rotorwash Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Assuming this is not started too much, I will be building a UH-1A of the 57th Med Detachment. The 57th Med flew the first UH-1A's in Vietnam in 1962. There is no UH-1A in 1/72 scale so I decided to start with the Hobby Boss UH-1B kit because it goes together much easier than the Italeri short bodied Huey kits. However, many of the Italeri parts are much nicer so I will use much of the Italeri interior and modify an Italeri main rotor for this build. The decals are from the Print Scale UH-1 in Vietnam sheet. I also plan to add Eduard PE from both their Hobby Boss and Italeri sets. Here is where I'm starting. I am hoping to end up with something like this: Now back to work. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Finished the cockpit. the Eduard pre-painted PE parts really look nice. The seats, cyclics, collectives and pedals are from the Italeri UH-1B kit and the stretcher is from the Esci AB-205 medivac kit. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flying Tiger Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Finished the cockpit. the Eduard pre-painted PE parts really look nice. The seats, cyclics, collectives and pedals are from the Italeri UH-1B kit and the stretcher is from the Esci AB-205 medivac kit. Ray OMG...you got good eyes sir....I can't believe this is 1/72??? Love it (Y) Cheers Flying Tiger Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 OMG...you got good eyes sir....I can't believe this is 1/72??? Love it (Y) Cheers Flying Tiger Thanks. I love 1/72, but the parts are indeed mighty small. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K5054NZ Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Nice progress Ray! That PE looks fantastic. I don't think I've seen any short-masted Hueys built before. Very cool. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted September 30, 2015 Author Share Posted September 30, 2015 Closed up the fuselage and made some corrections. First was the rotor which is too short. You can see the unaltered Italeri main rotor below and the corrected one above. The Alpha had nose mounted FM antennas instead of the towel bar antenna and no VHF blade antenna or roof mounted pitot so all the locator holes for those were filled in. I also filled the incorrect and over sized fuel filler locations and added the fuel filler on the right side in the correct location. Slowly but surely coming together. If you look closely you can also see I added a B pillar and first aid kits to the cabin as well. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bravosierra001 Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Looking good Ray. Nice job on the pit. Maybe I can learn a little bit about the Huey watching your build. I love the airframe and have a few of them planed. Brandon Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 Finally getting to update my build. Here are some pics of the work on her. Ray Shortened the Italeri UH-1B rotor mast to the proper UH-1A height. Sanded the skid steps on the HB kit down to something more accurate. Corrected skid step on the right. Used a stiff wire to link the sync elevators so they more together on the finished model. Added a nose mounted pitot from wire. Replaced the flimsy two-piece part over the opening to the dog house with a single stronger piece of styrene. I added the downward facing blade counterweights characteristic of the UH-1A using wire and styrene. I used white putty to even out the join in the extended main rotor blades. I also decided to take the easy route and use tape for the trim tabs. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 1, 2016 Author Share Posted January 1, 2016 Now for the finishing photos. I forgot to take pics of the modified rotor linkages, but basically the entire linkage system was scratchbuilt with wire and styene. Ray Completed fuselage ready for decals. the paint is a custom mix I made to try and replicate the gloss OD seen on these early Alpha models. Here are the decals I had planned on using form print scale. However, it turned out they would curl up on themselves if they were lifted even slightly during placement so many of the markings are from either the original Hobby Boss kit or Joseph Osborn's Fireball Modelworks custom stencils he made for me. Plus the Print Scale tail rotor warning said this! Here she is with most of the decals added. And here's the finished model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted January 2, 2016 Share Posted January 2, 2016 Superb. I think it's the first time I see a UH-1A built too. I do have a question about the main rotor. Were those blades longer on the UH-1A? Or is the Italeri rotor too short for the B and C models it comes with? Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 2, 2016 Author Share Posted January 2, 2016 Superb. I think it's the first time I see a UH-1A built too. I do have a question about the main rotor. Were those blades longer on the UH-1A? Or is the Italeri rotor too short for the B and C models it comes with? Cheers, Stefan. Stefan, Both the Italeri and Hobby Boss main rotors are too short. the UH-1A,B and C have a 44ft main rotor and the Italeri and Hobby Boss rotors are about 40 scale feet. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 Stefan, Both the Italeri and Hobby Boss main rotors are too short. the UH-1A,B and C have a 44ft main rotor and the Italeri and Hobby Boss rotors are about 40 scale feet. Ray Thanks for the reply, Ray. I had a look at my 1/72 Hueys. The UH-1D has longer rotor blades. I believe that's an old Esci mould. I had not noticed the different rotors before. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rotorwash Posted January 4, 2016 Author Share Posted January 4, 2016 Thanks for the reply, Ray. I had a look at my 1/72 Hueys. The UH-1D has longer rotor blades. I believe that's an old Esci mould. I had not noticed the different rotors before. Cheers, Stefan. Stephan, Yep, the UH-1D/H had 48ft main rotors. So you can either cut down a set of UH-1D/H blades or add to the Iatleri ones to get the correct 44 scale ft. Ray Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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