I’ve decided to give rotary wings a try and picked up the Academy 1/35th AH-60L kit. I want to do it in desert colors…what are the colors I need? The instructions don’t have that scheme listed.
I’m doing this out of the box since almost all of my modeling stuff is in storage from my move to Alabama two months ago.
-John
First, the MH-60L DAP (the US Army does not use the AH - Attack Helicopter- designation with Blackhawks) is actually overall flat black. It is used by the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) Nightstalkers. They are the unit that supports the US Army Rangers and Delta Force and is the featured unit in the movie “Blackhawk Down”. So, if you are going to build it as per the directions, you need to paint it flat black.
The kit is a pretty good representation of an MH-60L DAP. It could use a few corrections to make an accurate L model though. It is closer to an A model OOB. At a minimum, the kit decals should be replaced with a set of the Cobra Company SOAR decals. The kit ones are an aweful yellow color, but should be OD Green, as Cobra’s are. Also, the M134 miniguns should be locked forward as fixed firing guns. The directions don’t show this.
hereYou can follow my MH-60L DAP build as well.
Army Blackhawks are not in desert colors. The standard Army paint color for helicopters is a dark green color called Helo Drab Green. Testors Model Master has the exact color in their Model Master lines, acrylic and enamel.
There were a couple of Army UH-60s in ODS ('90-'91) painted overall sand, but it was only a few.
hereThe USAF had a few brown and sand MH-60Ls in ODS as well. They also had a couple USAF Reserve HH-60Gs in 3-color desert DCU camo in OIF 1 (invasion) in 2003. I recently built one of them. You can check it out .
Good luck.
Hmm…good info. But where are these pics coming from of Blackhawks with desert sand coloring? Mine is a UH instead of a AH, if it makes a difference.
I can paint it flat black I guess. Does the instructions color suggestions for the interior come close to the real thing?
Is there a online resource for line drawings?
John
No idea where you are seeing pictures of sand Army UH-60s from. Can you post them for us to see what they are? Maybe they are just covered in dust and dirt form Iraq or A’stan.
If you have the standard UH model (you said it was the AH-60L above), it should be painted Dark Helo Drab. The interior colors in the instructions are pretty much correct. The rear compartment has medium grey floor, ceiling, seat supports, and bulkheads with darker grey seat fabric. The cockpit is all flat black (forward of the step up on the floor); seats, instrument panel, floor, walls, etc.
Check out Aircraft Resource Center for some UH-60 walkarounds.
I got the name wrong in the first post… oops. Shows what I know about helos.
I think the photos I saw were dusty…I can’t seem to find them now. I did find a model painted that way but it must be wrong. It’s possible I saw a Cobra painted that way and remembered it as a BH.
I’ll be off to find the proper olive drab as you specified before. It’s real hard to resist getting an upgrade set but we’ll see. haha
John
Ah, the BH’s I saw with desert sand were overpainted versions from Desert Storm in '90, not current birds.
I don’t see Helo olive drab anywhere…is it FS 34079?
It is called US Army Helo Drab, FS34031. It is in both the Testors Model Master acrylic and enamel lines; #2024 (enamel) and #4723 (acrylic).
FS34079 is Dark Green and is not the correct color.
Oh! Ok. My LHS doesn’t carry that color but I’ll grab it from Testors.
Thanks!!
John
Jordanian and Israeli Blackhawks use desert colors. Also, in Desert Storm the Army didn’t paint some sand colored, no pattern, just solid, but in the current conflict in Iraq and in Afghanistan they are just using black or helo drab. Israel also does a desert color for the Apaches where the U.S. stays with helo drab.
Testors acrylic Helo-drab w/2 drops of flat black per bottle.