1/48 Minicraft MH-60 K Blackhawk Part 1  

by Bob Silva Jr.

The kit is very basic and lacking greatly in interior and some exterior detail. The kit is very inaccurate, so I purchased Cobra Companies Resin MH-60 K Conversion. This adds plenty of detail but for my project I wanted more detail.

I started out checking Internet sites, books and magazines for photos.

For the really good photos I had access top several U.S. Army Blackhawk’s at our local airport. 

Additional detail sets used 

• Cobra Company MH-60K Blackhawk Superdetail set CC48002

• Edwards HH-60D/H Blackhawk Interior 48 094

• UH-60A Blackhawk Exterior 48 081

I started out adding the interior sidewall detail from strip and sheet styrene. Above is a photo showing the addition of detail. The lower half is the kit I am working on while the upper half is another Minicraft Blackhawk showing what I started with.  I reworked some other detail, which the white styrene can bee seen. 

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Photo showing the, new aluminum tubing APU Exhaust and engine vent.	Detail added inside Cowling for the handhold	Actual detail found inside the handhold and the detail added to my model

Next was the floor and the ceiling of the interior of the helicopter, below is a photo of the kit parts that I started out with

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I started work on the floor of the helicopter. Due to the Cobra conversion I had to shorten the cockpit area of the floor so I rebuilt the area and added the under seat avionics bays, and used strip styrene for the seat rail and floor detail. The floor was painted black, I masked the anti slip strips and then the gray was painted.

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The ceiling was then reworked, a lot of cutting, strip styrene and brass rod		Dry fit the fuselage to see how the model will look

 So far so good !! 

I completed the kits interior Auxiliary fuel tank with quite a bit of filler to fill injector pin marks and made some ammo cans for the GE  7.62mm M134 miniguns, from styrene and kit parts. 

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I also redid two of the single rear seats, these will be added directly behind the pilot and co-pilot seats for the gunner positions. The seats are photoed below.

Click on image below to see larger image Actual photo showing under seat avionics in the Blackhawk

Now I had to figure out how to construct and attach the front seats to my Blackhawk. After trial and error I figured it out. I added rudder peddles, paint and some weathering and later the seats. 

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These small triangular pieces were made of sheet styrene and will cover a nasty gap between the lower fuselage and the floor, quite visible from the exterior of the completed kit.

Now I dry fit the interior just to check on things. 

Bob

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