Hobby Boss 1/48 UH-1C Huey Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

When Bell developed the first production turbine-powered helicopter, the US Army initially designated the aircraft as HU-1 (hence the name Huey). The aircraft was quickly given its baptism of fire in operations in Vietnam, but it was a huge success in proving out the air mobility concept as well as heliborne close air support, medivac, and search and rescue (SAR) missions.

The UH-1C was the Model 204 that served in the Army as the HU-1A, HU-1B/UH-1B and UH-1C. This was one of the major workhorses of Army and Marine Corps Aviation in Vietnam, working principally as a troop transport and Medevac, but also serving as command ship, fire suppression, etc.

When this kit arrived, I immediately noticed the subtitle 'Easy Assembly Authentic Kit' subtitle on the box. When you think Hobby Boss (or Trumpeter), you don't think of their kits as 'easy assembly' as they are typically very detailed and intricate works of kit engineering. I was curious how this new series was going to work.

The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on one parts tree, plus two fuselage halves and a small clear tree containing the clear parts. No photo-etched or other multimedia parts are included. You can see from the parts layout that this is a simple kit alright, and the instructions confirm this as there are only two assembly steps. This is not a snap-tite kit as glue is definitely required.

The cockpit is simple but still has some nice details to start with. If someone would add an Eduard color-photo etch set in there, the interior would really be sharp but you won't see that much of the details as the doors are molded closed in this kit. As an essential part of the theme of this kit, options are kept to a minimum to keep the parts count and complexity of the model to a basic level. The rest of the aircraft has nice detailing that will look great after paint and decals are applied.

Decals are provided for two examples:

• UH-1C, 15242, 174 AHC, US Army, Vietnam, 1970, sharkmouth, 'Easy Rider'
• UH-1C, 154770, HML-776, QL/404, US Marine Corps

Hobby Boss has rendered another nice easy-to-build kit in 1/48 scale, not to say that their other kits are difficult, this kit is truly an inexpensive entry-level glue-together model that is ideal for modelers coming back into the hobby or someone that just wants a quick weekend project that won't swamp you with lots of small parts.

My sincere thanks to Squadron Mail Order for this review sample!