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UH-1E Advice (1/48 UH-1C HobbyBoss Kit)


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Hello friends!

 

I'm new to the world of helicopters so forgive my lack of knowledge when it comes to the correct terminology of some things!

 

I recently purchased the 1/48 UH-1C HobbyBoss kit as a simple starter kit to test my skills.

 

After doing some research I've decided to go with the QL404 variation, but realised the kit was missing the external hoist along with some other details. I should be able to scratch build some of the missing features thanks to some photos I found here on the forum and some previous discussions here about the UH-1E.

 

One thing I struggled to find was any information regarding the underside of the fuselage and what lies beneath. There seems to be a cargo hook of some kind, but I'm not sure if all of these looked the same for all Huey's that featured them, or if there were different model variations. Finding images specifically of the underside of a UH-1E has proven difficult, but perhaps I could use other images as reference if I knew which ones were applicable. Some advice with that would be helpful!

 

Sticking with the underside, does anyone know which lights were specific to the UH-1E? After looking at the underside of a few Huey models, they have a different number of lights, searchlights, landing lights etc. Some have a small red light next to the cargo hook. Some have a red light more central to the main body. Most seem to have two white retractable searchlights. One sits toward the front, centred beneath the cockpit, but the position of the second can vary from what I have seen.

 

With regards to the other lights on the QL404 there appears to be; 2 x green lights on the starboard side, 2 x red lights on the port side, 1 x red collision light on top behind the main rotor and 2 x white lights either side of the tail cone.

 

These along with whatever lights are located beneath are all I've been able to determine. If anyone has any advice or pointers regarding this particular kit or the QL404, I'd appreciate it!

 

Thanks for reading!

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Hello,

 

I'm sorry I can't answer directly to your questions.

However, I've been building this kit in the C version offered in the box and can point you to some issues.

The turbine exhaust is protruding too much from the body opening.

Add some weight in the nose, otherwise you'll get a tail seater (don't ask me how I know that 😅)

The aerial atop body is too thick and should be redone out of plasticard.

 

Otherwise a fine kit nicely detailed. To do the C version one should get armament from the old Revell/Monogram kit and make the cargo doors open.

 

My effort (in this pic sery, rotor is missing the balance horns, it was later added)  : Hobby Boss UH-1C Huey gallery

 

Looking forward to see your build,

 

Best

 

Stef (#6)

 

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LV-246,

  Welcome to the dark side!  I can definitely help with the underside of the UH-1E.  It sounds like you have done your research and know most of the missing details.  Regarding lights, while it is true that when lit the starboard lights are green, when the lights are not on, the plastic is actually blue.  I know that sounds nuts but I promise it's correct.  I'll try to post a few pics to show that.  First off, here are a few of the UH-1E at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico.  this bird has a bar just in front of the forward skids for suspending the aircraft so just ignore that.  It also has a TK-2 weapon system which you don't have in the kit so you can ignore that as well.  This bird also has an ARC 102 longline antenna running down both sides of the tailboom.

   Ray

 

 

DSC_0125.thumb.JPG.5e8e22c649150eb3d9231e3631481163.JPG

1603076871_DSC_0129edited.thumb.jpg.b37101c684056c22f50ab696c147624f.jpg

DSC_0134.thumb.JPG.3c4ae22c25e14055e5c059cf869cdb11.JPG

 

closeup of the hellhole.  sorry it's out of focus a bit.

DSC_0142.thumb.JPG.a01370119a34a22a6dbfb34dfa921dfc.JPG

 

 

This si actually a position light on a UH-1H but you can see the starboard light is blue when not powered up.574076891_DSC_8678cropped.thumb.jpg.343047c90c98ca092970d93142967dff.jpg

 

 

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@Stef (#6) Thanks for the pointers! Still playing around with some ideas on how/where to add enough weight to the nose. I'm planning to hide electricals inside the empty space beneath the engine. This might effect the balancing even more, so I'll see what happens when I get that far. When you mention the aerial, are you talking about the "shark fin" above the cockpit? Good job on the model, if mine looks half as good I'll call it a win!

