**** DONE: GB-35 1/72 UH-1 B ‘Huey” - Vietnam French/American War 1950-1975

[Wayne Little]

doing good there mate..!

 

[parsifal]

ive made steady progress over the week, and generally things have gone okay with one glaring exception. I put the forequarter clearglass panes in, and rather too much glue on the joint and have caused one of the panes to frost up somewhat. I'm very frustrated with myself.

Apart from that slip up, which is a whopper, things are going pretty well. ive touched up and just about finished the main painting, put together the rotor assembly, painted the side doors and fixed the error I made with the engine inspection hatches.


ive discovered that the painting instructions for the rotor and tail are slightly incorrect

The following is an image os how the finished paint scheme should look like

You can see in the area around the main rotorit is painted white. the kit instruction say it should be black, but clearly is in error. the painting instructions also say the tail rotor should be all white, but again there are clearly visible red flashes on the tail rotor

The tail 'hook" (I don't actually know what it is), appears metallic. There are also sqn flashes on the pilots doors 9which I don't have). not visible are the screen wipers. I rhought they would be chrome, but they are black actually

That dirty great big grill just aft the main rotaor is not included in the kit detail....bit of a problem, not sure what to do about that. The grill, whatever it is was in place since at least 1970 as the following shot shows:

 

[parsifal]

So figure this out. these photos are all from ADF serials. The next a/c, number 894, does not have the grill shown on 893. it also does not have the squadron flashes (or at least not the same flashes, even though both a/c are frpm the same sqn) on the pilots door.........

 

[Wurger]

 

[mikewint]

Michael, wish I could help more. I have pics of that area, and I do show that "louvered vent/radiator" though it is not as large as yours. I would suspect that it is an air intake/exhaust vent for the turbine.
The "tail hook" i believe is a tail skid to protect the tail rotor from striking the ground during a backward maneuver/take off

 

[Crimea_River]

Too bad about the frosted glazing. You should consider using a cement like PVA or a clear parts glue that is specifically made for this.

 

[mikewint]

One of the first things I do is dip my clear parts in Future. I've even used future to "glue" the canopy down though it has very little strength it will hold for display purposes. Now I use Testors canopy/window maker.
Michael you can try polishing out the frosting with VERY fine sand paper (12,000 grit) and then a coating of Future or Clear enamel

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff Michael.
Is it possible to remove the damaged window ? If so, then it can be lightly sanded, and then polished with car body colour restorer ('T-Cut' in the UK) or metal polish, and then dipped in 'Future', being re-attached with PVA or similar.
The large 'grilles' are, as far as i know, a later modification, standard on later series machines, and, as Mike stated, the 'hook' is the tail bumper, essential for fast, dive landings, when the helicopter would approach the LZ and pull up sharply to hover, or land, for disembarking..

 

[parsifal]

Thanks guys, I can detach the glazing using debonder, but will check first on scrap clear, to see what effects the debonder has on the paintwork (that is beside the glazing) and the part itself
I cant get futures in Australia that has the same characterisitcs as the stuff you guys are used to (love to hear from the other Aussie members and what they use) , but if I remove the.glazed part and polish it back as you are advising I would have thought that a thinned down clear lacquer, or even just leaving the pva film might improve the finish?

 

[parsifal]

I'm considering at this minute a number of details that don't appear koche to me.

First off


You can see the tail rotor finishes here . The centre bearing seems to have a dark metallic finish and the tail flashes have three black bands on the rotor.

kit painting instructions are different

tail flashes are a single red band, whilst the centre bearing is, well different. no biggie, there are variations in other aircraft with close S/Ns


That tail bumper thingy though is shown Royal blue , which is different to most real life examples Ive tracked down. The following is an example

That looks like a bronze colour to me . Some that ive found look like they have a stripe pattern applied, but most are this strange bronze colour. Is it plausible this bumper thingy might be a bronze colour?

This tail photo also shows no tail dipoles (I think that's what they are). RAAF machines do have them, and the kit instructions also show them...

I cannot find any examples of RAN UH-1 B s having parts 11, 24 or 35 fitted in real life. what the hell is going on?????


