Does anyone know what the correct color the 160th SOAR(A) use on their MH-60Ls

Adrake,

Welcome!

I guess I'm not the only cadet on here anymore! From what I know, and we've talked about this a LOT on this forum, the SOAR birds are painted flat black with OD markings. Cobra Company does a great decal sheet for the 160th.

Just out of curiosity, what year are you? I'm a PhD student, but I'm an MSIII at Texas Tech.

Enjoy!

cobrahistorian,
Thanks for the warm welcome. In answer to your question, my year is somewhat debatable because I am a MSII offically, but I perform several of duties reserved to the MSIIIs, due to a shortage of IIIs. Some of these duties range from Squad Leader to Color Sergeant.
Is there any more advice on how to accurize Academy/MRC's AH-60L DAP? I'm not sure how I want to display it or what time period I want to model, but I don't have time for a diorama.

Welcome to the forum!

You coud use Eduard's (www.eduard.cz) photo etched kits to improve the detail of the Blackhawk. I will also get the UH1C armament kit for the ammo feeds of the miniguns.
As for the color I'm not sure it's really black. I was thinking to paint it a very dark Olive Drab (OD mixed with black) and dry brush it with OD.
Cobra Company's decal sheet looks good but it lacks all the stencils that the helo has. So I'm plannig to scan the decal sheet that comes with the model (with the horrendous yellow martkings) change the color to OD and print it on decal paper (if I get one here in italy).

Yeah, this question has come up several times on the forum. All I can tell you is what I've personally seen on several deployments (Somalia for 5 months, Indonesia....don't ask) and a couple exercises (Woodland Cougar, JREX, etc..), and that is a mix of very very dark flat charcoal grey (almost black but not quite) and dark army helo drab. I say not quite black because i've seen black personalized markings and even placards on some of the birds and they stood out. I will say that most if not all the AH-6's I saw were the flat almost black color, and the MH-6's have been a mix. The MH-60K's are almost always the dark grey as well, with the MH-60L's being a mix.
Hope that helps. Just my observations.

Most TF 16o Mh's are flat black. However they fade in non uniform ways giving them a dark grey appearance sometimes. there markings are OD green. Heres a pretty good link for pics http://www.us-aircraft.com/walk/MH-60.htm notice that the picture of the chaff dispenser appears to have a gloss black area near the bottom of the tail cone. that is freshly leaked oil, (can you say bad G-axis seal?) and is not painted that way. you can also see examples of faded paint spots above that area in the same pic. Getting aircraft repainted is a rare event in my experience, so all Uh-60s and variants (except VIP birds) in US Army service are a faded and multicolored patchwork based on its original color.

Here's some pics.
Compare the black radome, black cap on the top of the rotor pylon, and the FLIR to the overall paint scheme. Is it overall flat black or not??? Is it the dark army helo drab??? Is it something in between???


Here's a couple shots of an MH-60K. Compare the radome on the nose (black), rotor blades in the second photo(black) to the overall paint scheme. What color is it??? Black? Helo drab??



Look at the surroundings and tell me what color this AH-6J is???


Is this MH-6 helo drab? Flat black? Look at the flat black SATCOM antenna and compare.


Here's a pic of an obviously black AH-6 sans armament.


Here's a shot of what looks like to me to be a flat black MH-60L DAP & AH-6, and a army helo drab MH-47E.


Here's a pic of a UH-60L in army helo drab. Compare to the previous shots.


Mogwa,
I'm not arguing the point with you and maybe most of them are painted flat black, I'm just saying that in my PERSONAL experience I've seen them both ways. Not trying to start an argument here, I'm just trying to shed a little light on the subject. Hope I didn't muddy the waters instead.

I've been away from the military since "81" other than static dispays at airshow, but didn't they come out with and "IR reflective" paint that was darker than the "light" olive drab but darkened considerablly because it was like a fine sandpaper finish t hat loved to absorb dirt and oil. Don't know it it's still in use or has been "refined" but this might answer why some look olive drab and others black!! I have a couple shots of SOAR 160th birds and they do look black, but with this old monitor at work a lot of things look black!

Thanks for the warm welcome from everybody. I can see that the 160th birds have quite a bit of range as far as the paint scheme is concerned, which makes is easier to model since the color doesn't have to be exactly on. The detail sets look great too. I think my MH-60L will look great when I'm finished with it.

from when i asked this question like a year or two ago, my understanding of why the -60Ks look different color-wise is that due to some screwup of some kind they were delivered in standard helo green or OD or whatever it is instead of the flat black they were supposed to be. -60Ls on the other hand are painted flat black and if they don't look it, well, being an army helo is a tough life and their paint gets faded.

another awesome helo kit website is the HKN forum at http://www.network54.com/Hide/forum/163130 - that's where i got all my questions answered way back when, and i think they actually have some ex-160 SOAR pilots who visit that board every now and then.

HTH,
Winston

There are task force birds that are standard helo green and I dont know why. Ive heard that one version is green while the rest are black. Most of the birds I see when I fly by Nightstalker ramp appear black and due to fading and staing/ lighting conditions its difficult for me to tell unless they are side by side. im trying to reach some of my task force prima donna errr... I mean crewchief friends to resolve this mystery. I'll let you know.

As far as the color of the helicopters is concerned, I came up with a 2/3 US Army Helo Drab and 1/3 Flat Black which resulted in the faded flat black or very, very dark drab. I am very satisfied with the color and plan on using it again whenever I build an Army
MH-60 again. With the detailing, I'm scratchbuilding most of the details from various sizes of strip styrene, everything from a few knobs on the cockpit instrument panel to the exposed skeleton structure of the ceiling to an extendable in-flight refueling probe built from aluminium tubing. Can't wait to get this bird finished.