 

@rotorwash These are great, just what I was looking for, thanks! I was hoping there'd just be two lights underneath, since I'm going to try and add working lights to the model, so I think those photos confirm there are only two. The longline antenna is something I noticed when I discovered a photo of the QL404. I had no idea what it was until I did some digging. It looks like it starts on either the starboard or port side, zig-zags along the side of the tail boom and loops around the tailskid before continuing down the other side. I can probably scratch build the "pegs" running down either side and then fashion the aerial out of some EZ Line and see how it looks.

 

@rotorwash @jpk I had no idea the green lights appeared blue when unlit. This is strange because I've seen some photos where the plastic still looks green even when they're unlit, so it could have something to do with different coloured plastic used on different models, or something to do with the lighting in the shots? I've even seen one instance where the lights themselves really are blue and not green at all. The helicopter in question is fictional, but based on a UH-1B, so it's possible that actual reference images were used and someone mistook the blue plastic to mean the lights would be blue. Interesting!

 

Not only do I want to add light to the model, but I'm planning to add movement and sound effects. It won't fly of course, but hopefully I'll be able to recreate everything up to that point. With the press of a button, we'll hear the sound of the engine starting up and both the main rotor and the tail rotor slowly gathering speed. We'll see the exterior lights come on and the engine/rotor sounds will continue to intensify until those blades are moving full speed. I'll think of a safe way to turn it off without losing a finger!

 

I want to synchronise all of this to be as authentic as possible, but I'm struggling to find good examples of the lighting "patterns" on start up. I don't understand the purpose of all of the lights yet either so I'll need to do more research there. I saw some images of a control panel above the pilot and it looks like the exterior lights were controlled from there. Some could be set to full/half brightness, set to flash or simply turn on/off. The search lights on the underside appear to have been controlled from the actual flight stick? I'll have to do more digging to better my understanding.

 

Let's take the two green lights and the two red lights on the starboard and port sides. Would these be turned on and left running throughout the entirety of the flight and then turned off as the engine was powering down? I think the two white lights either side of the tail boom were the same. Solid, not flashing. Am I right in thinking all of the lights were turned on at the pilot's discretion and none of them came on from simply starting the engine? I'm just referring to the external lights of course.

 

Thanks again, really appreciate the advice and comments!

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LV-246, This is a UH-1H but the pattern of lights should be the same. 

 

746343154_DSC_3193small.thumb.jpg.539dacedbcebf222733cdebafca9400a.jpg

 

On late model Hueys, the rear light on the engine cowling is a strobe, but it was solid on early models like you are building.  This is the solid type on a UH-1H. 

 

UH-1-20090183.thumb.jpg.7b854e2d1c14b36e557b602fe031db25.jpg

 

Regarding these position lights on either side of the tail, they are white.  This is a UH-1E at the National Museum of Naval Aviation.

 

PICT8061.thumb.JPG.eb85ba59ee549e2a4ca9fc6efe4723fd.JPG

 

Regarding the starboard light, it is always blue when turned off (not that it will matter for your build) on every Huey I have examined, and I've seen a LOT of them.  Here's the upper light on the same UH-1E.  I think the explanation given above makes the most sense, although I was told the bulb was white just like all the others and only the plastic cover was colored.

 

PICT8089.thumb.JPG.0707779e78e24c213b470972d8920d9a.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

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@rotorwash Thanks again, these are great! Especially the last two images. The shot of the tail will help with positioning the lights since there's no sign of them on the actual kit itself. That shot also reminded me of the antenna on the tip of the tail, no sign of that on the kit either, so that's something else I'll have to scratch build. I knew I'd seen that last shot of the hoist somewhere before. I looked in my notes and it was from a thread on this forum and you were the one who uploaded it along with some other great shots of the hoist. So thanks again for those!

 

I was doing some more research into the lights and managed to find a fantastic video of a UH-1E in flight. You can read more about the history of this particular helicopter in the description of the video. The navigation/position lights (which I believe are two names that refer to the same thing) are clearly seen to be blinking in time with each other. These would be the green and red lights along with the two white lights on the tail. But of course they can also be set to be on without blinking. The collision light appears to be a solid red light that rotates giving the impression that it is blinking? And only one spotlight or search light is active. Are these two searchlights also known as the landing lights?

 

Credit to the uploader of the video. It's a beauty!

