Vietnam Huey

Yes, the Frog kit comes with the mini-guns.   I am looking at them now.  They are listed as parts not used and the instructions do not show how to assemble them.  Here they are on the sprues.  In the lower right hand corner, you will see a series of tubes for the M158 rockets.  Above them are the mini-gun parts.

Here is a scan of the instructions from the Muskets gunship that shows how to assemble them.

The Frog kit comes with all the weapons offered in all the MRC/Academy UH-1C kits.  You can make all the different weapons load possibilities for a UH-1C, minus an M-6 setup, from this kit.

Here is the other weapons tree you get in it, along with the figures and 2 free M60s.

Hello chaps

I need some help here on the MRC Academy huey frog, im getting seriously confused on the info about this kit, i have just spoken to someone who has the kit that says it DOES'NT come with the miniguns option.

Gino helped me earlier in the post with pictures of the sprues but it is impossible to make out if there are miniguns there, i have the Academy heavy hog that is exactly the same as the frog but comes with 24 pod rockets and nose mounted grenade launcher, i dont want to pay out for the frog kit to find it is the same as the hog kit with just a few other rocket pod options. can anyone who has this kit please help me out as i have it on order lol. does the Academy/MRC Huey frog come with miniguns ???

Thanks

Andy 

Ray,

Thanks!  I made it back to Ft. Rucker in Oct. 2004  for a Mini Reunion after  Hurricane Ivan cancelled our Annual one down at Ft. Walton Beach.  I left Ft. Rucker in April of 71 for my tour in Nam.  The Museum was great!  They have some WW I aircraft too most people don't know about.  We didn't spend enough time there and I didn't take enough pictures.  Hope you enjoy the trip! 

I spotted this and thought while we are on the subject of manuals it might be of interest to someone:

UH-1 Huey Helicopter Manuals, UH-1 Series Bell Iroquois, UH-1D model 205, UH-1V medevac, UH-1H model 205A-1 "Nighthawk" UH-1B, UH-1C, UH-1H, UH EH-1H, UH-1V,UH-1M.

looks like it has everything about hueys from armaments to engines, pitch horn links to power shaft bolts.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UH-1-Huey-Helicopter-77-manual-CD-8314p-Iroquois-Bell_W0QQitemZ2247809612QQcategoryZ135QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

Scroll down and check out the CD contents, its impressive (well it is to me anyway)

hope this helps someone out.

Andy

Mel,

   I hear ya!  My father was an armorer and doorgunner so I pick his brains about weapons, but he said crew chieifs would know more about the aircraft itself.  I think I speak for all of us civillians here on the site when I say that we appreciate all the veterans that take time to help us out, and we are all greatful for your service to this country.  I am planning a trip to Ft. Rucker this summer, and I intend to take as many photos as is humanly possible.  My father's unit is having their reunion there this year so maybe I can pick some of those guys brains as well.

        Ray
 

Ed,

Thanks for the info on the manuals, I had the "parts" manual for the Bell 204 series which included the B, C, M models of the Huey but they were thrown away when I was on vaction one year. 

I met a guy in the book store, we were both checking out the "warbird" magazines and turns out he was working for a fellow who was "storing" a couple M and one V model Hueys until a "new" Museum opens up.  He said I could come out and take detail pictures of them.  I have a lot of the M model but neglected to get a bunch of the V when it was at the local museum that closed up a 5 or 6 years ago.  One was pretty much "gutted" back then but the other two were in good shape.  I doubt it now, they are probably out in the weather. 

Ray,

A Crew Chief is an excellent source of info, especially on Hueys!  We just loaned them to the pilots to fly! 

Grandadjohn:

It seems like I am still doing tours:-)  Try TM55-1520-210-10 google search. I did this and found some places that sell the 210 series manuals also maybe 211 and possibly the 219 series. When you get to a site scroll down and see what they have. I seem to remember 8 or 9 dollars for a book. Local civilian governments have bought old Hueys for fire fighting, and other uses, so FAA has some manuals.

