Santa's Sleigh 2003

1/48 Italeri AH-1Z with a 1/72 Italeri V-22 kitbash

Gallery Article by Alvis 3.1 on Dec 24 2003

 

With the airframe hours on his Harrier Jump Jet running out, Santa had to look around for a new aircraft to deliver all the toys on Christmas Eve. 

 

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Some suggested the B-1, others the Hercules, and others still the Super Guppy, but in the end, the geniuses at Saulino Aviation and Software came up with the perfect design. Utilizing the attributes of the AH-1Z Cobra helicopter and V-22 Multirole aircraft, the designers developed a fast, manoeuverable VTOL with a decent range. Air-to-air refuelling was achieved by tanking off the old Boeing 727 delivery plane (last used in the early 90's) and thus, global range was made available.

First assembled at the North Pole Airframe Plant Number 4 in July, 2003, an extensive test program wrung out the problems. A constant recurrance were engine flameouts, which were eventually traced to disgruntled reindeer "altering" the fuel, and once the gas cap locks were installed, the plane flew without any further problems. This Christmas Eve will be it's first official mission, but it is rumoured that it did fly some Turkey Drops over the American mid west during Thanksgiving.

The Model:
What you get when you blend a 1/48 Italeri AH-1Z with a 1/72 Italeri V-22, and a couple of almost 1/32 scale "Christmas Village" figures.... I finished it in the early hours of Dec 23...I've got to start these things sooner! The skids were moved back to allow for a shift in the model's c/g, the rotor housing was cut off the top of the Cobra fuselage, and the V-22 wing/engine assembly was attached. A widening bar was inserted into the forward fuselage to allow for both the scale change and the enhanced girth of the pilot. The classic wooden bench style seat was scratch built. 

Markings were hand painted.

Now, what to do next year....B-52??? 1/32 B-17?? Or the ever classic 1/24 Bf-109???

Alvis 3.1

      

Photos and text © by Alvis 3.1