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In-Box Review
135
1/35 H-60 Series Transmission
1/35 Resin H-60 Transmission For Academy Blackhawk Kits
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by: Gino P. Quintiliani [ HEAVYARTY ]

H-60 History:

The Sikorsky H-60 helicopter (S-70) is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. The UH-60A Black Hawk entered service with the US Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1 Iroquois as the Army's tactical transport helicopter. This was followed by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variants of the Black Hawk. In recent years, improved UH-60L and UH-60M utility variants have also been developed. Modified versions have also been developed for the US Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard. In addition to US military use, the H-60 family has been exported to several nations. H-60 Hawks have served in combat during conflicts in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and other areas in the Middle East and across the world.

The FAB Resinworks piece:

FAB Resinworks is a new resin company out of Buffalo, New York. Their first helicopter piece is this very nicely done H-60 Hawk series transmission piece to fill the detail void under the cowling on Academy’s 1/35 Hawk models. The piece was mastered by Joe “Mother” Szczygiel is very nice and is packaged in a zip-lock bag attached to a heavy cardstock backer piece printed with all pertinent information.
The part captures the look of the actual piece well and is very detailed. It contains the central main transmission module, both the right and left input modules, and the output for the tail rotor shaft. These are all the areas that can be seen through the open hole on top of the fuselage. It fits inside the Academy fuselage perfectly and is a simple drop-fit onto the top of the cabin since it is keyed in the same way as the Academy piece it replaces. The only area that needs some attention is the hole for the main rotor shaft. The hole in the FAB Resinworks piece does not go all the way through. This becomes an issue when the rotor shaft is inserted and it does not sit all the way down on top of the transmission as it should. To fix the problem, you can either drill out the hole in the transmission, or cut about 3mm off the rotor shaft. Either way will snug it down properly.
The only other issue I see with this piece is the price. For a small amount of resin, the price is quite steep at $9.95 plus shipping, totaling about $15. I would be willing to pay about $6-$8 plus shipping, which should only be a couple of dollars max, not $5 as charged.
SUMMARY
Highs: Very well detailed and nicely cast. Easy to install.
Lows: The price. It is not worth the $15 that it comes to with shipping.
Verdict: Overall this is a great piece that only requires minimal modifications to make it work as it should on the 1/35 Academy Hawk kits. This is a great starter piece, although overpriced, for FAB Resinworks.
Percentage Rating
80%
  Scale: 1:35
  Mfg. ID: FAB-008
  Suggested Retail: $9.95 plus shipping
  PUBLISHED: Oct 17, 2013
  NATIONALITY: United States
NETWORK-WIDE AVERAGE RATINGS
  THIS REVIEWER: 87.79%
  MAKER/PUBLISHER: 80.00%

About Gino P. Quintiliani (HeavyArty)
FROM: FLORIDA, UNITED STATES

Retired US Army Artillery Officer, currently a contractor at MacDill AFB in the Tampa, FL area. I have been modelling for the past 40+ years, really seriously on armor and large scale helos (1/32, 1/35) for the last 35 or so.

Copyright ©2021 text by Gino P. Quintiliani [ HEAVYARTY ]. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AeroScale. All rights reserved.



Comments

Thanks for editing and posting this up Warren.
OCT 20, 2013 - 12:34 PM
   
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