In-box review of the Italeri 1/72 Bell UH-1B "Huey"

 

Unboxing and review of:

- Italeri 1/72 Bell UH-1B "Huey" -

a peek inside the box.

    Time for another review. This week, it's one of the most recognizable helicopters out there. The Bell UH-1B "Huey" by Italeri in 1/72 scale. Widely used throughout the Vietnam War and beyond with a number of them still in service today. This rugged little helicopter fulfilled many roles in both military and civilian service, ranging from troop transport to search and rescue and even as a gunship. So let's see if Italeri were able to capture the majesty of one of the most iconic helicopters in rotorcraft history.

Box art

box art front.

    The box art, features the Huey in U.S. Army camo, flying in formation with other Hueys, presumably over some fields in Vietnam. The image, manages nicely to capture the essence of this iconic whirly bird. It makes me want to just dig into the box, start gluing parts together, and get on with the build.

    At the top, we have the Bell logo, along with the name of the aircraft. Below that is the item number 040, in case you wish to get this kit for yourself. Next to that is the scale of the kit. Then, we are told that there are decals for 4 variants. Next we are told that the kit does not include a figure and that the kit contains parts for one model. Then we have the Italeri logo all the way to the right.

    In the bottom right corner we have a Officially Licensed badge. Meaning, the Bell Helicopter Company have greenlit this kit. Given that, I expect this to be of very good quality. Licenses like this aren't given away easily, but they can be lost extremely easily. So fingers crossed that Italeri did their due diligence, because that would mean future partnerships. Which is always good. Partnerships like this gives manufacturers access to information, insight and design documents that otherwise are completely unavailable.

one of the long edges.

    The first of the long edges, we have the Italeri logo along with the item number and scale underneath, and to the right is a very brief history of the Bell UH-1 in various languages.

the other long edge.

    On the opposite side we once again have the Italeri logo, item number and scale. Followed by photos of the decals and sprues. Which is a very interesting way to use this space. However, I'd much rather have some shots of a finished model. But it is what it is.

one of the short edges.

    Moving on to the first of the short edges, we have the Italeri logo, the Bell logo, the name of the heli, the scale of the kit, a side diagram of the Huey with the measurements of the completed model, a cropped version of the front art, and item number.

the other short edge.

    On the opposite end is the exact same information but in a different orientation. I see this as redundant and wasteful. They really should have used one of the edges to showcase a finished model. But that might just be me. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

back of the box.

    On the back of the box, we have a full color paint guide for a Royal Australian Air Force variant of the Huey. Below are the paint callouts for the paint scheme given in Italeri's own paints range. On the right, at the top we have the Italeri logo next to a recommended age of 14. Below are the Italeri website, some health and safety information, a recycling diagram, QR code, barcode and a copyright date of 2010. And since this is Italeri we're talking about, that date is almost certainly not the tooling date. And that's a bit concerning, even more so given this is a licensed product.

Inside the box

contents of the box.

    Inside the box we have our bag of sprues, the instructions leaflet and our sheet of decals. A bit sparse on content, but as long as it's of good quality, I won't be too fussed. Anyway, before we take a look at the bag of goodies, let's check out the instructions and decals.

Documentation

instruction leaflet cover.

    The front of the instruction leaflet features some operational information and specifications of the real Bell UH-1B. This is written in several languages. I said before and I'll say it again. I really like the addition of these historical sections. Sometimes you might even be able to learn things about the subject matter that you might not have known. So I really appreciate this section.

instruction leaflet build steps.

    With the leaflet folded out, on the "inside" we find our sprue maps (which begs the question; Why have they bothered to also print these on the box if they are also printed on the instructions) and build steps. There aren't that many steps, really. So the build should be fairly quick and easy.

paint and decal placement instructions.

    On the opposite side, we have the paint and decal placement guides for three variants of the Huey. The box mentioned 4 decal options, but I can't see where the 4th marking option is. The RAAF variant featured on the back of the box is also featured here. Either they mislabeled the box, or they misprinted the guide. Hopefully the decal sheet can shed some light on this mystery.

health and safety warning.

    Anyway, back to the beginning, and the leaflet starts us off with some health and safety information. This is provided in several languages and this is probably the most sensible place to have them. If you are a beginner, make sure to give this a read. It contains information you should be aware of before plunging head first into the unknown.

sprue maps.

