Need help finding a helicopter crew!

This question has come up frequently. Here are some answers I have posted before. Most of these are available through Great Models Webstore at http://www.greatmodels.com (no affiliation, just have had great service through them)

Trumpeter CH-47D crew.  Set of crewmen and a couple of Soldiers for their CH-47D.  They look pretty interesting.  The aircrew are wearing the current HGU-56 helmet as worn by the USAF and US Army crewmen. Looks like it also comes with some extras.  The Soldiers look like they could be used in any OIF scene as well.  Here's the description from Trumpeter:

"Set makes 5 figures and includes equipment, display base and a cockpit for use in making a diorama on the base provided."  

And a link to sprue shots and a mini-review.

Vietnam CH-47 Crew. Another announced crew set from Trumpeter.
It includes 2 seated pilots, a standing Crew Chief, and a standing ground crewman.  It is scheduled for release in 1st Quarter '08.  It looks promising for a nice Vietnam Chinook dio.  They look usable as any helo pilot/crew in Vietnam as well.

DML has a pretty nice Vietnam era crew.  It comes in and out of production as DML sees a need for them (or something like that).  They can be found from time to time on eBay as well, but can go for a high price there.  They are now included in the Dragon (ex-Panda) UH-1D Huey kit as well.

Nemrod has a modern UH-60 crew and a couple of guys that look like a crew chief and a AF PJ:

CMK

UH-60 crew.  A set of three crewmen and a few GIBs (Guys in Back) listed for UH-60s, but the pilots and crew chiefs have Vietnam era "Chicken Plate" armored vests.  I have seen them advertised as a UH-1 crew as well. The soldiers look from about ODS era (late '80s to early '90s):

Same CMK set as a Vietnam era UH-1D/H crew, which they are more suited for due to their "Chicken Plate" body armor.

GIBs

Vietnam UH Door Gunners.  Announced new release.  I haven't seen them on the market yet.  They look promising, sort of.  The M60 gunner would be fitting for a UH-1B/C or an OH-6A as a free M60 door gunner.  The other figure is a grunt with an M16A1 wearing an M1 helmet, not a door gunner at all.

Seated Vietnam Pilots.  Announced new relese.  Again, I haven't seen them on the market yet.  They too look promising.

US Helicopter Pilot's Vietnam, Standing

While these aren't pilots they'll go well with Vietnam Hueys:

Seated Cav troopers by CMK

Legend US Cavalry Heliborne Set by Legend.  Some have found these figures and their gear to be a little undersized.

Verlinden made/makes a standing US Cobra pilot as well. Pretty good figure w/ flight suit and survival vest.

Coree (sometimes under the Dynasty or Legend names as well) has a set of 2 resin figures called UH-60 Helicopter Crew: 1 helmeted male w/ M4 carbine; 1 female wearing cavalry hat. It is kinda hokey, female is in image of Barbie, she doesn't look too realistic. Male is wearing  nomex ABDUs (Aviator BDUs) though.

Kirin from China, which is the resin side of Dragon, also had a couple sets, but both are long OOP.  One was a set of Cobra pilots from ODS.  The second was a set of crew chiefs loading ordinance.

ADV/Azimut has a set of Helo pilots listed as US Helicopter Crew for Huey, Cobra, Apache.  They come with both SPH-4 and the ITAS Apache helmet.  The set includes one seated adn one standing pilot.  They look pretty nice.

Also, some kits come with good crews.

Academy/MRC

UH-1C kits, you get a pretty good 4-man crew from Vietnam era.

OH-58D kits come with a good modern 2-man crew, probably the best modern ones out there. They also come with molded on seat belts as well.  Very nice.

Bell-47s come with good Korean war era pilot as well.

(Notice the Academy/MRC trend? Hmm?)

DML/Dragon

OH-6A comes with two guys form the DML Vietnam helo crew set too. The pilot with "WAR" on his helmet (Hugh Mills, actual pilot of Miss Claude IV) and the seated gunner.

LAPD MD-500 comes with a pilot and sniper in the back as well.

Sentinel/SAR

UH-1B/C models also come with a descent 4-man Vietnam era crew as well. Not as nice as the DML or Academy ones, but still very usable.

That about covers it. Not much out there, definitely an area that needs more attention.

Hi there,

I've just got hold of a set by Tamiya " US armoured troops" 35117, which I'm going to use for a VietNam Huey but I guess with different paint and heads they might do for your model. They consist of two APC drivers and three soldiers sitting which could be used either in the heli or with legs hanging out the sides. The drivers could be converted to either pilots or maybe door gunners.

Good luck,    Rich

The Navy and Marines are flying the HGU helmet.  The old SPH's started being phased out in the late 90's for helo crews. The new HGU's are light and comfortable and great for SAR and CASEVAC but I don't like looking like a fixed wing bubba.

The one thing that kills me is trying to model the square ear cups on the  new Army helmets. I am the Navy Liaison instructor at the Army Flight Medic Course and even with a helmet in my hand I have trouble molding or scratch building that shape.

If you use the heads off of the 1/35 APC driver and commander you can get a pretty good USN/USMC HGU helmet. I just add some metal foil to the top to simulate the leather visor protector and a boom mike. Works great.

