Low Viz Seahawk Family (1)
USN/RAN/RDAF SH-60B/F, HH-60H, MH-60R

AOA Decals, 1/35 scale

Reviewed by David Couche

This part one 1/35 decal sheet of low-viz options for the US Navy H-60 Seahawk family covers the SH-60B, SH-60F, HH-60H, and MH-60R variants, and includes MH-60R options for the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Danish Air Force.

Full airframe data stencils for one aircraft are included this release.  AOA has provided some quite detailed notes on the differences in data stencils between earlier and later models. It also supplies specific Australian stencils (marked by a small red kangaroo) used only on the Royal Australian Navy Romeo airframes.

The decals are crisp, in register and well numbered. They are printed by well-known decal producer, Microscale of the USA.  I have used their decals several times before, with them being reasonably easy to apply and with them settling down well with some decal set.

The instructions on 7, basically, double sided glossy heavy paper sheets are printed in colour with helpful annotated notes where needed. Of those 7 pages, 2 are dedicated to the application of data stencils. There are many of them and there is a page for the port side, needing 3 views to be able to accurately indicate the decals placement as well as the top view. The same views are there for the starboard side, and bottom view. There is only one set of data stencils for the early aircraft. There will be many hours of fun applying these decals, but at least they will be on a good size model.

The 2 pages of detailed notes list the physical details that are different for each of the schemes and using the Kitty Hawk kits, tell you what parts to use, or not use, dependant of the kit. And whilst all the notes are for the Kitty Hawk kits, I’ve done a quick sizing check on my Academy kits, and they appear to be spot on as well.

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The helicopters covered in this set are:

SH-60B

• HSL-43 Battle Cats, TT-23, Bu No. 164461, 2011
• HSL-48 Vipers, HR-515, Bu.No.164848, 2013
• HSL-51 Warlords, TA-714, Bu.No.164817, 2011

SH-60F

• HS-5 Nightdippers, AG-612, Bu.No.164796, 2012
• HS-11 Dragonslayers, AB-610, Bu.No.164800, 2015

HH-60H

• HS-5 Nightdippers, AG-615, Bu.No.165116, 2012
• HS-11 Dragonslayers, AB-615, Bu.No.163795, 2015

MH-60R

• HSM-46 Grandmasters, HQ-762, Bu.No.168134, 2019
• HSM-48 Vipers, HR-512, Bu.No.168091, 2018
• HSM-51 Warlords, TA-04, Bu.No.167030, 2022
• HSM-70 Spartans, AJ-706, Bu.No.166552, 2017
• HSM-73 Warlords, NA-701, Bu.No.167039, 2017
• 725 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, N48-003, Serial No.168816, 2015
• 725 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, N48-004, Serial No.168817, 2015
• 816 Squadron, Royal Australian Navy, N48-004, Serial No.168817, 2018 (aircraft above changed squadrons).
  Eskadrille 723, Royal Danish Air Force, N-974, Serial No.168974, 2017

This is a very nice large set of decals from AOA Decals covering 16 different low-viz marked aircraft of varied versions over a 11-year period.

I look forward to further releases from this company in future.

With a couple of Academy Seahawks in the stash, one or more of these schemes will adorn my future builds.

These AOA decals are highly recommended.

Thanks to AOA Decals for the review sample

AOA Decals are available online via their website

Review Text and Images Copyright © 2023 by David Couche
Page Created 29 May, 2023
Last Updated 29 May, 2023

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