Customer Reviews

Elite Force 21184 - US Army Black Hawk Helicopter

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The 1/18 scale Black Hawk by BBI is a clear winner. Big, robust and near-scale. It's clearly not detailed enough to be regarded as a fine-scale model, but it is much more accurately rendered than you would expect with a toy. It's suitable to either hang from a 10 year old boy's bedroom ceiling right through to being highly suitable for use as a training aid in military ops rooms or military classrooms (and everything in between). Great for aviation buffs of all ages.

It is particularly robust, being molded in a very, very tough plastic. So far as scale accuracy is concerned, the overall initial impression is that it is very accurate although close inspection reveals that it is not as accurate as first thought. Most notable is the tail rotor is vertical rather than being canted 20 degrees to the left in the real thing. The nose contour is just a little too blunt and the flight deck windows could have been done better, particularly the chin and overhead roof windows (the roof windows are way too small). The roof fairing above the cockpit leading back to the rotor hub is a little too big and blunt. Flight deck detail is good. The crew chief windows are a single piece and don't open (rather than being a 2-piece sliding unit on the real thing). Because these key windows don't open the modeller is prevented from fitting weapons. The main wheels are just a little undersize. The main cabin sliding doors are excellent. The main cabin behind the flight deck is only very sparsely detailed. The rear fuselage is contoured accurately but only has a "token" couple of rows of rivets and they are much too oversize. The vertical stabilzer is too thick (when studied from the front) and is also covered with "token" rows of non-scale oversize rivets. The lower trailing edge of the vertical stabilizer isn't cambered to the left like on the real thing. The stabilator needed some filing to get it to fit - it clicks into place, but will detach fairly easily during play. The stabilator is flat (uncambered) but is otherwise raesonably faithfully rendered to depict an older A model tapered stabilator, whereas many real black hawks now have the L model rectangular stabilator with 4 trailing edge hand holds (as used on the Sea Hawk).

The main rotors are impressive and very tough. They are correctly twisted but when studied from above you'll notice they clearly and (for me, annoyingly) curve slightly forward from root to tip (the real blades do not, although many photographs give that impression because they are twisted and droop at rest). The blades are too thick but probably need to be for toughness. By the way, the blades on the Amazon sample picture are set up to spin in the wrong direction! The rotor assembly just plugs into the fuselage when pushed with a bit of force and then can spin fairly freely. I can imagine that the rotor assembly will unplug from the fuselage during rugged play, but I don't think the fuselage would break unless dropped from the garage roof (and the kids shouldn't be up there anyway). I wouldn't recommend hanging it from the rotors only - the fuselage could be pulled away reasonably easily.

The only defect with this model as it came out of the box is that the left mainwheel on mine was turned about 25 degrees out to the left. This appears to be a widespread fault with the molded left mainwheel strut because I've seen it on pictures of other samples I've seen on the Internet. The purchaser probably won't be able to fix this fault because the left wheel strut is made from unbelievably tough plastic that is plastic-welded deep up inside the body of the model. The leg strut can't be detached by the purchaser so getting a replacement strut from Blue Box probably won't be the solution. This fault annoyed me so much I ultimately cut the existing struts off and machined a full metal replacement set fitted with 36mm fine-scale wheels and epoxied them in place. This would be beyond the skills of most purchasers who will probably have to live with it if their example has the same defect. I'm also sanding off the oversized rear fuselage rivets on mine, making up a rectangular stabilator and painting it in Australian camouflage colours to be an Australian S70A-9.

Despite this catalog of nitpickings, I still thoroughly recommend this product. Because of its huge size - 35 inch rotor span - it's an absolute drawcard and conversation piece that people simply won't put down. It perhaps lies midway between a toy and a fine-scale model but I'm sure no-one will be disappointed. It'll last a long time in a kid's sandpit and much longer in Dad's study. Great value for money.

This is the best model of a hawk I have found on the market today. In fact I have crewed this helicopter (tail 24750) it is part of the OPFOR fleet at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin California.

