First attempt to kit bash a 1/48 UH-1F Huey

Freakin' Sweet

Seriously, I started doing something similar in 1/35, but it's nowhere near as complete. It looks like you've got the hard parts done.

What unit are you going to represent?

Hi empeter , I haven't decided as to which unit the Helo will represent , also I'm unsure as to what type of armament to add . The two pic's above show an M-60 gun on the sagami mount and the standard XM-93 door gun . I have Minicraft's MH-60K Blackhawk kit which has both type's of guns included on their sprue . However the XM-93 gun is designed for a window mount and doesn't have the duel handles or brace on top of the guns like in the pic above , from Squadrons UH-1 Huey Gunships . I did cut away the ammunition box that was molded to the cabin floor and filled it in with a strip of plastic , in anticipation of adding the larger ammunition box also in Minicraft's kit ; but as I said I can't decide how to proceed with the gun arrangment .  I'll keep thinking . Kind regards John

I'm gonna be watching this one closely.  I plan to do the same thing in the not so distant future.  I just need to finish my kitbash/scratchbuilt HH-3E first! 

You've gone about it the same way I'd planned to, so I'm interested in the pitfalls and successes you've had so far.  I've been working feverishly on my HH-3E and should have her ready to go before the Nats this year.  Perhaps a UH-1F/P would be nice sitting there next to her as well!

I will say, that if you don't have Wayne Mutza's Green Hornets, you need to get it!  It is an AMAZING reference, especially on F/P model Hueys!

Keep it up!

PS. Please tell me you didn't chop up the nose of a 48th H-34 kit!

Jon
 

Wow!  You are a brave man!  Given your vast huey buiding experience, however, I predict she'll be done in no time.  Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

     Ray
 

Thank's jon and ray ,  The nose cone I cut the exhaust screen from is the spare you get in Italeri's 1/72 scale H-34 . Italeri give you a choice of having a high stack exhaust or the low stack option  , so they give you two left sided nose cones in each kit . I wanted somthing that had a slight curve across and from top to bottom to try and assist in matching the contour of the rear exhaust housing , rather than using a piece of flat plastic . John

Very cool! I'm already planning mine.  Got a spare H-3 exhaust, a tailboom and main rotor from an AMT UH-1D set aside for it.  I've also got a 72nd H-34 sitting here, so I may follow your lead!

 Jon

I have been doing some more research on the door guns for the USAF Huey and the guns from the Minicraft MH-60K sprue are not really suitable . Acording to Squadrons Huey gunship book the XM-93 gun system was unique to USAF Huey's , so I've decided to borrow the gun set from Heller's UH-1N Huey kit . The flexible shute has a couple of bends in it , where as some of the pic's in Squadrons book show the ammunition shute hanging straight down . I also checked Squadron.com for the Wayne Mutza Green Hornets book , unfortunatly their out of stock . A book store here in Sydney has the book available on order for $69.95 "YIKES" , I think I'll check Amazon.com . John

John,

 

I got mine from Amazon last week for $32!  

I was also looking at the gun layout and I think you're right, the UH-1N kit is the way to go.  They have the correct mounts and the chutes can be modified pretty easily to represent the XM-93 system.  

Keep it up!

 

Jon 

I order my copy of Wayne Mutza , Green Hornets from Amazon , I opted for the standard shipping rate to help keep the cost down , 11-16 days , I still saved $22 , compared to what the book store here in Sydney wanted . MMMM $22 bucks , maybe another Monogram UH-1C on the horizon . John

 

 

 

Hi everyone , I'm about ready to start to put all the interior bits and pieces into the UH-1P . I have also decided to work on this helo exclusively and get everything assembled and ready for airbrushing by the weekend . BTW [ I carefully removed the canopy from my 3F pelican , stripped it back with some Mr Muscle oven cleaner , wash and dried the canopy and then dipped it in some future . It's now drying inside a tupperware box for the next few days] . So with my workbench clear of everything else , I can concentrate I what I'm doing . I removed the teardrop-shape Automatic Direction finder [ADF] from the cabin roof , so I can add a second VHF/UHF blade antenna . However it appears that the second antenna doesn't sit directly behind [in-line] with the front one . Is it slightly offset to the right ?. There's a nice full page pic in squadron Huey Gunship book I'm looking at , but I still can't tell . I also had got myself a little confused about the rocket launcher XM-156 universal mount , probably because I was thinking about 3 different Huey gunships at the one time . However I've decided to use what is in monograms kit , It closely matches the pic I posted above a few days ago even though there is another pic in Squadron book showing a 1P with a mount similar to what the UH-1N Huey used [ There's probabley a correct name for the other mount I just can't remember what it's called ] Anyway it's full steam ahead on this helo , if I have overlooked anything , please don't hesitate to point me in the right direction . Kind regards John

john,

  looking great!  I agree with using the M156 mount for your bird.  They did use em after all and no need making this build even harder!   keep up the great work and keep us posted.

