1/48 Italeri UH-1D Dust-Off 

by Pablo Angel Herrera

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This one I built it about 2 years ago. I have always liked the looks of this chopper and what it meant during the Vietnam war, so I went to get my fourth one this time in 1/48. That night I saw a program on the History Channel about the medevacs during Vietnam and I thought it would be interesting doing that scheme and the fact that my brother is a medic as well.

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So the construction began and I have to say this is a very nice kit, has good detail and except for the nose...it fits well. The nose is a pain because the inner parts of the cockpit are designed for the UH-1N Twin Huey so lots of filling and sanding was required. The interior is basically out of the box with some scratch details like the first aid kits, vendages and venoset (my brother guided me on this one). For this I used heated transparent sprue to simulate the little fluid bag and hose.

For the blood in the cabin I applied a mix of red, military brown and black to simulate blood stains on the floor and interior panels. I also dry brushed the interior panels with light grey and light green to weather the fabrics. As for the fuselage I painted overall Green Drab, painted the red crosses with white squares, then I post shaded it with US Army Helo Drab and highlighted the panel`s interior with Olive Drab in the upper surfaces where usually the sun burns the paint like in the case of Southeast Asia. Some gunfire holes where made since this helos were unarmed and the red cross gave them a high visibility. This model is dedicated to the people who flew medevac (dust-off) missions during Vietnam war.

Pablo

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Photos and text © by Pablo Angel Herrera