MH-60L Black Hawk & Black Hawk US Helicopters Paint Set
Historical & Reference Notes
From ICM's own description:
At the end of 1968, the U.S. Army awarded contracts to several companies for the development of a multi-role tactical transport helicopter. This program was called UTTAS (Utility Tactical Transport Air System), and the following requirements were set: a three-person crew, the ability to carry 11-15 soldiers in the cabin, a powerplant with two engines, and the ability to transport the helicopter inside cargo aircraft. In 1976, after completing the tests, the Army selected Sikorsky as the winner of the UTTAS program, and a contract was signed for the production of the first batch of helicopters, which were designated UH-60A Black Hawk (Sikorsky’s series designation was S-70). These became the basis for a whole family of helicopters for various purposes—transport, special operations, electronic warfare, naval multi-role, anti-submarine, medical, and more. The MH-60L modification is a special operations helicopter for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) of the U.S. Army, also known as the “Night Stalkers.” The helicopter is equipped with weather radar and a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor, and it can also be fitted with an air refueling system.
I also came across an excellent, beautifully illustrated 134 page paperback book from CAVU Publications, which provides wealth of great photographs of the HH-60G Pavehawk. As a modeler, I suspect you’ll find many/most of these of special interest if you are constructing a special operations variant.
- https://cavupublications.com/products/hh-60g-pavehawk
- The U.S. Army’s description: https://www.soc.mil/USASOCHQ/Public%20Affairs/Fact%20Sheets/160th_BlackHawk.pdf
MH-60 Black Hawk
The primary mission of the MH-60 Black hawk helicopter is to conduct overt or covert infiltration, exfiltration, and resupply of special operations forces across a wide range of environmental conditions. An armed version, the Direct Action Penetrator, has the primary mission of armed escort and fire support. Secondary missions of the MH-60 include external load, combat search and rescue and medical evacuation operations. The MH-60 is capable of operating from fixed-base facilities, remote sites, or ocean-going vessels.
The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) operates three versions of the Black Hawk helicopter:
The MH-60K (Black Hawk) is a highly modified twin-engine utility helicopter based on the basic UH-60 Black Hawk airframe but developed specifically for the special operations mission. Improvements include an aerial refueling capability, an advanced suite of aircraft survivability equipment and improved navigation systems, including multi-mode radar to further improve pinpoint navigation in all environments and under the harshest conditions.
The MH-60L is also a highly modified version of the standard U.S. Army Black Hawk configured for special operations use. It has many, but not all, of the modifications found on the “K” model.
The MH-60L Direct Action Penetrator (DAP), or DAP, is an MH-60L modified to mount a variety of offensive weapons systems. Its mission is to conduct attack helicopter operations utilizing area fire or precision guided munitions and armed infiltration or exfiltration of small units. It is capable of conducting direct action missions as an attack helicopter or reconfiguring for troop assault operations. In the direct action role, the DAP would not normally be used as a primary transport for troops or supplies because of high gross-weight limits. The DAP is capable of conducting any mission during day, night or adverse weather conditions.
MH-60L and MH-60K Performance Characteristics:
- Normal cruise airspeed 120 knots
- Maximum dash airspeed 178 knots
- Normal mission range (no A/R) 450 NM
- Normal mission endurance (no A/R) 4 hrs, 20 min
https://www.americanspecialops.com/photos/night-stalkers/mh-60l-dap.php
Sikorsky’s website and review of the MH-60L helicopter: https://sikorskyarchives.com/home/sikorsky-product-history/helicopter-innovation-era/sikorsky-s-70a-uh-60l-black-hawk-family/
Kit Features
- 20 pages (w/ 3 four-view color and marking pages)
- 302 parts
- Grey plastic
- Seven sprue sections and one clear section
There are two items I feel should have been included, though sadly are not. The first being shoulder harness and seat belt items; they are normally prominent in the flight deck area, and throughout the passenger area (especially if you configure your seven additional seats, which my kit doesn’t include as my photos of the Operation Gothic Serpent a/c show these seats not in use).
The second major missing issue is there are no masks provided for the glass windows. In my opinion these are both necessary and badly needed; their absence is a major bummer. This necessitated my ordering a set of masks specifically designed for the ICM kit, which I could have circumvented by just hand masking them, an idea I gave up after trying to hand trace, fit and cut myself (I must be getting older than I imagined……). I settled into the ASK masking set, which only cost about €11, but the kicker was the shipping cost almost another €16 bringing my ASK order to approximately €27.58 (or $27.56). I also checked to see if this set was available via the internet or eBay to no avail. I did locate a TFace set from Eduard after drafting my review and used them in the final building of my MH-60.
