Revell 1/100 Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk

REVELL 1:100 SIKORSKY SH-60B SEAHAWK

Reviewer: Sheldon Rampersad (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 16 January 2005

The Hunt for Red October
SH-60B SEAHAWK
REVELL 1/100^th

Kit Details:

REVELL 1/100^{th -}SH-60B SEAHAWK

Aircraft History:

The SH-60B Seahawk is an anti-submarine warfare helicopter used by the USN, JMSDF, Turkey, Taiwan, Australia and various other countries. The helicopter is based on board surface ships and the USN bases the SH-60F variant on board aircraft carriers. The aircraft can carry out over-the-horizon targeting and search and rescue duties.

The early production aircraft are equipped with a Magnetic Anomaly Detector (MAD), which housed in a fairing on the side of the aircraft. The MAD gear is trailed out from the stowed position during flight. The aircraft can deploy two MK46 or MK50 homing torpedoes. Late model aircraft are equipped with a FLIR turret in the nose. These aircraft can also employ the Penguin anti-shipping missile, Hellfire laser guided missiles and three torpedoes of the type previously mentioned.

The Kit:

The kit is an old one. It is a promotional kit from the movie “The Hunt for Red October”. The Seahawk comes with a 1/400^th scale USS DALLAS, 688-class Los Angles class attack submarine. I got the kit on sale due to the length of time it sat on the shelf. The kit number is no. 4007.

This is an early model SH-60B Seahawk BuNo 161567. This aircraft is before the production batch equipped to fire the Penguin missile. The helicopter is molded in light ghost gray and the submarine in dark gray. The detail is not much in this small scale. The helicopter is 6” long when built. Most of the antennae are incorporated in the model. The detail is accurate and sufficient to create a satisfactory replica of the aircraft.

The instructions are laid out on the same sheets as the submarine in 11 easy steps.

Construction:

Work begins in the cabin. The detail here is sparse. The kit comes with a panel for the instrument with no detail on it, not even a bump. A rear bulkhead, two control sticks and two seats are provided. These are glued on to a floorboard. Using reference photos found online I scratch built a sonobuoy launcher and console for the sonar technician. I obtained photos rather easily, just type in “SH-60B walk around” in google and you get a couple good sites. Detail was added to the scratch built areas by painting according to the photos obtained. The entire cabin is painted gray. Using plastic card I also scratch built two seats, one for the technician and a jump seat located on the rear bulkhead. The scratch building adds some depth to the interior even though most of the detail is not readily visible.

The fuselage halves were then glued together with the cabin secured inside. The sonobuoy tubes are depicted as little sinks on the port fuselage. These sinks I painted black and outlined the rectangular launcher in red and yellow dashes. I researched the squadron depicted in the kit, HSL - 41 Seahawks. I had intended to paint the squadron patch on one side of the aircraft and the USS RUBEN JAMES ship’s patch on the other side. HSL - 41 however is the RAG training squadron and does not deploy on ships. I saw a picture of one of the squadron’s aircraft with an all black tail and a white Osprey (Seahawk) on the tail. The squadron patch has a helicopter flying in front of a small sun with a black and white Osprey grasping a submarine in its talons. Yellow bands above and below this circular area declares HSL – 41, Seahawks. I thought this was a striking paint scheme so I painted the entire tail fin and horizontal stabilizer of my model in light blue, the same blue as the squadron patch (Yes I like colorful aircraft!!). The blue was bordered along the tail fold joint with white. On the port side behind the cockpit I painted the squadron patch. This squadron has flown numerous hours (I can’t remember the exact figure) with out an accident occurring. Ergo I placed a large “S” for “Safety” just behind the cockpit on the starboard side.

The rotors were painted black with metallic details for the linkages and actuators. The wheels were painted black with white rims and struts. The MAD gear was painted in red and yellow bands. I painted the torpedoes in olive drab with a black head and silver screws. The upper surface of the aircraft was painted gray. The decals were added at this point since it would be easier than after the rotors and antennae were added.

I then put the windows in. They are designed to be inserted from the outside with little (unfortunately visible) stops molded in the sills to prevent them from falling through. If you feel confident enough you could carefully sand the stops off the frame. The side windows do not need glue to hold them in place. The fit is tight enough and they could be snap fitted. However I advise gluing them in place, since the stress caused one of mine to pop out and almost be lost! You must dry fit to determine where you can sand down the frame before you attempt gluing the windows in. A minor disappointment arose at this point. The floorboard has a space between it and the base of the fuselage. This is visible through the lower forward window that is situated by the pilots’ feet. This problem can be solved by placing a thin piece of plastic card at the base of the floorboard beneath the cockpit. Molding the floorboard with a small vertical piece, by the manufacturer would have avoided this. The windshield forms part of the roof. This must be painted and glued into position. The fuselage top then attaches above this.

The gear is easy to attach. You simply line up the strut along the joint provided on the fuselage and glue it in place. The main rotor assembly is the tricky part. The rotor blades have to be glued into position using just a small pin to locate it properly. It is therefore necessary to be very careful when attaching the blades to the rotor head. A shaft is then inserted into a shaft plate. This shaft plate forms the base of the rotor assembly. It is important to not glue the shaft to the shaft plate. The shaft plate, with the freely rotating shaft in the middle, is then glued to the base of the rotor head. In effect the shaft plate is glued to the rotor head with a shaft free to spin in the middle. The rotor head has a small hole in the base for the shaft to spin in. The shaft has a small pin at the top to fit into this hole. The base of the shaft projects below the shaft plate. This projection is glued to the top of the fuselage. On a closing note the instructions show the horizontal stabilizer to be glued in a horizontal position. However I have never seen a Seahawk with the horizontal stab in this position. It is almost always sloped downwards.

Decals & Finishing:

The decals are for a low viz color scheme. They are water slide and are applied very easily without any problems. They are however very small. I advise using some sort of instrument to slide them of the backing and position them on the aircraft. I used the tip of the scissors I cut them from the card with. They dry without any white film on them.

Overall:

This is an exciting aircraft and I enjoyed building it. The scale does not allow much detail but it allows experimentation for the intermediate builders in terms of painting and scratch building. The detail is sufficient to create a satisfactory addition to anyone model collection.

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