Blackhawks

They're not bad; interior detail is kind of lacking. What kind of Blackhawk are you wanting to build?

MH-60K - You'll need the Cobra Company Detail set to get the nose right.

MH-60G - The kit is good for a late 80s/early 90s MH-60G. (ie - there's no FLIR, MH-60Gs had 'em, HH-60Gs didn't) These days, the (all redesignated to) HH-60Gs carry a lot more sensors. The main cabin .50 M2s show up at airshows and I've seen pix of them mounted on the two-tone brown MH-60Gs of ODS. These days I don't think they're hardly ever used. Do a search for "Pave Hawk" in this forum and you'l find that Salbando has posted a lot of helpful info about HH-60Gs and posted pix over at aircraftresourcecenter.com. Also, look for posts by Mogwa as he works with Army UH-60s

UH-60 kit - Can't comment - I've never built it.

Depending how accurate or detailed you wank your Backhawk to be, you'll also need Eduard detail sets. Over on aircraftresourcecenter.com, there's a lot of articles from people who've built Hawks (Bob Silva and Davide Olivati's MH-60Ks are good examples).

Right now, I've got two on my to-build shelf, an MH-60K and the MH-60G kit. I'll put some extra time and effort into the Kilo but stick with an OOB Pave Hawk (I've got the 1/35th version going on so that's where all my Pave Hawk attention is focused at right now)

I have built the 1/48 UH-60A kit and I was not impressed. There was just too much that was left to the imagination of the draftsman. The troop seats were more like Huey seats and the cockpit was almost bare. The pilot's seats were, more or less, a beefed up version of the troop seats.

I am looking poreward to completing my 1/35 UH-60L when I get back. I can tell you, from very close association with the type, that the 1/35 UH-60L is an incredible kit. While there are some things missing and some more detail that I would like to see, this is a very good kit. One note about it though, this kit is actually an upgraded UH-60A. If you are interested I can go into more detail about this.

Mac

QUOTE: One note about it though, this kit is actually an upgraded UH-60A. If you are interested I can go into more detail about this.

Detail away.

There are three differences of most interest to modelers.

The first is the step fairings. For those not familiar with the term, these are the fairings just behind and below the cockpit doors that the drag beam for the main landing gear mounts to. The step fairing for the L is about 10 inches wider to accomodate a vibration absorber. The kit also comes with a tow plate installed here. Some units that do loadouts frequently leave these installed on their A's, but I don't think that you can do that with a L. Fashioning the correct step is easy with some good reference photos at hand.

Next are the inlets. Some may have heard me refer to these before. The correct inlets for a L are the same as the ones provided in the DAP and the HH-60 kits.

Finally, all L's came equipped with ESSS or wings. If you want to build a L from this kit without the wings, you will have to deal with some minor fit problems, and install the covers for the hard points.

I hope that this is of help to y'all. The other differences are not visible from the outside and would not even be noticeable in a super detail job.

Mac

Here is the kit I got, are there any optional decals and color schemes for this kit? How about detail sets? Minicraft kit #11622 Special Forces MH-60G Blackhawk.
Lee

Cobra Company makes a a decal sheet with proper OD green markings for 160 SOAR aircraft in all black paint scheme. http://www.cobracompany.com/ccd48.htm

Two Bobs Aviation Graphics may have some as well. http://www.twobobs.net/

Hi There,
I also have built the 1/48 UH-60A, and like Mac states, i wasn't very impressed at all not much detail at all. I personally stay with 1/35 scale Blachwahks, ( well 1/35 scale anything really!!!.) CC products are very good indeed but then it comes back to the old question What color are the markings of 160th birds???
HTH
Robert.

QUOTE: Originally posted by wooty CC products are very good indeed but then it comes back to the old question What color are the markings of 160th birds???

Robert,
I still maintain that they start off flat black with OD green markings. They fade quickly to dark gray-black and markings can fade out to a gray-green color. Cobra Company markings should work just fine.

Hey There Gino,
I Can't actually remember where i seen the pics but i did actually see a MH-60L with fadded yellow markings. If i can find a pic i will show ya all. BTW i'm not questioning you on this at all. And i'm not dissing Cobra Company at all to. There is so many color variations (for markings) out there i think it just goes on what the modeler actually likes.
Anyway Cya
Robert

I don't know for sure, but most photo's I've seen seem to so that Heli drab paint is used, this color(especially when new) tends to look black and could be mistaken for black under the right lighting conditions. Who knows for sure, could be that the 160SOAR(A) could use both colors.
John
helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

Robert,
Don't worry, no offense taken. There are many variations and they all look different under different lighting conditions, but, I know for sure that the 160th SOAR birds start off flat black. I was stationed at Ft Stewart and went up to Hunter AAF in Savannah where they are sationed out of. Worked with them a few times too. Defineitely black with OD markings. I would be interrestd to see the yellow markings. It could have been the lighting conditions.

Gino
No offense
Spent my share of time at Ft. Stewart/Hunter AAF, back in the days when we were training PP's(Peter Pilots) for SEA.
I am sure the birds you saw were painted black, but remember Hunter is only 1 of 3 airfields the 160th SOAR(A) uses and over the service time of the 160th they were not always painted black. Of the color photo's I have only 1 might be black(not a good photo), so either color could be used.
John
helicopters don't fly, they beat the air into submission

Gino,
thats cool hey all this is very interesting to me cause in Australia all the Blackhawks are painted in three shade camo. No Probs!! Hey?
Robert.

Minicraft's 1/48 Black Hawks aren't bad. The "K" model has lots of goodies for the price. I have the earlier "A" and "D" models that didn't have the engine exhaust suppression systems and plain troop seats with terrible M-60s. The newer issues have good M-60s, miniguns, and 50 cals as well as ammo boxes and fuel cells. The "K" kit has everything you need for all the kits. I would guess the Italeria kits are the same molds but haven't got one to comfirm it. After seeing their Hueys I only buy if I can see it in advance.

The Italeri Sea Hawk is a new mould.
I dont know if the Black is new , shame if it isn't.

I did a UH-60L Blackhawk from Minicraft about 2 months ago and it was a great kit. The only thing wrong with it was I painted the whole thing olive drab and the decals would not stick. I tried everything and I heard that there decals are crap. So you might want to get a pair before you build it. Other then that it was fun and all the pieces seemed to be right on.