At the risk of repeating this question, I forge ahead. My apologies if/probably this has been anwsered before. I tried doing a search, but came up with nothing.
I am building Revell’s 1/48 Huey Hog. In my research, I have found that Revell failed to make an accurate model. My question here concerns a US Air Force Huey.
#1 Paint Scheme - The camoflauge colors: I have the right colors, but is the design of the colors always the same or can it be up to the crew to paint a design the way they see fit?
#2 In my research, I found that the Air Force used a different engine which required a longer boom on the Huey. “it’s supposed to be a 48 foot boom, rather than a 44 foot.” Where does this measurement begin and where does it end?
After spending numerous hours researching this, I just wasn’t coming up with any good answers.
Hey, the helicopter forum is pretty dead these days (not sure why) so you might wanna pop this in the aircraft forums (with an explanation). I have found something on the tail boom for you.
Tail boom starts at that line just under the exhaust nozzle. ends at the tip where the tail rotor attaches. Not sure if this is in a straight line or not.
As for camo, i thought they were a solid colour overall? (apart from the anti glare panels)
The version used by the USAF was the UH-1F. It used surplus engines from USAF HH-3s, which had a turned exhaust. The exhuast exited out the right side of the upper fuselage. It also had the longer tail boom and rotors from a UH-1D, the version Scorpiomikey posted above. The tail boom is measured from the seam where it connects to the fuselage just below the engine area.
As to camo, no, each crew could not modify the standard scheme. It was set out in a manual the exact way to paint the camo. The USAF camo on most of them was called the SEA (South East Asia) scheme of dark green, medium green, and dark tan over an off-white underside. Stateside UH-1Fs were also painted overall grey, some were also overall dark blue.
Here are a few examples.
The longer tail boom allowed for a baggage compartment on the right side near the fuselage. You can see it in the below pic.
Converting it into a UH-1F is a major conversion, but can be done. If you search the site, there are a couple examples of it being done. Good luck.
I am converting the Huey into an AirForce Chopper, the only problem i have is I don’t have the correct engine. I can change the exhaust and the boom, but there isnt anything i can do about the engine. OH Well
I found a partial kit at my local hobby shop, but it was the same exact kit.
For the most part, It will look like an air force model.
The 44 ft versus 48 ft was the rotor diameter, not boom length! So the boom was only increased 2 ft in lenght to accomodate the additional 2 ft of rotor blade. It was the adoption of the D models rotor system that required the longer tailboom not the engine change. The Air Force just wanted to use the existing stock of engines they had already instead of buying the Lycomings and all the tools and parts for them. Not at home to check all my reference materials but I suspect due to the the length of the fuselage of the D and H models the tailbooms were actually shorter than on the Bell 204, UH-1F’s and UH-1P’s.
Well, I already got it stretched out to 48 scale feet. And it’s looking pretty good. So,[:)] I’m not changing it again. OH WELL !!!
It’s not going for a show or anything, Only a Community Build in the Model Club I belong to. The only trouble is; the president of the club is a Vietnam Veteran, and he might catch it; Don’t know what he did in Vietnam. We’ll see [:$]
Anyway Thanks again for the info. I can always do another one the right way. [8-|]
If you made just the tail boom 48 ft long that would be an awfully loooong Huey. The fuselage length of the UH-1B with a 44 ft rotor dia. was only 38 ft 5 in. so just adding 2 ft to the tail boom would make it 40 ft. 5 in. for the 48 ft rotor diameter. The Huey book I happened to have with me had that measurement. A UH-1N is listed as 42 ft 4,75 in for a 48 rotor dia.
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