    Then we have part of the sprue maps. These are very useful as they help quickly identify parts on the sprues and it's also useful in letting you know whether your sprues are missing any parts or not.

clear part sprue map and paint callouts.

    Next is the sprue map for the clear parts. And the paint callouts. These are for Italeri's own range of acrylic paints, but you can obviously replace these with the equivalents from your favorite paint manufacturer/s.

cockpit assembly.

    Then we jump straight into the build. As is most standard with aircraft, we start with the cockpit. Here we add some framework at the front of the cockpit floor as well as what I used to call rudder pedals, but apparently they are actually called anti torque pedals when they are in a helicopter. These also go in the front section of the floor. Then we install the seats, as well as the pairs of cyclic and collective.

    After that, we need to paint the instrument panel which we then also install onto the floor. Lastly we attach the rear bulkhead and a bench in the aft of the crew compartment.

fuselage, rotor hub and rotor shaft assembly.

    Next, we need to glue together the main rotor hub and shaft. If done carefully, I presume the rotor will be spinning freely. Then we install the windows for the main doors after which we sandwich together the hub, the cockpit subassembly and fuselage halves together.

finishing the fuselage assembly.

    The next step sees us through with finishing the fuselage assembly. We start by, installing the roof windows into the roof, we also have to add a strake to the top of the roof, then we add this to the main fuselage followed by the windscreen.

    Moving toward the back we glue together the engine housing halves and the exhaust which we then glue onto the rear of the cabin. To the tail boom we need to install the horizontal stabilizers, the vertical stabilizer which comes in two halves and the tail rotor. In the diagram on the right bottom corner, we are shown to then install the cargo door windows into the cargo doors, which we can either glue in place int the open or closed position.

chin windows, main skids, strakes and tail ski assembly.

    Moving on, we need to install the chin windows in the nose of the Huey, then we ad two more strakes on the bottom of the fuselage. We then install the main skids to the bottom of the helicopter. At the beck we need to install the VHF antennas and tail skid.

completing the Huey.

    Lastly,  we assemble the gimbaled nose machine gun which comes in three parts and together with the antennas we add them to the nose of the Huey. We also need to add a small antenna to the roof of the chopper. Then we attach the two bladed main rotor and fly-bar to the rotor shaft. Moving to the back we need to add an antenna to the tail of the helicopter. Then we need to assemble the rocket tubes, one for each side, which come in several parts and we add these to either side of the Huey next to the cargo doors.

U.S. Army paint scheme guide.

    The first of the paint schemes is of a U.S. Army version, operating out of Vo Dat, Vietnam in 1965. It's a fairly easy paint scheme, with the majority of the helicopter painted in olive drab. However, the black and white guide makes it a bit difficult to figure out what's what, especially at a quick glance. It will help a lot to look for some reference images to see exactly how to paint the Huey, this is true for all of the paint schemes.

RAAF paint scheme.

    The next paint option is for a Royal Australian Air Force variant belonging to Number 9 Squadron, operating out of Williamstown in 1961. Again the paint scheme is fairly easy, the majority of the heli being only one color. But the black and white print will make it a bit difficult to follow at a glance.

Japanese Army paint scheme.

    Lastly we have a Japanese Army paint scheme operating out of Meitabaru in 1982. This is probably the most complex of the three paint schemes, but it shouldn't pose much of a challenge as long as you pay close attention to the guide. Again, I would recommend searching some reference images of the Huey in this paint scheme to make it a bit easier to figure out where each color needs to go.

Decal sheet

decal sheet overview.

    The decal sheet, looks good for the most part. However, there are some scuff marks on some of the decals. Not ideal. Hopefully, this is not a persistent issue and only my copy has this. One thing to note is that I can't see any decals for this elusive 4th decal option. Either there had to be another decal sheet, or the printing on the box is for a different kit of the Huey. I really can't tell.

common markings.

    Taking a closer look at the decal sheet, then. First the common markings. These are the sane for all 3 variants. The printing is actually pretty good. The colors are vibrant and seem to be in register. The only small flaw I can see is the top yellow stripe looks a bit wonky. But that shouldn't deter much from the finished build. Plus you should be able to fix that easily with a paint brush.

