Got this from HobbyLink Japan, a 1/48 Revell Bell UH-1 "Huey Hog". The UH-1 Huey Hog is the gunship version of the venerable Bell UH-1 Iroquois that became an icon of the Vietnam War. As a gunship it comes equipped with side mounted tube missiles, machine guns and a nose mounted grenade launcher. If I remember correctly, 1986 was probably the last time I built a 1/48 military aircraft kit that needs glue to put it together.
The Huey follows the tradition of the US Military to name their helicopters after Indian tribes. But the nickname Huey, based off its original designation (HU-1, instead of UH-1), was what stuck to it instead. Wasn't there a saying before that the thup-thupping of the Huey's rotor blades was the sound of freedom? With the introduction of the Huey came the advent of the Air Cavalry, or the use of Helicopters to bring soldiers and supplies into the battlefield.
Here's a shot of manual next to a 6 inch ruler for comparison.
Box shot also next to a 6 inch ruler for comparison.
I got the last kit in the shop, so it's most likely out of stock. But HLJ will have some of the Revell 1/48 Huey Hog available by June. From the looks of it, the two products are basically the same except for the markings and configurations. In this kit, the manual states that the US Marines version doesn't have the nose mounted grenade launcher, it's installed instead on the US Army version. Wonder why Revell did that?
The reason I got this has no relation to mecha. It was purely for personal and nostalgia reasons. For me, this was the model kit that got away. When I was a young boy, my mother and I went to the shopping mall to buy a present for a relative. Knowing that that relative liked making model kits, I selected this for him. I would have wanted to have my mom buy this for myself, except that I thought that this was the coolest kit at the shop, worthy of being given as a present. Years came by and I've always had an ear to the ground for this kit. At that time of course this kit was made by Monogram, luckily Revell bought Monogram's molds and reissued this awesome kit.
Decals included in the kit next to a 6 inch ruler for comparison. The kit has the option to be built as the US Marine or US Army version. In the manual, it shows that the US Army version is the one that comes equipped with the grenade launcher on its nose.
Parts come inside a plastic bag. Which is good because the gates of the parts are quite thin and they easily fall off the runners. Something to keep in mind when building this kit, which is to be mindful of that parts that fall of. This particular kit I got had 3 parts fall off from its runners.
Posting some shots now of the runners included in the kit. Revell designates this kit as being of Class 4 ranking. According to the manual, Class 4 has more than 150 parts in the kit and needs an experienced modeler to build it.
Right now I still lack the necessary colors to paint this kit, so I will update this post in the future once I've gathered the paint I need and start to build this kit. I'm so spoiled by the snap fit kits of Bandai that I don't even have any modeling glue in the house *snicker*
On the upper right of this runner you can see two 1/48 scale pilot figures included in this kit. One figure appears to be pointing at something...hehehe
Huey weapons system found on this runner
Outer fuselage of the Huey
Clear parts for the 1/48 Huey Hog comes in its own plastic bag.
Started building this kit and problem areas I noticed is that of the thin plastic employed in the two halves of the main fuselage. So thin in fact that if you hold it up against the light you can see the light slightly coming through. There was also the issue of the bad design on how the fuselage comes together, as detailed in this post.
