1/35 UH-60A Blackhawk Medevac

Modeling Subjects Helicopters
1

Here are a few pics of my 1/35 UH-60A Medevac.
Unless there are any obvious glaring corrections needed, I’m calling this one finished.
The kit is the Academy, and a number of things were done to convert it to a Medevac unit, primarily the medical interior set up.

Two reasons I chose to do a Medevac, I didn’t want to fiddle with all of the troop seats, and I liked the look of the red crosses which seems to break up the otherwise drab color.
Some Cobra Company and Eduard PE sets were also used.
Fireball Modelworks provided the red cross decals.

This Blackhawk will eventually be used in a diorama with another Academy kit, the M997 Humvee Ambulance and various figures.

Thanks for lookin’,

Pete

2

Pete,

She turned out incredible! Mind telling me where the back board came from? Everthing looks awesome!

Ray

3

Hi Ray,

Thanks a lot.
The backboard was made from a piece of sheet styrene.
Norbert made one for his U-60 Medevac and I liked the look of it in the cabin, so I used his photos as a guide to build mine.

Pete

Norbert’s;

4

Great job on the Medevac! The stretcher “turntable” looks neat. I haven’t noticed anyone tackle this version. It was hard to believe the standard stretcher was a few inches too long to fit cross ways in the cabin and they had to come up the montrosity to mount them lengthwise. I guess the engineers missed that design requirement way back when!

5

Truly amazing build!

6

Pete … Really nice job on this one! Truely a nice conversion. What figures did you use for this?

The only thing that has me guessing on this one is that the bird looks completely shut-down … but the injured Soldier hasn’t gotten of just yet. Its a little hindsight and picky, but maybe by bending the blades straight out or even up a little, it would have given the idea/ feeling of whirling blades.

… but like I said, picky. This one is really nice to look at and nicely done. You should DEFINITELY send this one on to FSM…

7

Yeah, I know what you mean about it looking shut down.
I haven’t yet quite figured out all the dynamics of the dio situation yet.
The tarmac it’s on in the pics isn’t going to be part of the scene, it was used just for the photos.
But here’s a very loose idea of what I’m thinking about doing. (rambling a bit here!)

I am leaning toward a scene along a desert highway in Afghanistan or Iraq.
I’m pretty sure the wounded guy sitting in the helicopter has just boarded.

I’m not sure what just occurred, but for whatever reason there is no super big rush to get airborne.
The port side pilot will be out looking at something on the aircraft.
The crew chief and another soldier will be standing armmed sentry.

There will be three other soldiers in the scene.
These four guys, probably in their Humvee, escorted the ambulance to the helicopter LZ.

The flight medic is tending to the guy sitting in the helo, and a medic from the M997 will be there too.
There will be another wounded guy sitting up on a stretcher with a couple of non- life threating wounds.
A soldier (from the escort Humvee) and the other medic from the M997 will be attending him, the soldier will be holding and IV bag, and the medic will be dressing a wound.
They are prepping to load him onto the helicopter, but he’s insisting he can walk!

Not being completely familiar with operations in combat, or semi- combat zones, I don’t know under what conditions a helicopter would be in a shut down situation.
Possibly a potential or actual mechanical problem?
In any case, my guess would be shutting down the helicopter would not be the most desired option.
But if you had to do it, you had to do it.

Anyway, those are my rambling thoughts.
Gee, this whole diorama thing is like writing a storyline!

Oh and BTW, thanks to Mel and Jeremy as well!

Pete

8

Whoops, I forgot to answer you question regarding the figures.
Actually they are a “mosh posh” of different figure sets.
The helo crew members are a combination of Kirin, CMK, and DML.
The sittting wounded guy is Verlinden (un-modified).

There will be more figures from Verlinden and possibly Blast Models added in the dio.

Pete

9

Given the vehicles that you have … IMO, I’d rethink it. Neither in my vacations to Iraq or Afghan, did I ever see an HMMWV ambulance variant outside the FOB. Period. Also, given the MEDEVAC helo’s mission and knowing the crews, nor would they ever shut down during a pickup … only if there was an emergency on the A/C itself and even then I doubt they would land on the HWY.

One senario (real world) just food for thought … We called in a MEDEVAC bird for a convoy hit by an IED. Injuries not too serious, but still pretty banged up w/ head trauma. We set up the PU site on the highway (cleared twice by the team). However, the crew still didn’t like the idea and moved to an UNSECURE PU site about 3-400m away … (now that was D-U-M-B). Anyway, they were on the ground just long enough for the flight medic to run over, get to down-low, have the wounded loaded and poof … they were out. Probably, not more than 3-5 minutes on site … we spent 12 hrs more securing the remnants of the vehicle as the convoy started to pull away when the helo did … needless to say … it was AWE-SOME. We had a few words w/ the convoy commander when we returned…

Anyway, I’ll stop rambling here. Here’s my thought/ opinion/ suggestion … rethink what you want the dio to be about … the injured Soldier? The helo (aka, the medic side of the “story”), etc, etc … That will give you a little more focus. If you wanted to go w/ the bird shut-down, I’d go with a scene which places the bird back at the base w/ the ambulance having already/ in the process of picking up the injured … Maybe have the soldier shaking the injured mans hand/ patting his back. I know that you’ve gotten a lot done already, so really you just have to figure out how to go w/ what you go …

HTHs …

10

Pete,

I just took a quick look through my archives and here are a few pics that might offer ideas. I do have to say though that it seems all the rotors are turning.

