Revell UH-1D "Huey" Gunship

Modeling Subjects
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As I look to the right of this typing block, I see that others have asked questions about it. I’ll answer one question. The Hotel (H) model version came out after the Delta (D) model and did see action in Vietnam, but only as a ‘slick’ or troop carrier. D models were never rigged for gunship operations. Only the B, C and M models with the single window cargo doors. H models had more shaft horse power and a bigger generator due to added avionics components.

I have watched several YouTube videos where this model has been built in either 7 separate videos, or one 30 minute video. In all of them scratch building is present due to model discrepancies. The pilot seats are wrong, worst modeling job on record. The 7 part series adds troop seats. Loved watching it, but you only see that in Apocalypse Now.

I just wanted to give my off the cuff initial opinion of the model as it sits in the box right now. The first thing I liked was that the company in Poland that manufactured it added a parts list and what the part is called. There are not 111 parts in this model. If you look closely, there are some numbers missing. There are 106 parts, most of them are unused weapons since you can’t mount all of them on the bird. Now some part names are vague. “Control Rod”. What it controls is not known unless you know your Hueys and once it is attached you go, “Oh, pitch control rod.” The pilot figures are just in a seated position as if both are wondering who is actually going to fly the chopper. One has his visor down.

The skids are warped. The guy in the 7 part series said they would be. Best you can do is clamp them down in perfect shape and hair dry them until the heat gets hot enough to limber them up, but not melt them. Good luck.

I have one observation. NEVER use your fuselage sections as a sprue. In other words, don’t attach other parts to the fuselage sections. Cutting away the sprue sections damages the fuselage. I know, there’s probably 40,000 ways you can cut away sprue racks and not damage the fuselage. Make it easy. Stop attaching sprue racks with parts to the fuselage.

Ok, two observations. Fuselage left, Fuselage right. Cockpit/Cabin sprue. Main Rotor parts sprue. Weapons system sprue. All the windows and clear parts were on their own sprue. For that matter, the blades, the transmission, the engine sections, all the rods, all on one sprue. Why is there a machine gun on the same sprue as the tail rotor? My point. Design the sprues in a method that allows us to find the parts based on the subject, not an easter egg hunt from hell.

Naturally this model has plastic mold issues. Teeny tiny parts are hard to file so I’m sure a fit issue is in my future. But I like it. I’m jazzed up to get started.

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Hope you post your build progress with lots of photos.

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I can’t promise, but I can tell you if I do, it will be straight amateur model building, no special shading or making it look like it’s been rode hard and put up wet. Think of it like this. A brand new D model was shipped to Vietnam straight out of the factory rigged and equipped for battle and someone got the bright idea to mount guns on it and make it the prototype for D model gunships. Straight off the ship, the two pilots assigned to it ready to head to firebase wherever and get started. No foot traffic wear, no shading, no scratch building duffle bags or kit bags or bullet holes or exhaust fume build up. Just a mint Huey with two seasoned pilots. Who sit in the front seat looking like they have no idea how to start this thing.

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Are you modeling any particular company?

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That’s what I plan to do with my build of this particular model also. I pretty much build all my stuff as fairly new, or at least like it was cleaned up a bit for inspection. When I was in the Army, we spent a lot of time doing just that…

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I will use the decals provided. Best I can do. Air Cavalry.

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My Guard unit had a fleet of used 1H models. Not sure if any of them saw action. By the time I got in 1984 the Delta models were either out of phase or being used in the Philippines. Flew with several pilots who had seen action, even had a commander who was a crew chief then went to OCS and became a pilot when he got home. One pilot I flew with who became one of my best friends, got a DFC for flying into a hornets nest and extracting a platoon of south vietnamese rangers.

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Well, I doubt it can be worse than the Kitty Hawk Huey. I’m in the middle of putting it together and have never seen such shoddy engineering in a supposedly modern kit. Almost every assembly has required unnecessary cleaning, trimming and filling to get it to fit reasonably. There’s plenty of useless complexity as well in various assemblies. I almost think AI and CAD did all the work, and no human actually tried to build it until it was launched. I’m super frustrated with it. Unfortunately, Kitty Hawk did a number of subjects that are awesome and they seem to be the only option, so my frustrations are likely to continue… :man_facepalming:

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I just got that one today and I’m sending it back. It’s 1/48 scale and I tried to assemble a 1/48 Italyeri only to discover that my 61 year old eyesight is not equipped for that small a scale. I need 1/32 or bigger. 1/35 at the least. As for the model, all I did was open the lid, look at the pieces, and said no way. Never got to the assembly part. Hence the sending back part.

I do have a question about a Huey model from Dragon models. Expensive compared to what I’ve seen from other Hobby stores, sold on Ebay it appears, and has four crew members. I’d like to try it, but I’m suspect of whether it is sold on ebay or it’s someone who bought it and decided to sell it on ebay. The company itself is overseas. Anyone familiar with this UH-1D?

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Seems to be the case with quite a few of their kits..

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I have built a couple of the Dragon UH-1D/H kits. It goes together pretty well. They don’t tell you which parts to use for which version, so do your research as there are parts for any version from a Vietnam-era D model through a late '80s H model.

