Kit: No. 085
Scale: 1/72
Manufacturer: Italeri, distributed by Testor, 620 Buckbee St., Rockford, IL 61104-4891, 815-962-6654
Price: $8.50
Comments: Injection molded, 82 parts, decals.
MMention “helicopter” to anyone who grew up in the 1950s, and immediately the Bell 47 (military designation H-13) comes to mind. Television shows such as “Whirlybirds” and “M.A.S.H.” imprinted the vision of bubble-nosed choppers into thousands of viewers’ minds.
Italeri’s latest 1/72 scale helicopter family starts with the OH-13S version. It had a slightly greater rotor diameter than earlier versions, an extended boom (to keep the tail rotor clear of the main rotor), and a supercharger for the opposed-six-cylinder engine. This late version saw service with the U.S. Army in Vietnam and pioneered the use of mounted machine guns to make an ad hoc helicopter “gunship.”
Italeri’s moldings have good detail and include a fine cockpit with collective and control sticks for both seats. The design of Bell’s boom is difficult to mold in plastic (even in 1/35 scale). Italeri’s rendition of the tube structure is too thick for the scale, but molding it any thinner probably would have made the boom unbuildable. The cockpit bubble (with separate doors) has some distortion but it fits well to the cockpit tub.
The kit comes with optional machine-gun packages: twin M60s or quadruple .30-caliber guns. I chose the former.
Italeri’s instructions provide part numbers but not names. Some diagrams are vague on the location of small parts. The boom-mounted battery rack is shown backward; the battery should be placed forward. It isn’t clear where the antenna bar (part No. 58A) should go.
The 13-part engine is a mini-maze, so dry-fit it before gluing. I didn’t know what to do with the engine-air intake, but studying photos makes it clear that a flexible metal hose snakes around the boom structure and sticks out between the fuel tanks.
Assembly is easy, but a slow-setting cement will make it easier to align the boom to the cockpit tub and to fit the tail-rotor drive shaft to the boom and engine.
Airbrushing the boom is tricky; a lot of wasted paint passes through the spindly structure. Keep turning the boom as you spray to make sure it’s covered. I used Testor Model Master olive drab overall, then airbrushed Future floor polish for a gloss finish.
Decals are provided for three OH-13s that served in Vietnam. My sample was printed out of register; the red stripes in the tiny national insignias were way off. I replaced the larger ones on the cockpit belly and fuel tanks, but I couldn’t find alternates for the tiny tail-fin items, so I had to use the originals.
The finished model looks good, if a bit burly. The overall dimensions are to scale with Wayne Mutza’s H-13 Mini in Action (Squadron/Signal). I spent only about 10 hours on this little chopper. The only improvement I could think of would be to re-create the intricate boom with soldered brass wire (good luck!) to make it more to scale. Small parts and fiddly structures make this a difficult project for beginners, but experienced modelers will appreciate this important addition to 1/72 scale collections.
– Paul Boyer