Below are photos of Monogram’s impressive 1/24 scale (19-1/2” fuselage length and 22” rotor width) U.S. Army Bell UH-1B Phantom Huey Combat helicopter built in 2025. The kit was originally issued in 1969 and included a full interior, clear fuselage parts and electric motor that could spin the rotors. It was advertised by the company as the largest plastic kit available of the best known and most seen helicopter in the world. It was hoped to be a “sequel model” to Monogram’s massively successful 1/32 scale North American P-51D Phantom Mustang released in 1961. Unfortunately, the Phantom Huey turned out to be a poor seller and was out of production by 1975. In 1976, the part molds were forever modified to convert it into a “standard” opaque display model without the electric motor working features. The converted opaque Huey has been a successful kit and re-issued eight times since 1976. This made the original clear body releases of 1969 and 1970 very rare models.
I was fortunate enough to acquire one of the 1969 releases many years ago. Although the kit had poor quality parts and a horrible fit between the clear body halves, the stunning beauty of the clear parts eventually sold me on building it. My goal was to create a very neat and pristine display and NOT to try and reproduce an accurate interior of an actual Huey helicopter. This also meant a lot of (inaccurate but eye-popping) color variation and a minimal amount of glue application. Listed below are some of the modifications and upgrades made to the model:
-Added Eduard 1/32 scale pre-painted photo-etched instrument panels-
-Added miscellaneous plastic parts from my Spare Parts Box to make the barren areas look busier-
-Added miscellaneous small wiring with different insulation colors-
This build was certainly a challenge and a true labor of love, but the end result produced a really nice display. One of the photos below was taken while the main rotor was operating. A couple of progress build photos are also included. Certainly, this is a model kit you will not see built up very often! I hope you enjoy the photos!
Phillip, great work!! Man oh man, I’m jealous. I remember when this model came out and I always rolled my eyes at it. I wasn’t interested in the back then. And I forgot all about it until eBay about 25 years ago. You’re correct, finding one that has not been assembled or broken - and affordable - rare as hen’s teeth.
I bought one during covid. Original box but it’s really bad shape and three of the four corners were split. All the parts are there but there has been a little bit of assembly, and the tail boom interior structure for one side is warped. I think I can build it.
If I can find it. It, along with my collection of 1/24 Bandai King Tigers and Panthers, has not been seen since we moved three and a half years ago. I’m confident it is in a box somewhere. I just dread how the Packers they have packed it.
JPTRR-Thanks for the compliment and comments! When I bought my Phantom Huey kit on eBay about 15 years ago it was in great shape with about 95% of the parts still on the sprue trees! However, both clear fuselage halves had significant warping where both boom sections pulled away from the centerline. I had to do some serious sanding and ended up removing about 1/8" from the overall fuselage width to remove the warping and get a really good fit between the parts. Hopefully your kit does not have the same problem. And hopefully the packers did not do any damage to it (or your German tanks)! If you do build it be sure and post photos.
Oh man, this looks sweet. I’m always was bit nervous about these clear fuselage or clear body style model kit. Always thought I will screw it up with glue marks, finger prints, and scratches so I never build up the courage to build one. Heck, I even screwed the regular plastic edition of the same kit which I was in process of converting it into a crop dusted. Got to see one everyday at the local airport when I was leaving to fly. I would hear that sucker approaching with whoop whoop whoop sound and ah man it would make my day. Made me doubt my decision of flying fixed wings instead of rotary
Amazing.. I have never seen one built without glue marks all over it .. I’m not kidding. This is the cleanest one I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for showing us it can be done.
Stryker45-Thanks for the compliment and great comments! It did take a lot of extra effort to keep everything clean. Actually this model does include parts to make the “putt-putt” sound when running. Below is a very short YouTube video of my model with the main rotor operating and you can hear that classic Huey sound.
