Skunk Models 1/48 HH-60H Rescue Hawk Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

The Sikorsky Seahawk series is a navalized version of the S-70 family and adapted from the US Army's UH-60A Blackhawk. The Seahawk is similar to the Blackhawk with three distinct differences: 1) the tailwheel is moved close to the main cabin to allow the aircraft to land on smaller helidecks; 2) the main rotor has a folding mechanism to fold the rotor blades so the aircraft can be parked in smaller shipboard hangars; and 3) the tail is hinged so it can be folded so the aircraft will fit in those smaller shipboard hangars.

First flown in 1979, the first Seahawks entered service in 1984 and five variants are operated by the US Navy including the SH-60B/SH-60F, and MH-60R anti-submarine warfare helicopters, the MH-60S utility aircraft (which retains the Blackhawk's aft-mounted tailwheel), and the HH-60H Rescue Hawk which serves as an advanced rescue and special operations platform.

The HH-60H is an enhanced SH-60F that is equipped with a variety of sensors and avionics for targeting and self-protection. In addition, the aircraft is fitted to carry up to four Hellfire missiles and cabin-mounted machine guns.

Skunk Models continues to push the edge of the envelope by adding full kits to their existing line of weapons and diorama accessories. In this case, the kit is actually the Italeri 1/48 HH-60H kit with two new sprues and photo-etched details.

The basic Italeri HH-60 kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on three parts trees, plus a single tree of clear parts. The kit has some nice features including a workable cockpit/main cabin, nice rotor head, and rotor blades that have their sag molded in place for additional realism. The main rotor blades can be posed in flight position or stowed. The co-pilot's door is positionable as are the portside windows and starboard side main cabin doors.

Some of the issues with the basic Italeri kit are the lack of current details such as the FLIR turret and mount, cable cutters, portside extended wing/pylon, self-defense antennas, etc. In the cockpit, the instrument panel and cener consoles (upper and lower) were all decals. This might be suitable for some, but there is little visual detail there.

Enter Skunkmodels and their version of this kit. In addition to the basic kit, Skunkmodels adds one sprue of parts molded in gray, one more in clear, and one set of Eduard color-printed photo-etched parts. This is now a different kit!

The new parts include:

• FLIR turret and nose mount
• Cable cutters
• Portside wing/pylon
• Self-defense antennas
• Alternative drop tank
• One-piece co-pilot door
• Two-layer color-printed instrument panel
• Color-printed center consoles
• Seat belts/shoulder harnesses

The one-piece co-pilot door is molded in clear to eliminate any unsightly problems trying to display the door open. The kit actually has both cockpit doors there though the pilot's door isn't used in this kit (unless you want to do some surgery).

As an added bonus, Skunkmodels also provides a nice helipad base that can be mounted to a hard surface and used to park your Rescue Hawk for display. Nice touch!

Markings are provided for two aircraft:

• HH-60H, 163786, HS-14, NF/5, USS George Washington, 2009
• HH-60H, 165115, HS-3, AJ/615, USS Theodore Roosevelt, 2009

Both aircraft are wearing subdued markings, hopefully we'll see some nice colorful aftermarket options coming soon now that Skunkmodels has really enhanced this kit!

While the basic Italeri kit isn't bad, it lacked many of the details that made this aircraft distinguishable as the HH-60H. With the help of Skunkmodels, this kit has some realy nice potential for your next project. Even with the additional tooling, color photo-etch, etc., this kit retails for under $26.00 USD at Lucky Models. That's about the same price that the Italeri kit retails for in the US!

My sincere thanks to Lucky Model for this review sample!