757flyer Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 I am looking to build a 1/72 MH-53J Pave Low from Desert Storm. I know one of the issues with the two available kits (Fujimi and Italeri) is that they have the earlier CH-53 style rotor blades. Does anyone have any scale drawings of the composite blades the Pave Lows had? I believe one of the Revell 1/48 CH-53G kits comes with those blades, but none of the 1.72 kits do. I'm trying to figure out how to replicate them. Are they similar in shape to the ones on the -E Super Stallions? Would those be a good starting point for a conversion? In addition to the wrong-direction tail rotor on the Italeri kit, are there any other big gotchas I need to look out for? Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyArty Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 The Pave Low III rotors have a clipped tip and angled root ends. You can see their shape below on this great-looking 1/48 example by Jan M. Visser. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
757flyer Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 Gino, Thanks for the reply. That is indeed a great looking model! The Pave Low rotors also have a slight clip or sweep at the tip of the leading edges, as well as a tab on the trailing edge near the tip: They are not an exact match for the -E model blades, but are closer in shape to those than the original H-53 blades (square roots and tips), I am just not sure how much work it would be to modify the -E blades versus adding plastic to the roots of the square CH- blades... There was a resin set of main blades for the MH-53 released by WhirlyBits, but it is long Out of Production... https://www.scalemates.com/kits/whirlybits-wba72026-sikorsky-mh-53j-pave-low--158310 Thanks Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tank Posted April 15, 2020 Share Posted April 15, 2020 Do a search for Wolfpak Decals, I think he did some Pavelow schemes and the instructions usually have helpful bits to make the model, you may find the information your looking for. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawg53 Posted April 18, 2020 Share Posted April 18, 2020 757flyer, One thing to remember if you do a Pave Low. Do not put on the upper ramp door. On a Pave, the upper ramp door was removed to make room for the fast rope bar. Also, if you are going to keep the lower personnel door open make sure you use the Air Force door instead of the Navy/Marine style. The Air Force door swings in to open. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
salomon Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 Maybe that help, I use those aftermarket for my inbuilt Academy's ch-53E, the resins parts look amazing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JakubJakepilot Posted April 23, 2020 Share Posted April 23, 2020 If you want, look at my site at www.dstorm.eu for MH-53J pics. Or PM me, I have a bunch of other pics in my collection. Thanks ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
757flyer Posted April 25, 2020 Author Share Posted April 25, 2020 Many thanks for the replies! I did find out that WhirleyBird had replaced the Pave Low blade set in their catalog with a set of the same composite blades for the German CH-53Gs. So, at least I have the blades covered. Mike Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawg53 Posted April 25, 2020 Share Posted April 25, 2020 Hey, Lad. You can get the external Pave Low parts from The Lonestar website. It is for the Revell kit. I don’t know where you can get the internal parts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
757flyer Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 On 4/25/2020 at 10:22 AM, hawg53 said: Hey, Lad. You can get the external Pave Low parts from The Lonestar website. It is for the Revell kit. I don’t know where you can get the internal parts. Unfortunately, those parts are in 1/48 scale. As far as I know, no one ever did an actual conversion set for the Pave Low in 1/72, which is what I work in. WhirleyBird (Bits) did the rotors, and there are some detail sets for avionics compartments, the tail fold, main rotor head, and some door guns, but nothing for the rest of the exterior mods. Thus, I am left with trying to find a copy of either the Italeri or even rarer Fujimi MH-53J kits... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawg53 Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 Sorry, sir. I got confused. I have the Italeri Pave Low kit. Which parts are you needing? Due to the wrong main rotor blades, I don’t plan on making it a Pave Low. Bob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.