Due to the nicely done photo-etch ventilation grilles in the engine cowling, you will be able to see at least a profile of the engine inside even if buttoned up, so you can’t skip the engine (but the level of detailing you add is proportional to the amount of the engine that you decide will be seen). Steps seven and eight are building out a reasonably solid rendition of the Lycoming T-53 turbo-shaft engine, installation of the same, and closing the fuselage. Considerable effort will be necessary to clean up of the parts, but it builds into a very nice looking kit.
Assembled crew area and engine compartment. You notice a theme? Do lots of test fitting here, making sure that you test fit the parts with the fuselage closed, or there will undoubtedly be trouble. The parts for the sling in the belly came with impressive sink holes that would have to be dealt with, and the exhaust outlet required modification of it’s location tabs to get it to fit in place correctly. In fact, due to some fit issues with the front doors, I would recommend posing them open to avoid those issues (and to show off the nice interior detail you no doubt spent hours painting and weathering). To note, while the instructions do not show it as an option, you will be able to pose the doors in the open position. Steps five and six involve building out the fuselage halves with some nice interior detail. Multiple sink holes adorn the hook assembly. PE seatbelts (not shown but included in kit) add the final touch to an otherwise impressive cockpit assembly. Detail continues to be quite impressive, and fit is reasonable, after a thorough clean up and lowered expectations.
#Kitty hawk install#
I didn’t install the PE seatbelts as that is simply a matter of, quite literally, bending the parts to your will and putting them in place. Lots more cleanup and careful assembly is required here. Steps two through four take up the second page and are more seats, PE seatbelts, and other details. This delay is mainly to allow for positioning these parts in situ as mine ended up being significantly off the aircraft center line, with poor fit all around. I would highly recommend waiting to install the rotor hub (Parts C67, C3, C28+29, and 3x C1) until further along in assembly. Assembly will take a great deal of test fitting and clean up, as well as opening up various holes, and cleaning up mating surfaces. Credit where it is due, the parts are richly detailed and look great sitting on the sprue (if you aren’t looking for flashed over holes and other signs of less than adequate tooling).
#Kitty hawk full#
Step one is one full page with multiple steps to begin fleshing out the cockpit and crew compartment. While not fatal this haphazard organization made the booklet less inviting and organized than it should have been. A couple of the instruction pages in my example were also fold-out, appearing as almost a correction made as an afterthought. At first blush the staple-bound instructions look beautiful with detailed diagrams spanning 20 pages, not including the fold-out full color marking and painting illustrations. I always begin a kit by going through the instructions several times. No paint, no filler, nothing hidden or corrected. To do this requires limiting myself to using only basic tools and skills. THE BUILD: My intent of the unvarnished feature is not to provide the reader with a comprehensive build guide but to give a quick reference of the overall quality and build-ability of the kit. In no way is this a shake and bake kit, but it might be the best detailed kit of the venerable Huey D in this scale. Kitty Hawk’s ambition and attention to detail makes a kit with many parts, that can look phenomenal and well detailed, but the quality of the fit and engineering is severely limited by their apparent tooling ability.
In less hands it will be a frustrating experience in skill building and fortitude. Bottom line up front: In hands possessing the necessary skill, experience, and most importantly patience, something great could come from Kitty Hawk plastic, especially this kit.
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