¹⁄35

Vietnam UH-1H Medevac Diorama

This is a UH-1H MedEvac Huey from the 57th Medical Company, "The Original DustOffs", in Vietnam. It started life as a 1/35 Panda UH-1D/H model. I corrected some of the deficiencies in the kit, namely a lot of holes for incorrect antennas for a Vietnam helo. I also used the excellent Cobra Company UH-1 Detail/ Correction Set, #3511 to replace much of the detail-less and out of scale interior parts.

Most of the cabin interior detail is scratch-built. The crew seats in the rear were modified from UH-60 troop seats, the door gunner seats were widened and new, in scale legs were added. The litters are scratched from sheet and rod styrene and lead foil. The hoist is a modified piece from the 1/35 Academy MH-60G kit, as is the jungle penetrator. Pilots are from the DML Vietnam Helo Crew set. Seat belts are all made from lead foil.

The "57" red crosses and "The Originals" decals I custom made using my computer, inkjet decal paper, and my home printer. The rest are from the kit, with the exception of the yellow registration data on the left side, it is from the Fireball Modelworks UH-1D/H decal sheet.

The tress are made from a wire skeleton, covered in masking tape and sealed with white glue. The branches are dried branches from a Creosote bush that grows in the California desert. The leaves are perfect for large, 1/35 jungle leaves. I dried them, sealed them with Urethane, then sprayed them green so they won't turn brown. Then I glued them onto the wire frame tree. The leaves on the jungle floor are extra Creosote leaves and ground up oregano glued in place. The ground figures are modified Dragon figures from various sets.