Here is the next update on my Air Over the Sea entry: Italeri's SH-60B.




There were no locating pins and little in the way of reference on where to put the search radar housing. A lot of test fitting was required.


Mother, since you are also building this, here is what I was talking about earlier. Let the ceiling free-float in the front to make sure you have it lined up for the cockpit "sunroof." From all the test fitting I've done, this seems to be where it should be properly fitted to allow for a good fit with the "sunroof" (part 27B) and the front canopy.



Gluing the chin windows before gluing the fuselage together should save a lot of effort. Neither of the foward ALQ-142 ESMs (the "boxes seen here) nor the ALQ-44 data link (the "bulbous" pod in between) have locating pins and require a lot of test fitting before gluing.

The next few photos show the intakes and exhausts. They are very hard to properly align and have considerable gaps with little room to sand or add filler - especially the exhausts.


left intake


Right intake. Instead of using filler, I added stock card. I didn't added 42B and 43B for the right intake and 26B for the left intake. Reference photos didn't show any of the pieces on real SH-60Bs.


This is the left exhaust. For both, the mold line was so great and so hard to reach with my sanding stick, I just lathered the exhausts with gap filler and lightly sanded smooth. They look good in this lighting but, even with the gap filler, as the next photo with a flash shows...eww. The vertical mold line is correct, but should be extended all the way ldown the cover to the "bump" with the panel line going through it. The horizontal part of the L mold line needs sanded away; something I'm working on now.

Also, the aft ALQ-142 pods have locating pins, but they DON'T match with the ones that the instructions say to drill in the fuselages.




The position told by the instructions to put the aft ALQ-44 data link pod is also wrong. And the antenna immediately behind the tail wheel doesn't exist on real SH-60Bs. It looks like Italeri added two VHF/UHF/TACAN antennas; why, I don't know. I removed it and placed the ALQ-44 in the position behind the aft-most antenna.



The instructions say to add parts 18A and 4C for what appears to be an ALQ-144 IR countermeasure pod. Most photos I've seen don't have them (though I know of a couple that do) so I left it off but kept the heavily sanded base plate. Checking through Squadrons' UH-60 Blackhawk Walk Around, this appears to be part of the "Middle East Force (MEF) modifications, which includes Tracor ALE-39 chaff/flare dispensers on either side of the aft fuselage [not included in the kit] and provisions for two Sanders ALQ-156 IR countermeasures sets: one aft of the main rotor and the other forward of the tail wheel" Only the main rotor set is included in the kit.




Here is my hand painted TI AQS-81 Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) sensor. I haven't painted the fin section yet and still need to do touchup on the red and yellow.

More pics in the gallery and more updates to come. Comments are much encouraged!

Jeff

I’m not the kind a modeler who tells another what he/she should do. It’s something I don’t do. I only wanted to pass off these tips to you as you’re a knowledgeable modeler.

So far your off to a great start Jeff. As for sanding the insides of the exhausts, try taking some sandpaper and roll it. This works very well getting into tight spots. On the left side fuselage just rear of the exhaust is a round indentation, it’s an exhaust port. That needs to be drilled out. For the intakes you should have sanded the backs (against fuselage) this would of eliminated most of the sanding of the front side. The next you need to fill a gap use masking tape. Tape along the seems as close a possible, then add the putty into the gap. Let it dry about 30mins. Then using a q-tip and some nail polish remover, dip the q-tip and wipe over the puttied seem till it’s smooth. You may have to do it a couple times. This will eliminate a lot of the sanding and sanding off most of the panel lines and detail.

Thanks for passing along your build tips to me as I well be looking for those problem spots. Now with everything aside, your doing a great job especially with all the fit problems you ran into. Looking forward to seeing it done. One question, are you using the kits decals or aftermarket.

Thanks for the tips on how to fill gaps better. Had never thought about masking tape for it. I will do that at the next gap I see.

I will also check my references on how best to drill out the exhaust port. I may just end up using my "black-pit" black paint to simulate a neverending hole .

As for decals, I haven't seen any aftermarket SH-60s decals out there. So I probably am going for kit here.

Jeff

Jeff,

I'm glad to see you taking this project on so soon to the end of the build. I wish you all the best in finishing it.

Mother thank you for helping Jeff with your suggestions you are in my humble opinion the helicopter guru :-)

Brian

Jeff here are some aftermarket decal sets.

http://cobracompany.com/ccd4802.htm

http://www.arawasi.jp/salebook.hp/decal/fp/papasheli48.html

This is what I want to attempt to do on mine, They have a decal sheet of this.. only in 1/72nd*-) Will have to do my own markings, doesn't look that hard Have you gotten any further.

Jeff, looking very good so far. One other thing you could try is to use a round tip grinder chucked in a Dremel. I am currently modifying Italeri's HH-60 and it worked well in smoothing everything out. Can't wait to see more!
Kyle

Which one did you say you are doing? I saw three, Cobra's, and the other site had one for an SH-60J and an SH-60F?

As for where I am now: I just started painting. I picked up the correct colors (only in enamel, a first for me) and started with a basic coat of the main color for the sides. I'll do a second coat on the sides, and paint the top and bottom coats on when that dries. I hand paint my models, so it will take a couple of days.

Kyle - I might just try that next go around since I started painting and won't be doing too much more sanding on this one.

Brian- thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot since I have a lot starting to pressure up for that week (end of campaign, moving back into the dorms, CPR/AED recertification, work - quitting one job, starting another, and continuing a third! -, doctor's appointments, etc. all in that one week.)

Jeff.

Wow that's a lot of work to get things to fit right. Almost sounds like you got the wrong instructions

To get into the intakes you could try rolled sandpaper as suggested, also try holding the paper on the end of a piece of rod with some blu-tac. Not sure what it's called in the States but it is a re-usable putty made for putting up posters and so on. You can buy it in stationery stores, it's also handy for all sorts of other things when modelling - holding bits for painting, test fitting, I've even seen it used for masking (in fact I think there's an article about it on the front page of the site - doh!)

Alan - Yeah! The instructions here are almost like "guidelines" I have consulted the instructions more for the parts number for the pieces rather than for how things fit! But its fun and I am getting a much bigger sense of accomplishment than breezing through Tamiya's Humvees...or dare I say one of their beloved Shermies!

Graham - Mother suggested something like that earlier and I will definitely play around with both variations at the next applicable time.

Thanks. Another update soon.

Jeff