I’m an Aviation Maintenance Technician student, and my concentration seems to be helicopters. Therefore, I’d like to build a rotorcraft kit. My first pick was the Legato Robinson R-22, which seems to be made of Unobtanium. So I’m looking for something that is:
An American subject (but not necessarily from an American kit manufacturer)
No smaller than 1:48 scale
Going to fit together well
Accurate
Not a purpose-built attack helicopter or a CH-46
Easily found here in the USA
Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!
I don’t do a whole lot of helo’s, but the Hasegawa 1/48 SH-3 is really good, way overpriced (especially the newer issue) but there’s deals out there. I got mine for $10 at a vendor table. I have also done Dragons 1/35 UH-1(earlier version), it was good enough and well priced. I would imagine that the “N” models would go together similarly, and they’re price range is quite affordable as well, 'round $20. Academy’s 1/35 UH-60 and H-58 are decent too.
revell (Monogram) 1/48 Huey Hog gunship is a good kit. Easily found, easy to build, and not expensive. You can leave of the armament if you feel so inclined and turn it in to a slick.
You really can’t go wrong with Italeri helicopter kits. If you ebay sometimes you can find some of the old Esci kits which offered some nice 1/48 UH-1s.
Another 1/48 kit not mentioned is the Heller AS350 B-3.
I know you said you’re looking for 1/48, but if you would consider 1/72 there is much more variety out there.
If you just don’t want to deal with small pieces there are some nice 1/32 kits, Revell of Germany has the BKK-117, EC-135 and EC-145, BO-105 and Allouette II. Panda and Dragon offer some versions of the Huey in 1/35. Academy makes a decent Bell 47 in 1/35.
You can still find the 1/32 Testors H-43 kit pretty easily, it is cheap and funky (intermeshing rotors), very basic detail but easy to build and there is nothing else like it. Cobra Company offers a very nice resin and photo etch detail set if you are into that kind of thing. The huge windows of the kit make detailing the interior worthwhile.
Any of the MRC/Academy H-60 kits should be good (I have the USAF MH-60 version); you can go out-of-box or add to it with a host of aftermarket accessories. The Panda/Dragon Hueys are pretty inaccurate and need quite a bit of work and help from Cobra Company’s wonderful update sets to make them acceptable. I love Hueys and hope someday an accurate out of box UH-1D/H/N shows up–and without the “baggage door” on the starboard tail that all these companies insist on including! The old 1/32 Revell UH-1D has alot going for it, and in some respects has more accurate points, but it still needs much work and has some fit issues. Another nice kit is the 1/35 Dragon/Italeri OH-6A, though I am not sure how easy it is to find these days. It might be easier to find the similar AH-6 by Dragon; it is an attack ship, but can easily be made to a people-carrier or training ship for the AH-6.
I can understand the size issue with 1/72, unfortunately most of the older US helicopters are only available in that scale. You can occasionally find the old 1/48 Revell H-19 and H-34 but they usually go for $50-100.
Just be prepared the Huskie is a motorized Hawk kit from the 1960s, so the interior detail is somewhat lacking, but the fit is pretty good. Some simple scratchbuilding (seatbelts and such) to add some detail to the cockpit will go a long way. The rear compartment is empty because at one time the motor and batteries went there. The real helicopter was basically a flying pickup truck, so its not a huge task to box in the back and add some small details if you want to leave the doors open. The Cobra kit adds a lot and since the kit is so cheap the added cost balances out pretty well. The Huskie was used for heli-logging in the 70s if you want to build something other than a military version.
While the Dragon / Panda UH-1D / H has issues for a military UH-1 it is actually pretty accurate for a civilian Bell 205A++ which has the baggage compartment in the tail boom and the engine, transmission and rotors from a Bell 212. The kit uses the 212 (UH-1N) rotors in the 205 (UH-1D/H) kit so it works out rather nicely as a civilian kit.
Since we are dropping some names for aftermarket companies, I guess we should probably provide the links. Cobra Company has some great resin parts, Fireball has decals and some resin. Both are very easy to deal with and offer great stuff.
Thanks for the advice, Aaron. I’ll be building me Huskie as a civil helicopter, as it would look if I had a 1:1. I’ll take a good look at the kit before deciding if I want to order up Cobra Company’s detail set.
I was at the Hobbytown on Bullard earlier this week and saw they had a 1/48 Bell 222 from Hobbycraft. I don’t know anything about the kit, maybe a rebox of the old AMT Airwolf. Anyway since it looks like you are in Fresno I thought I’d mention it as I wasn’t aware of a currently available 222 kit.
I am in Fresno…and I’ve also spent too much money on new kits for now! I do appreciate the tip, though, and I might just get it later, if it sits on the shelf long enough.