U.S. Army markings.

    The U.S. Army markings are good too, for the most part. The only big issue are the white ARMY stencils which show signs scuffing. This is obviously bad, even more so, since I'm planning to build the U.S. version. I'm willing to hope that this is only a problem with my copy of the kit. There are ways to fix this obviously; you could create your own stencils with masking tape, or you could paint over the decals. But I think I'll leave them as they are, and perhaps try to work with the damaged decals and try to go for a really worn and used Huey. But we'll see once I get to building the model.

RAAF markings.

    The Royal Australian Air Force markings also look really good. And unlike the U.S. markings, they present no damage. I actually might just get another copy of this kit and build an RAAF version as well at some point.

Japanese Army markings.

    The Japanese Army markings are by far the most numerous. These also look alright. It seems like some of these are ever so slightly out of register, most notably on decals 12, 13 and 14. But it's really nothing major. Looking at this, I feel like I would probably want to get two more copies of this kit. That way I could build one for each of the versions. It would be quite nice to have all three of these. And with that, let's move onto the main event.

The plastic

bag of sprues.

    The sprues are protected inside a plastic bag. And wrapped separately is the sprue of clear parts. It's always nice when the clear parts are packaged separately, even if they are then thrown in with the rest of the sprues as this will help protect against scratches and can even help prevent parts from breaking off.

sprues out of the bag.

    Inside the bag are two sprues bolded in a fairly rigid olive brown plastic, with the transparencies packaged separately, as mentioned above. One thing I've noticed immediately after taking the sprues out, is that the fuselage has raised rivet and panel line details instead of recessed ones. This means that the tooling is fairly old and the 2010 copyright date is just the date when the kit was re-boxed.

    Given that this is an officially licensed kit, I would have expected Italeri to do their best and release a brand new, modern tooling for the Huey. But that doesn't seem to be the case. It remains to be seen if despite this the kit still holds up. But I really wish manufacturers would be more transparent with this kind of information as it helps manage expectations. If I see a 2010 date, I'm going to expect recessed details and all the bells and whistles that come with modern tooling. I'm definitely not going to expect to see a kit that was tooled far before the date on the box. Rant over.

sprue A overview.

    The first sprue contains the right fuselage half, the main rotor blades, roof, bench, antenna, bulkhead, strakes, cargo doors, control sticks, instrument panes, floor, framing, skids, skid details and anti torque pedals.

right fuselage half.

    As mentioned the fuselage presents raised panel lines and rivets. There are some recessed details to represent some access hatches, but for the most part its raised details. Moreover, the panel lines are really soft, so sanding them clean will be inevitable.

right fuselage half cabin closeup.

    Getting in closer, the raised details are more visible. The rivets kind of work. However the raised panel lines deter quite a bit from the overall feel. And even the rivets are far out of scale. At least the raised door handle and hinges look half decent.

right fuselage half tail boom closeup.

    Moving on to the tail boom, we see more raised rivets and panel lines. And here we can more clearly see just how thin those raised panel lines are. Really not ideal.

main rotor blades.

    The rotor blades are molded decently well, there are some nice raised details and here they do make sense. And whilst not mind blowing, the amount of detail for the scale is not bad.

main rotor blade hub closeup.

    Getting in closer we can better see the mechanism of the rotor. The hub itself is fairly, nicely molded, they even bothered to mold the angle of attack actuators, which is nice.

rotor blade clusup.

    A closer look at the blades reveals more raised panel line detail. These lines would most likely be recessed in a modern kit.

main rotor blade hub underside closeup.

    The underside of the hub is also fairly nicely detailed, although there are two rather nasty ejector-pin marks. But honestly I'd much rather have them here than on the blades themselves. A quick sanding job should get rid of them.

side view of the main rotor blades.

    There is a bit of a bend molded into the main blades. However this is in the opposite direction I would have liked it to be. I want my Huey to look like it's parked on the helipad. For that the blades should be drooping downwards, instead they are pointing upwards, this only happens whet the blades spin at high speed. They can still be made to droop with careful heat application, but I would have preferred not to have to do this extra step as it is quite easy to over do it.

roof and bench.

roof closeup.

bench closeup.