Sorry I took you for a pilot:-) those wings didn't come out until after I got out of the Army.

RVN tours 63-64 Bien Hoa 118th AML crewchief CH-21 and UH-1B. 1966 605th Trans Co Phu Loi, we supported units at Lai Khe and Phouc Vin. 1967 D Co 15th Trans Co An Khe, we supported 1/9 Cav, 1971-72 34th General Support Group Saigon, this was a General Support Unit supporting all aircraft in RVN.

Korean tours 1967-1968 Korea Air Force Kimpo AFB, 1970-71 55th Avn Co Yoido Island Seoul

Stateside tours 1969 Ft Stewart GA Cobra Hall training. In 1965 I served as a periodic maintenance team leader in A Co 227 AHB 11th Air Assault, then it became 1st Cav Div.  1972-73 worked with all USMC AH and UH-1 sqdrns at New River NC.  1973 USN Helitron 8 Pensacola FL. 1986-89 worked with all USMC AH and UH-1 sqdrns at Camp Pendleton CA. 

2001-2003 worked with 1-1 Cav 1st AD in Germany and in Baghdad. 

As for pictures mine are packed up in states. I've found doing a search for Hueys has been the best source of data and pictures. There are some Hueys stuck on a stick in various cities, they would give you a good belly shot that would show antenna. The pictures Gino posted are very good showing antennas. I am impressed with his research. The museum at Ft. Rucker might have some good pictures. I really don't search much about Hueys as I like WW11 airplanes best:-) and haven't built any helicopters. First Army unit to be armed was UTT in Saigon, they started out with A models in Ft Rucker I think. In 1963 I remember Maj Delavan sp? as their CO. He was wounded numerous times before they sent him home. VHPA has some good pictures. Air America operated commercial 204B's, might be something on their site. You might try typing in a country name and Army helicopters on google. I noticed a number of movies were filmed in the Phillipines using Hueys.

My pleasure to help you all out. At my age I can remember 40 years ago just don't ask me why I am doing something now as I probably forgot why:-)

Question for you all I tried attaching pic, it was a BMP, does this site only accept jpg files?

Please explain what #39 inserted in words means.

 Ed

Grandadjohn,

  I hear you about the pictures.  That's why I have found all the negatives I could of my father's Vietnam photos and digitized them.  There are a few that have no negatives, but I will be scanning them soon.  I also did the same for my Grandfather's WWII ngatives.  You should consider scanning the remaining photos or having it done.  We don't want to lose all that great history!

     Ray
 

Active duty from 68 to 71. National Guard from 71 to 80. Lucky, I quess, didn't go to Vietnam but went to Korea in 68 and 69.

Will post phot's when I have any that help in the discussion, unfortunatly many have been lost over the years.

Ed,

  Thanks for the info.  Where is the illustration from?

Grandadjohn,

   Crew chiefs are still more than welcome to share their knowledge about Hueys.  I would greatly appreciate any info you have, especially on Vietnam Huey antennae.  Please feel free to include photos if you have them.  A picture really is worth a thousand words (especially to a modeller!).  When did you do your tour, if you don't mind me asking?  Thanks for your service, by the way! 

   Ray
 

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t197/Bellrep/SIDEVIEW.jpg

 Ray:

Above is a pic of the antenna locations. Not all antennas listed would have been on UH-1D/H during RVN era.

1. VHF/UHF Antenna   2. Loop ADF on belly, 3.FM Homing #1   4.FM Radio Ant #1  5. VHF Omni

6. This location not used, RVN ant like this was a white cord which zigzagged down the length of the tailboom. 7.ADF sense  8. ADF  9. Marker Beacon  10. IFF bottom  11. FM Comm   12. IFF top   13. Glidescope.

Know that you know where to find them I think you can go to existing pictures and see them.

When I was in the Army pretty much all we had was VHF, UHF, FM, ADF, and Single Side Band HF zigzag one on the tailboom.

If you need a better side view of one to make it send me an email.

grandadjohn may want to expound on this since he is a pilot.

