Murph's Models Blackhawk series

**Knife** · #1 04-10-2016, 02:39 PM

It's been a long time since I've done a helicopter, so I'm going to build several of Murph's Models H-60 Blackhawk series. Aaron has eight different versions of the H-60, the Blackhawk, the Jayhawk, the Pavehawk, the Firehawk, the Seahawk, the Presidential Whitehawk, an all yellow Coast Guard model, and a "Stealthhawk". They are all typical Murph's Models style of construction, where the outer shell of the model forms the basic shape of the model. There are three bulkheads to keep the shape of the cabin correct.

The basic model has six pages of parts, with a seventh page included depending on the version of the Blackhawk being built. There's also one page with an exploded view of the model to help with construction.

Nikischutt has already built some of these models on this forum, and I will not duplicate his efforts. However, his threads only has photos of the finished models. Since these are not the easiest models to build I'm going to post some photos of the assembly of the models. The Pavehawk is probably the most difficult model in the series, so that's where I will begin.

The nose section goes together easily. The only thing to watch out for is the distinct droop in the fuselage immediately behind the canopy. I added extra cardboard on the top of the fuselage to give some backing to the doghouse. The tail is the next area to build. It's a bit complicated since the vertical part intertwines with the horizontal section. Also, there's a part of the vertical tail that forms a tab which must be bent off-center. Notice that the tail section has a rectangular cross section. Once the tail section is attached, I worked on the engines. The original file has the little bulkhead for the engines swapped between the engines. The left bulkhead is grouped with the right engine cowling pieces and the left bulkhead is grouped with the right engine cowling. I'll send a corrected parts sheet to Murph once I get this model built. There's also a small mistake on the fuselage, with the area where the ESSS (weapons pylons) mounts miscolored. This kit does not include the ESSS pylons, so this part of the fuselage should be the same color as the rest of the fuselage. Once again, I will send corrected parts to Murph once the model is finished.

**Knife** · #2 04-10-2016, 02:49 PM

I'm going to give this model to the local USO once finished, so some parts need to be reinforced since it will be handled by small children. The main landing gear is quite sturdy, but I soaked the parts with superglue just to toughen them up. I added the right front cockpit step to the landing gear sponson. I later had to cut it off since this is where the air refueling probe mounts. The tail wheel looked very weak, so I stuck a toothpick through the tailwheel and all the way to the fuselage joint. I also reinforced the fuselage with superglue where the tailwheel strut attaches. It still feels a little weak so I will reinforce this area with some cardboard on future builds.

**Knife** · #3 04-10-2016, 02:58 PM

The Pavehawk has an extra cowling to help cool the exhaust gases from the engine. There's an extension from the normal exhaust opening composed of two parts which must be glued together, then a large portion of the assembly is cut off. Once the exhaust extension is glued to the fuselage and allowed to dry, the extra cowling is wrapped around the exhaust.

The air refueling probe is mounted to the right landing gear sponson. I added a short length of carbon fiber tubing to reinforce the probe. Once glued on, it's quite secure.

That's all for now, have to figure out how to keep the rotor blades from drooping with time.

**Knife** · #4 04-11-2016, 07:33 AM

Now it's time to attach all the fiddly parts. ECM antenna on the nose, FLIR and radar on the underside. The model did not come with the IR countermeasure "disco light" behind the main rotor so I borrowed one from the UH-60 model and recolored it to represent copper colored glass.

The horizontal stab is simple glued to the tail. Looks like the shape is a little off, but I hate to nit-pick.

**Knife** · #5 04-11-2016, 07:37 AM

The tail rotor has no surprises. I used a straight pin as an axle so it's free to rotate. I can see the tail rotor's pitch change star as being one of the first pieces to fall off, so I superglued it as best I can to the head of the pin. The tail rotor gear box housing fits pretty well on the vertical tail. You build it up as an egg, then cut out the bottom to fit over the tail.

**MacSongLi** · #6 04-11-2016, 11:02 AM

Very nice work (as always).

Gary

**nikischutt** · #7 04-11-2016, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knife

Now it's time to attach all the fiddly parts. ECM antenna on the nose, FLIR and radar on the underside. The model did not come with the IR countermeasure "disco light" behind the main rotor so I borrowed one from the UH-60 model and recolored it to represent copper colored glass.

The horizontal stab is simple glued to the tail. Looks like the shape is a little off, but I hate to nit-pick.

The horizontal stab should be the same one as the UH-60. The UH-60 stab is more trapezoidal in shape.

**Knife** · #8 04-11-2016, 06:41 PM

Looks like Murphy got it right, and my high priced plastic models are wrong. The horizontal stab is rectangular. However, there is a small area of the stab that the paint crew missed on the parts sheet.

**Knife** · #9 04-11-2016, 06:57 PM

It's time to kit the helicopter out. First is the rescue hoist. The way that the instruction sheet shows the hoist to be assembled made no sense to me. I used the provided parts and improvised. The shape of the hoist housing is wrong, but at least it's in the correct position.

**Knife** · #10 04-11-2016, 07:14 PM

Now it's time to give it some teeth. A couple of miniguns will provide suppressive firepower. Small historical fact, the USAF is restricted from having forward firing weapons on their helicopters, while the US Army is restricted from dropping bombs from fixed wing aircraft. This arrangement was worked out during the development of the A-10 Warthog. The debate was over which service would have the close air support (CAS) mission. Weapons on USAF helicopters are defensive, not offensive.

The minigun arrangement has an external ammo box, mounted on the landing gear sponsons. Lots of little tubes with even small end caps. Not too hard to assemble, my only complaint is that the weapons are too long. Miniguns have fairly short drive systems and barrels. More nit-picking on my part. I built them stock. The guns can pivot left and right using the stock parts if you don't glue the axle to the mount. Don't forget to darken the interior of the brass extraction chute before you roll it up and glue it together.

I forgot to mention it in the previous post, but I borrowed the ESSS external stores mounting housings from the UH-60 model to cover up the light grey area on the fuselage.