 

 

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LV-246,

  That is indeed a cool video.  I would note that that particular UH-1E is owned by a private citizen in Norway and while it looks neat, there are a LOT of differences between it and a Vietnam UH-1E so I wouldn't use it as a reference.  To my knowledge, the US pilots left the position lights on and not in the blinking pattern in the video you posted.   This UH-1H shows what I mean.  And as I mentioned the light on the top of the rear engine cowling is a rotating beacon on this bird but was solid in Vietnam.

   Ray

  

 

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LV-246,

  Regarding the HB UH-1C kit.  I built one fo these as a UH-1M drome used at White Sands.  The kit parts fit well, but basic is an understatement for the details.  You may find my weekend build of this kit useful.  You will see I used a lot of kits form the old Revell/Monogram Huey Hog kit: 

 

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@rotorwash Thanks again! Great video too. I see what you mean about not using the video I posted as reference. There's a number of differences which wouldn't be suitable. Keeping the collision light a solid red rather than a rotating beacon will certainly make my life easier, so I'm happy about that! That's a very nice weekend build you posted, hard to imaging pulling off something like that in such little time. A lot of nice information in there I can take a look at. I noticed the work you did on the skids and I'd wondered if they'd be worth correcting. I can see it makes all the difference so I'll definitely give that a try.

 

Believe it or not I was originally going to build a UH-1B. I can't remember where, but I'd seen someone kit-bashing the HobbyBoss with another kit. The most obvious difference between the 1B and the 1C for a novice like myself, is the engine cowling, but I've since done my research and learned there's a lot more to it than that. But, rewind back to the beginning and I purchased a Lindberg UH-1B 1/48 scale with the intent on purchasing the HobbyBoss kit later. I figured I'd kit-bash those together.

 

Now that I have both, I actually decided against it and have chosen to build the HobbyBoss as a UH-1E instead. I'll try and work with what I have in the kit and then build the Lindberg one separate, just so I can have two models and two building experiences to give me some practice. They won't be perfectly accurate, but I'll be able to improve on them next time around.

 

I'm holding off on the build while I do more research into the electrical side of things. I'm playing around with motors and gears, trying to get a more realistic RPM for the main rotor and tail rotor. As far as I'm aware, the main rotor should obviously start slow and get up to 600 RPM for take-off. The tail rotor should then be completing 4 or 5 revolutions for every 1 revolution of the main rotor. Higher RPM is not an issue, but finding a small motor that is capable of extremely low RPM is tricky without having to add gears. With limited space to work with (since I'm aiming to have everything housed inside the model with no external wires) it's taking longer to figure out than I anticipated, but I'm making good progress.

 

All of this is brand new to me, so there's a lot to think about. Should be worth the time and effort though!

 

I appreciate the continued help and advice, thanks again!

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L-246,

  As it turns out the cowling you mentioned is actually not a difference between the UH-1B and UH-1C but is dependent on the time frame.  Pre-1967 both UH-1B and UH-1C had the old style engine cowling with the bell mouth intake.  Eventually, both were upgraded to the improved particle separator found on both the Hobby Boss and Huey Hog kits.  As a modeler here are the big things that are different between the two models:

1) UH-1B has a 204 main rotor with upward facing blade counterweights on the rotorhead and a 21 inch main rotor width (cord) while the UH-1C has the doorhinge 540 main rotor with 27 inch cord.

2) UH-1B has a nose mounted pitot while UH-1C has a roof mounted pitot

3) UH-1B has narrow cord symmetrical synchronized elevators with a strake (thin metal ridge) in the upper surface while the uH-1C has a wide cord asymmetrical sync elevator with no strake (same sync elevator used on the UH-1D/H)

4) UH-1B has a narrow cord tail with a single position light on the end while UH-1C has a wide cord cambered (deviated to one side) tail with position lights on either side of the tail.

5) UH-1B has a right handed fuel filler while UH-1C has a left handed fuel filler.

6) when carrying weapons, the UH-1C has a support brace from the M156 universal mount to the fuselage while the UH-1B does not

 

Depending on the time frame the ship is from, there will be differences in position of antennas, engine cowling type, paint scheme, etc. but the above are the big ones you will see on a built model.  The UH-1E was actually built based on both the UH-1B and UH-1C but the one you are looking to builkd should have all the UH-1C mods.  Hope that helps.