Ed

Gino: I wonder where the tail number 60744 came from?

No idea on the history of the tail #.  My guess is that Panda just came up with it.  I just used the kit decals for that part.  Agree with you on how they are usually assigned though.

Ed,

  Thanks for the info.  That explains why I never knew what the old style rotor system was called.  I assume that the towel bar replaced the FM antennae on the nose. Antennae are definitely not my strong point.  It seems they were stuck everywhere at different times throughout the Huey's history.  Since you clearly know a lot about them, how about a antenna primer, perhaps with some photos to illustrate the types.  I have a lot of refs on Hueys, but they are incomplete in this area.  I'm sure it would be most beneficial for the rest of us. 

    Thanks,

           Ray

Ray:

Towel Rack is FM Homing #1

Ed

Ray:

The Bell Helicopter name for the rotor style on the UH-1B was a two bladed, semi-rigid, underslung feathering axis rotor. The part number begining would have been 204. The 204 part number is the model number however it applies to many parts used on the UH-1B and UH-1C aircraft. I suspect the rotor was developed at the same time the aircraft was created. Modifications of this rotor continued until the UH-1N or 212.

I can only think of two rotor systems that everyone refered to by number, that is the 540 and the 680.

The 540 rotor also is a two bladed, semi-rigid, underslung feathering axis system. The part number begining is 540 as this was a completely new design for Bell. There is no airframe model 540 the number is reserved for the pylon assembly.

The 680 rotor, you could fly hands off, it was that stable. The Army never bought this system as it came along after the Army went to the UH-60.

Ed 

Gino:

I wonder where the tail number 60744 came from? The Army typically used the first number on the tail as the last number of a year of the contract ie. 1966 or 1976  or 1986 era. If that is the case then the complete serial number might be 66-0744 on the data plate. According to my records this serial never existed. The first lot serial number of the UH-1D run in 1966 was 66-746 through 66-970 or possible on the tail it would have been 60746 through 60970. The first H model serial number produced was 67-17145 or tail number 717145.

Reading your past threads you are a very knowledgeable  person, did you find something that shows this tail number?

Ed

pitot tubes have nothing to do with antennae. They are used to measure air flow and thus airspeed of an aircraft.  In early model Hueys, they were on the nose of the aircraft, but in later models they were moved to the roof and look like rotated "J's." I was just screwed up on my terminology.  The blade is a VHF antenna.  The shape of the blades were different on early and late model Hueys.  Also, many UH-1F's had two blade antennae on the roof, one behind the other (it just gets better and better, huh!). I assume the "towel bar" is another antenna, but I don't know what kind (FM maybe?).  Help me out, Gino!

   Ray
 

Gino & Ray

for us pitot tube novices can you please explain what a "towel bar" and "blade Antennae" are, and what model hueys have and dont have them.

Thanks

Andy

Gino,

   Sorry about that, I meant the roof mounted pitot tube that looks like a rotated "J."  I just missunderstood what the "towel bar" was.  Thanks for catching that.  I'll fix the post so as not to confuse folks.  That's the last thing we need!  

      Ray

Also, there is no towel rack on the roof.

Ray, look closely at the roof.  It has both a the towel bar and blade antennae up there.

Ray

A very detailed and informative post as usual, thanks, if you hav'nt already, check out Intruder_bass's pictures from his UH-1C mustang build, posted further up, it shows a great reproduction of the windshield you mention in your post.

Thanks

Andy.

I think I said something earlier about needing more pictures to back up descriptions.  Guess it's time to put my money where my mouth is.