   Ray
 

Hi everyone , well she's about ready to mask for airbrushing . I left the roof off to test fit the XM-93 guns and ammunition belts . I had trouble trying to re-bend the solid ammunition chute to fit around where the rocket launcher fits , so I decided to replace the chute for some of that plastic wire and spring you get in Hasegawa's 1/72 U.S. Aerospace Ground Equipment Set . It was much easier to bend to shape and I'll airbrush it light gray to match the gun mount . I'm still searching for an anti-collision light to go on top of the rear exhaust housing , hopfully I'll find something to use . Anyway I'll glue the roof on next and then I'll start masking , everything is going along nicely . Kind regards John

It's coming along great.

Jon,  Excellent work my friend!  Keep us posted on the progress.

   Ray
 

Hi everyone , I sat down at the bench , ready to start masking and I was giving the 1P a last look over to see if I had missed anything and I suddenly discovered that there is a gap just in front of the rotor housing where the roof joins the top of the fuselage . You can see into the cabin or in my case the top of the ammunition box . Even though I must of dry fitted the roof panel many times , I only just realized this now . Building Huey's in 1/72 scale I had not encounted this situation before . Anyway the two Monogram Huey's I ordered from Squadron.com arrived the other day , so I was able to cut a piece of spare plastic to fill the gap using one of the Monogram's kit roof's as a template , so I can hopfully just slip it into place on the 1P with a little bit of glue around the edges . Obviously I'll make two more for the other two Huey's and glue them in place before glueing the roof on next time . I can't believe I didn't pick up on this before during the construction . Oh well only a minor hic-up ,otherwise everything else is going along okay . Kind regards John .

John,

My next Monogram kit arrived yesterday, so I pulled it out along with the AMT tailboom I'd had set aside for this particular kit.  I made the necessary cuts and things were going swimmingly, until I realized that the AMT tailboom is waaaaaaay too wide for the Monogram fuselage.  How did you modify your tailboom?

If I actually get this built, I'll have all four helicopter types that the 20th SOS flew in Vietnam!
Should be pretty cool! 

Jon

Hi Jon , Your right about the fit of the rear tailboom to Monogram's fuselage . As you have done , this was my first starting point of the conversion . I must admit I was "HORRIFIED" when I saw how both section's weren't even close to matching up . Seeing that these were the first cuts I made , I instantly thought I had wrecked two perfectly good kits . So to save myself a whole lot of "EMBARRASSMENT" , I was determined to try and get it joined together . In the first pic , I drew a pencil line to show how big the gap was when I joined the two sections together . The second pic I've tried to demonstrate using Italeri's 1/72 UH-1F what I did . You will have to pretend that the fuselage is Monogram's version and the tailboom is from your doner kit . I glued two pieces of sprue inside Monogram's two fuselage halves so when I slipped the rear tailboom into place the sides of both tailbooms came reasonable flush at the join . It wasn't a perfect fit and there was a nasty gap on the underside of the tailboom starting at the join and running right down to the base of the cabin fuselage . Again I thought this wasn't going to work out but I cut a plastic wedge to try and help fill the gap . The top of the tailboom was only slightly better but I remember trying to get the tail rotor shaft cowling [the top of the tailboom spine] to match up as close as possible so most of the putty and sanding would be underneath . I'm sorry I didn't take any pic's of this part of the construction but like I said I "FRANTICALLY" did my best to putty and sand [lot's of putty and sanding] and get everything to blend in . The tailboom join was probably the scaryest part of the build . I certainly wish you all the best with your build , if you don't mind doing all that puttying and sanding it should work out . I hope this helps . Kind regards John

I really think that I owe everyone a sincere apology about not being more specific in the begining , when I first started the build , on how much work was involved in kit bashing the two Helo's together . I realize when modeler's put down their hard earned cash to buy kits [I bought my Monogram Huey for $20 and paid $28 for italeri's AB-205 [UH-1D]] That it's important to explain clearly what's involved , before suggesting that you simply make a couple of cuts here and there and that's it !! . Obviously with my embarrassment in the begining on how the two tailbooms weren't even close to matching up and I didn't take any pic's , I can't help but feel even more embarrassed today especially if some of you guy's followed what I did with my build . I know kit's are expensive , especially in my neck of the woods , so I should of explained much better what I did at the begining of the build . I truly am sorry for not explaining myself better about the conversion . Kind regards John

John,

   Thanks for sharing what you HAVE done.  Hey at least we know it's possible now!  Your doing a great job.  Keep it up so we can see how she turns out!  The Italeri kit is a much better starting place anyway.  THe AMT/ERTL D model has dimensional problems out of the box.

    Ray
 

John,

No worries man!  I knew it was going to be a bit tricky.  My major ongoing project right now is kitbashing two SH-3H kits to make a single HH-3E!  Right now, I think the model is about 30% bondo, 60% plastic and the remaining 10% is PFM. 

I'm going to continue slowly with the F/P build and see where I go with it.  I may do the Medal of Honor ship from the 20th SOS, just to keep in the historical aircraft theme.  For my HH-53C and my MH-53M, I think I may do them both as 357.  VERY historical aircraft there, she's about to move to her new home at the US Air Force Museum.

