Spearjigs Seahorse *COMPLETED*

[Spearjig]

I dont have a very good record with 1/72 aircraft ( a 0% success rate actually judging by the half dozen sitting on my shelf of shame) but in an effort to cure this I picked this up today



Nicely moulded in green plastic with some very crisp detail


Decals for 4 aircraft, US marines, German army and two french Algerian.



Spruces washed , primed and ready to go.

[Dazzled]

Good luck. I'm sure we'll all encourage you to push this one through to a finish.

Nice subject too

[ShaunW]

Excellent Spearjig and welcome to the GB. As Dazzled says, we'll all help you along to hopefully breaking your duck with 1/72nd builds and keeping this one off the shelf of shame

[Ian]

Nice one. This is often forgotten in favour of the more ubiquitous UH-1. Glad to see one as part of this GB.

[Chris]

Interesting choice, the US Army called these choctaw (its an indian tribe) and didn't use them in Nam, some were supplied to the ARVN (Army of the republic of Vietnam) but these had few spare parts so were rarely seen.

[Spearjig]

According to the burb on the instructions, the Seahorse was only used by the American marines, Choctaw being the designation for the American army, what differences (if any) I would not know. Don't make me go back to the model shop for another Vietnam era kit.....please..

[Chris]

No, its perfectly good to go.

The French also used it in Nam, the US army didn't do to the French experince with them, to vunerable to ground fire, so the Huey was decided upon instead.

The Marines liked it and used it in I Corps, near the DMZ and at Pleiku.

[Chris]

Oh, and a fun bit of trivia, this is the type of chopper seen in 'full metal jacket' where 'joker' interviews the door gunner who shoots at everybody and everything!

[Dazzled]

According to the burb on the instructions, the Seahorse was only used by the American marines, Choctaw being the designation for the American army, what differences (if any) I would not know. Don't make me go back to the model shop for another Vietnam era kit.....please..

Who needs an excuse to buy another kit?

You could be a two-kit GB hero!

[splash]

Don't give up with the Sea Horse you could build it as an a/c from the 219th Helicopter Squadron, Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF).

The clever bit is they did not paint any markings so no need to source decals.

Here is my link to the build I did for one of the Helicopter GB's

Here is a link to a good site with info on the 219th

I look forward to your build.

Regards Splash

[ShaunW]

Sounds like problem solved Spearjig, go with either Chris' or Splash's suggestions, seems like the Seahorse is good to go.

[Saxon]

Should look good when done, I don't get too hung up on technicalities either so I would end up building something that either never served in 'Nam or served but not in the unit modeled!

[coptermech]

According to the burb on the instructions, the Seahorse was only used by the American marines, Choctaw being the designation for the American army, what differences (if any) I would not know. Don't make me go back to the model shop for another Vietnam era kit.....please..

They're the same aircraft. The only difference may have been branch specific equipment inside the aircraft. Both the army and marines used them for cargo and transport. As for the names, the branches don't follow each other when naming aircraft.

[Chuck Finley]

Actually, the helo depicted on the box did serve in Vietnam. If you look closely, there is a M-60 door gun provided in the kit. Here are some photos of the actual UH-34s serving with HMM-362 during Vietnam. The squadron did not give them up until 1969.



And another waiting outside the perimeter at Khe Sahn in 1968.

[Clashcityrocker]

Cool looking helicopter. It'll look nice when it's finished.

Nigel