Here are a couple of my builds of them.

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Hello!
As for your review - it would be good to state the scale - Revell did A LOT of different Huey models over the years. Even better would ba link to scalemates.com - this way a lot of kit info would already be written for you.

I know I’m kinky, but every time I hear about a Huey model, I wat to know - does it actually have the hell hole? Curiously, most Huey models don’t have it.

As for the scale - I’d say don’t kid yourself that getting a larger model will be easier on your eyes. OK, the fuselage gets bigger - but the bigger scale also has more details - or at least should have, otherwise the model will look like a big toy.

Finally - good luck with your projects, I’m looking forward to seeing in-progress pictures! Have a nice day

Paweł

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It’s the 1/32 Huey Gunship UH-1D. There have been all sorts of these sold under different themes. The Kittyhawk version is a slick version with mounted M-60’s but no crew figures. 1/48 fits my train layout (O gauge), but the pieces are just too small in some cases for me to see well enough and hold to paint. 1/32 does have small pieces, air scoops for instance, but most of the pieces are at the least large enough for me to use a gator clip. Small pieces, at least for priming, I can stick to a piece of masking tape, tape down the tape, and spray them with primer without having to hunt for them after the wind from the can hits them.

As for the “hell hole”, I’m familiar with the term as I once crewed Huey’s, and I’m probably wrong, but I remember the “hell hole” on a huey being where the gunners sat. The addition of troop seats across the front of the transmission cover wall created a phone booth type area behind them where a small bench seat was installed. Gunners well was another name for it. Refresh my memory.

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Well, we actually mean the same feature… But I specifically mean the large opening in the belly where the cargo hook rides - when installed.

I remember reading the cult book “Chickenhawk” where Mr. Mason describes crawling underneath, through the hellhole and bleedeing fuel off, be it to get rid of water contamination or to get some fuel to heat the C-Rations - and I was wondering - what hole? There’s no hole on my model? Turns out, it should be there, but hardly any model has it. But on smaller scale model even cutting the right shape hole and painting the insides black already helps to make the belly more realistic. Of course most modellers don’t worry about looking at their models from the underside - they are standing on the shelve…

As for holding small parts - I mostly try to first glue everything together and then paint it - wherever possible. After some training with those small wargaming figures, that come in one piece it turns out much more of such painting is possible than I originally thought. And lots of the time when you can’t reach it with a brush, you can’t really see it either… So it often helps to prime verything in black and just paint the things that you can see…

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The old (originally came out in '67) Revell 1/32 Huey is a mixed bag kit. It is really a UH-1H from the box. It is lacking on fine details, but does a good job of capturing the rivets and external features of the fuselage. As you stated, it is totally incorrect as a US gunship, although the Aussies did use D and H models as “Bushranger” gunships. It can be built up as a nice model, but takes quite a bit of work. The biggest visible issue is the HUGE door hinges on the pilots doors. Just by rebuilding them to a scale size will vastly improve the look.

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I guess it’s the price you pay for opening doors at that scale.

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Not really. I think it has more to do with 1967 tooling and a more toy-like take on modeling at the time.

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I did that when I built the Italyarie model. Cyclics, Collectives, Seat mounts etc. I also went ahead and attached the two antennas at the back of the fuselage, the ones used to call taxiing handles. I also attached the elevators. They went on so tight I didn’t glue them. I paint the fuselage prior to assembly, not afterward. I’m not fond of masking that much to paint something I could have already painted.

As for the hell hole, I never crawled under a Huey. I guess I missed that feature. Wait, I did attach a fire bucket to the cargo hook but didn’t see any hole to speak of.

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Why can’t model companies use modern technology and update their 1967 versions with a much better, more detailed, “now we have more information” version of the one that was designed as a toy to play with? With CNC mills being able to create the metal works they do now, I’m sure Revell, Revell/Monogram, Revell Revell, three bags full, whoever they are now, can upgrade some of those early years model sprues and make the old new again. One thing I liked about the Kittyhawk model, even though I returned it, The cabin/cockpit section of the fuselage was one part, the tail section a separate part. Appeared simple as drinking water to attach. Lessens the need for clamps and a fifth hand when you attempt to glue the fuselage sections together. Building the skids reduces risk of a bent warped skid part. Not using the fuselage as a piggy back sprue lessens cosmetic damage to the fuselage. Photo etched parts are nice for detail, but they are very small, thin, and if you bend it wrong, you’re S.O.L. I liked the idea of the separate nose part for the Huey in the Kittyhawk model, easier to paint it black and not have to mask so heavily.

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Sure they could. It all comes down to money. For some reason, they don’t want to spend the money on a new-mold Huey.

A new, up to date large scale Huey has been wanted for years. The Panda/Dragon kit was suppposed to be it, but it still failed in many areas, esp. the golfball-sized rivets. Kitty Hawk was supposed to release one, but they folded before they could. Fingers are still crossed for one. Hopefully Academy will do one since they have a lot of the parts already as they recently released a 1/35 UH-1Y that is excellent.

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