After longer absence i am publishing my newest work-1:72 UH-1N Twin Huey, USS Tarawa, Operation Desert Storm. I made it extremaly fast-3,5 week. Propobly i will give it to one of my workmates.
Parts match in about 90%, except cargo bay doors. You need to make bigger holes for windows, because they are way to small (both of them-those in smaller and bigger cargo doors). I am giving this clue because US Navy Italeri packing is out of production, but parts are repacked in other colour schemes by Italeri and other producers. Good news is that the Kittyhawk is planning to US Navy’s UH-1N in 1:48 scale.
I painted it in oil chemicals from Humbrol and ModelMaster.
2 big issue which i had:
-problem with installing glass parts with Clearfix and Micro Crystal Clear. Both of them are very thick and when i am using them, they are causing some bad marks on model surface which sometimes is very hard to remove. Anyone had similar problem?
i wanted to make very glossy surface, but after 3-4 layers of Humbrol Acryl i gave it up and failed. Which gloss varnish is giving the most gloss surface close to real one? My base coat was Humbrol 30 (very flat…)-maybe that was the problem?
I’d say your helo looks very nice and maybe this is even your best helo yet. Of course there’s always a room for improvement. For example things that Italeri could have made better - like that whip antenna on the tail that could be thinner. The exhaust could be drilled out - it looks better then. Those wire antennae along the boom are nice, but they could be thinner, too. But like I said, those are nice to have.
As for paint - yes, trying to make a matt coat gloss can sometimes be a problem. It’s sometimes better to start with a gloss coat. If you’re airbrushing humbrols it might help to thin the paint more - then it dries more glossy.
One more thing - I sure would like to see some more close-up photos.
In case you would like to arm your Huey here are nice 1:72 M60D machine guns that I have designed:
Thanks for comment. Like i said, my plan was to give it to one of guys in my work…but maybe i’ll find time to make photos not only by mobile phone camera.
About M-60-i’ll think about it maybe with one of mine future projects. I have in my stash one more 1:72 UH-1D (currently Italeri packing) in ESCI edition from 80’s or 70’s :))
BTW on reference photos i never saw any UH-1N in Navy’s service with ofensive equipment, so this is second reason why i dont want arm this baby
That helo looks really good - i have one in my stash and after seeing yours, think i’ll go find mine [:)].
I use humbrol paints a lot - it is almost the only paint that is always readily available in South Africa. I haven’t tried this yet, but have been told by the suppliers here that if you add a few drops of humbrol gloss-cote with the colour you are spraying, when you then spray additional gloss-cotes, they finish glossier over the base coat. It obviously takes longer to dry, so you’ll need to cover the model like you would when you spray gloss.
I just finished an Italeri Weesex HU5 that also has antennaes running down both sides. I used very very fine copper wire from a small electrical motor winding from one of my kids broken toys - it is so fine i struggle to see it on a picture. I use a felt tip permanent marker to colour the copper wire.
Looking forward to seeing more of your helo’s [:D]!!
Really nice build for an older kit. I remember these UH-1Ns at NAS Corpus Christi and NAS Chase Field in the mid to late 70s. Here’s a couple of 35mm slides in my collection from that time frame.
As Gino mentioned markings and even AC color changed over time and decade. Here in late September 1979 you can see the doghouse intake warning markings not present on the ealier mid to early 70s have changed and are similar to USMC markings on their UH-1Ns. Photos from my collection
