Vietnam Huey

Thank all of you, and 'welcome home' to you vets.

Clear right,

Howie

wayne baker wrote:

A co-worker flew Cobras with 2/17 among other units.  I'd like to build a Cobra for him.  I have both a Fujimi 1/48 and a Revell 1/32 kit.  At the moment, I'm using the Revell.  The seats don't look very good, among other thinigs.  This kit is loaded with sink holes.  The seats in the Fujimi are not much better.  I have the Cobra walk around.  The seat and armor pictures are not very illuminating.  Snake Doctor put up some seat schematics last year.  Are those good for a Cobra?  The intakes look pretty shallow.  Should they be extended?  An intake is molded closed on the left side.  Shouldn't that be opened.  And finally, the rocket pods aren't very good.  Any after market pods available?

 Wayne, 

 Your best bet is the Cobra Company cockpit and rocket pod sets from Cobra Company for the 32nd kit.  The Fujimi 1:48th AH-1G is a crappy kit, but Cobra Company makes a G model conversion for their AH-1J that is MUCH more worthwhile. 

Chris at CC has had to suspend operations for a bit, but should be back up and running fairly soon. 

The intakes don't have much trunking, they just open up to the inside of the engine bay.  I'll see if I can find some good pics to post of the bay interior.

Jon

Well guys, that scaled down huey ive been working on has finally been crated up and shipped out.  Here are some photos of the finished bird and some progress shots along the way.  I will definitely post some final installation photos when i get them, probably be sometime mid january when its all done....Just dont pick it apart too much, believe me I would have gone nuts with details but we only have so much time and money, overall i think it turned out incredible.  Although it looks fairly new now, they will be adding some aging to it upon install so that it looks "gently used" ha.  Anyways, enjoy and if you have any questions about it feel free to ask.  We practically built this thing in 2 weeks by the way!

http://picasaweb.google.com/mitchell.nate/Random?feat=directlink

icandrawem2 wrote:

Well guys, that scaled down huey ive been working on has finally been crated up and shipped out.

Looks mighty fine to me!

Now that you've gotten the test bird out of the way...  how long before you can make the one that will sit above the bar in my living room?  LOL

 Great job!

Wow, that is so cool!!  Congrats on a job well done!!

And to think I spend more time on a 1/72nd Huey and it doesn't come out as well!!

Wishing y'all an awesome New Year!

Howie

Hi, my name is Bob Chenoweth.

I'm brand new to this site, which is very cool.  I am a former Huey CE and ex POW (68-73)

and have written a book and a bunch of articles on Hueys in Vietnam, markings, armament etc.

Glad there are people out there trying to get it right.  Lots of you seem to really know what you are talking about.  As a modeler in the 60s I was determined to document all that I could when I went to VN in Jan. 67.  I've worked with Pete Harlem, an ex Cobra CE who is a Huey junkie too, and am in the process of doing another book with a 114th AHC vet.  Happy to answer questions and love to see all those pictures you guys are putting up.  Cool stuff.

Bob

Welcome to the site Bob - and welcome home!!

Howie

Huey Nut wrote:

Hi, my name is Bob Chenoweth.

Gidday Bob, how about you give us a heads up on the title of your book?  After all, a bloke can never have too many Huey reference sources. 

Cheers,

Andrew

Bob,

  Looks like you've revived this thread and brought some of our old pals out of the woodwork.  What's everyone been up to lately?  I'd love to hear from Andy (Skypirate). Anyone know his whereabouts?  I was just going though some of the posts. Man, this thread has gone all over the place!   I have learned so much since i first posted on this forum, mostly thanks to all the vets we have around here. Thanks again to all of you and I hope we hear from you more often.

    Ray

Bob,

 WELCOME HOME!

 I did a tour in 71-72, first five months with the 174th AHC, last five with 344th Trans Co. up at Red Beach.  The 174th AHC has a great web page  www.174ahc.org   Check it out! 