A UH-1B from my dad's unit (190th AHC).   The slicks were Spartans and the guns were Gladiators.  I love the nose art (why hasn't anyone made a decal sheet for the 190th?).  Anyway, note there are no big paired antennae, just a small pitot on the left side.  Also, there is a towel bar and blade antennae on the roof (thanks for catching that, Gino).  Further, you can see the particle filters mentioned above on the doghouse.  For positive ID as a B model from this view notice the narrow chord rotor (note trim tabs which are missing in Italeri's 1/72 B/C/F kits), old style rotor head (what is the proper name for this style rotor, anyway?), and counterweights above the rotor head (the counterweights are below the rotorhead on A models).  Finally, you can just make out the symmetrical horizontal stabs.  By the way, this photo also shows a nice view of the wind shield that most gunships had to help protect gunners from airflow.  You can just see the crewchief's leg sticking out behind it.  Don't forget to put that little detail on your gunships.  You will also notice that the front doors were removed from this bird, a common practice in many units to allow for quick egress.  I hope this helps with the above explanations. 

  For completeness sake I should also point out that this ship is armed with the XM-21 armament system with XM-158 seven shot FFAR 2.75 rocket pods and M-134 7.62mm miniguns.  The armamant mounting system is the XM-156 universal mount standard on all later US Army HUEYs.  This photo was taken in either '68 or '69 and represents late UH-1Bs in Vietnam. 

   Ray
 

lol Gino , great! im gonna have to start looking at technical things like rotors and tail fins lol, im gonna miss my pitot tube shortcut

Andy

I agree it should be pinned up the top as its a popular thread but have no idea how its done...

To get it pinned up, all you have to do is send a request to one of the moderators (Amanda Boothe is great) and ask them to pin it.  They are usually pretty receptive to it.  Good luck.

All the B models I have seen even without the two main FM antennae have a small mounted pitot tube on the left side of the nose where as the C models don't, ??!!

Yup.  As you can see from the last few posts, there was/is no one single, easily identifiable characteristic that can be used as a definitive distinction between models. 

Ive created a monster lol,

Great to have you back Ray the thread isnt the same without your know-how ;)

All the B models i have seen even without the two main fm antenni have a small mounted pitot tube on the left side of the nose where as the C models dont, ??!!

Andy

Continuing the pitot tube discussion, it should be pointed out that not all B models had the obvious twin antennae on the nose.  However, all that I have seen at least had a small nose mounted pitot tube.  Also, it is a common missconception that the particle filters seen on later C models were indicative, but the early C models lacked them and they were retrofitted to many B models as well.  Also, some B models recieved C model tail booms when theirs failed.  The only true ways to tell a B model from a C/M model that I know of are the wide chord of the C/M model rotor, the 540 rotor head of the C/M model and the position of the fuel filler cap (on the right on B's and on the left on C/M's).  The wide chord, assymetrical horizontal stabs and wider tail fin aren't 100% reliable as I mentioned above.  I hope I haven't just repeated something mentioned earlier in this thread.  This baby is turning into a beast!

   Ray
 

Andy (Intruder_Base)

Thanks so much for posting the pics. 

I agree it should be pinned up the top as its a popular thread but have no idea how its done lol, there are still some great threads on here other than this one about hueys but i think, thanks to all the who have contributed, that this one has grown into the most useful.

I remember when i first joined the forum seeing the pictures of your completed "muskets" UH-1C and thinking my academy heavy hog is not coming out of the box untill i feel confident enough it can look as good as yours, needless to say its still in the box lol. sadly since then, your post has slipped down the ranks and it would be a sin to be missed by anyone interested in hueys. 

To me, yours is the ultimate benchmark in how a UH-1C should look, the best i have seen and to the rest of us who are wanting to build one, if you can get yours to look half as good as Andys "Mustang 6" your on a winner

I noticed today on returning to your original post you now have links to the build of this amazing bird (which i read with awe) is there any chance you could pop the link in your previous post so everyone else can enjoy and learn from it.

Many thanks Andy.(Intruder_Base)

Andy.

Yeap, same with M models upgraded from C models

By the way Andy and Intruder, nice build

Thanks for posting the pics Gino, pm's checked.

For everyone else check the the link Gino provided to the rest of the shots of his medevac, the detail is astounding and will serve as a great source of pictoral help and information on the right way to build a huey medevac/slick, it has served as an essential guide in building my revell UH-1H.

Thanks Gino.