Hello all
Since recently completing my Revell 1/72 Sea King kit, as a RAF SAR Sea King using Airfix decals I’m wanting to build/paint something a little less complicated (read frustrating) whilst I save up some £/$ for some parts for other builds and to clear some of my stash of some 5 kits I’ve yet to complete/start…
So, I come back to my Revell 1/48 Huey Hog kit I’ve had lying around since I bought it last year (or the year before that).
Problem is I don’t want to build it completely OOB because, besides the noted inaccuracies in the actual make up of the helo itself, the decals provided are of a USMC UH-1E (I have both sets the older Monogram set and the more recent “red tail” Revell decals).
I also want to put the M134 miniguns I’ve currently got attached to the ESCI UH-1D Ray (rotorwash) kindly sent to me onto the Revell Huey Hog, as that was my intention with those parts from day one. I’ll make them interchangeable with the quad M60’s by using small magnets - an easy task in principle providing I can make the ammo feeds for the weapons look OK whilst still being detachable. (says the guy who thought a yellow helicopter paint job was an easy task!!)
Now, recently I became aware that the Hobby Boss 1/48 UH-1C comes with decals for UH-1C “Easy Rider”. Perfect for what I want to do with my Revell Huey Hog kit as “Easy Rider” was a gunship. And at <£15 the kit is quite cheap on Ebay, I could end up paying £15 for aftermarket decals without a kit to go with them!
Considering how poor (old) a kit the Revell Huey Hog is quality wise (and to save on having another kit lying around doing nothing) would I be best doing a kit-bash with the Hobby Boss kit, replacing bits that perhaps are not quite as well done with bits from the Revell kit, or would I be best off just building the two as they are but using the Easy Rider decals (or USMC decals) from the Hobby Boss kit on the Revell kit and having one of them unarmed?
If kit-bashing is the best idea what parts on the Hobby Boss kit (apart from the interior and rotors which I’ve already seen seem a bit lacking) could I replace with parts from the Revell kit, if any?
Thanks in advance for any ideas on this.
I don’t have a Hobby Boss kit, but a friend does. I’ll try and get a look at it this week and get back to you. Not sure they captured the camber of the vertical fin. The rotor head is that of a Bravo from what I can tell of pic’s of it.
I have the Hobby Boss kit sitting right here. First off it is a BASIC kit. The cabin doors are attached to the fuselage halves for instance. This kit has fewer parts than the 1/72 Italeri UH-1C. As you noted, the rotor blade is incorrect for a C but looks to be a B model rotor instead. As I’m sure you know the Hobby Boss kit has no weapons, which is like issuing an unarmed Mi-24! A couple of good points are the correct wide chord sync elevators and tail, but the tail has no camber built in. The decals in my opinion are pretty poor. The fonts just don’t seem quite right. Regarding putting Hobby Boss Parts on the Huey Hog kit, I’d suggest doing the opposite and adding the Huey Hog interior parts to the Hobby Boss kit. The Hobby Boss kit should be a very easy build, unlike the Revell Hog kit which is a major pain to build. Both make imperfect models without a lot of work so why not use the easier of the two to build. Just my 2 cents.
Ray
Thank Ray. Much appreciated.
I could use some remaining decals I have left over from the ESCI kit build, and just put on the US Army tail boom decals and tail numbers, if I have them left from the Fireball decal sheets I bought, and also 1st Air Cav markings on the nose and tail and call the Revell kit a “We Were Soldiers” gunship (that was my initial idea some time ago anyway).
However, as I’ve seen the Hobby Boss kit has some seemingly proper shark mouth decals (sorry I keep forgetting the name of the unit they’re from, the 174th AHC Sharks?) I thought it’d be more authentic if I put those on the Revell kit, even if the armament isn’t 100% accurate (the rest of the kit isn’t anyway).
Having read what you and Mel have said I think I might see if I can’t find aftermarket decals in 1/48 for a UH-1C gunship - If I kitbash the two together to make one kit I’ll probably end up with loads of parts lying around, and a badly put together “franken-copter” or a whole kit lying around doing nothing. And I just can’t stand having models or parts of models lying around doing nothing (hence the reason I’m now trying to build my Fujimi SH-3H kit to a reasonable state).
Just thought though that I have the Academy 1/35 Frog kit which has Ace of Spades decals - I could scan those in, and downsize them so they’re 1/48 scale and then try printing them off on decal paper and see how that works.
Think that’ll be the best idea actually, should have thought of that first!!
Sounds like you got a plan. Good luck!
Ray
If you look around Ebay you might find the decals your looking for. Microscale did a 1/48 scale sheet for the Monogram UH-1C kit that has the easy rider decal option along with 4 other UH-1C schemes.
Thanks Mikey. Have looked as I’m aware of Microscale decal sets but so far haven’t found any. I shall try the self-made decals approach first, if they turn out rubbish I don’t have to put them on.
I actually just completed the revell/monogram kit this past weekend for a group build here. I modified the tail and tailplanes. Added the door spoilers, made my own decals and some other small changes to make it look convincing. This kit is a bear. It will take alot of putty and sanding. But the kit bash idea sounds pretty solid.
That looks great. Hope mine turns out as well.