The following is a typical example of what you usually see

 

[Wurger]

Michael, judging by your pics the tail skid ( bumper ) looks like being of the yellow colour what is almost sure, comparing to the yellow inscription "DANGER". Also because the bumper was a protection for the tail rotor and was at the dangerous area for men.

Here is another shot of a such RAN UH-1B... the yellow skid can be noticed nicely.

And here the no.898 , the yellow bumper is clearly seen as well ..

However I would like to pay your attentoon to the fact that these colour pics posted above, both by me and you, are dated 80' and 90'. As a result some of modifications to both the painting and equipment were introduced for sure. Here you are B&W images that believing captions are dated 70'. You may notice that the tail rotor colours are different. It seems to be of black with red/white/red or white strips only.

Also the tail bumper seems to be either of yellow/black ( red ) strips or had a kind of an antimacassar. Also it might have been one-colour painted with the cover or there were two clours there.

Still looking for a shot with the antennas and other details seen.

 

[Wurger]

Just found the colour pic you used for showing of the tail bumper and rotor appearance. But it is of better quality. The enlarged part with the tail bumper reveals it was of two diameters. So no cover there but the thicker part was painted dark ( the Navy Blue or Black I would say ) while the thinner one was of yellow. I would say the yellow with black ( red ) strips may look better.

 

[Airframes]

Good info, and yes, tail rotor warning colours changed over time.
I notice that the Huey in the colour pics has a civilian registration - presumably a privately owned example in original military colours ?
If that's the case, then it might be that the tail rotor colours have to meet Aus CAA specifications, which could account for colour differences.

 

[Wurger]

I agree with Terry. Addtionally please make a focus on the lack of any antennas on the cockpt roof. It seems that these seen in the colour images are the later eguipment.

Re.. the tail dipoles... I haven't found any shot of the RAN UH-1 with them attached. However these weren't dipoles but the supports for the HF antenna wire. The RAAF helicopters did have them attached but there were ones with and without the line or without the set mounted at all..

 

[parsifal]

guys, as usual you have been terrific. I cant thank you enough. First things first, tomorrow I will pull the glazing apart and see if I can stage a miracle recovery. Worst case, it wont work and I will have to put up with it as is.

 

[Wurger]

Additionally, here a couple of RAAF UH-1 shots...

 

[parsifal]

sometimes I think I have make an educated guess in these things. I am now of the opinion the bumper is a black and white stripe. ive seen some tail rotors white with red flash from around the time frame, others with either one or three black flashes on each arm of the rotors. wurgers third alternative, the black rotors with white and red flashes (I think) is a rotor finish ive seen before on RAN props and rotors, but not on a UH-1. I think the safest finish, most likely to be correct is white with a single red flash on each rotor arm

I'm also going to leave the the tail aerials off. there are aerials in the nose which I will fit. the mystery parts (PE parts 11 and 24, shown fitted to the starboard side, which simply don't match to any of the photographic evidence) I will leave off as well

 

[parsifal]

one thing to remember, the Navy UH-1 Bs lost their disitinctive camo schemes very early, converting to standard US olive drab schemes from about November 1967. The standard Navy schemes were restored after the unit was withdrawn from operations 1969 and on.

 

[Wurger]

Micheal, If I were you I would follow the B&W images, both for general painting and the tail rotor, the bumper colours. As memo serves not too many of the UH-1 was sent to the RAN. And the navy scheme looks nice. Also if the bumper would be of the dark and light strips I would say the black and yellow paints would be the proper ones. IMHO it is the way for making and paying attention to the dangerous areas used mostly. Here in Poland for instance, it would be of the red/white but also here it has been changed and the system of black/yellow strips was introduced for warning.
As far as these RAAF helicopters are concerned I would say the bumper was of the olive drab as the entire machine.
Also I think the parts 11 and 24 are the options and don't have to be attached the same way as the HF antenna with the supports.

 

[parsifal]

I think you are right actually.....will sleep on it for now. ive removed the damaged glazing and cleaned it up using auto cut and polish. came up pretty well actually, so I'm grateful for that