In any case, keep going John!  We're watching!

Jon

Hi everyone , I gave the Helo five light coats of light grey [FS36622] , to check and see how she looks with an overall one color finish . There are a few puttied area's here and there that need attention , however the top of the tailboom does show a bit of a discrepancy . Obviously where I had to spread the monogram tailboom section to accommodate Italeri's tail section , it does look a little "fat" near where the join is . I'm happy to accept this , perhaps when I airbrush the camouflage finish it may not be as noticable [I hope] . Anyway I'll keep going , it should turn out okay . Kind regards John

Hi Jon , I did a bit of a search on google about the history of the 20th SOS and the helicopters they flew . From the little bit I've read so far , am I right in saying that they flew the H-21 Shawnee , CH-3E ''Jolly Green'' , HH-53C Super Jolly , UH-1F/P , UH-1N Huey's and the MH-53J Pave Low . I was thinking of building one of each in 1/72 scale . As you know I've already built the CH-3E earlier this year , I aslo already have in my 'kit stash to build' , Italeri's UH-1F and UH-1N Huey's as well as a HH-53C , a Revell MH-53J , I also have a Italeri H-21C Shawnee . Cobra Company has a weapons set to suit the UH-1B/C/F in 1/72 scale , the all resin set includes two M-134 miniguns and mounts , Ammo box , two XM-157 rocket pods , weapons pylons and support assemblies . Would this set suit either the two Huey's ?? . The weapons set is quite inexpensive and seeing I already have the helicopter kits , It's not going to be an expensive project . I would still have to do some research on the tail markings of each Helo , hopfully my Green Hornets book will arrive soon from Amazon.com , I'll probably get a lot more info from the book . I'm just thinking and planning ahead for a future project Kind regards John .

John,

Right now I've got an HH-3E, HH-53C, UH-1N and now the UH-1F/P, all in 48th.  While the unit did fly the -21, they did not fly them in Vietnam.  I'm going to get another Italeri D model so I can grab the tailboom for the F/P model.  I've got another 72nd scale H-34, so I think I'm going to follow your lead and grab the nose for the cowling on my Huey. 

I'll be doing an MH-53M as well, but that'll be a little later on.

Jon

Hi Jon , I came across this pic the other day , It's from aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny web site . The rear exhaust screen is a lot more noticable in this pic . It actually protrudes out a lot more than mine did . It also appears that it's a little more oval in shape , although it's a little hard to tell . You may already have some reference pic's of your own to use , the only one I had was in Squadron Gunship Huey book , It was one of the color side profile artworks . I thought I might just mention about the shape of the exhaust screen .

         John.

John,

  They aren't 20th SOS birds, but here's you a few nice big pics of F models:

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraftsearch=Bell+UH-1F+Iroquois+(204) 

Enjoy!

   Ray
 

John,

Top marks mate for having a go at building an "F" and a great job of it you've made as well. I'm well impressed. I can't believe we don't already have a kit of this out there. It's not like it would require loads of extra tooling toadd the bits.

Anyway, well done so far, can't wait to see it all finished.

Rich

I don't want to distract from your great build, but I saw these pics recently and it's the first time I've seen a UH-1F/P in this scheme

Helo 53 wrote:

However it appears that the second antenna doesn't sit directly behind [in-line] with the front one . Is it slightly offset to the right

Looks pretty close here. I think the antennas are different sizes which makes them look offset.

Thank's for sharing the pic's empeter . I also hadn't seen a UH-1F in that camo scheme . I did buy another Italeri 1/72 scale 1F when I started the monogram conversion , I was using it to scale off for the measurements on where I should make the cuts on the tailboom . I will certainly consider that scheme when I build the Italeri kit , seeing that I already have two 1F's in the SEA color scheme . Thank's also for the pic of the two antennas , I was going to use the one out of the UH-1D donor kit , It's about the same height as monogram's front one , I'll check the spares box to see if I have anything else to use . Kind regards John

Cobrahistorian wrote:

John, Right now I've got an HH-3E, HH-53C, UH-1N and now the UH-1F/P, all in 48th.  While the unit did fly the -21, they did not fly them in Vietnam.  I'm going to get another Italeri D model so I can grab the tailboom for the F/P model.  I've got another 72nd scale H-34, so I think I'm going to follow your lead and grab the nose for the cowling on my Huey.  I'll be doing an MH-53M as well, but that'll be a little later on. Jon

I, am new at this. I have started to build models of all the helicopters I flew while in the USAF. I have a 1/72  scale  HH-3E  and would love to have  1/48th could any one tell me were to get this model? The model kits I have now are UH-19B, H-34, UH-1F, UH-1N, UH-1H(need to try to make into a HH-1H), HH-3E all are 1/72 and the HH43B 1/32. I am also building the HU-16B Albatross the last seaplane in service with the military.

Thanks 

gary