    Then we have the roof and bench. The roof presents raised rivet and panel line details. There are a few other details here as well, such as vents and nav lights. On the right side of the roof (top as you look at the image) are two weird lines that go across most of the roof. I have no idea how those got there, but I know they shouldn't be there and will require fixing. And so will the little bits of flash here and there.

    The bench is very crudely molded, it's barely recognizable as a bench. There are some waist straps molded here too but they are also molded very crudely. But at least they're there. 

bulkhead, cargo doors and strakes.

bulkhead closeup.

    Next we have the bulkhead, cargo doors and strakes. The strakes are really basic, but honestly, they don't need to be more complex than this, maybe a bit thinner but hey. The cargo doors presents pretty much the same sort of raised rivet detail as the rest of the fuselage and they even bothered to mold in the door handles.

    The bulkhead is by far the most intricate piece here. It has a quilted pattern, which is very accurate for the Huey. The pattern is probably a bit too deep for the scale, but at least its there. Interestingly the backrest area for the bench, has some waviness to it, simulating ripples in the material, something we haven't seen on the bench itself. Overall the molding is pretty decent. I don't really have any reason to complain here.

instrument panel, cyclic, collective, framework and cockpit floor.

    

instrument panel closeup.

cockpit floor closeup.

cyclic and collective pairs closeup.

    Next we have the instrument panel, which is surprisingly detailed. With a bunch of gauges and screens present. The cockpit floor is also nicely molded, the floor itself seems to have some sort of high grip texture. The gauges and buttons on the central console are nicely molded as well.

    The cyclic and collective pairs are also nicely molded, with the collective in particular showing some really intricate detail. I'm not sure how accurate the shapes of these are, but they are nicely detailed.

landing skid, skid detail and anti torque pedals.

    Lastly on this sprue, are the main landing skids, the anti torque pedals and some details that go on to the front tips of the skids, these probably have a name, but I don't know what that is. These are all fairy nicely detailed for the scale. 

sprue B overview.

    The second sprue contains the left fuselage half, seats, main rotor hub, VHF antennas, fly-bar, tail rotor, rotor shaft, vertical stabilizer, tail antenna, weapon hard points, tail skid, exhaust, nose antennas, strake, horizontal stabilizers, rocket tubes and housings, nose machinegun turret, and engine fairings. There's quite a bit of parts here, but we will go through them.

left fuselage half.

left fuselage cabin closeup.

left fuselage tail boom closeup.

    The story on this side of the fuselage is the same. Whilst the raised rivets are not necessarily bad, other than being far too large for the scale. The raised panel lines are really the weak link here. Both of these would have benefited from being recessed, but it is what it is.

pilot and copilot seat.

    The seats are also fairly nicely molded. Sure they could have been better, but they also definitely could have been far worse.

main rotor hub and VHF antennas.

    The rotor hubs are molded decently as well, it's nothing special mind you. But it could have been worse as well. Interestingly enough, the antennas present some detail as well. Wouldn't have expected that.

fly-bar and tail rotor.

    Then we have the fly-bar that goes on top of the main rotor and the tail rotor. The details here are not bad, especially for the scale.

main rotor shaft and retaining part.

    Next we have the main rotor shaft, there is some detail here, although its a bit more basic than what we've seen before. But you can still make out what it is. There's also a retaining part that goes at the bottom of the shaft. There's no detail here but it doesn't need any, the sole purpose of this part is to keep the rotor shaft inside the hub.

vertical stabilizer.

    Then we have the vertical stabilizer. It looks fairly decent. Although the tail rotor hub on top is really basic.

weapon hard points.

weapon hardpoint closeup.

    The weapon hardpoints are kind of basic, but given that they'll be hidden by the rocket launchers, that's not much of a problem.

tailskid, exhaust, horizontal stabilizer, rocket tubes.

horizontal stabilizers closeup.

rocket launcher closeup.

    Next we have the tail skid, the very basic engine exhaust, the horizontal stabilizers, that look quite nice. And the front and rear sections of the rocket launcher tubes. The detail here is not bad either. They even molded in the rocket heads and exhausts. 

antennas, strake, rocket launcher fairings/body.

rocket launcher fairing/body closeup.

