The ubiquitous Bell
UH-1 Huey needs no introduction. The work-horse of the US Army in the
Vietnam War was used in its thousands.
Until recently, there was no 1/35 scale Huey available (although there has been
a Revell 1/32 scale UH-1H on the market for the past 20 odd years). This
has all changed with the release of the UH-1D in 1/35 scale by Panda Models of
Hong Kong.
The model has come in for some criticism. It is essentially a scaled-up
version of the Italeri 1/48 Huey and lacks some of the finesse of a completely
new tooled 1/35 kit. It is particularly heavy-handed in some areas, such
as the size of the rivets which are way over-scale. However, I couldn't
wait to get my hands on it - being something of a Vietnam Helicopter enthusiast.
Panda have released two versions of the UH-1D - "1st
Cavalry" and "Wasp". I have built the 1st Cav version
although in truth the only difference between the kits is the decals.
The kit is built OOB - I am something of a slow model builder and wanted to
finish the kit as quickly as possible (errr.. it still took me about 6 months)
without worrying about after-market detailing (plus there wasn't much around
when I started the kit). The kit is actually of a UH-1H rather than a
UH-1D, the UH-1D has a nose-mounted pitot tube and different shaped blade
antenna on the roof. The kit also includes cable cutters and an
additional antenna which should be left off if you intend to build a Vietnam era
Huey.
Click on
images below to see larger images
|
|
|
|
I painted my Huey
using Tamiya acrylics. I wanted to show a fair amount of weathering as I
enjoy this stage of modelling the most. Weathering consisted of
pre-shading followed by air brushing olive drab thinned from the jar. The
olive drab was then lightened with some white and this was airbrushed in the
centre of all panels. Klear (UK version of Future) was applied to the
model and after a week or so, a dark green oil wash applied. I found the
decals to be terrible; they were very thick and required a lot of setting
solution for them to bed down. I didn't apply the crossed sabres to the
front of the Huey as I am intending to use it on another Vietnam-era helo
(probably a Loach).
Once finished I noticed that the model doesn't sit properly and probably could
have done with some weight at the front. Apart from that, I am happy with
it, and not too worried about the lack of finesse/rivets etc. It looks
like a Huey to me and it is in the right scale - 1/35!! I realised after
taking the photos that I forgot to add the FM antenna on the tail
(oops!!).
I've another 1/35 UH-1D(H) on the shelf (the Wasp version) and have the Panda
UH-1N on order. I have also bought the Cobra
Company detail set for the UH-1D/H (well worth getting - it is superb) for
my next attempt at a UH-1D - this time it will be super-detailed (and probably
take me about 6 years!!!).
I've included a photo of the Huey next to my OH-6A Loach (a bit dusty from being
displayed for the last couple of years!!). It is interesting to note the
difference in the olive drab colour between the Huey (Tamiya) and Loach (Gunze
Sanyo Aqueous Hobby Color).
Simon
|
|