MH-60 Blackhawk

Salbando is spot on. The system used is called FRIES or "FAST ROPE INSERTION/EXTRACTION SYSTEM." See the following site for more info:
http://www.adtdl.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/tc/21-24/toc.htm specifically Chapter 5.

NSDQ!

Hi!

I think finding modern helicopter crew is a problem to many modellers including myself. As Far as I know there are three options:

1. Dragon kit: very good for vietnam era and with some "restyling" for modern era. Can be hardly found since Dragon got it off their catalogue.

2. CMK kit: built for Accademy's UH-60L. Very poor details; this means a lot of extra work to correct it.

3. Nightflight kit: looks very promising on the paper; the problem is that is not out yet.

The Fastropes are secured to the overhead H-bar on the rear roof of the blackhawk. Thers four heavy duty "tie-down" rings there; two on each side.
cobrahistorian,
The AH-60L DAP (diect action penetrator) was and is a concept bird designed by the 160th SOAR. The initial project manager was CW4 Cliff Wolcott. "Elvis" was a great stick, unfortunately he gave his life in Mog back in 1993. The DAP was first deployed operationally in Panama, although the higher ups had no faith in the system and it wasn't employed. It was in fact used in Desert Storm 1 to do of all things...SCUD hunting. Durant actually flew some missions in it over in the sandbox.

Here is a site with lots of pics of the blackhawk http://www.dubuquearmyinfo.com/pages/pics/blackhawk.html

just found it and wanted to show it to you guys.

There's a SOL kit of a Ranger repeling down a mountain (I have the kit). It's a good figure but equiped wrong for Somalia. It would take a little work.

Where did you get the Ranger and how did you make it appear like its rappeling? If you have any pictures I would like to see it.

The pilots and crewchiefs that I used were from the vietnam era Dragon figures, slighty modified, I have a ranger halfway down a rope, I had to modify the figure quite heavily but it came out pretty nicely

Hey thanks for the info. I just read that thread and it was great.

Although I do have one more question. Is there a way to have figures like halfway down the ropes? I have been looking for Army Ranger figures that have a similar position, but so far I can't find any.

This is from the "Blackhawk Down Dio" thread:

QUOTE: Hello, I am a UH-60 Instructor Pilot in the 101st at Ft Campbell. Fastroping only uses two ropes, one out each door. Normal rappelling uses four smaller diameter ropes two out each door. Nowadays rappelling is only taught at Air Assault school and hardly used outside of that. Fastroping is the preferred method because it is faster and the roaps are easier to cut away from the helicopter. thanks Erick

USRLTW,

The ropes are attached to a rig overhead, one end coming out each door. THere's been considerable discussion on this topic under the heading "Blackhawk Down Diorama". Consensus seems to be that the AH-60L (a misnomer created by Academy to sell more kits, its simply an MH-60 with ESSS wings attached. Sikorsky intended the Blackhawk to be able to function as a gunship in tight spots) is a great kit. Actually, I haven't built one yet, but I'm looking forward to it after I finish my Apaches.

The ropes are preobably attached to the tie-down loops on the floor in the helo. Most military helo's have a few cargo tie-down rings, just to keep things secure.

I had the Academy 1/48 UH-60 Special Ops, and it was a pretty good kit. In fact, I haven't seen anything recent by Academy that wasn't good.

demono69

Has anyone tried the Acadamy AH-60L DAP? I really like the looks of it.