1/35 Academy MH-60G PaveHawk |
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Gallery Article by Jeff Brundt |
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This
is my 1/35 Academy MH-60G PaveHawk Spec Ops helo. There's just something
menacing about the look of the Blackhawk fitted out with the ESSS pylons and
fuel
tanks that I had to have one. The kit was built almost OOB and the only
mod I made was to the IFR probe. I opted to make the probe 'extendable' by using
some telescoping aluminum tubing.
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I also added some external
wiring to it as well. Since the Pavehawk kit does not come with the ESS pylons
and tanks I had to buy another 1/35 Academy Blackhawk just to get these parts.
It would be nice if Academy would furnish the tanks and pylons with the Pavehawk
since this is an option the real machine would carry.
Finishing this model was rather easy
since it's just one uniform color (or at least the scheme I chose). However, the
real test of patience came when I had to remove the masking from the clear parts. Because of the intricate nature
of the Blackhawk's windows I decided to use clear, Scotch magic tape. Big
Mistake. This stuff is a pain in the A$$ to remove. It wouldn't lift off in one
piece but hundred of little peices and it left all sorts of adhesive residue
behind. I usually remove my window masks when I'm all done painting and the
model is just about finished. At one point I was so frustrated I was going to
chuck this thing into the trash can. I finally chanced to use Goo Gone, applied
with a Q-tip, and it worked great at removing the sticky adhesive residue. The
clear parts were badly scratched though from my tape removing attempts so I carefully brushed each pane with Future. This helped
quite a bit. It's still not perfect but I can live with it.
While not a
bad kit it will probably be one of the last helis I do for a while. They are a
bit fiddly and require more care in handling and finishing out. I will say it
does look impressive on the display shelf.
Jeff Brundt
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