UH-1D Slick

This is a very good kit of the Huey UH-1D. The instructions are laid out well. The fit is pretty good except for the fuselage halves. The locating pins are slightly off. I actually cut off the pins and realigned the fuselage. Once this was done there was very little putty required at the seams. The interior jump seats are too narrow and thick. I ended up scratch building them. The kit offers a couple of variations of the D version. The decals were nice. They went on easily and conformed to the surface well. With a little work and some aftermarket details it makes a good looking representation. I would recommend this kit for those looking for a long bodied Huey.

If you're looking to build a UH-1D there isn't many options available out there and Italeri's kit is probably the most available to find. Overall, I gave it 4 out 5 stars. You are provided decals for an American, Australian and German aircraft as well as parts for an earlier and later version of the aircraft. Ultimately this amounts to just a few parts that equal small variations between the two but it's nice to have the options. Building it out of the box is pretty straight forward. My biggest complaint would be that there isn't much of an interior provided other than the seats. I bought the Eduard PE set which provides a little more detail but in the end was probably not worth the extra money. Getting the interior to fit between the fuselage halves can be tricky and if not done correctly can leave wide gaps around the door frames. If building the model with the doors closed, this isn't a huge issue. However, most people probably want the doors open so sanding to get an exact fit or using putty will be required. My only other suggestion would be to find some real photos of the aircraft when building it. While building my kit, I found that many of the small antennas that are provided were not necessarily on the real aircraft. I'm sure throughout the life of the Huey there were many modifications so if you're trying to be as historically accurate as possible, not all pieces may be used. In the end, if you want something that has decent exterior detail and looks like a UH-1D this is a good kit to buy. If you are looking for maximum accuracy, you might be a little frustrated with the amount of extra work that will be required. I have added a few pictures of my build.

Very good kit at a nice price point. Assembly goes smooth with clear instructions, some modeling skills required, and looks very good when done. Cool selection of decals too, no crew included but that's pretty common with Italeri's kits.