Ray

A medical team from 1st Force Service Support Group, Health Services Battalion transfers a wounded Marine from an Army Blackhawk to an ambulance in Iraq on March 29th, 2003 while in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Iraqi Freedom is the multi-national coalition effort to liberate the Iraqi people, eliminate Iraqi’s weapons of mass destruction and end the regime of Saddam Hussein. (U.S. Marine Corps photo taken Lance Cpl. Christopher H. Fitzgerald) (Released)

[img]http://
From Drop Box

(left-right, clockwise) Master Sergent Jeffrey Price, Assistant Fire Chief, Staff Sergeant Bennie Sims, Fire and Rescue Technician, Sergeant Jeff Bartlett, Army Medic, Senior Airman Philip Rycraft, Fire and Rescue Technician, and Senior Airman Thuylien Lampe, Emergency Medical Technician, load an injured soldier into an Army Blackhawk (Air Abulance) helicopter at Tallil Air Base, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2003, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Air Force photo by: Staff Sergeant John Barton) (Released)

[img]http://
From Drop Box

(left-right, front) Senior Airmen Thuylien Lampe, Emergency Medical Technician, Philip Rycraft, Fire and Rescue Technician, (left-right, back) Master Sergent Jeffrey Price, Assistant Fire Chief, and Army Medic, Sergeant Jeff Bartlett(helmet), and back-right, Staff Sergeant Bennie Sims, transport an injured soldier to an Army Blackhawk (Air Ambulance) helicopter at Tallil Air Base, Iraq, Aug. 22, 2003, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (U.S. Air Force photo by: Staff Sergeant John Barton) (Released)

[img]http://
From Drop Box

These next ones are DOD pics from Desert Shield/ Desert Storm that I scanned from the Army Aviation Museum archives.
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box

[img]http://
From Drop Box
11

Thanks Scott,

That’s the kind information and first hand knowledge I’m looking for.
You bring up some great points.

The only reason I even considered the M997 was a Youtube that showed a UH-60 MEDEVAC picking up patients from a M997.
The Blackhawk appeared to be landing onto or very close to a roadway of some sort.
There was a lot of dust from the rotorwash, so I could have been mistaken.

Anyway, nothing is set in stone here.
I’m just pushing things around in my brain and looking for ideas.

I appreciate your insight and input.

Pete

12

Thanks Ray, those pictures are cool.
Gives me some good ideas for sure!

Pete

13

Pete,

Happy to be of service. I’m sure whatever you do will be great. As i said before, your figures ROCK! I can’t wait to see how this one turns out.

Ray

14

just a couple fo thoughts from a -60 crewchief. If you really want to capture a real life situation, do something to suggest blades turning. I won’t bore you with all of the reasons why but it is normal to keep blades turning for medevac and casevac pickups, especially outside of a secure compound. The idea of shutdown for some sort of an aircraft emergency could be plausible, land as soon as possible means just that. If you are very near a pickup point where there will be security on the ground, it makes good sense to make it there if you can. Besides, roads can be nice, flat, relatively debris free landing sites.

It is probably too late to change but the litter carousel is normally rotated cross cabin for loading patients and then turned length wise for flight. It is quicker and easier for loading to do it cross cabin, and safer for the patients in flight to be lengthwise. It really is not a space issue, rather it is a flight safety issue.

Great work on the Hawk. I really like the work that you did on the overhead. The H-Bar for the crew seats looks great. The litter carousel is well done as well. Got one A medivac in the hangar and we are looking foreward to some new birds in the near future.

15

I’ve got a question about the external hard points for the external stores pylons. The “A’s” didn’t have them. So were the “A” Medevac’s" retrofitted with these or not?

16

You are correct, early version A models did not have the ESSS hard points. However, A models have gone through many upgrades and the line between A and L model is very blurred. There are lots of upgraded A models flying today with ESSS hard points, HIRSS exhaust, and widened step sponsons on them.

17

Gino you are back!

18

Thanks Mac,

Yes, I will be changing the rotors to imply that they are indeed turning.
As far as the stretcher carousal goes, I know it’s in the wrong posititon to load patients.
When I originally started building the helicopter, I really didn’t have much of an idea how I wanted to display it. Plus I kind of liked the way the carousal looked in it’s present position.

So, I’ll have to come up with some excuse as to why it hasn’t been rotated yet!
Maybe the two guys that are going to board aren’t that badly injured, and can use the jump seats?
Heck, I don’t know?
I’ll figure something out.

Thanks for all of the information.

Pete

19

Gino,

Thanks, I figured it was easy to hang an HIRSS Exhaust system on an engine but intalling structural hard points was a bit more involved. Only stands to reason to upgrade “A’s” to “L” standards.

20

As long as it is fun! People can say whatever they want but as long as it looks good to you and you are happy with the results, that is the standard that really matters.

I am waiting now to see how much blurring between the M and the L there will be. There are a number of items on the new A/C that seem as though they could be adapted to the older aircraft.