitude.   Since my UH-60L will be on the ground, I'm keeping the door closed.   

 

A few more subassemblies.   The horizontal stab is from Werner's Wings.  The one in the kit is for later H-60 versions.  

 

Thanks for looking.  

[John1]

Upper deck is getting there.  Still need to add all the small bits and do some touchups but it's progress.   Anti skid areas were first coated with Mr. Surfacer and before it dried, stippled with a cut off paint brush to replicate the texture of the real thing.   

 

 

 

 

 

[John1]

I'm back....  been a long grind adding rivets to this thing.    For the aft fuselage and tailboom, I transitioned to Archer's decal rivets (still using those solder balls for a few areas that don't lend themselves to decals).  Also had to spend a great deal of time sanding off incorrect details on the fuselage.   This includes some stiffener plates that were on the tailboom and a large cargo hatch on the aft starboard fuselage which wasn't present on Army UH-60's.    After that, it was full speed ahead on the decals.    These went down extremely easy and after a coat of Micro Sol / Set the look very nice.   

 

Sharp eyed viewers may note that I haven't applied decals to the area aft of the cabin door.   That's because I'm going to have the cargo doors in the open position, and you won't be able to see the fuselage.    No sense making extra work for yourself. 

 

 

My approach to finishing this kit is to decal and paint the tailboom but hold off on the vertical stabilizer.   That way I can use the tail to hold the model while finishing up the detail bits on the fuselage, painting, decals, etc.    I wanted to minimize handling of the surfaces with the decals on them.    In retrospect, that probably wasn't necessary since the Archer decals are impressively strong once they are fully cured.    

 

That's it for now, thanks for checking in. 

[John1]

Painting continues.    AK Real Colors US Army Helo Drab as the base, then with a couple of custom blends of paint to replicate the faded, weathered appearance of the real thing.    One tint is more of a brownish OD, the other a chalky lightish-green. 

 

 

My primary build log is over on FB.   On it, a former UH-60 crew chief mentioned that they used a version of CARC Helo Drab in spray cans.   He said this stuff faded quickly to a grey/green color.    It was used for general touchups, corrosion control and (in the case of my subject) to overpaint the "United States Army" markings on the tailboom.   This was done when the aircraft received survivability updates circa 2006-2007.   One of these was the addition of extra flare dispensers on the tailboom, which required those markings to be painted out and reapplied higher on the boom.    Looking at pics, I found he was spot-on regarding this, so back to the paint booth I went. 

 

 

 

 

Also put a patch of this paint on the nose, to replicate where a former unit logo or aircraft number was painted out.      

 

Thats it for now, thanks for checking in. 

[Iain]

Lovely work on the riveting - and the touched-up/faded areas of paint - John!

 

Iain

[John1]

Getting close to the decal stage. Using Werner's Wings Blackhawk sheet. It's a nice sheet and it's also the only sheet out there for 1/35 Army A/L's. Got a few misses but it's not the end of the world. My selections are down to either "Yellow Cab" or "Easy Rider". Both were assigned to the 101st in Iraq around 2007, which fits my time frame perfectly. Note in the picture of Yellow Cab, it's hard to make out the name and the checkers on the engine cowling. I've got another picture that shows the logo being more prominent so I'll assume it's either the lighting or the background paint faded later on it's tour. Most 101st helo's I've seen have a subdued division logo on the nose. WW doesn't provide this, only a full color logo which I've never seen on a deployed Hawk. WW also has the "last three" of the serial numbers in white but at least in the case of Yellow Cab (and I'm guessing Easy Rider as well), it's actually Gunship Grey.  Note the missing cabin door windows on Yellow Cab and that both helos have the barrier sand filters and full CMWS mods installed.

 

Note on the pic above, the lighter green/grey overpainting of the original "United States Army" markings on the tailboom. 

 

[John1]

Making some progress on the decals.   The Werner Wings decals are a mixed bag.  Highly detailed, some of the larger ones are a bit difficult to get to settle down on surfaces with raised detailes, even with multiple applications of Micro Sol.   That said, they eventually get there.   All in all, I'm still very pleased with them (props to Werner's Wings for offering them in the first place, no one else seems to have any interested in decals for US Army Blackhawks). 

 

Got a kind gent from FB sending me the 101st Airborne logo for the nose (was included on the ancient Academy decal sheet), got the port side pretty much done.    My standard gloss coat is Tamiya X-22 (love this stuff, I'll never go back to Future).   The gloss tends to darken the fuselage a bit but once I've got some Dullcoat sprayed on and hit it with pastels, I think it's going to look just fine. 

 

 

 

You may notice some missing bits in the cabin (part of the tie down strap is gone, along with a few other items).  They were dislodged when I was struggling trying to seal up the fuselage halves.   Not to worry, all those parts will be replaced shortly.