Bob,

Welcome to the forum! Always glad to see a man with experience in Huey joining the discussion. I second what Ray said about Your "Army gunships in Vietnam" - great reference. Say, would the book You are working on happen to be the collaboration with John Brennan on Vietnam helicopter nose art & nicknames? I've been noticing mr. Brennan's messages on forums/guestbooks of different Vietnam helicopter units' sites for a couple of years now. I can't wait for it to be published!!!

Like Ray said, a lot of very interesting topics relating Hueys have been debated over the years on this forum - including a lot of things that have been neglected/left out by authors of Huey/Vietnam helicopters related books. When You find time, I recommend taking a look at the "Unusual Vietnam Hueys" thread (lots of great stuff):

/forums/767176/ShowPost.aspx

Ray, I've been off the radar for a while, but I hope I'll find more time in the future and start posting again :)

Best wishes to You all,

Marko

Hello:  Granddadjohn wrote "Bump", it's been my experience that "Bump" is what you feel and hear just before you hit the ground.  I'm an ole new guy to the site.  I have been modeling in Brass 1/4" to the foot scale for many years.  And as a former Huey Rescues and Recovery (Maint) and Gunship (XM-21) crewchief, I thought I'd try my hand at modeling in Plastic.  Hence the thought that I might learn some good inside tips and pick some brains.  Not to forget to mention see some pretty cool Huey pictures from other units.  I saw the Charlie Model Frog /forums/742588/ShowPost.aspx and it is Bitchen, I'd like to know if it's a kit or scratch built as far as detail is concerned. And where can I get one?  Anyway here I am.  Vietnam 65-66, 67-68, I flew with the 240th Assault Helicopter Co. "Maddogs and Grayhound" Bearcat RVN.

                                                                                            Frank

Frank,

  Thanks for your service, sir!  Welcome to the forums.  We are very fortunate to have so many Vietnam vets around here.  I hope you feel welcome.  You'll find lots of us love the old tried and true Huey.  if I were going to build my first Huey, I would biuld the Italeri 1/72 UH-1B.  In my opinion, it's the most accurate, easy to assemble kit out of the box.  Of course if you want a Charlie model, the MRC/Academy 1/35 kit is the only real game in town.  The 1/48 monogram "Huey Hog" is a chimera of UH-1B and UH-1C parts.  We lookforward to seeing your work.  I for one, would love to see what you do with brass.

    Ray

Hi Guys

Fireball decals is at    http://www.fireballmodels.info/    with decal sheets for Hueys and Cobras and plenty of "UNITED STATES ARMY" and numbers to make plenty of chopper models.  Tell Joe "Howie" sent you - it won't get you a discount but will make me feel good!

I like the Dragon aka DML/Panda 1/35 UH-1H but the early releases had no M-60 m.g.'s, later releases included the DML Helicopter Crew figure set with one M-60 hanging by bungee cord and one pedestal mount - you'd have to p/u another figure set as the D and H Hueys carried 2 M-60s mounted the same way (one on ea side).  Or go to the Cobra co. site for your M-60s and other details. Note whether buying decals or M-60s, they're available in 1/35 and 1/32 scales which you'd think look close in size but size does matter, there's a big difference.

It's a littlle early but Happy Hannukah, or Merry Christmas to you all, and an awesome New Year!  Howie

the Cobra company is at http://www.cobracompany.com/ . 

FYI  Ray (rotorhead) on this thread, compiled a list of useful Huey FSM threads.  Go to  /forums/809205/ShowPost.aspx to see them.

I believe there's also a forum on MSN on Hueys but I'm not sure where it is. I recall it asked about other weapons on UH-1D and Hs (as did this thread) and crewmen responded that YES, they did.  Someone from my unit (C Co, 227 AHBn, 1st Air Cav ca 1971) confirmed an M2 .50 cal m.g. mounted on the gunner's pedestal instead of the usual M-60 on one, a minigun on another.  They may have been "end of the war one-ofs" but they happened.

clear right

Howie

car-crafter wrote:

A note on Dragons 1:35 scale kit: It is great! the pre-painted photoetched metal and bonus helicopter crew really add to the build.

