Reviews : Italeri UH-1D Slick

According to the Scalemates website, the Italeri UH-1D Slick 1/48, #849 was initially released in 1998. In 2013 the kit received a new boxing, using the same original box art. Upon opening the kit, I found that the plastic was on the soft side, which is characteristic of Italeri kits, I have built in the past. Fuselage parts had recessed panel lines and some rivet detail. Mesh screen detail on the overhead engine cover is excellent. Interior detail parts were acceptable with fine textured detail on the padded wall panel parts. Seat detail was minimal with molded in seat harness straps. The kit does not provide armored pilot/co-pilot seats, typical of Viet Nam War era, Hueys. Detail parts behind the clear plastic pieces on the lower surfaces of the nose are excellent, with foot pedal detail provided. A fairly detailed control panel is provided in the cockpit, however no control panel decals are provided in the kit. This is not a significant deficiency as very little of the control panel will be seen when the crew compartment is installed inside the fuselage. Clear plastic parts are of excellent quality. A decal sheet is provided which gives the builder three version options for a U.S., German or Australian aircraft. I opted to build the U.S. Army version (i.e. Version A). Decal quality is average; however, they are sensitive to micro set, therefore these decals are best installed using only tap water. Micro set caused one of the decals in this kit to start melting. The instruction sheet is fairly straight forward, although some of the call outs for Version A have been identified as incorrect by some model kit reviewers who claim that wire cutters were not used on Viet Nam era Hueys. For the most part, the parts fit was acceptable. The builder should pay close attention to the instructions as many holes must be drilled out on the floor panel, exterior fuselage ceiling panel and one of the tail boom halves, if the builder intends to install the zig zag HF antenna on the side of the tail boom. To replicate this detail, I used EZ Line and Gorilla glue to add the antenna wire to the mounting prongs on the tail boom. Due to the excessive number of clear glass parts on this aircraft, I painted up all of the fuselage parts before assembly. I did not primer these parts prior to applying the surface color. I used an Iwata HP-C airbrush with a 0.3mm needle at 20 psi to apply Mission Models MMP 020 US Army Olive Drab Faded 1 FS 34088 to all of the exterior fuselage surfaces. For the floor panel and crew seats, I used FS 35237 Medium Grey from AK Interactive. For the padded wall panel parts and the crew seat cushions I used Vallejo Model Air 71.043 US Olive Drab, FS 34087. For the main and tail rotor blades I used Anita's All Purpose Acrylic 30278 flat black paint. The rotor shafts were painted using Folk Art 667E Gunmetal Gray. I painted the skylight window glass above the pilot/co-pilot compartment with Model Master Clear Green applied with an airbrush. For the nonslip textured area on the ceiling panel of this aircraft, I masked it off and used Vallejo Model Air 71.097 Medium Gunship Gray, FS36118. If the kit is built according to the instructions, added weight to prevent the model from being a tail sitter is not necessary. A significant fit issue I encountered during the build was related to the windscreen clear part, which is too wide to fit properly to the front of the fuselage. This causes the ceiling fuselage panel to not sit flush against the side panels of the fuselage. I filled this gap using Micro Krystal Klear. This product did not react with the clear parts of this kit. I used the Montex paint mask set to mask of all of the windows prior to applying additional coats of finishing products to this model. After applying the surface coats of paint, I sealed them with Future for protection from the next acrylic matte coat from a spray can. After this coat cured, I then proceeded to apply decals to the model. once decals were applied, I then coated them with another application of Future to seal in the decals. After the Future cured, I then applied a final acrylic matte coat from a spray can. I then used Tamiya Black Panel Liner to highlight some intake vents as well as the mesh screen areas on the engine covers. The antenna rigging was done as a last assembly step. Although this kit has a relatively low parts count, due to the wind screen fit issue and the high number of clear windows on this aircraft, this kit is recommended for intermediate to advanced fine scale model builders with decal installation, paint masking and airbrush skills for best results.

If you're looking to build a UH-1D there isn't many options available out there and Italeri's kit is probably the most available to find. Overall, I gave it 4 out 5 stars. You are provided decals for an American, Australian and German aircraft as well as parts for an earlier and later version of the aircraft. Ultimately this amounts to just a few parts that equal small variations between the two but it's nice to have the options. Building it out of the box is pretty straight forward. My biggest complaint would be that there isn't much of an interior provided other than the seats. I bought the Eduard PE set which provides a little more detail but in the end was probably not worth the extra money. Getting the interior to fit between the fuselage halves can be tricky and if not done correctly can leave wide gaps around the door frames. If building the model with the doors closed, this isn't a huge issue. However, most people probably want the doors open so sanding to get an exact fit or using putty will be required. My only other suggestion would be to find some real photos of the aircraft when building it. While building my kit, I found that many of the small antennas that are provided were not necessarily on the real aircraft. I'm sure throughout the life of the Huey there were many modifications so if you're trying to be as historically accurate as possible, not all pieces may be used. In the end, if you want something that has decent exterior detail and looks like a UH-1D this is a good kit to buy. If you are looking for maximum accuracy, you might be a little frustrated with the amount of extra work that will be required. I have added a few pictures of my build.

The UH-1D Huey is among the best known aircraft in the world with over 16000 built, but for some reason it has not been a popular modeling subject in 1/48, with only ESCI and Italeri producing kits in that scale. Esci ceased production of their Huey when the Italeri kit was first released in 1998. The kit is accurate in outline and the molding is what we can expect from its original release date. Missing are the M60 door guns and armored pilot seats which are obvious by their omission on a 1st Cav Huey. Molding was clean and flash free, but assembly is a challenge, especially when assembling the interior and fuselage, but with some patience it can be built into a nice, if slightly inaccurate model out of the box. There are a number of aftermarket photoetched and resin parts that can correct the missing parts and add more to the finished product. Out of the box it looks like a Huey, and with some aftermarket parts it can be a beauty, and if you want a 1/48 long cabin Huey, this is the only game in town.

This is a very good kit of the Huey UH-1D. The instructions are laid out well. The fit is pretty good except for the fuselage halves. The locating pins are slightly off. I actually cut off the pins and realigned the fuselage. Once this was done there was very little putty required at the seams. The interior jump seats are too narrow and thick. I ended up scratch building them. The kit offers a couple of variations of the D version. The decals were nice. They went on easily and conformed to the surface well. With a little work and some aftermarket details it makes a good looking representation. I would recommend this kit for those looking for a long bodied Huey.

Very good kit at a nice price point. Assembly goes smooth with clear instructions, some modeling skills required, and looks very good when done. Cool selection of decals too, no crew included but that's pretty common with Italeri's kits.

This was an excellent model to build. Very little trimming to fit. I did skip ahead on parts of the build to airbrush the paint on. But everything fit into place even building out of sequence.

Easy assembly, appears fairly accurate. Great addition to your Vietnam collection