My sample kit came with 13 small broken or loose parts, which I will attempt to locate on the sprue sections. All but one small section of an antenna remained broken, but alas there was a duplicate of that item on the sprue section.
Construction Notes
Another issue is that of instruction clarity. This must be a constant challenge for the design engineers and while I am constantly appreciative of those overall efforts, it doesn’t always work well. My example of where those instruction drawings don’t provide clarity are evident (or not) in panels numbers 52 through 57. I attached pieces as I saw them drawn and I am still not certain I have them correct, or as my guessing from the rather vague instruction drawings.
Fit & Finish
I found this kit contained a challenging number of very small parts. This was especially the case with the numerous small antennas, around the nose and chaff dispensers along both sides and bottom of the MH-60. Keep in mind this is a special operations helicopter and each of these devices has a purpose. This is also evident in the long adjustable refueling probe evident with their special operations requirements.
I encountered some significant fit issues around the nose section in steps #48 and #51. My use of Vallejo plastic putty to fill in around the nose was challenging and I hope the painting will permit these areas to look okay? I am unsure why these two clear window sections don’t fit properly, as I found no other such issues with any of the other clear elements—each fit their respective locations perfectly?? I hope this is an engineering error to be corrected in other boxing of the kits.
I also found the fit at the top of intake shrouds was poor along the top and I finally gave up (instruction panel 61 on page 11, items #59 and 60). As usual, I should note that these issues may be of my own ingrown habits and inadequate skills--just saying…….
Painting and Decals
ICM Black Hawk acrylic paint set (#3067) has five colors (1002 Black, 1033 Sky Gray, 1038 German Grey, 1056 Light Earth and 1072 US Dark Green) and one bottle of gloss varnish (#2003). This is my first use of the ICM paints, and I have been pleasantly surprised at their quality and coverage. I found that I able to thin much more than with many other acrylics, winding up with thinning it about 30% the ICM paint to 70% acrylic thinner (using A.Mig-2000). On the downside there are some colors called for that are named and not present on the color list; i.e. color ‘V’ on page 16 step 104.
I also used their gloss varnish, with about 5 thin coats sprayed for the black radome, which just didn’t work for the glossy finish I was looking for. My solution was to spray an overcoat of Alclad II Lacquer’s Aqua Gloss Clear (#ALC 600), resulting in the finish I was hoping for.
I also experimented with some small areas of hand brushing. They failed to show any brush marks. And as a plus, as with most acrylics, I cleaned my brushes with ‘The Master’s Brush Cleaner and Preserver’ (#101) which worked easily and quickly; I also tried just plain tap water which worked as well.
To provide the mast mounted Electro-Optical/Imaging Infrared (EO/IR) sensor I used Mig’s Crystal Green (# A.MIG-092). My tire look comes from Mission Models Worn Black Grey Tires (#MMP-105), and metal areas using ATOM’s Metallic Black (ATOM #20168) and Burnt Iron (ATOM #20169).
My painting included a small amount of pin washes, using 502 Abteilung Brown Wash # ABT080. I completed my dry brushings, using my old standby Winsor & Newton’s Artist Oil color Naples Yellow Light, No. 426.
As prequel before applying the decals, I used Tamiya’s Mark Fit Strong (#87135) on the glossy model surface, which greatly aids in settling the decals. I used a small amounts of Microscales Micro Set #MI-1 and Walters Solvaset #904-470, which allows the decals to snuggle down and fit tighter when dry. And I sprayed my overall final finish using Testors Dullcoat Lacquer (#1160).
I’ll very briefly mention decals: I say briefly as I only used two of the very large sheet of decals and those only denote the aircraft number. These are for the assembly number ‘62’ within the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment based very loosely on the one image file which may have been taken during Operation Gothic Serpent and the Battle of Mogadishu. I have no inside intelligence about the tragedy made famous in the Black Hawk Down book or operation and I am only left guessing about the markings and possible decals to be used.
Recommendation
This ICM kit once again provides an excellent model of an intriguing aircraft, especially for all fans of the Mark Bowden’s and Tom Clancy books and the movie Black Hawk Down.
It is great build, though I feel the better to advanced modeler will find this kit, though a bit challenging in some portions of the build. Though I utilized only four bottles of the ICM paint set (#3067), I found this acrylic set to provide excellent coverage with both an airbrush and hand brushing.
I want to again thank ICM for the opportunity to both build and review this kit of the MH-60L kit. I also thank IPMS/USA for this review opportunity.

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