When I first saw this toy, it was a t work.One of the pilots had one in his office,when I saw it I was like a little kid and had to know where I could get one.I am in the Army and this is one of the aircraft I work on.The overall detail is amazing,in addition the scale is just wow.There are a couple tiny things that are wrong as for the actually systems on the aircraft ,for example the slime lights on the stabilator are on the bottom on the toy where as on the real aircraft they are located on the top.But with a little time and superglu it can be made right,other than that I think any child and adult alike will get many hours of joy out of it,in fact I have been thinking about purchasing a second one.

To begin, THIS THING IS HUGE! It tops out at about 3 feet with a blade diameter of about 2 feet! Good luck finding a display space. The hull color is accurate, the weathering is wonderfully subtle, and the signage is incredible-it's even on the rotor blades. But, the surface detailing leaves something to be desired-especially when comparing this replica against the FORCES OF VALORS' 1:48 scale Blackhawk-you can clearly see what and how much is actually missing. The ships' upper hull especially suffers from a dearth of detail. There are almost no panel lines, lathches, hinges, vents, or rivets-all things that one would clearly expect to be present in and around the engine and rotor areas. Even more strangely, the main and skylight windshield frames are left unpainted while the door and lower nose frames are painted. What gives?? In addition, the extensive rivetting on the tailboom mysteriously disappears as it nears the bottom of the craft. The entire underside of the copter is almost completely devoid of any detailing. Another troubling bit of detail: the winglet support struts are connected to the inboard pylons. I could be wrong, but I've never seen this before. I thought that the support struts connected directly to the underside of the winglets themselves? High points of the ship are its excellently done rotors, super detailed instrument panel, and realistic indicator lights. The pilot fits easily into the cockpit, unlike the AH-6's. Final thoughts: (1) impressive size-but it shouldn't be an excuse to skimp on necessary detail. (2)a first of its kind offering, and therefore, a collector must-have. (3)overall excellent bang-...

As stated below, the 2 pane window for the crew chiefs do not open. The wing support hole is very well welded into the sides of the chopper. Not an easy mod in the owner is bent on opening up those ports and mounting a gatling gun.

Seating issues are present as well for the crew chief seats directly behind the pilot. They're crammed and it is hard to get BBI figures to sit in them just right.

Fortunately, the one I have received does not suffer from the bent wheel frame as seen on the amazon's photos. One good way of preventing this from setting in, just in case, is to prop up the body on something so that the full weight is not resting on the 2 front wheels.

Another observation is that the rear wheel struts seems just a bit shorter than they would be compared to the various photos of the actual black hawk on the web.

Never the less, this is a must for any black hawk fan!

As was said before this is not a small item. This is easily close to 3 feet long. Detail is everywhere like other items in this line. If you have a fancy for military collectibles and the room get this chopper. Not really good for young children as it probably wouldn't handle the beatings they give.

As previously mentioned, this thing is BIG. I don't find the lack of detailing around the engines as bothersome as the winglets and aux. fuel tanks. I'd have rather seen open side windows and miniguns, but only 'cause I'm a grunt and not a CSAR type... Bottom line- higly detailed, and well worth the money. All I need now is the ropes and a squad of Rangers for fast-roping. :-)

I'll tell you, you will not find anything with this much detail for this price young and old alike will love this toy. This helicopter represents one of the Army's hardest working machines besides the Hummer. The work horse of the air the Black Hawk Helicopter flies wherever duty calls. Desert conditions. Arctic climates. Hot and high. Carrying up to 11 troops, fully equipped. On virtually any kind of mission. This chopper from Blue Box Toys will keep your backyard safe and with the support of the Little Bird helicopter also available from bbi their will be no need to worry. <grinnin> Enjoy you've made the right decision!

The Blackhawk does have a few faults, thought they aren't major.

One is the weak landing gears. That can be fixed by taking some clear modeler's Plexiglass and gluing a stand underneath the helicopter allowing it to look like it is standing on the wheels.

Another fault is the crew cheifs' windows don't open. But they can be cut open to put in some guns.

The third fault is the small cabin. To hold as many troops as needed, you need to remove the benches. It could have a more elongated cabin though.

~~YOU MIGHT RUIN IT TRYING WHAT I DID, SO DON'T DO IT!~~

The cool thing I did with mine is that I took the bird apart and made it lined with the tin from a craft's store. Then, I shot metal BB's at it to simulate gunfire. The plastic cracks a little, so I stopped, but overall, it held up.