The Little World

Okay, okay, I know. But that was what it looked like when I opened the box. It is the first of the modern twin-rotor helicopters I’ve encountered and I had no idea what the size of it was going to be.

This is the second part of my fee-for-service I earned taking portraits and it looks like it is going to be every bit as good as the Bell UH-1 you saw a few weeks ago. Particularly since the Royal Canadian Air Force has taken delivery of a number of th CH-147F Chinooks and has painted them in modern combat colours.

The kit is a special forces long-range version of the MH 47 E CHinook in US Army service. But it is the best starting point in the market for the F version that Canada bought. And the net has confirmed that most of the major parts needed to replicate this are already in the kit as alternatives. It is just going to be a case of selecting the right photo coverage to see whether certain things should be added or omitted.

As usual, the Italeri sprues are mostly flash-free – there are a few ejector pin rings on the inside, though, and these will need smoothing – The interior is so open, and the rear cargo door will be let down – you can’t ignore that vast empty space. Fortunately there are a number of reference photos taken of the troops and cargo loaded inside.

The one really surprising thing about this is the size of the gas turbine engines – they seem tiny compared to the size of the airframe. So this will be a whole new world of learning as I build it.

That clear nose piece means there will be a good deal of precise masking needed to allow it to blend in with the rest of the fuselage. The Canadian Army colours now seem to be a deep bronze-black and mid-green, both with a very matte surface. The insignia is all black. I will try for Belcher’s Bits decals but if these are unforthcoming, it will be the stencil and the airbrush – at least they are not complex things.