1/72 Italeri UH-19A in PAF Colors by Glenn "Wingnut" Bontigao

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1/72 Italeri UH-19A in PAF Colors

by Glenn "Wingnut" Bontigao

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Hey folks,

Another Philippine Air Force (PAF) build, this time it's a whirlybird, and my first helo kit...

This ex-Korean helo was one of the early types flown by the PAF and generally used by the 505th Air Rescue Squadron for SAR (Search And Rescue) missions until 1953 .

With a conventional rotary engine, this type of helo was rendered obsolete when the turboshaft engine helos like the UH-1 Hueys came into service.

This originally was from a UH-19B kit which I modified to fit the UH-19A configuration and folded rotor blades by doing the following retrofitting;

1) Scratchbuilt the drooping tail wings;
2) Added pla-plate for the bottom tail boom antenna;
3) Added some rotor stowage parts from stretched sprues, plastic bag sheets and plain paper;
4) Modified the rotor assembly for a stowage configuration;
5) Replaced the dorsal whip antennas and pitot tube with stretched spues;

Like my other PAF builds, I wanted to depict a well utilized and weathered aircraft.

Gunze gloss black base paint with a few coats of Johnsons Klear was used for the metal finish base color.

Gunze acrylics and Mr. Metal Aluminium were used for painting and post-shaded with mixing clear orange and blue to get that light rust effect for the panels. Daler-Rowney oil colors (lamp black/burnt umber) diluted in lighter fluid was used for final wash. Some dusting was done with some Mr. Hobby powdered weathering pastels and flat clear coating to finish it all off.

Decals are from Scalenutz, some homemade and stencils from the kit itself.

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The kit itself has good detailing for intakes vents, panel lines and even a detailed cockpit and jump seats for the passenger hold. The main rotor blades were even molded to have a certain droop to them for a more realistic effect. Overall it's a wonderful kit to work with, would be great if only there would be some aftermarket PE parts for detailed engine, hinged cowling ,vent grilles and other accessories.

This kit is a tail-sitter, luckily there's enough space in the engine compartment for some lead weights to counter this situation.

If your are keen to do this build, a 1/72 UH-19A Rescue Chickasaw is also available from Italeri which is the proper PAF version.

Glenn

Click on images below to see larger images

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