Werner's Wings

UH-1 Short Bodied Hueys Reference DVD

 product # RWAS-01   $12

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Apr 28 2010

 

This Reference DVD from Werner's Wings provides pictures of the UH-1 Short Bodied Hueys.  Photos that were mainly taken by Ray Wilhite.  A separate Reference DVD is available for the UH-1 Long Bodied Hueys

This is a photo only DVD and provides 1312 photos of the following aircraft:

3 photos of the 540 rotor Ft. Rucker storage
5
photos of the Ft Rucker Simulator
15
photos of the HH-1K
4
photos of the Huey armored seat
29
photos of the Huntsville Veterans Museum UH-1M
21
photos of the Jordan Utah NG UH-1M
10
photos of the T-53 engine
29
photos of the UH-1A 58-2091 Ft. Campbell
23
photos of the UH-1A 59-1659 Ft. Rucker storage
297
photos of the UH-1B 60-3554 Ft. rucker display
67
photos of the UH-1B 62-1884 Ft. Rucker storage
30
photos of the UH-1B 62-2010 Ft. Campbell
38
photos of the UH-1B carcass Ft Rucker
58
photos of the UH-1F 63-13141 Pima
73
photos of the UH-1F 65-7959 Warner Robins Museum of Aviation
26
photos of the UH-1L South Central Island Helicopter
46
photos of the UH-1M 64-14185 Redstone Arsenal
110
photos of the UH-1M 65-09430 PIMA Air and Space Museum
124
photos of the UH-1M 65-09446 Ft. Rucker storage
61
photos of the UH-1M 66-0524 White Sands drone
42
photos of the UH-1M 66-0616 White Sands
45
photos of the UH-1M 66-15050 Ozark Military Museum
53
photos of the UH-1M 66-15183
57
photos of the UH-1P 65-7925 Warner Robins Museum of Aviation
46
photos of the XH-40 55-4459 Ft. Rucker storage

I will provide a tiny sampling of photos that are found on this DVD.  The images on the DVD are massive........I have resized them to a much smaller size for this article.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

  

To me the big question is picture quality, picture size and what is in the photos.

Regarding picture quality. 
Although some of the photos were shot indoor in less than ideal lighting conditions.....the bulk of the photos are either well lit indoor photos or sunny outdoor photos. 

Picture size and resolution
Most of the pictures are 2 or 3 megs in size and offer very high resolution. These are the quality and size of photos that will will not find on the web.

Subject matter in the photos. 
This is the critical area. Do these photos provide the sort of detail and visual information to permit the super detailer to detail any area of his Short Bodies Huey from the engine to the interior/exterior to the weapons systems?
  After all all the photos in the world are useless if they don't contain the info that is helpful.  With 1312 photos.....there is some very good coverage of all of the areas of interest to modellers....such as main and tail rotors (even from the top of the main rotor), engine, weapons systems includes doors guns, side guns and rocket launchers.  I like the fact the photographer not only took time to photos a chopper with side guns and rocket launchers, but also shot photos of the control systems in the cockpit for these weapons systems.  For the interior you get plenty of cockpit and instrument panel photos as well as a walkaround of the armored seat out of the chopper.  You also get photos of cockpit partially disassembled showing structural items as well as cockpit fully assembled.  Some of the choppers in storage appear to be parts donors for other choppers, hence their partially disassembled interior.  You also get photos of the engine removed from one of the choppers and sitting on a display stand as well as photos of an engine installed in a chopper with the engine access doors opened up.  The photos also focus on the rear interior passenger area as well as all the tiny little areas of the Huey that would only be of interest to s a serious modeller.  Another thing that is interesting is you also get the Operational Service history listing of 6 of the Hueys included on this DVD.....Operational history listings that includes Vietnam etc.  This is not long text story type operational history......just brief lists of dates, locations, Units, Post and country.  Often we forget the long battle history of aircraft when we view them in the quiet surroundings of a museum.

I will openly admit that I was quite skeptical of the idea of paying $12 for a DVD of photos when the internet provides so many photos for free.  But after opening a large sampling of photos on this DVD and viewing all the thumbnails, I have to admit I can't think of any area on the Huey that isn't covered on this DVD.  Sure there might be certain thing that aren't covered.....but for a good all around reference photos....this DVD seems to hit the mark very well.

You can purchase this DVD directly from Werner's Wings website.

Steve

I would like to thank Werner's Wings for providing me with this review sample.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

  

Photos and text © by Steve Bamford