New 1/18 Mh-60 Black Hawk Review

[pickelhaube]

My black Hawk finally came in !!!

Thanks American Grenadier for a GREAT DEAL !!!!

First off the helo is NOT green it looks to be a faded black. I would say slate or charcoal grey.

The box is about 38 inches long or so.

It came well packed with no plastic window.

The fuselage is joined together with main rotor and other parts in a smaller box.

The helo HAS 2 FIGURES and a jungle extractor winch.

But no seat

The center radome is almost the same size as mine. The FLIR is some what smaller. Hmm... who is not to scale ?

I was like a kid at Christmas when I saw it on my back porch this afternoon.

I have not felt that way in a long time

You guys sitting on the fence GET IT !!

[pickelhaube]

Negative review.

After the joy of receiving the 60 left me I can now see straight.

The black wing stub is not correctly shaped but that does not bug me. The location does. It should be centered on the widow jamb.

The sliding widow really bugs me. I can see why they did it . Right behind the window is a bulkhead. So I guess there was nothing to see there so they just blanked it in and casted the window with the body.

The wing stub is also casted with the main body. IT CAN NOT BE REMOVED.

Probably saving thousands of dollars not having to install a glass window pane and the wing stubs during production.

This will be a serious pain in the tail to modify

If it can be.

[CW4USARMY]

Thanks for the pics Pickel. Mine is sitting at home waiting but I am on business travel for a couple of weeks so can't see what it actually looks like until I get home. Glad you reviewed and posted pics.

[aferguson]

so the wing stub is not the same one as before, where it was a seperate piece? Why the heck did they do that?

[Folkwulfe]

I think PH means that the stub wing upper attachment point is not removable....because the picture shows the stub wing NOT attached. Looks like it actually is a separate piece that might be removed with some work....and since when is anything impossible to PH???? Dude, replacing that molded in window on the forward door difficult for you? I THINK NOT! Sit down for a few with a cold Corona and tell me again how you can't do it.....I have faith in you!

[pickelhaube]

so the wing stub is not the same one as before, where it was a seperate piece? Why the heck did they do that?

They casted it with the main body. I guess it was to eliminate 2 extra pieces that were screwed in from behind.

Skipping this step made the wrong look but like I said before probably saved thousands in the production.

They did go through the trouble of changing the mould to accommodate the stubs.

I wish they would have changed it by moving the stubs back about 3/8ths of an inch to the center of the door frame.

[pickelhaube]

I think PH means that the stub wing upper attachment point is not removable....because the picture shows the stub wing NOT attached. Looks like it actually is a separate piece that might be removed with some work....and since when is anything impossible to PH???? Dude, replacing that molded in window on the forward door difficult for you? I THINK NOT! Sit down for a few with a cold Corona and tell me again how you can't do it.....I have faith in you!

I actually have been thinking how it can be done.

If there is one skill that I poses , it is working a Dremel.

I can do brain surgery with that thing .

OK maybe not , but I have not cut my fingers off.

YET !!

[Folkwulfe]

....then we'd have to call you "Pickle-Nubby"....?

[gouchy]

Thanks for the pics and review PH

That black/grey color sure looks very cool and sleek, sure wished it was half the price (I know, I know, its 2012 market)

On the stub issue, how does the saving money work? The stub is now casted with the main fuselage, which reduces the parts molded but that meant the fuselage mold has to be either new or modified, wouldn't which cost more then you save?

Is this Blackhawk variant fuselage very different to the old Black/Pavehawk mold?

[rohirrimknight]

Thanks for pictures and review PH. I also waiting my MH60 to arrive to me. I still waiting you to be ready for the mod set for black hawk. Hope you will have time available for black hawk mod kit after Ho229. I think please consider to include the crew gunner seating, internal oil tank in the Black hawk mod set.

[pickelhaube]

Thanks for the pics and review PH

That black/grey color sure looks very cool and sleek, sure wished it was half the price (I know, I know, its 2012 market)

On the stub issue, how does the saving money work? The stub is now casted with the main fuselage, which reduces the parts molded but that meant the fuselage mold has to be either new or modified, wouldn't which cost more then you save?

Is this Blackhawk variant fuselage very different to the old Black/Pavehawk mold?

We are paying for that mould change !!

The winglets and windows are moulded with the main fuselage.
The center line radome and FLIR are mould on as well.
With a seem down the middle fallowing the halves of the fuselage.
The FLIR camera is a round sphere with guide tabs that pops into the FLIR housing.

It spins !!


I really am not in the know about this stuff but I can speculate.

When you make injection moulds for another company you have an inflated price to make a profit.

When you make moulds to be used in house you pay only for labor and materials.

So I am thinking that when you have a small crew making correction to a mould .
Farther down the line you do not need an army of workers to assemble smaller parts that slows down the production line.

3-4 less parts means speedy production equaling less money for production.

The new 60 does not have the braced winglets and no large fuel cells.

The new price increase has got to go to the new mould and mini guns.

The m-134s are little gems.

I think I know the reason for the fuselage being glued together.

It is easier to pack in the box. They have plastic blister holding the nose and another holding the tail.
The small box of parts fill in the end of the box.

Because there is no see through window.
The is no need for a display tray to show off the parts.
So what do you do with 2 fuselage parts one being thick and wide the other being thin and long. ?

Glue them together and make a longer box. Problem solved.

Just make the collector pay for the additional shipping.

If they will pay $170 a model they can pay more for the shipping.

