Subject: Re: hi, this is my first time submitting, I apologies for the mess below, hope you can make amends to it!
From: "Steve Bamford ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Murray Biggs" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 13:46:01 -0700

----- Original Message -----
From: "Murray Biggs" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Saturday, July 12, 2003 10:12 AM
Subject: hi, this is my first time submitting, I apologies for the mess
below, hope you can make amends to it!

> Gallery Template #06
> 1/72 Italeri UH-60L Black Hawk "Super Six Two"
> by Raymond Biggs
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here
> I first read the book Black Hawk Down as the movie was being released in
the
> U.S. ( It was released two months later in New Zealand). The book gave an
> amazing first-person account of the fighting that took place on the
streets
> of Mogadishu and the many acts of heroism by those involved.
> Anyone who is familiar with the mission will know of the two Delta Force
> snipers Randy Sughart and Gary Gordon, who gave their lives to aid downed
> Black Hawk pilot Mike Durant defending the second crash site.  Their
tragic
> story inspired me to build this model, which represents "Super Six Two":
the
> Black hawk that inserted them onto the hostile streets of Mogadishu.
> The Model
> Sadly this model was a bit of a nightmare to build, and presented a near
> vertical learning curve ( its is based on the photos supplied in the book,
> not the movie, which uses MH-60's). I'm used to building Aircraft and
AFV's
> but had never attempted a helicopter, let alone one substantial interior
> detail! the kit is Italeri's 1/72 UH-60 Desert Hawk, and is an O.K. kit.
the
> fit was fine except for around the cockpit which was horrible, but it does
> look about right dimensionally.  the real problem came when painting the
> model, I'm not sure if it was the paint or the plastic, but something
caused
> the paint to go horrible on the model, resulting in a "gluggy" look,
though
> I managed to fix most of it.
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg
here.
> Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
03.jpg
>    Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller
> version of photo 04.jpg here. Clicking on that photo will bring up the
full
> sized version of photo 04.jpg     
> The main task in modifying the model was the addition of Miniguns over the
> kits supplied M60's. I made my miniguns out of 1/48 mustang gun barrels,
ERA
> blocks and smoke grenades care of Revells 1/72 T-80 tank model. The result
> is a fairly convincing minigun, next came the figures. I couldn't justify
> spending $20NZ to buy 100 modern US marines (Revell packs) when I only
> needed two, so I went to my ever trusty spares box and found a couple of
> pilot figures + two WW2 American soldiers.  I carefully sanded down the
> soldiers helmets to looks like the Pro-Tech's Delta wear and carefully
> painted them in desert fatigues. though you cant see in the photos, there
is
> quite a bit of detail on the figures, right down to the arm patches!! (
> that's another long story though!) the cockpit received some spicing up
via
> the addition of roof levers. The gear on the cabin floor is a sniper rifle
> and ammo bags. the former is a repainted M60 supplied with the kit, the
ammo
> bags are 1/35 canteens with the tops removed.
>
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 02.jpg here
> Though this project was frustrating at times, it was immensely fun overall
> went together very smoothly. I plan to take another stab at "Super Six
Two"
> using the knowledge gained from this project along with the release of
> Italeri's MH-60 combined with better paints and spares I have acquired (
> I've got some 1/72 miniguns and modern soldiers, wohoo!), so hopefully I
can
> present an improved Black hawk model on ARC sometime soon!
> Raymond.
> Click on images below to see larger images
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg
here.
> Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo
05.jpg
>    Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller
> version of photo 06.jpg here. Clicking on that photo will bring up the
full
> sized version of photo 06.jpg     
> Photos and text © 2003 by Raymond Biggs
>
>