   Ray

 

 

Just for fun, you might be interested in our previous discussion of 1/48 UH-1B/C kits here:

 

 

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@rotorwash Yes! I completely misspoke when I said the cowling was a defining characteristic of the the B and C. I think that was my perspective before I'd fallen into the rabbit hole, but yes you're right there was an overlap. The thread you've linked to is actually one of the ones I'd read before and it helped a lot. In fact your comment on the Lindberg kit, is actually one of the reasons I'm tackling the HobbyBoss instead! Haha! I'll get around to the other one some other time. Thanks for listing the main differences, there's a few in there I wasn't aware of at all, so yes that's a big help.

 

The variation of the UH-1B I wanted to build is listed in some places as a HU-1B. It's a Fuji-Bell 204B manufactured in Japan. It has the old bell mouth intake and not the improved one. But that's another project entirely. I'll get there eventually!

 

Huge thanks again, your posts and discussions with others here have been enlightening!

Edited by LV-246
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LV-246,

  Happy to help.  If you need ANY ref photos, feel free to ask.  I have many many thousands of photos of Bs and Cs.  The HU-1B designation was changed in September, 1962 to UH-1B.  However, the original Huey variant was the HU-1A, thus the GI moniker "Huey"!

    Ray

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On 6/30/2021 at 5:34 PM, LV-246 said:

@Stef (#6) Thanks for the pointers! Still playing around with some ideas on how/where to add enough weight to the nose. I'm planning to hide electricals inside the empty space beneath the engine. This might effect the balancing even more, so I'll see what happens when I get that far. When you mention the aerial, are you talking about the "shark fin" above the cockpit? Good job on the model, if mine looks half as good I'll call it a win!

 

@rotorwash These are great, just what I was looking for, thanks! I was hoping there'd just be two lights underneath, since I'm going to try and add working lights to the model, so I think those photos confirm there are only two. The longline antenna is something I noticed when I discovered a photo of the QL404. I had no idea what it was until I did some digging. It looks like it starts on either the starboard or port side, zig-zags along the side of the tail boom and loops around the tailskid before continuing down the other side. I can probably scratch build the "pegs" running down either side and then fashion the aerial out of some EZ Line and see how it looks.

 

@rotorwash @jpk I had no idea the green lights appeared blue when unlit. This is strange because I've seen some photos where the plastic still looks green even when they're unlit, so it could have something to do with different coloured plastic used on different models, or something to do with the lighting in the shots? I've even seen one instance where the lights themselves really are blue and not green at all. The helicopter in question is fictional, but based on a UH-1B, so it's possible that actual reference images were used and someone mistook the blue plastic to mean the lights would be blue. Interesting!

 

Not only do I want to add light to the model, but I'm planning to add movement and sound effects. It won't fly of course, but hopefully I'll be able to recreate everything up to that point. With the press of a button, we'll hear the sound of the engine starting up and both the main rotor and the tail rotor slowly gathering speed. We'll see the exterior lights come on and the engine/rotor sounds will continue to intensify until those blades are moving full speed. I'll think of a safe way to turn it off without losing a finger!

 

I want to synchronise all of this to be as authentic as possible, but I'm struggling to find good examples of the lighting "patterns" on start up. I don't understand the purpose of all of the lights yet either so I'll need to do more research there. I saw some images of a control panel above the pilot and it looks like the exterior lights were controlled from there. Some could be set to full/half brightness, set to flash or simply turn on/off. The search lights on the underside appear to have been controlled from the actual flight stick? I'll have to do more digging to better my understanding.

 

Let's take the two green lights and the two red lights on the starboard and port sides. Would these be turned on and left running throughout the entirety of the flight and then turned off as the engine was powering down? I think the two white lights either side of the tail boom were the same. Solid, not flashing. Am I right in thinking all of the lights were turned on at the pilot's discretion and none of them came on from simply starting the engine? I'm just referring to the external lights of course.

 

Thanks again, really appreciate the advice and comments!

I would guess you could be using either led's or grain of wheat lamps for your project. To recreate a green light when on but blue when off, I would suggest using the translucent blue plastic from a cheap toothbrush for the lens sanded and buffed to the desired shape of the lens. The use a grain of wheat bulb which is approx 3k degrees kelvin and warm colored, or use a 3.2k led. That should give you the desired effect. Good luck with your project.  

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