Hey everyone…
Just wanted to share a pic and a review of Italeri’s huey kit for the UH1D.
The kit is molded in black and clear parts and comes with decals and
a paint guide for 3 birds: 1970 era 7th cav us army, aus af in nam, and a modern
german af bird. I tought the instructions to be well done with painting
suggestions along the way for model master enamels or acrylics (Italeri is a
division of model master)…
There were several fit problems however which spoiled what was a pretty fun model to build.
With a little patience and a lot of gap filling and some sanding and taping a modeler with some
previous skills could get it to look decent. I think the construction problems
were overcome with some fun paint and decal work…Not a bad build…not sure
to recommend this one… I think i’ll keep looking for the perfect huey to build.
thanks for reading and welcome any suggestions or insights.
tankbuster,
Thanks for sharing your build of the Italeria UH-1D. Like you said the “perfect” Huey model hasn’t been produced yet, except maybe the MRC UH-1C series. They are the closest yet. I have the old Ertl UH-1D’s and they have some better parts than the Italeria which has the “N’s” main and tail rotor blades not found on the “D’s” or “H’s”. The Ertl kits have a nice representation of the main transmission and engine and the instrument panel and shroud are the correct shape but the decal for the instruments are all wrong. The “It” kit’s instrument panel looks like something out of a Civil Bell 212 but the center console is the correct shape and the Ertl’s is not. I havent put a caliber to it but the “It” kit is not as wide as the Ertl kit so I don’t know who’s is correct. Neither kit provides the ever present M-60 door mounts something every kit manfacturer has neglected to date. I guess we can only hope somebody will decide to do it “right” one day and in the mean time we will just have to use our modeling skills to improve on what’s out there.
thanks for the note melgyver…it was great hearing from u…
something I noted immediately, was the STRONG resemblance to the Panda UH-1D in 1/35th…
What’s the word I’m looking for… Pantograph??[:D]
Yup, the Italeri 1/48 kits are the ones Panda used to make theirs. Pantograph, indeed. Even enlarged and used the same decals.
Two small notes on painting detail, the area painted gray on the roof should be black, the same(or rotor color) with the ends of the main rotors were they meet the hub. They are part of the rotor blades and come painted from the factory
Yeah grandad.
I wastn’t sure about that one…but the painting instructions per the kit recommended gunship grey for that area…It also recommended the inside of the rotor blades to be entirely metalizer gunmetal…I preferred to model the inside blades aluminum from earlier hueys although this huey is suposed to resemble a huey from 1970 or later…The gunship grey roof looked different but I thought it made for a break from the normal olive green everything…I guess this huey isn’t standard but who really knows what went on with every unit after it left the production line…
Thanks for your input…
Tankbuster…
Hey shark are you trying to say that Panda makes a kit like this italeri? I wasn’t sure but that’s how i understood it…
Tankbuster: Yah… Panda makes a UH-1D in 1/35th, and it is an exact replica of the Italeri, exept it is in a larger scale. Like mentioned previously, even the decals are the same!
Strange but true…[:D]
Hate when manufacturers do that…and its especially hard to find certain helo decals to change up the look…Not a fan of the Panda kits…too bad though cause they look kinda sharp from the box details…
Nice looking helo Tankbuster!
Very well done! [:D]
woo, it’s lookinging good
woo, it’s lookinging good
Nice Huey. I was just watching We Were Soldiers last night, and had the urge to revamp my Huey. It’s just crying out for a repaint job.
Thanks for the line Zokissma,
That was a great flim…didn’t think of that one when I was building this huey…bet
it had some nice reference photos of the old Iroquios. These models are
never actually finished are they…? There’s always some small touch we can
add…glad you enjoyed…
Thankbuster
Good movie, best one made about Vietnam, but still some inaccuraces. They actually didn’t use that many Huey’s, most were CG’ed.
Please note my earlier remark, don’t always trust the models companies to give you correct painting instructions. Never saw a Huey painted like your’s, unit’s rarely repainted their own birds due to lack of time, money and man-power.
That’s me in one of my Mike’s
Well Grandad…I think i’ll take the huey back into the paint shop and correct the roof area with an olive green spray instead…thanks for the tip and it seems to be true that the box info isn’t always the best…
Tankbuster
You can use OD or black, either would be correct, trust photo’s. Glad I could help, I don’t like to cause problems for people just like to see it correct