Hi all,
I wanted to share some pictures of something I have been working on for more than a year. It's the Academy 1/35 UH-60L Black Hawk, modified to be the one that my son flew last year with the 82nd Airborne out of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Mods to the kit included:

Cobra Co. resin pieces
Eduard PE inside and out
82nd Airborne insignia and tail numbers made for me by Joseph Osborn
Flashing red and white (user selectable) anticollision lights, flasher circuit programmed for me by John J. Roberts Jr.
Glow in the dark slime lights
Running lights
Scratchbuilt EOMS pods (flare launch detectors) on nose and tail
Scratchbuilt HF "towel bar" antenna
A scratchbuilt AGPU (power unit) housing the 9V battery which powers the electronics

I'm half ashamed to admit it, but this was the first project I have ever airbrushed and weathered, so I made a lot of mistakes - but I learned a lot, and the end result wasn't too bad. I think I bit off more than I should have expected to chew. At one point I got so frustrated that it sat untouched for 9 months. The decals silvered badly, even though I used Future first and Micro Sol and Micro Set. I was able to hide most of the silvering when I weathered the model, but one decal still sticks out like a sore thumb.

For the display base, I scanned the emblem from a "Dogpound" T-Shirt (the name of my son's maintenance company), enlarged it to 12"x12", and put it in a frame.

For what it's worth, here's the finished product:
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/_DSC0073.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/_DSC0080.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/_DSC0088.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/_DSC0090.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/_DSC0092.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/overhead1.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/front.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/tail2.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/tailrotor.jpg
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp155/texwardo/UH-60L%20project/nosequarter1.jpg

Anyway, here's to my son, and to all the brave men and women of our Armed Forces, at home and abroad!
--Jonathan

Gorgeous!!

Absouletly Awesome..I wondered how you were doing with this build up glad to see it finished...Jeff

Thanks, guys. What got me moving on this again, strangely enough, was my daughter and her husband (and their baby) suddenly needing to move in with me over the summer. I had all of my model assembly stuff in the upstairs bedroom that was now to become their room. I took everything down to the basement, where my air compressor and air brush were...and suddenly, it became much easier to work with everything in one room (duh). I was also getting WAAAAAAAY over my head thinking about a diorama and all the ancillary stuff that had to go into this - the complexity was paralyzing me. Deciding to go with the picture frame base suddenly made everything very easy, and yet still provided an interesting display base.

Now that the helicopter is off the desk, I have just finished my Fine Molds Millennium Falcon, which got to the primer stage but no farther last year. I'll post pics of that once I finish its display base this week.

Love the attention to detail you put into this. Marvelous job!

Sean

Anyway, here's to my son, and to all the brave men and women of our Armed Forces, at home and abroad!
--Jonathan


HOOOOOAHH! And a big thanks to your son and all others serving.

Also, some great pix of a great build! :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr

wow its sweet.. awesome pix

That will become a family heirloom I am sure... great job,

cool, the 2nd time

fantastic details and a super clean build. Notice the "flattened" tires of the AGPU.
I have to say something about the cockpit glass? The paint and weathering looks very realistic.
Overall a good build. As stated above, I'm sure this model will remain a family treasure.

great work

I am not happy with the cockpit glass, either. I coated it in Future. I think the Eduard masks dulled the finish. I guess I should use some ammonia to strip off the Future, unless anyone has a better idea? I'm not really sure how to polish it without messing it up.