HH-60H Rescue Hawk

[Mike]

HH-60H Rescue Hawk

1:48 Skunkmodels Workshop

In association with

Based on the almost ubiquitous Black Hawk, the Sea Hawk and its derivative the Rescue Hawk was developed in the late 80s to provide Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR) and Naval Special Warfare operations, and has a comprehensive suite of active and passive devices to increase the aircraft's survival chances. The engine exhausts have also been adapted to reduce their infrared signature, making it harder for missiles to obtain a lock. It can carry a small compliment of Hellfire missiles, and bristles with defensive guns, making it quite a dangerous helo.

The Skunkmodel kit arrives in a flat end-opening box, with a photo of a Rescue Hawk in flight, and a small vignette of the finished model in the top left. Inside the box are four sprues of grey styrene, and two of clear. A set of decals, a fret of pre-painted Photo-Etched parts, a large cardboard display base and the instruction booklet completes the package.

The basic kit is Italeri's plastic, with a small sprue of slightly different colored styrene produced by Skunkmodels, as well as a new sprue of clear parts. The new parts handle the forward mounted FLIR turret, various sensor bumps around the airframe, and the pylon for the AGM-119 Penguin, the missile for which sadly isn't included in the kit. The majority of the new clear sprue is taken up with the balance of the large pylon on the port side, and appears to have only been moulded that way because there was space on that sprue! The rest of the clear sprue gives a pair of nicely moulded corrected Navy-style crew doors for the pilot and co-pilot, although no mention of cutting out the starboard door from the fuselage is made.

The Photo-Etched (PE) parts are used in the cockpit, detailing the main instrument panel, the crew seats, the centre console and the overhead console, including a few levers and grab handles.

The original kit sprues are intact, so care must be taken when installing the various parts, as some slightly inferior kit parts have been replaced in this edition. The overhead glazing can cause problems, so perhaps cutting out the starboard cockpit door and posing them open could ease that task a little.

The kit goes together as you would expect, with the fuselage made from two halves, that sandwich the slightly simplified interior in place. The original Italeri door guns are a little simplified, but better renditions are out there and can be mounted on the original swingarms, should you feel the need to improve them. The rest of the interior is basic, with no detail on the interior walls, and only simple detail on the roof, but unless you pose the main doors open, very little should be seen.

A basic rendition of the top of the main rotor drive is included, and the rotor head builds up from a respectable number of parts, and a diagram is included for the folding of the main rotor. To pose the aircraft fully stowed, the modeller would have to fold the tail at the double panel line just forward of the tail, and scratch build the props that are installed to prevent the main blades from moving. Whilst not beyond the bounds of possibility, a significant quantity of scratchbuilding would be required. The good news is that the main rotor blades have some sag engineered in, which will improve realism without the need to heat-deform them with hot water.

The main gear is built up on sponsons either side of the fuselage, while the rear wheels attach to the strut that is moulded to the port fuselage half. It's more than probable that your average clumsy modeller (myself included) will knock some combination of the strut and the three antennae off at some point during the build, so it may be advisable to remove these for safe keeping with a razor saw.

The decals are designed by Cross Delta and printed in Italy by Cartograf, who seem to be taking over the decal world of late, and with good reason. The decals are crisp, in register and with good color (grey & black) density. From the sheet you can depict one of the following:

• NF-615 (163786), HS-14 'Chargers', CVW-5 USS George Washington, 2009
  
• AJ-615 (165115), HS-3 'Tridents', CVW-8, USS Theodore Roosevelt, 2009
  

Both aircraft are light ghost grey (FS36495) over light grey (FS36495), the color callouts for which are given in Humbrol, Model Master and Gunze brands.

Conclusion

It's a mixture of two manufacturer's work, but with care should build into a creditable and imposingly large model. The super-detailers will want to add more detail to the crew compartment, or pose the kit stowed, and will have to either wait for aftermarket sets or set about scratch building the necessary parts. The inclusion of the extra parts and the Eduard produced Photo-Etched parts improves the kit beyond the original Italeri offering, making it a worthwhile purchase.

Review sample courtesy of

[Stephen]

Nice review Mike,

The Penguin missile wasn't actually carried by the HH-60H, only the SH-60B.I believe the HH-60 has the capability to carry AGM-114 Hellfire on the extended outr pylon though.

For anyone looking to build this I found a nice walkaround http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v477/medicmanscott/HH-60H/ and there's also a forthcoming tailfolding set from Wolfpack .

Stephen

[Mike]

Nice review Mike,

The Penguin missile wasn't actually carried by the HH-60H, only the SH-60B.I believe the HH-60 has the capability to carry AGM-114 Hellfire on the extended outr pylon though.

For anyone looking to build this I found a nice walkaround http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v477/medicmanscott/HH-60H/ and there's also a forthcoming tailfolding set from Wolfpack .

Stephen

Yes, I'd read about the Pingu, and I'm sure someone does a pack of Hellfires that you could sling underneath the pylon. A tail fold set would be well worthwhile - will keep a look out for it and see if we can get one for review

[smuts]

Hi Mike, looks a very nice kit with the add ons any idea of price? may well get one of these...

Andy