1/48 Minicraft MH-60G   (Part 2)

Two Special Ops Hawks

by Everett McEwan

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    After I decided to use my Italeri MH-60G as the base for building my MH-60K (this is the MH-60K boxing) I thought about just putting this kit back in the closet or selling it. But I figured while I was building the MH-60K I might as well bang this one out too.
    That is not to say this was an easy build, I tried to equalize as much of the detail as I could between the two kits. I used the cockpit parts from Cobra Company as my start and modified the front panel to represent the G using some Photo Etch CRTs (weather
radar) and some drilling for the dials.

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     The kit pit is decals only and is pretty lame. I also used the same stuff for the seats as I did with my K (scratchbuilt rear seats too). I cut up and detailed the roof as well using a different pattern than with the K based on photos in the squadron walk around book. I also added ribbing to the inside near the rear doors as I did on the K as
well as the internal fuel tank.

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    I detailed the inside of the pilots doors, using plastic card for the ribbing and handles, and aluminum foil for the map pockets. The only thing I did not detail was the mini guns. 

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    I added a lot of scratchbuilt details to the outside as well, things like the latches for the nose compartment or wirecutters and other lumps and bumps. You can see the added things in the construction photos, look for the white evergreen plastic.

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    As I did on my K I detailed both the main and tail rotors with some bits of wire and such. I also had to add the wire that runs on the refueling probe, this was already in place on the Italeri kit. I drilled out and detailed a few of the vents and pipes on the dog house and even added the grill to the nose section. I also added a FLIR (Cobra Co again) under the nose since a lot of the Gs carry this now. The kit fits together well but I would suggest adding cross bracing to the main fuselage seam on the belly, mine kept
cracking.

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    I thought about painting it in Gunship Grey overall as the Gs are now adopting, but considering I would have to add a lot of other updates (such as new chaff dispensers and RWR equipment) I decided not to.  Besides I like the subtle green look of the Euro 1 scheme and I think it turned out well.

I used Testor Model Master paints (they actually call the one green "Eruo Green") and started with Gunship Grey, masked and painted the next two greens. After I sealed with Future and did the decals (Italeri kit decals), I tried the same weathering technique as I
did on the K. I mostly worked on the tail area following a few photos from World Air Power Journal as a reference.

    Added the antennas and such and it was done.  Sometimes you just have to build something because if you don't do it now you may never get around to it. I was focusing on making the K as nice as I could building this as an after thought. But now that I look at them all done, I actually like this one better, it turned out well. These two probably won't be the last Blackhawks I build, they weren't the first either. I would recommend the Minicraft kit over the Italeri to be honest, it might not have the same surface detail but it builds up much easier and cost about half. But I'll let the pictures tell the story, can you tell the difference? 

Happy modeling!

Everett 

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Photos and text © by Everett McEwan