As promised, here is the dio of the UH-1H Dust-Off I have been working on for a customer. The helo is the Panda 1/35th kit with corrections made to make it a pretty accurate H model. The interior was upgraded using the Cobra Company UH-1 Upgrade set. Figures are modified Dragon Vietnam Helo crew. The surprise that I had mentioned before is the suspended flight medic on the hoist and jungle penetrator. Most of the interior parts are scratch or converted from other kits such as the crew chief seats, litters, hoist, jungle penetrator, etc. The tress are made from a wire skeleton, covered in masking tape and sealed with white glue. The branches are dried branches from a Creosote bush that grows here in the desert. The leaves are perfect for large, jungly 1/35 leaves. I dried them, sealed them with Urethane, then sprayed them green so they won’t turn brown. It was challenging and fun, I love how it looks.
Another great job. I however would have added a medic or two, and some debris. At least one medic (or even just a grunt) bending over the prone soldier. I also, however would have not had a completed diorama that looked nearly as good.
You da man!
Thanks guys. Glad you all like it. This one had special meaning to me based on who it was going to. I thought about putting some bloody bandages and medical debris around the wounded, but thought it might look too gorey (sp?) and bloody. I think it looks better this way. Definitely an honor for me to make it and I hope it is a worthy tribute to all Dust-Off pilots, past and present.
Looks fantastic! The only thing that “jumps” out at me is the angle of the tail “stinger”. Pointed down way too much. Damn Huey Crew Chiefs were always a pain in the “aft”!
Thanks for sharing these photos. Well done mate. They’re excellent. It’s really captured the action. Only one thing though…I wanted to make a dio like this and now you’ve knicked the idea!!! so I’ll have to think of something else.
One more thing. these are in 1/35 aren’t they? So not only have you one lucky client but he must have a bloody big front room.
Mel, guess this guy has a weak stinger, or a saggy “aft”. Too late to change it now.
Rich, woops, sorry I took your idea, mate. Yup, it is 1/35th. It really isn’t that big. The base is 14" x 14" and the tail of the helo doesn’t stick off that much. It is a total of 14" tall as well.
Uniforms are base coated with Testors MM Medium Green. Then drybrushed with some OD for highlights, and some red-brown for dirt on the wear areas; knees, elbows, seat of pants, etc. Gear is OD and then drybrushed with some dark green, then dirt, etc, as above. Lastly, they are drybrushed overall with a dusty color to blend it all together.
LemmoJello, not sure what is next. Still deciding what to build. May have a chance, between consignments, to get started on the 1/35 HH-60G I have been planning. We shall see.
