UH-1D Iroquois (Old Man McCoy)

The finished model:

In the manga:

After Rishal tries to sabotage the Grand Slam, he’s shot by the Desert Aircraft Carrier forces and left in the desert to die. As luck would have it, Old Man McCoy is returning to base in a UH-1D Huey and spots him, lands, and administers first aid. Even thought McCoy didn’t realize it was Saki’s brother, he ends up saving his life but getting him back to Area 88 in time to receive proper medical attention.

The kit(s):

Bell UH-1D Iroquois by Hasegawa

The build:

Honestly, I don’t think I really had planned on building Old Man McCoy’s UH-1D Iroquois as part of my Area 88 1/72 scale project, but sometimes opportunity is the mother of… something. 🙂

I originally headed down to my favourite local hobby shop – a flea market stall known as the Kitbunker – to purchase an old-ish Airfix boxing of the SA. 341 Gazelle for my Mark III project. As luck would have it, there were quite a few helicopters that had made it into inventory, so when I saw the Hasegawa white box of the UH-1D Iroquois, I quickly adjusted my plans to give myself the excuse to buy it. I did (and still do) have plans to build a UH-1H Huey attack helicopter that appears in the “Area 85” story arc, but these are such iconic helicopters, that who could resist squeezing in one more, right?

The build itself was pretty straightforward. It’s an older kit, so I knew fit would be a bit of an issue and it didn’t disappoint. For the most part, some putty and sanding took care of it. The one area that did make me a bit frustrated were the windows on the main cockpit. The fit there is especially loose and I ended up getting a bit of glue where I didn’t want it. Oh, well… it was a bonus build anyway, right?

I did try to get a bit creative on the paint job – not really so much in terms of the colour scheme. Like most of my Area 88 builds, there’s a strong “desert camouflage” motif going on. However a combination of laziness and a willingness to give it a go, made me decide not to do any masking on the camouflage paint job. I just tried it freehand. Not quite sure I’m happy with the result, if I’m honest, but it’s good enough. I’m unlikely to go that route again on any projects where I have a stronger desire to see a good result though.

Finally, for no particular reason, I feel like adding that in the manga scene, Old Man McCoy’s helicopter seems to be missing both doors. I didn’t really want to throw BOTH of them into the spares box, so I left one in place.

Anyway, for a build I wasn’t really planning on doing, I think it turned out all right, but feel free to lend me your comments below: