1/72 Italeri MH-60K Nighthawk

by Hajo Lippke

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Iīm building models for nearly 20 years now and Iīm very satisfied with this MH-60K, which is, in my understanding, the result of my model-building experiences of the past years. Iīm also very happy that this is not a simple helo like any other, but a MH-60K Nighthawk, the synonym for SpecOps aviation. I have a special love for the SOF branch although I donīt have any connections to it except my interest.
This is my 2nd MH-60, the first one (which can be seen in one of the pictures as an example how many differences are between the OOB-model and the depicted MH-60K) is an older result of my work and in my standards not very good built.
Since the MH-60 of Italeri is out of production I was quite lucky to get a kit and immediately thought about detailing it when I saw the brilliant MH-60L Walk-around by Everett McEwan  
 
http://www.arcair.com/AWA1/301-400/walk338_MH-60L/walk338.htm
which helped me a LOT during construction.

Click on images below to see larger images

A lot of work had to be done to make this kit look like it does. I didnīt used any aftermarket products, all details are scratch-built. First I detailed the cabin ceiling with the FRIES, the Fast-Rope Insertion/Extraction System. As a typical SpecOps helo the Nighthawk has a lot of high-speed low-drag technical stuff and gimmicks and I wanted to look my model like that. The chaff/flare-launchers (the kit comes with only
ONE!) are made of 1/700 scale ASROC-launchers I "borrowed" from my ships. I
donīt know if there is a maximum of flare-launchers the Nighthawk carries, mine has 6 that just look great on the model. If anyone wants to know more about the technical stuff, I could propably tell him, but have to shoot him after that...

The MH-60K completed my fleet of 160th SOAR helicopters, which are a OOB Italeri MH-47E and a scratch-built Italeri AH-6J. I also plan to do a MH-6 in the future.
As you can see there are much details and differences between the OOB Nighthawk that I built some years ago and the actual one. One of course is the armament: The kit comes with two M60s, but Iīm sure no one would fly into a high-threat environment with those little thingies. I mounted some M134 Miniguns instead that I modified with empty cartridge hoses and muzzle-flash absorbers. The ammo belts are made from clothing drapery that would normally be used for underwear. It was  flexible enough to fit
between the doorgunner, the ammo-boxes and the doors and still look like an
ammo-belt when painted metallic.

Of course the helo needed some crew and it took me several ours of plastic-surgery to make 2 pilots, 2 doorgunners and a group of 8 SpecOp-personnel, preferable Rangers. Unfortunately I had to recognize that there wasnīt enough space to place 3 Rangers at each side of the door with dangling feet, so I had to "dismiss" two of them. It still looks quite good in my eyes.

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For those want to know, here is a list of the changes and details the model got:

 - added cockpit entry steps
 - removed cockpit doors
 - changed pilot seats, because the original ones had no armour-plates
 - added pilot figures
 - added RWRs
 - added Chaff/Flare-Launchers
 - changed original M-60s against M-134 Miniguns, upgraded with empty cartridge hose and muzzle-flash absorber
 - added gunner figures
 - added ammunitions boxes with ammo-belts
 - detailed cabin-ceiling
 - added FRIES
 - added additional antennas and sensors
 - added aft RWR-mount

Alright, letīs go! With that firepower and crew this Blackhawk surely wonīt go down!

Hajo

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Photos and text Đ by Hajo Lippke