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SH-60F Oceanhawk (KH50007) 1:35 Kitty Hawk The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk was the Military designation of the S-70 design which was the winner of the US Army's 1970's competition for a twin engine medium lift helicopter to replace the UH-1. Following tradition it was named "Black Hawk" after the Native American leader and warrior of the Sauk tribe. Following the original UH-60A there have been many improvements and variants of the original airframe. Following the competition for replace the Seasprite which was won by the SH-60BSeahawk; the USN Navy then found itself in a position of needing to replace the venerable Sea King in the anti-submarine role. Again there were various submissions but Sikorsky came in a with a new version of the Hawk family the SH-60F. This helo would differ from the Seahawk by not having the search radar or MAD boom, but having a dipping sonar system and six tube sonar buoy launcher. As well as anti-submarine duties they were uses as plane guards and for shore side rescue. These have now been replaced in service by the MH-60S. The Kit This is a new tool from Kitty Hawk, like other members of the family it shares sprues with the other kits, The kit arrives on 13 sprues of plastic, two clear spures, a sheet of PE, and three sheets of decals.. The large box is fairly stuffed with plastic! some parts are common sprues for other versions so there will be a lot of parts left over. The first thing to strike you when you open the instruction booklet is the first 5 stages are blank! They are misprinted along with further pages of the booklet. Now this is the third one of these large Naval Helos to be reviewed and they have all had issues with the instructions. I would say that KH really need to address this issue as from their Facebook page it becomes clear they have shipped to customers like this. Construction then starts with the main cabin which is in effect a module which will fit inside the fuselage. We start with the floor and opening up of various holes for the internal fixings. The central well for the cargo hook is boxed in, then the centre console for the cockpit is added. Three main seats must now be built up for the pilots and the rear sensor operator; PE belts being provided for these. The cabinets and consoles for the rear position are then built up and installed on the left side, and the six shot sonar buoy launcher goes on the right in the area occupied by the radar avionics for the SH-60B. At the front end the main control panel goes instruments being provided as decals). Behind the rear operator the sonar buoy launching rack goes in, and behind that the rear bulkhead. The pilots controls need to go in and the left & right sides go on. Two additional seats go in the rear these hang from the cabin roof. The bulkhead separating the flight crew area and the rear area needs to be fitted in followed by the side parts. The cabin roof then needs to be fitted to the main module, at the front of this is the pilots overhead console where again instruments are provided as decals. The cabin module is then complete and can then be placed inside the fuselage halves. There are a large number of holes to be opened up before fitting this and rear wheel assembly (much further forward on the Naval helos) must be installed at this time. Once the cabin is built up attention then moves to the engines. There is quite a lot of detail here as two complete engines are built up along with all the internal structure. These are all fitted into the roof of the engine house. Gearboxes to the main rotor are added along with the exhausts. The intake assemblies are also built up and added. If wanted the external covers can be added, or they can be left off for maintenance dioramas etc. To the top of the housing antennas are added. The main glazing now needs adding along with all the doors and external pylons and fittings. including the over door winch. The landing gear sponsons and the gear itself then needs to be built up and added to the main fuselage. Other sponsons and rack are also added for the armament. For this version the tail is separate and can be attached in the normal or folded positions. The large rear stabiliser is then made up and added along with the tail rotor. Unlike the SH-60B the instructions for folding the tail are better here. The rotor head must now been built up. This being a Naval helicopter the blades can be folded and the instructions do show some detail of how to do this, but again they are not the best for this area. If making an armed version the kit contains torpedoes and external fuel tanks. If Again unlike the SH-60B these are shown in the instructions as well as how to hang them. Also at this point there is what looks to be a 7.62mm door gun and mount which can be built and added if needed as part of your chosen decal option. Decals The decal sheets are in house and should pose no issues. The main sheet (which is rather large) provides the colourful main markings. These have been developed by Kitty Hawk in collaboration with Shayne Meder who did the real artwork on these aircraft, so there should be no issues there. A smaller sheets provides cockpit and other details, and a sheet with colourful graphics. From the box you can build one of six helos NAS Fallon Rescue HS-7 Dusty Boys Naval Aviation Warfighting Development Center (Camo Helo) HS-4 Black Knights HS-14 Chargers US Navy COMSEVENTHFLT (VIP Green) Conclusion The plastic looks great, and it should build up into an impressive looking helicopter. There is much to recommend this kit in terms of the quality of the parts and the available options, however it is let down again by the instructions. Overall though recommended to those who want a modern tooling of this Helo and are prepared to put the work into the research and building of the kit. Not for the faint hearted or those who want a quick / easy build. Review sample courtesy of Available soon from major hobby shops

Hey Guys hope you like my last few finished models. Academy 1/72 F/A-18C OTB I built the old Revel 1/48 one as a kid and thought it looked cool! STILL DOES Hobby Boss 1/72 SH-60F OTB Built this one over two days a stress relief build. There are a few issues here and there and i didn't spend anytime on making the under fuselage seam look pretty as I very rarely display my models up-side down. Academy 1/72 F/A-18E OTB Interesting kit, a snap together kit with nice decals. Academy 1/72 F/A-18C OTB My first CAG bird. It came out a little darker than i wanted but still plenty bright ''