WIP: UH-1H White Sands Missile Range SAR Huey

Nice.  It is always fun to see an old Huey flying.  It must have been old footage though.  The last WSMR Huey was retired in 2017.

https://www.wsmr.army.mil/fn/Pages/Last-UH-1-Huey,-a-42-year-military-veteran-retires.aspx

Think I just saw those buzzing around White Sands on the 6 part special "Gold, Lies and Videotape" Another NM treasure spot.

Thanks flyboi7.  Glad it brought back some good memories. 

Seeing this old build pop up brought back some memories for me too.  Has it really been just over 15 years???  Wow.  I still have it on the display shelf too.

reminds me of our H model when I I was stationed in Alaska in mid 70's  I was trained by Army to repair its engines but ended up pinting them. I had been an auto painter before entering the service. Many great memories. Thanks. and great job on the build

Gino,

  Transformers is eye candy for the Military hardware fan.  There is a Huey, MH-53, UH-60s, V-22's, A-10's, AC-130 Spooky, F-22's, F-117's, an AWACS and I'm sure some others I can't think of right now that make an appearance.  What's more, most of their scenes are the real deal and not just CGI.  The military went all out for this one.  I bet you enjoy it when you finally get to see it.  On top of that many of the extras were actual military so it looks kinda real.  At least as real as it can look with an MH-53 changing into a giant killer robot! There's even a futuristic tank, but it is recycled from the XXX-State of the Union pic and has nothing to do with actual military hardware as far as I know.  Sorry, gettin' off topic.  I just thought you might be interested.

     Ray

Ray,

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the PAO there told us part of it was shot on their property.  I'll have to check it out.

Gino,

  I just watched the Transformers movie and wondered if you had seen it.  There is a brief shot of a UH-1H White Sands SAR bird at the end of the Scorpinok attack scene.  That entire portion of the movie was filmed at the White Sands Missile Range. Anyway, it's brief and the bird is in smoke, but it looked like the Number on the nose was 436.  I just thought you might be interested.

     Ray

Thanks Redleg.  Yup, I think I will stick to OD and Sand for a while.  The bright colors does look good though.  Good luck on your helo builds too.

I keep trying to convince the aviators about that big sky, little bullet theory, but they won't buy it.  Oh well, so be it. 

Gino

Where is the weathering??? No mud...no dust.....I'm shocked!

You must have gone blind painting the controls. . I love the overall colors. I'm sure you had to clean the air brush for awhile after all the sand and OD paint work you normally do.

I have a couple of helos on my shelf and one of these days I'll try one for a change of pace. When I do, I will look at this thread for inspiration.

Another great build. If you are always building the little bullet sometimes I guess it's nice to build the big sky.

I think you should build a mini-me. Mini-me helo flight, mini-me in a Bradley...etc. You could start the new Gino series  

Hey, great build...See you behind the breech block!

Rounds Complete!!

Really excellent work & a beautiful build.  The interior work is stunning.  Thanks for sharing.

Regards,  Rick

Gino,

  Thanks for the info.  I am such a clutz with paint, I'll have to remember to wear nitrile gloves when I work with white models! 

   Ray
 

Gino,

  Thanks for the color info. I really like the scheme, but when you're used to OD green, it seems like it's a lot more difficult.  How long does it take to do something like the hi-vis arctic scheme?  You mentioned not wanting to work with white again.  Did you have to lay down a lot of paint to cover the OD parts?

          Ray

Gino,

  I love the paint job!  Exactly what colors did you use?  Man, you sure know how to get the most out of the Panda kit. Geat job!

     Ray

She is done.  Here are a few more of the final build pics first.  I used wire cutters and supports from the Academy UH-60 kits.  A pitot tube and tail rotor (with 1/8 inch cut off each blade) from the 1/32 Revell Huey, and a towel bar antenna left over from a 1/35 Seminar UH-1B kit. The grab handles and cage-thingys at the top edges of the canopy are made from this wire.  I also lightly sanded the entire fuselage to knock down the size of the rivets a bit too.  Here it is ready for paint.

And with initial paint on it.

I made the decals using inkjet computer decal paper.  I also used some decals off the Fireball Modelworks UH-1D/H sheet.  I made markings for UH-1H 74-22367.  It is the one below with 367 and the WSMR Army Air Division logo on the nose.

Here is my rendition of it.

More pics here.

Hope you like it.  All comments are welcome as always.

I can see why you're inspired to build that one.  It's paint scheme is rather striking.  Your interior is looking good.  I like the seat belts; they have a nice, randomly rumpled look.  Are you going to have a mini-Gino in it to commemorate your flight? 

Andy

 Looking forward to seeing the in progress pics. Looking great so far!

          60