Preparation: 

I have wanted a 1/35 Blackhawk for a long, LONG time and now with the two current releases by MRC Acadamy, you can build an Army Blackhawk or an Air Force Pave Hawk.  Cobra Company has released several upgrade sets for these two kits, and they are well worth the price to update and upgrade this kit to a stunning rendition of the real thing. With those sets you can update a Blackhawk, MH60L Special Ops Blackhawk or update the tailfin to its proper size. 

No matter which version you choose to build, you will need to make some changes and additions. Others on ARC have noticed some problems with the kit, and I will address those point-by -point. This article will focus on interior issues, and another article will focus on exterior issues. 

I planned to use the Cobra Company UH60L update set. The resin set is a drop-in replacement for some of MRC’s “weaker” parts.  Instrument panel, seats, cyclic and collective sticks are presented in tan resin.  When using the Cobra Company parts, just read their excellent directions and dry fit everything before committing to glue, ESPECIALLY THE CENTER CONSOLE and INSTRUMENT PANEL. The problem there being that it can interfere with windshield fit later on, so leave it loose and install it later in construction after plenty of dry-fitting. 

Sidewalls: 

The excellent Eduard Photoetch sets take care of this problem, but I wanted more plastic than PE on this model, so I made enhancements and fixed problem issues myself.  The main problem you will encounter is that the broom closets will not seal up snug against the fuselage:  There is a large gap that must be back-filled with plastic and puttied out.

You can see this as the two white pieces of plastic on the next to the smaller CE window, where the landing gear strut will be mounted.  By now you have noticed the added strip detail on the broomcloset bulkhead this is because there are a number of stiffeners there that are absent on the kit. I added them with .010x.020 strip and sanded the edges round. 

Add a strip of  .010x.020 strip to the edge of the aftmost bulkhead where it will meet the edge of the door. This serves as the cap that is machined into the stiffener and helps seal the broomcloset to the fuselage.

You will need to add  a strip of .030 stripstock to the edge of the floor to seal it up against the door opening. This will be a bit thick, but you can sand away what you need to. 

Seats and Armor: 

The seat sliding armor is a great touch, and missing from other Blackhawk kits.  You will be adding a handle and wire to the front of the armor.  Use your references, (there is a pic of it in the instructions) to make this simple handle shape and add the wire running from the release handle up and over then down to the lower support arm. A triangle  made from scrap will be the upper support flange.  Easy!

Next come the seats.  You will be adding four pieces of wire to the seats after you get the resin units in place. Dry fit the seats to make sure the head rest does not collide with the circuit breaker panel overhead—mine did and I had to break them apart and lower them on the seat.  Glue the ICS /Storage box on the back frame. Drill out the upper frame aft support for the two seatback release handles and add them from .020 rod. I added the pilot commo wire running from the outboard side of the seat up over the headrest, coiled into a loop, and back to the seat, terminating in a connector made from a hunk of insulation stripped from phone wire. The ICS has a wire running from the bottom down to where the Pilot ICS will enter your floor. Dry fit at this time to make sure your wiring is going according to plan. Now for the fun part—make the seat slider release cables from very thin wire, running from the front left and right seat lock pins at the front of the floor mount, under the seat and to the lock release handle on the left side of the seat. The handle will be made and added later since it will be vulnerable during painting.  There is a bag under each ICS/Storage bin made of black vinyl on the real AC.  I made these from embossed candy wrap foil and glued them to a piece of thin stripstock, which was glued to the seatback.  That’s it, your seats are ready to paint! Overall black, differing textures on the fabric parts of the seat padding, often a dark maroon color, and the belts have a metallic bluish color similar to the belts in Ford cars years ago. Seat tilt release handles are yellow striped, but I have seen some that are bright red.  There is a large decal bordered by black and yellow striping on the back of the seat warning of this feature, and it can be quite prominent. 

Conclusion: 

One more thing needs to be done to the interior.  The box surrounding the cargo hook is too deep, and you need to sand almost half of it away to get the fuse to close up. Try it and you will see what I mean.

Look for more on this project in the future! 

David