Kitty Hawk Models 1/48 UH-1Y Venom Kit First Look
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | May 2015 | Manufacturer | Kitty Hawk Models |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | UH-1Y Venom | Scale | 1/48 |
| Kit Number | 80124 | Primary Media | Styrene, Photo-Etch |
| Pros | First kit of this variant | Cons | Nothing noted |
| Skill Level | Experienced | MSRP (USD) | $43.95 |
First Look
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The U.S. Marine Corps has been flying twin-engined UH-1N Iroquois helicopters for decades and when they had the opportunity to transition their AH-1W Cobras to the AH-64 Apache, they opted to upgrade their fleet of AH-1W airframes instead. Bell Helicopter proposed a common upgrade program for the UH-1N and AH-1W to receive the same rotor system, engines, transmission, tail boom, tail rotor, avionics, displays, etc. The upgraded UH-1N would become the UH-1Y Venom while the upgraded AH-1W would become the AH-1Z Viper (or Zulu Cobra).
Here is the first kit of the UH-1Y Venom in any scale, this one being Kitty Hawk Models' 1/48 model and it is a beauty. The kit is molded in light gray styrene and presented on six parts trees plus one tree of clear parts and one small fret of photo-etched parts. I can happily state that this kit is not over-engineered and should be a straightforward build as we soon shall see. The kit features Werner's Wings logo on the box top as Floyd Werner supported this kit's development. If you search online, I believe Floyd has already built one!
Among the features and options in this kit:
- Beautifully detailed cockpit
- Armored pilots' seats
- Photo-etched crew restraints
- Positionable crew entry doors
- Positionable main cabin doors
- Positionable engine bay doors
- Nicely detailed T700 engines inside engine bays
- Detailed rotors
- Photo-etched screens and grilles provided for various parts of the airframe
External stores include:
- 2 x LAU-61 19-shot rocket pods
- 2 x GAU-16 .50 caliber machine guns
- 2 x GAU-17 7.62mm gatling guns
Markings are provided for four subjects:
- UH-1Y, 168402, HMLA-169, SN/06
- UH-1Y, 168406, HMLA-167, TV/00
- UH-1Y, 168427, HMLA-269, HF/44
- UH-1Y, 168088
This is a nice looking kit and with the wide variety of images available online, you won't have any problems finding reference images from which to work your own magic. Now if only Kitty Hawk will release this kit and the AH-1Z in a proper 1/35 scale!
My sincere thanks to Kitty Hawk Models for this review sample!