1/72 Italeri Huey UH-1 C Gunship

Gallery Article by Sertan Eral

Greetings!..

Everyone knows that the Huey is one of the most well-known  combat helicopters in the world and became famous during the Vietnam War.

Italeri’s tiny Huey kit comes in two green sprues with a well detailed fuselage. It is a cheap kit to buy, but I faced some problems during building. For instance, anti-torque rotor has some fit problems and the front windows section has the same problem as well. Unfortunately the kit does not have the Huey’s most famous fixing –lateral machine guns- only FFAR pods instead.

There are two decal options, one is for the US Navy and the other is for the US Army. I preferred the Army version. Because the shark-mouth nose looks great. Such large decals fit on the body well, with Humbrol’s DecalFix.

I also used pastel chalks and silver paint (for drybrushing) to give a realistic look to my Huey.  

Click on images below to see larger images

During photography, I tried to take a picture of the Huey, just in front of a sunset. But I did not consider the wind. So while I was in an attempt to take some pics, the wind blew away my Huey and it felt down from balcony (nearly 21 feet) to our garden. I immediately lauched a SAR for my downed Huey (Green Huey Down). After a long search in the garden some pieces were found, some weren’t. Lost pieces were scratch built. This is a shame for me. I still don’t know how I forgot the wind and did not fix my model with a Scotch tape. Some pictures were taken before repair process, after crashdown.   

Happy modeling to everyone (and please don’t forget to secure your model, if you are working outside).