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UH-60A - time to walk the walk...


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small progress update: i have put the C2 console aside for now and started building up the mapboard that goes in the center of the fow of rear facing seats.

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i also took a closer look at the pilot's seats. they have been bothering me but all these years i have not been able to put my finger on it until i started looking through my pictures again: the seat backs in the kit, and the Cobra Company resin seats are rectangulart in shape, when they should have the corners cut off instead - EDIT: the kit seats and the cobra company seats are a newer version, the seats i need for my Alpha model during 1998 are a different kind, so i will need to back date the pilot seats.

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i will try to correct the kit's seats before i go and ruin the resin seats. if i am successful, i will share my methods with the forums in case anyone else wants to incorporate the same changes to their models.

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-Ramon

Edited by anvil6
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Interesting on the seats. I guess they are an earlier version. Current seats (and as far back as I can remember) have the rectangular top profile. Looks like they had shorter crush tubes too.

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Edited by HeavyArty
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Interesting on the seats. I guess they are an earlier version. Current seats (and as far back as I can remember) have the rectangular top profile. Looks like they had shorter crush tubes too.

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at least from 1999 going further back, the pilot seats (at least the ones I encountered in A/L models)were typically as shown in my pic. i do remember going to an airshow sometime around 2008 and the crew chief on the A model on display was telling me about updated pilot seats. that must be the type shown in your pic. That also looks like a non A/L model in your pic too, judging by the instrument panel, center console and cabin floor. M model perhaps?

-Ramon

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So I was able to get to my workbench for a brief session and got a bit more progress on this build. I enlarged the opening for the APU exhaust pipe and started building up the floor details in the cockpit just inside the chin bubble windows...

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I also painted the knobs on the C2 console and dragged a silver pencil along some of the edges to replicate bare metal under scratched paint.

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Trying to decide if I made the C2 console and map boards the correct dimensions (roughly) I placed the seats on the floors to allow me to gauge the size relative to the seats. This brings me to one of my gripes with Academy's attempt at a UH-60A/L kit: Academy shorts you one troop seat! The standard configuration from the factory was the two crew chief seats at each window, facing sideways relative to the direction of flight, then a row of three forward facing seats (the middle seat is centered on the cabin floor), then a row of 4 rear facing seats, right up against and staggered with the first row of troop seats, and then a row of four more forward facing seats against the back wall of the cabin. As per instructions, the kit only gives you 3 rear facing seats and although technically not incorrect since there are many different ways to configure the seating arrangement to suit the mission, it is incomplete. This is not a big deal to most, but again it only rubs my OCD the wrong way because I used to be a crew chief. The good news is that because of the two aircraft I am representing, I will still have enough seats to go around since the C2 bird has the map board take up the space of two rear facing seats, and the medevac bird I will build later will have the carousel in the middle instead of the first two rows of troop seats.

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The nice thing about these seats though is that at least Academy did a good job representing the seat legs instead of how they are in the 1/48 scale kit. Next up, it might be time to finally put legs on the seats and map board.

-Ramon

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My progress comes in small measurements... I fixed the angle of the pilot seat frames so that the seat floor rails were at a right angle to the mount tubes. That one almost slipped past me. I striped the seat release handles black and yellow and started to carve the seat backs with my Dremel. The plan is to build the cushions up with Milliput but we will see how I do with that...

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-Ramon

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was sick in bed for a week, but I am mostly over that cold now. Got a chance to go back to my work bench last night and built up the seat back cushions and lumbar support pads with Milliput. They are not exactly symetrical but hopefully a little carving and painting and they will pass. Otherwise I can carve away what's there and reapply some Milliput...

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-Ramon

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Do i really have to modify the seats just like you or can i leave them just like they are.

Great job!

Rod.

Hi Rod! If you are going for accuracy and a pre-global war on terror time period, (mine are from the 1990's time period) the seats are closer to what I have done. if you are doing a more modern version, or are not as concerned with little nit-picky details that most people will never notice, the squared off seats are fine. Ultimately though, its your model so do it to please yourself and it will be great!

:)

-Ramon

Edited by anvil6
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Using bad pictures and worse memory as references, I have added the ICS cables, seat position adjustment cables, and inertia reel locking cables. I also added the storage pouch that is behind the right hand pilot seat, and made little seat adjustment handles out of wine bottle foil. Now the seats are ready to paint!

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-Ramon

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