    Then we have the antennas, a strake, and the body or fairings of the rocket launcher tubes. The antennas are a bit basic, but they should work just fine. The strake is just what you'd expect, there's nothing exciting about these in real life either so nothing wrong here aside from the small fact that just like the other strakes we've seen earlier they are a bit too thick. A Photo Etched upgrade set, might go a long way here. The fairings for the rocket launchers are a bit simplistic, but there are some rivet details, although, just like everywhere else, they are of the raised variety.

engine housing.

    Up next are the two halves of the engine fairings. They don't look half bad. There's even an attempt at some fine mesh being molded, it's not fantastic, but it definitely looks a lot better than being just plain plastic. There are even some hinges molded in which is a nice touch.

machinegun turret.

    Lastly, we have the machinegun turret which comes in two halves. The molding is not very accurate, there should be some panels visible on the ball turret but those can be carved out with a scribing tool if you really need them. The belt feed fairing is decently molded as well. But I'd say it's a decent attempt at adding detail taking into consideration that this kit is a lot older than what the box would have you believe.

Clear parts

clear parts inside the bag.

    As mentioned, the clear parts come packaged separately. This is always a plus in my eyes as this helps protect against scratches and other damage.

sprue C overview.

    Our sprue of clear parts contain the windshield, the chin window, cargo door windows, roof windows and main door windows.

windshield.

chin windows.

cargo door windows.

main door windows.

roof windows.

    On the whole, the clear parts look quite nice, the framework on the windshield and main door windows are nicely molded which should make masking easy. The windshield also has some rivet details and wipers. The edges of the rounded chin windows look a little bit rough, hopefully that won't be too visible when assembled.

windshield transparency demonstration.

chin window transparency demonstration.

cargo door window transparency demonstration.

    The transparency of the clear parts is surprisingly good. Through each of the transparencies, you can see quite clearly. And that is a good thing given the amount of glass on the Huey.

looking through the windshield.

    From this angle the story changes a bit. It is clear that the molds are not perfect, there are irregularities. But I don't think this will affect the finished model too much. It's not ideal, but I don't think it's as bad as some of the clear parts I've shown on the blog so far.

The good and the bad

    Instructions.

        Pros:

• clear, easy to follow step by step instructions
• well paced
• diagrams to show subassemblies where relevant

        Cons:

• black and white paint guides are not ideal

    Decals.

        Pross:

• colors in register, for the most part
• nice even printing
• vibrant colors

        Cons:

• my copy has damaged stencils

    Main sprues.

        Pros:

• good amount of parts for a kit aimed at beginners
• some parts are nicely detailed

           Cons:

• raised rivet and panel line details
• flash present throughout the kit
• mold issues on the roof
• some parts are very crude

    Clear parts.

        Pros:

• surprisingly well molded
• frames nicely molded

        Cons:

• some transparencies are far from perfect

Final verdict

    All in all, the kit isn't too bad, but if you are expecting modern tooling based on the 2010 copyright date printed on the box you are in for a surprise. This kit was actually tooled back in 1992. It's quite shocking to see that Italeri were still using raised details at this point when most manufacturers have moved on to more modern recessed details.

    This kit has been re-released several time across the years, most recently in 2019. But only three of those all released around the same time (2008-2011) have the Bell, officially licensed badge. Is this kit worthy of the badge? Honestly, I don't think so. There are many much better candidates that existed the late '00s to early 2010s. And when it comes to the Huey, you are really spoiled for choice. There are many really nice kits of this heli in various scales. So if you want a really nice modern tooling of the Bell UH-1B Huey, you'd be better off getting a different kit.

    However, if we take into account the actual tool date, the model is not that bad. But since I only had the copyright date to go off of, I had to review the kit against kits that came out around that time period, hence the rather unfavorable view. Even so, I feel like I was a bit too lenient with the kit in some instances.

    In terms of price, I paid €9.65, which is a bit steep given the age. If you can find it at around €5-€6 I'd say go for it. Any more, and you'd be better off looking for a modern tooling of this helicopter.

    Anyway, that is it for now, I hope you enjoyed reading through this article. Let me know if I was too harsh or too lenient in the comments bellow. If you've already built this kit, let me know how it went, I'd like to hear from you. Subscribe to get notified of future posts, share this blog with your friends and family, I'd really appreciate that. Until next time, I hope you all have a wonderful day and happy modeling, everyone. Cheers!😁