If you want to do a crew in theater cover the whole helmet with metal foil to simulate the cloth helmet cover (to hide the white scotchlite tape) and paint it OD or desert cammie.

Just a little help on the Army flight gear colors.  If you are modeling the AIRSAVE vest paint it green.  I am not saying that there aren't any black ones out there but I haven't seen them.  Only our medics wore black vests so that they would be a little easier to identify them in an emergency.

The biggest difference between the SPH-4 helmet and the HGU-56 is the boxier appearance of the -56.  It is also wider than the SPH-4.  The HGU-56 also has visor tracks that come down the sides of the front opening.  They are painted with the same shade of green as the aircraft but, as it is a different paint and not exposed to the weather, it doesn't fade as much as the CARC on the aircraft.

Now a question for you Navy Marine guys out there.  I have heard that the DoD was going to a common rotary wing helmet (the HGU-56) but I have only seen Army and AF crews wearing them.  FMFDoc's comments make it sound like there are Navy/Marine crews wearing the -56.  Are these guys switching over now?

Mac

Found this on great Planes site tonight, two 1/35th Vietnam helo crew

http://greatmodels.com/

the desert camo in use today is the same as the desert camo that was used in Desert Storm minus the "Chocolate Chips" (thats what my dad called the black and white specs integrated into the scheme when he served in Desert Shield/Storm.)

BTW I have the DML Vietnam Helictor crew and am going to use them with Revels 1/32 scal AH-1G Huey Cobra but with one difference I also am taking one crew member from the Academy 1/35 scale UH-1 Huey and switching it with one of the DML figures. (I know this sounds confusing) The copilot figure from the DML set wouldn't fit into the Cobra with his arm sticking out from the side. But the Academy copilot would fit inside and his hand will fit around the tripod sight in the center of the cockpit tub which would be a bonus

I have the figures almost done since I decided to build up all of them. Oh and also BTW the standing crew figure that is holding the pedestal mounted M60 would work well with Academy's UH60 as a door gunner but it would be better when you buy 2 sets and the sitting figure holding the M60 would work as a Winch operator.

the desert camo in use today is the same as the desert camo that was used in Desert Storm minus the "Chocolate Chips"

No, they are totally different patterns.

The ODS era Chocolate Chip pattern was 6 colors; dark brown, light brown, sand, khaki, and white dots w/ black outlines or shadows.

ODS era Chocolate Chip Desert Camo:

Modern 3-tone DCUs are sand, khaki, and have dark brown shadow lines.

Modern 3-Tone Desert Camo:

Good luck with your pilot figures.

I completely agree with you. They aren't the most crisply moulded figures out there. They look a bit like enlarged wargamer 1/72 figs. To be honest they're still "waiting for the call" up in my loft, however next year I'm planning on having my own Huey group build and try and bash a few of my Huey stash out, so I'll have a better butchers at them then.

Cheers,  Rich

If I'm not mistake the USN/USMC current helo helmet is the HGU-84/p. 

Here's a helpful link:

http://www.flighthelmet.com/pages/hh/phh.htm

n/t

Thanks to all for the suggestions.  I ended up going with the Nemrod crew, then casting a dupicate of the pilot to end up with two survival vests. 

You can find pics of the crew and the finished model at http://picasaweb.google.com/nadeauc242

Dudley

   This is a great thread. It answered a lot of my questions. Especially the Vietnam/Modern era helmet question.

   Now I am intersted in the rest of the modern ARMY pilot/crew chief's equipment and gear. Like this guy here:

and this one :

    Can anybody please discribe with photo/drawings examples what gear is that on these guys. Where can I find more or less detailed visual info on that sort of gear?

   I think it will be an interesting continuation of the thread

   Thanks

Andy

Thanks, Gino

   Is there a website where I can see this stuff in detail?

  Is it a backpack on the guy on second photo or its just a vest?

  What are all the "bags" hanging from the vest of the first guy?

 Are they a part of nescessory equipment and are usually carried or its just a random shot.

  I mean for example that fire extingusher on the first photo - is it a part of the gear?

  What about personal weapons of crewmembers lets say in Afghanistan?

  During the war in 1979-89 Russian pilots ussually took a shortbarreled AK-47 and several clips of ammo in case of a forced landing. I've read a book where one of them was saying that he felt very uncomfortable, almost "like naked" without AK-47 tied to his gear.

  Is it same with US pilots curently in A-stan?

  Andy

I don't know of any one website to look at, but if you put each term into Google, you will come up with pics and websites that show them. 

The guy in the second pic does look like he is wearing a backpack.

The bags are part of the survival vest.  Each holds survival gear like emergency rations, water, signal mirror, first aid kit, etc.  The survival vest is standard equipment that is usually worn.

The fire extinguisher is carried by the Crew Chief during start up of the engines in case of a fire.  He will place it back in the helo once they get underway.

Most crew carry M4s and a couple of magazines in case of a crash as well.  They are usually strapped into the aircraft somewhere.  Most crewmen also carry an M9 Baretta 9mm pistol on them and a survival knife as well.

Hope that helps.