¹⁄35

MH-60G Pave Hawk

Exterior Painting

With major assemby completed, the model was ready for paint. First it was brushed of and then wiped down with rubbing alcohol, (figure 17 & 18). I decided to paint in Model Masters Gunship Gray - that’s the new color the G’s are now adopting, (figure 19). After the paint dried, three coats of Future floor wax was applied. The floor wax works great to weather when using oils. For the wash, I used Winton’s Paynes Gray. It’s a dark gray in color and I find that it works well when weathering Aircraft in gray colors, (figure 20).

After a three hour wait I’ll use a number 0 brush to remove and blend the oil wash. I find that using the 0 brush makes it easier to push the paint around the raised detail. Also by waiting the three hours you don’t need to use thinners to remove the oils. Now let it set for 24 hours and apply two more light coats of the Future floor wax, and let it set another 24 hours to dry. After that it was time to put on the decals, then I lighten up the base coat of Gunship Gray by adding a drop or two of white and then thinned it down with the rubbing alcohol, 10% paint to 90% thinner. Turning the compressor down to 10psi, I airbrushed along some of the raised areas and in most of the centers of the panels. I then sprayed on two coats of Testors dull coat.

Main Rotors

Now moving on to the main rotor mast, head and blades in steps 13 and 14. Here you have the option of displaying your Pave Hawk with the blades open or in a folded position. I found that in it’s folded position the blades don’t fully fold inward, (figure 21). To bring them a little tighter, lay out the parts as I did and you’ll see where the blades hit against the mast head. Shave down the blades using your hobby knife and dry fit from time to time taking a little off at a time, (figure 22). You don’t want to go overboard, you just want to take off enough so that the blades tuck under each other, (figure 23).

The main and tail rotors were painted with Model Masters Metalizers, aluminum, gun metal, burnt iron, titanium and stainless steel. The blades were paint in Model Masters flat black. Tamiyas NATO black was dry brushed on along with a few blotch marks.

Conclusion

All of the photo etch pieces went together well and had no problems during the build using them. The kit's overall fit wasn’t that bad itself - with some putty and some sanding it turned out pretty good… then you get to the glass. Most of the pieces went in ok, and I say ‘ok’ loosely. I had two pieces that were undersized and wished I dry fitted the glass in before I stated the build. This would have given me the chance to add in stretched sprue for a tighter fit around the openings.

From the information I gathered, the Italeri Pave Hawk is the better choice in 1/48th. Along with their interior photo etch set, Eduard also has an exterior set in photo etch, item no.# 48 471.