This is a new
release from Academy and is kit #2226. The CH-46 is a medium lift
helicopter with a primary function of moving troops and a secondary function of
moving vehicles and supplies. It first went into production in 1964 and
with the rotors folded it takes up considerably less space, which made it
attractive to the USN. It is used by the USMC and USN and has served in
troop transport, resupply and medivac roles. In combat it can carry a
maximum of 14 troops with aerial gunners and for medivac it can carry 15 litters
and 2 attendants. Finally it's Cargo capacity is a maximum of 4,000 pound
(2270 kilograms) load.
The first thing that blows me away
about this model kit is the size. In 1/1 scale this is a fairly big
chopper....and in 1/48 scale is it equally impressive.....especially if you
consider the rotor diameter....which is about 13 inches (32cm). The
fuselage length in 1/48 scale is about 9.5 inches (21cm).....but if you factor
in the dual rotor set-up, you get a total rotor footprint length of over
21" (53cm) and a rotor footprint width of 11" (28cm).
So.....consider displaying this next to some other aircraft.....with the rotors
extending over the other models in your display case and all will be well.
Sorry....I just had to mention the wonderful size of this kit.....truly
impressive and commanding.
The kit itself is
full of many parts that will make this a stunning model when complete. The
parts are contained on 6 sprues with one of those being the clear sprue.
You also get a very clear and easy to follow 12 page instruction booklet and a
large decal sheet with decal options for 3 different USMC CH-46's. You also
get 2 tubes of glue....it looks like your standard tube glue, although I confess
I haven't opened the tubes to make sure.
This whole package is encased in a sturdy box with a very solid and strong
bottom for the box.....it will survive well if you don't get building this kit
shortly after you buy it and instead add this kit to your kit stash. All
sprues and the decals are packed in plastic bags with the clear sprues and
decals being packed in their own separate plastic bags.
So....how many parts you
ask.....223 total of which you will only be using 198 parts.....which will keep
you busy. Academy is definitely looking at getting some life out of this
mold with different versions, which is a very sound business move.
Although the
instruction don't begin with the cockpit on this kit, cockpit detail is
always important to me and considering the amount of glass around the
cockpit area, I want to look at this area first.
The instrument panel has
nice raised detail......it is not the lovely detail you'd expect to see on
the older Monogram kits from the 70's where each gauge has it's own
raised-detail needle, but the detail is decent. You are pretty well
committed to using some sort of decal to bring this instrument panel to
life. Here's the rub.......the raised detail will make it hard to
get the decal to attach and conform without much persistence with decal
solvent. If you love drybrushing instrument panels.....you're going
to have to not bother on this one and use the decal. Unless.....you
consider this following option. One option for the rivet counters
might be to paint the instrument panel and cut and apply each instrument
separately. This approach will require much more work....but the end
result will avoid all the grief of the decal not fully conforming to the
low spots between the gauges. |
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The
rest of the cockpit is full of some nice detail and the seats are detailed
nicely although you are going to have to add seatbelts. There are
rudder pedals and armour for the cockpit along with other detail bits such
as supports to mount the seats to and doorway detail for the doorway
leading from the cockpit to the cargo area. Super detailers might be
tempted to cut open the side cockpit windows, but this would require
painting/making frames to create the effect of a side window that has been
slid back. It wouldn't be too hard and would give an added level of
realism to the cockpit. |
The fuselage detail (inside and
outside) is near flawless in it's execution. The gentle curves and detail
rich environment of the fuselage was well reproduced on this model kit.
You get lovely recessed panel line detail on the outside and lots of bits and
pieces of mechanical detail molded on the inside walls. Paint....a wash
and drybrush the highlights and you'll be looking at some stunning interior
detail.
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There are some sink
marks on the interior, but they are in 'easy to reach' places that can be filled
and sanded with minimal effort. The cargo floor has good detail of the tie
down points that will respond well to a dark wash. The side guns are quite
decent with exterior gun barrel detail and require no further detailing by the
super detailers, except for maybe drilling out the gun barrels. These guns
mount into a gun mount with a trunk below that, giving these guns the ability to
turn left to right, which will permit changing the pose of the guns after the
model is complete.
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Cargo
floor |
Side
guns |
The cargo area roof is fully
ribbed and will do well with a dark wash to give shadow and drybrushing to
lighten the high points. There are 6 stretchers that mount to the side
walls in the cargo area. You can also use the troop seats that fold down
from the wall on the full sized machine. These troop seats can be
installed in the down position or in the folded up position, depending on what
you prefer for your particular CH-46E. Stretcher and seat detail is good,
but lacks seat belts.....to be honest I'm not sure if these fold down seats even
have seatbelts.....I'm assuming they do.
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Cargo
roof and rotor blade |
Stretchers |
One of the most prominent
areas of detail on any chopper is the rotor assembly detail. This area is
right on top and naturally draws the eye to it whenever anyone looks at a
helicopter model. This kit is well detailed in this area. The parts
layout is simple to assemble but Academy decided to mold and upper and lower
rotor head assembly as well as separate rotor blades...PLUS separate tiny pieces
to add to the rotor head assemblies to further add detail. Super detailers
might want to further add some piano wire and such to give the rotor head
assemblies a further level of complicated detail. If you've ever looked at
the rotor head detail on 1/1 choppers, they are very intricate and
detailed. Super detailers have been known to make the rotor heads as
separate sub-assemblies loaded with scratch built detail. But getting back
to the kit.....the rotor head detail is great and includes some bolt heads and
such.
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The clear parts are packed in a
separate bag and are all scratch free....Academy gets two thumbs up for packing
the clear parts separately to avoid them being scuffed during shipping.
The nose is molded as one big part....the plan here to to mask the window areas
and paint the rest as you would the fuselage. The design avoids getting
glue on the windows as you attempt to glue the windows into the fuselage
parts. This will make things easier for the average modeller to get
exceptional results. All of the windows are posed in the closed
position. The round windows for the side of the cargo fuselage area have
flanges to assist in gluing these windows to the inside of the fuselage.
Academy went the extra mile in design on the various clear parts to make
installing them as carefree as possible.
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The kit
includes 3 decal options. The decal sheet is quite large and comes
packed in it's own plastic bag to avoid the decal sheet getting
scratched.....again.....two thumbs up to Academy for such attention to
detail.
The featured aircraft
include 3 different USMC CH-346E's. The first is with Marine
Helicopter Squadron-1 "Nighthawks" and is a CH-46E, Bu 157861,
MCB, Quantico, VA. This particular aircraft is FS 14097 Field Green
with gloss black areas on the tail. This appears to be the same sort
of paint scheme as 'Marine 1' that is used by the President, although I
never knew the CH-46 was also part of the Presidential transportation
system, but I'm Canadian....so what the heck do I know.
The second aircraft is with
Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 162, "Golden Eagles" and is a
CH-46E, Bu 157713, MCAS, New River, NC. The paint scheme is overall
Light Ghost Gray FS 36375 with some sections painted Medium Gray FS 35237
and flat black.
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The
third aircraft is with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261, "Raging
Bulls" and is a CH-46E, Bu 153369, MCAS, New River, NC. The
paint scheme is overall Light Ghost Gray FS 36375 with some sections
painted Medium Gray FS 35237 and flat black. |
This is a great kit and
I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in building this well known
helicopter. Drop by LuckyModel.com
and give their service a try, I've ordered kits from
them and their service was excellent.
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Special thanks to LuckyModel.com
Hobby Shop for sending me this review sample.
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Steve
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