I thought I’d have a go at assembling the Revell Huey Hog I’ve got…
…and it’s terrible!!! The ESCI UH-1D that I’ve been working on, and nearly finished, is a dream to work with compared to the Revell kit.
For a start the roof doesn’t fit, I’ll have to bend the side walls of the front of the fuselage to fit it!
So, I’ve decided to scrap it and leave it in my “bits box”.
Disappointing because I was looking forward to building a 'Nam gunship.
If I wasn’t trying to do something rather unorthodox (which requires the fuselage to be so that I can separate the two halves) I could probably make the kit work but it is just generally horrible. Revell have a cheek selling it still (and I’m a moron for buying it).
So, is there a UH-1B/C kit out there in 1/48 by any other manufacturer that is any better?
I’ve crunched some numbers and a 1/35 UH-1C is only 3 or so inches longer and only about 1 or 2 inches wider than the 1/48 UH-1D I’ve got, so it won’t be too much bigger, in fact the extra space inside should be helpful. Just hope it’s not too much heavier, I can always build it up as a static kit if it is.
I’m gonna buy an Academy UH-1C Frog off ebay and equip it with the miniguns/rocket pods that come on the sprues.
I know the model kit hobby has died out a bit but surely there’s a market for a proper decent 1/48 UH-1B/C?!
Thanks. I’ve seen that one. Looks about as good as the Revell kit. I could kitbash the two I guess. I’ve got a 1/35 Academy UH-1C Frog on order though so that “should” be better for what I want, assuming it arrives (the site I bought it from said it’s in stock but I’m not holding my breath), the one I had on order from an ebay seller turned out to be bogus because he hadn’t checked his stock…
That kit has been out since the mid-90s but was pretty good (or so I was told). It was the one variant I never ended up getting. I had bought their Super Cobra, Bell 47 USCG chopper and the OH-58Ds, all of which were very nice.
Back in the 1990s they issued each of their helicopters in two versions; the UH-1C came as a Heavy Hog and also as a virtually identical “Frog”.
I have a 1/48 scale uh-1n, i scratched the interior for the uh-1n i used to work on while I was with air rescue. If you are tempted to throw it against a wall, don’t, just send it to me, i’ll rework it and display it my self
The only way to make a decent 1/48 UH-1C is old fashioned model building! Hard work, sweat, tears and now some resin parts! Cobra Company has a detail set to help out the old Revellogram Huey Hog. Way back in 1985 Pete Harlem put out a book to detail the Monogram Huey Hog kit. Lots of good detail pictures and drawings of UH-1C’s and their components. It seems ironic that the most used Helicopter in the last 50 years has only one kit that deems worthy of build, the Academy UH-1C in 1/35 scale. We have no quality 1/48 kits of any version and the work horse of the Vietnam War the UH-1D/H represented poorly by the ancient 1/32 Revell and 1/35 Panda/Dragon kits. I think Academy could score big time with a good UH-1D/H and AH-1G if they would produce them before all the Vietnam Vets have joined the WW II guys upstairs! Maybe my son will get to build one after I’m gone!
@ ap me - if you would like the Revell UH-1 kit drop me a PM (for some reason I can’t send you one?!). I don’t think I have any use for the Revell UH-1 kit because my other 1/48 Huey is a UH-1D and that’s supposed to have the XM-23 M16 door gun system, or at least it will do when I get around to ordering them from Cobra Company.
I don’t think there are actually any parts on the Revell UH-1 that I’d want. Bear in mind though that I’ve tried assembling the fuselage so the stabs have had some poly cement on them and the hand grabs are attached (for the moment, hopefully they won’t break off), the fuselage also has had magnets stuck to the inside to hold the 2 halves of the fuselage together (and also the nose on) but they can easily be removed and the kneadatite/super glue tidied up I’m sure.
You’ll need to cover shipping costs though, let me know where you live in your PM and I’ll check prices with Royal Mail.
Actually, I think the fact that the best UH-1C kit is in 1/35 makes perfect sense and not at all ironic.
Prior to Desert Shield/Desert Storm and subsequent Global Wars on Terrorism in the 21st century (just using this official term and not intended to stir up any politics), Vietnam War modeling was the most popular genre for modern armor modelers.
The helicopter would look right at home in an armor style diorama dropping off air cavalry troopers in a hot LZ or a wrecked bird with an M113 on scene.
Most of the 1/35 scale helicopters like the OH-6 Cayuse, AH-6 Little Bird, UH-1, AH-1, UH-60, AH-64 and the little Bells are often synonymous with modern armor modeling. I’ve seen a really intrinsic Black Hawk Down diorama with a crashed helicopter, HMMWVs and 5 tons.
The main problem with modeling helicopters in this scale is they tend to be fairly big.
thanks for the offer, but I already have a uh-in the one I was assigned to a uh-ia/b and a very old husky hh43, I like working on then, but I have no room to keep them plus, I work mainly with 1/1000 scale starships
The first helicopter I flew in was a Chinook and I would have loved one in 1/35 scale; that is until I saw the kit in the flesh…much too big for me to do anything with it.
on second thought, I might take you up on your offer. I live in lakewood colorado us80214. tell me what will cost. and post a pic or 2 of it, so I can see what it looks like, I might have it already.
Mine came with the decals for the 1st pic, but you can order the other set of decals from Revell themselves, I did that and they sent them for free all the way from the US, but I’d like to keep those because I may do a UH-1N in 1/48 sometime in the future.
I’ll check with Royal Mail to see how much it’s likely to cost for shipping to the US.
OK, I’ve checked with Royal Mail (on their website at least) and it appears shipping to the US will cost approximately £18 GNP which is $27.51 USD. Other postage providers here in the UK I’ve looked charge roughly the same.
So that’s a ball park figure, let me know if you do actually want the model ap me and I’ll take it down the actual post office and try to confirm the actual cost.