[exether_mega]

Thanks for the review
Very tempting even with the negative points.

phil

[aferguson]

i've decided not to get one of these. Mostly due to price but partly due to the fact that i have one of the older BH's and don't really want or have space for another. So i'm going to suck it up and remove the windows on my old one and put in some mini guns, and put the $200+ i saved buying this one to better uses.

[tmanthegreat]

I've got one of these coming in the next couple of days and already have the figures for it. It looks really good, even with the inaccuracies, so I'm excited!

The new MH-60 is enough of a tooling change to justify the new helo for me, even though I already have one of the original OD green UH-60 Blackhawks. I hope its easier to get figures inside it... that was always my biggest beef with the original version where some areas were nearly inaccesable.

[pcoughran]

Pickel,
I'm glad I didn't get one. It appears that it would be much more difficult to turn the new one into the DAP I eventually want than it will to use my new in box pavehawk I've been saving for that purpose. Those M134s sure look nice though!
I'm still on for a set of window inserts, miniguns, crab eyes, FLIR, Radome, fuel probe, new DAP winglets, M230 Chain gun, and a rocket pod of some sort. I also liked the tail "thingy" you did as well.

It would have been nice not to have to repaint the whole thing, but I think there are enough things wrong with the new one, that painting the pavehawk will be worth it. Eventually hoping to look like this 1/32 version


Phil

[aferguson]

speaking of the Pavehawk. I just stumbled on an old ad from Monkey Depot for the BBI Pavehawk. Sold out now. Was on sale at the time for $49.99.

Those were the days, my friends..

[gouchy]

$49.99? Ouch... Hindsight and Time Machines in short supply...

Edit: Thanks Aferg, I meant if we had plenty of foresight then

[aferguson]

actually we all have plenty of hindsight.

[Rowsdower]

Well, I don't collect 1:18 anymore but I was thinking of making an exception for this chopper. I've changed my mind and I'm gonna pass on this release.

[tmanthegreat]

My MH-60 came a couple days ago and I've finally got it fully assembled and crewed Overall, I'm pleased with the helicopter. Its a much different tooling than the standard BBI Blackhawk (at least on the main fuselage part) and while I could beat the thing to death over little inaccuracies, I'm willing to look past those. For me, its a different enough piece when compared to the original BBI UH-60 tooling, so it gives my collection some variety. I once had a Pavehawk for a while, but apart from the different cammo, it was identical to my original Blackhawk and thus I sold it.

I like the fact that the new helicopter is easier to "work" inside the interior without that middle row of seats and that BBI had a new-tooled floor piece without that slot shown in the early production pics. The floor has the anti-skid strips detailed. My main disappointment was the lack of seats for the gunners... The slots are there for those and they should have been included. The figures sort of have to kneel to hold the gun and stay in place. The miniguns themselves are fantastic!

The helicopter really makes a great and dynamic display piece with the Seals riding in the doors, roping out of the aircraft, pilots and crew at their stations, etc. I've filled my interior with the few extra Seal figures I purchased as well as some of the Marine Recon figures to fill in the less-visible areas, since they are nearly identical.

Here's a couple photos of my BBI MH-60 in action. Enjoy

[aferguson]

boy that guy's strong....fast roping with one hand and no feet.

looks nice, tman.

[granch]

Hi guys,
I've previously wrote I was disturbed with the lack of gunner seats and the bad looking sliding windows.
A few ideas, if you've a first release Black Hawk:
- Remove the center 3x3 seats row, saw it through to get to single seats. Than put these seats behind the pilots seats, backward, as shown on some picks. So you will keep anough place (I hope) for the gunner to seat (backward) or to "stand" behind his machine gun. And now you have a real cargo room in your old UH-60, just make 2 panels to cover the holes in the cabin floor.
- Buy the Gattling amo box at Marauderinc. If you make the inside better with gunner seats, I think you also need amo boxes. And perheaps the 2 fire extinguishers they usually have on board. The Power team elite / Marauder -Gun-Runners extinguishers are too long, but 1/24 boat stuff could make it.
- Buy the fuel probe from Pickelhaube. Than ask him to make the 2 big removable fuel tanks that could hide the last 4 seats at the back of the cabin. I will make mines with wood and hope to house in them the batteries to lightened my old Pave Hawk. When they put the fuel probe, they add these tanks (have a lot of picks, if someone interested).
- Cut in a transparent sheet the exact window shape to give that silly place of the MH-60 some more realistic glance.
... Hope for many bad weather week-ends so you can start customize your new MH-60
- tmanthegreat, I can tell you I've put 4 men crew and 9 BBI soldiers with all their stuff in my Blackhawk. OK, the mission commander and observer have their feets turned backward so they can seat right, and I had to make them a 3-4 mm thick seat cushion, because they have their bottom over their seats.
- Who has better ideas? I will be glad to hear you all, before I start my own work.

[Nugget]

Tman, that looks awesome hanging from your ceiling. If only my ceiling wasn't already crowded with a Corsair and an Avenger...

[Barbarian333]

Tman, Very cool display. Those prop blades dont look to be drooping. Do you think they will start to fall over time?

[granch]

For the falling prop blades, I've used a very, very thin nylon wire. Very difficult to make a knot, you need a surgical tweezers and a very good light. Each prop wire attached at the same hook at the ceiling where the stronger fisherman lines support the helicopter. The thin nylon wire carries only a light weight, so it can be thin...
In this pic, I've used thicker wires and gave a too much tension, it was my first attempt, but for my UH-60, the finest is OK (just have no pic yet):


For my smaller helicopters (MH-6, Kiowa), I just turn them upside down in their hanging position during my hollidays. With the summer heat, the blades curve upside and keep then for many months straight when I'm back.