 Not really.  Read up on the other treads on it here to see its issues and how to fix them.  It is far from great.

Hueys that were set up with .50 cals and mini-guns were usually the "Night Hawk" birds or maybe set up for a in house unit rescue bird.  The mini-guns were scarce in regular Army Units except for the UH-1C's and AH-1G's.  The VNAF birds some how got them and of course the Green Hornets had them on their birds.  The .50's really could tear up the hardpoints on UH-1D/H's so were not normally used except as mentioned above.  I left Vietnam April Fools Day of 1972 so that was the begining of the end.  April 2nd was the Easter invasion of South Vietnam.

The Pand/Dragon kit is sad for the state of the art models of today.  MRC/Academy needs to put out a UH-1D/H to compliment their UH-1C! 

Thank you so much for the info on these decals. I never even knew this decal site existed. With all the clutter on google (and similar sites), finding anything on the web now is near impossible. Armed with these decals and the cheaper (and easier to find) german Huey from dragon, I'll be able to build another UH-1D with a little scratch-building.  

car-crafter  -   be careful which 1/35 Huey kit you buy as they don't all come with P/E or the crew figures w/ M-60s.  Panda and Dragon originally released the kits as "just" the helicopter model, w/o P/E, crew or guns.  I'm not sure what comes in the Dragon German UH-1D/H.  I think you'll enjoy an out of box Panda/Dragon UH-1D/H build and final results much more than the 1960s ca. Revell 1/32 UH-1D/H.  Revell might be dimensionally 'spot on' (I don't know if it is or not) but it's 1960s state of the art.  The front doors were meant to be operable and have hugely oversized hinges.  Their armed version has armament that "probably never" appeared on D/Hs and no cargo area seats.  Their troop carrier (slick) has seats but no armament at all. 

I've seen Panda/Dragon kits do well in model contests without any accurizing or correcting... no laughing judges at all.  Normally most contests won't hold it against you if you built what the kit mfr gave you - but if another modeler went that extra mile and did it well, then he'll do better than you.  You're ahead of the game if you trim the rotor blades or replace them with Cobra Co parts. You'll need a 2nd DML Helicopter crew figure set for your 2nd M-60 or buy CC's.  The more CC parts you use, the better finished results.

As I think everyone has said:  enjoy it!!    Howie 

Howie,

  Good to hear from you, man!  I hope life is treating you well these days.

car-crafter,

My real preference for the Revell Huey (which I am at the moment converting to a Flat Iron UH-1V) is mainly in the rivet detail.  Those golf balls on the Panda/Dragon kit just turn me off big time.  However, they can be sanded down and the other issues corrected as I have seen many times.  I just happen to be lazy when it come to sanding rivets!  At the end of the day either kit looks like a Huey, it just depends on what your personal preference is, I guess.  By the way, built out of the box the Panda/Dragon UH-1D/H builds into a quite nice Huey II. The Huey II is an upgraded UH-1H with a UH-1N tail boom and rotor.  Whatever you do, enjoy the hobby and welcome to the world of Rotorheads!

    Ray

rotorwash,

Thanks for the welcome to the world of 'Rotorheads'. With all this information I have received my head is spinning so fast it feels like a rotor. This info has re-started my interest in helicopters which had taken quite a dive after my failed attempts to finish the revell 1/48 'huey hog'. (it was going so well too.) But now all of my car models are back in the box and the helicopters are back! I found an academy 1/35 MASH bell 47 in the vast unknown of my kit colection which will make a nice re-entry into helicopters.

You mentioned the revell Huey kit as an improvment over the rivet detail in the dragon kit (and after looking at the dragon kit as well as some photos on this forum I agree that the rivet detail is off the mark). I don't mind the lack of detail that has been linked to the revell kit, and would like to see some completed models (or in progress). Are there some pictures already posted? I'm still trying to find my way through all the great stuff on this website. 

Might  I suggest this site for photos of built Hueys.  About half way down is a 1/32 Revell build.  There is also a build of the dragon kit as well.

    Ray

http://www.scale-rotors.com/gallery/utility-helicopters/uh-1-huey