Hey guys, I just got the 1/35th scale UH-60L Blackhawk from Academy. I’ve been excited about this thing for a long, long time. The problem is, I’m slightly colorblind, I have no idea of the color of a Blackhawk. I’ve seen it as grey and heli drab, but can they be black?
Also, if anyone has some tips for me about building this baby, I’d love to hear 'em. I heard something about the seats being extremely hard to install in a lot of places.
For a standard Army Blackhawk, the correct color is Helo Drab Green. The only black Blackhawks are Special Ops MH-60Ls used by the Army’s 160th SOAR (Spec Ops Aviation Regiment). The Academy AH-60L DAP (actually an MH-60L, The US Military doesn’t use the AH designation with Blackhawks) depicts one of these. The gray ones you saw were most likely either USN Seahawks or USAF Pavehawks.
The seats can be a little tricky. I built them by first putting the roof support bar for the seats in place, then I constructed the cabin. I built the seats completely, to include the lower support legs at their 45 degree angles. I then inserted each seat through the side of the cabin and first attached the upper points, then attached the lower support legs in their holes on the floor. I did this after all the parts were painted adn used a little superglue to secure them all in place. Hope that helps.
You can see how mine (UH-60L and MH-60L DAP, among other helos) turned out at my Showcase II below. Check here for a write-up of the build.
Ok, thanks HeavyArty! I think I saw the black ones in BlackHawk Down, which has the 160th SOAR. I’ll probably make mine Heli Drab Green. Thanks for the tip. Those seats are gonna be tricky. I like your way.
P.S.- I was looking at some of your models and dioramas on that website in your signature. If I could swear on this site, I would. [bow]
Doom
dont mean to blow my own horn here but I have a blow by blow account on how to install the troop seats on both my site as well as arc.
here you go:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca4/hlmp/blackhawkdone.html
as well as at www.arcair.com under the Gallery Tab, then click Helicopters, and you will see the UH60 Seat Upgrade tutorial.
Hope you find this useful!
David
The Blackhawks in “Blackhawk Down” were from the 160th, but they were still in the standard Army Helo Drab (FS 34031), not flat black; they were (at that time) standard UH-60L’s with upgraded armanent (7.62mm miniguns instead of M240D’s in the windows). Under certain conditions, they can look black because it’s such a dark green. The only flat black helo’s I know of (besides the DAP 60’s) are the Spec Ops AH-6’s, MH-6’s and MH-47E’s.
Sorry man but you are completely wrong… They were flat black. It was confirmed several times already by the real Gothic Serpent veterans here and on BHD93.com
Andy
I stand corrected; I was just going off of my (obviously) faulty memory. Maybe I watched the movie too many times . . . That being the case, it would make a much more interesting build for my Academy UH-60L; I was going to paint it standard Army Helo Drab, but now I think I’ll go the Flat Black route. Thanx for the info, Andy.
Simply painting the Academy UH-60L (which is really an A model w/HIRSS, not an L) black will not make it into a 160th SOAR MH-60L circa '93, Op Gothic Serpent. An MH-60L has many differences over a standard UH-60A/L.
A good starting place for an MH-60L is the 1/35 Academy AH-60L DAP (really an MH since the US military doesn’t use the AH designation for Blackhawks). It still needs some additions, improvements, and changes based on which Gothic Serpent bird or when you want to build it as or from. It will basically build into a post-Gothic Serpent 160th SOAR MH-60L (sort of) out of the box, albeit with incorrect yellow decals and A model step fairings.