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Agusta-Bell AB.212ASW - Anti-Submarine Warfare variant of AB.212. Built under license in Italy by Agusta. This is a Turkish forces ASW fit, pics thanks to A.C.Acikgoz.

Hi, A small break in Japanese series. More close into the mainstream. Bell piston fighters of WWII: P39L Airacobra and P63C3 Kingcobra, Heller and Toko (short run), respectively. Both in 1/72. Airacobra is in markings of 98 sq. 81 Fighter Gr USAF, Tunis 1943 Kingcobra is from unknown (to me) unit of VVS, likely 1944. Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek Airacobra: And Kingcobra:

Bell AH-1J SeaCobra, at Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Dallas, Texas. Pics thanks to Nigel Heath.

Bell AH-1G Cobra 'Marines' Special Hobby 1:72 The US Air Force started to use helicopters early in the Vietnam War as offensive platforms. Following a failed attempt to provide a dedicated attack helicopter in the guise of the Model 207 Sioux Scout in the early ‘60’s, Bell independently invested $1m into a new helicopter using some of the technology of the infamous UH-1 Iroquois, or more affectionately known ‘Huey’. This was in spite of the fact that the Army was more interested in a Lockheed venture with the AH-56 Cheyenne in response to Bells previous failure, however that didn’t come to fruition. Only 8 months later, the Model 209 made it’s first flight and subsequently won over its rivals in evaluation. The 209 was to become the infamous sister to the Iroquois, the Cobra. The airframe took the rotor, gearing and turbine engine from the Huey, but incorporated a new tandem seat cockpit arrangement with armoured panels to go some way to protect the crew from ground fire. Other key features were stub wings to carry a variety of suitable attack weapons and an under-nose turret housing a 20mm cannon and in some cases a grenade launcher. In 1967 The first of over 1100 Cobras entered US Army service and provided much needed fire support in the Vietnam War for ground forces amongst other specialised activities such as forward ‘Hunter Killer’ teams working along side OH-6A scout helicopters searching out ground forces. The AH-1G also initially entered service with the Marines, although they wanted the extra reliability of two engines, so service in the Marines was short lived until the twin engines ‘Super Cobras’ became available. Whilst the US Army retired the last of its single engine AH-1’s in 2001, nine overseas operators included Israel, Japan and Pakistan. Israel widely used the Cobra, in particular in the 1982 Lebanon War against Syrian forces, but they too retired their fleet in 2013. Pakistan still operate their Cobra’s and Japan still operate their licence built versions too. The kit This is the 5th boxing of the UH-1 from Special Hobby. It comes securely packed in a top opening box with 5 medium grey sprues and a separately packed clear sprue. First impressions indicate a very good quality kit. Very sharp moulding with finely recessed panel lines and intricate detail is apparent with a coloured A5 sized instruction booklet on glossy paper. Presence of flash is negligible and I couldn’t find any sink marks on any exterior surfaces. There are a lot of optional parts included that aren’t used for this version, so fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your preferences, the parts use is much less than initially thought. Whilst the instructions are colour with good diagrams, the images are quite small and some of the locations for small parts are a little vague, so some studying before steaming ahead with the glue may be necessary. The paint guide refers to Gunze colours. There are decal options provided for 4 machines. Parts breakdown is quite traditional with two fuselage halves and separate tail. Construction starts with the cockpit. I would say that the detail in the cockpit is adequate. Separate seats with additional side armour parts are provided with the forward cockpit getting collective and cyclic controls too. The rear bulkhead in the cockpit tub requires removal and an alternative part is provided to replace it that includes a padded surface effect The side panels on the cockpit tub are quite minimalistic, so the optional pre-painted PE set advertised in the instructions are an option you may want to consider. The instrument panels have recessed instruments and the instructions indicate a decal for both panels is included, but I can’t find them on either of the two decal sheets provided. With the tub assembled, it locates between the fuselage halves. Pleasingly, the halves have location pins unlike some of the early short run kits my SH/MPM kits making assembly a little easier. The surface detail in the fuselage exterior is a mixture of nicely recessed panel lines, raised panels and rivet detail. If one was to be critical, you could say the rivets are a little excessive in size, but under some paint, should look fine in my opinion. Two rotor mast base designs are provided, however there’s no explanation of which one would be fitted to which versions included. As I’m far from an expert on the Huey, I couldn’t help out on this. Personally, I’d go for the more detailed one! Two separate tails are provided to accommodate either the left or the right sided tail rotor, depending upon which option you intend to build. The tail parts simply but on to the end of the tail boom of the main fuselage. The stub wings are equally well moulded with good surface detail despite their small size. The instructions call out for the fitment of both the XM-158 and XM-200 rocket launchers (7 and 19 2.75” rockets respectively). However there are also two XM-18 minigun pods, two XM-157 rocket launchers and an XM-35 stub wing mounted minigun included on the sprues which may go to good use. Three of the four schemes included call for the combined minigun / grenade launcher turret to be installed, however one of the versions is a test aircraft using a blanking part. This is provided as an additional resin part. Not called for in the instructions, but provided is a minigun only turret too. The nose section calls out for a weight to be added. Take care here, I for one often forget this or don’t notice the instruction! A great addition is the parts included to add the ground handling pack. This includes 2 x two wheeled bogies that locate on the skids and a trailing tow bar. Unlike Cobras provided by other manufacturers, the canopy is provided as all separate parts. This does make assembly trickier, but gives much better opportunity for an open cockpit display. The parts are very clear with minimal distortion. There are also several tiny clear parts included on the sprue, but fortunately, you only need a few of them with this kit as they are very small and would probably end up feeding the carpet monster! Decals The two decal sheets included have good register. The text on the stencils is a little vague, not as sharp as some I’ve seen, but again, I’m being critical here. Schemes are provided for 4 rotorcraft: AH-1G 68-17108, VT-26 HMA-367 Scarface, USMC, Vietnam 1969-70 AH-1G 68-15194, US Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Jacksonville 1974 in midnight blue scheme AH-1G 68-15045, ex USMC HMA-773 assigned to US Navy Test Pilot School, NAS Patuxent River ‘75 AH-1G 68-17105, HMA-169 (VMO-2), USMC Camp Pendleton, California, ‘72 Conclusion This is a very nicely detailed kit, arguably, the best on the market currently with no less than 4 schemes to choose from. I matched the main parts up to drawings in the Squadron Publication for a ball park check of accuracy and there were no obvious errors to raise attention to. There are lots of additional options on the sprues to venture in to aftermarket schemes if you can get decals, and the spares box will also be treated to some new parts too. The small parts and none-single piece canopy make this a more challenging kit for young or beginner level modellers, but a joy for anyone with a few builds behind them who possess a good set of tweezers. Without too much effort, this could be built into a superb little diorama given the open canopy and ground handling pack included. Also included in the box is a 25% discount voucher for 'Cobra- The Attack Helicopter' hardback book by Mike Verier, RRP £25 adding even more value for Cobra fans Review sample courtesy of

Bell H-13 Sioux, at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum, Texas. Pics thanks to Nigel Heath

Italeri kit decals from kit I know this aircraft didnt wear this scheme as it was sold overseas but if it did then hopefully this is what it would look like It is a tailsitter normally Normal proviso best seen from 5ft away Rodders

Bell AH-1F Cobra, sometimes referred to as the Modernized Cobra. Pics taken at The Don F Pratt Memorial Museum, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, USA by Rick (infofrog)

Hi Everyone, With 2 out of my 3 part built kits nearly finished now, I am picking kits out of my stash to work on while I am off work. The 1st one that I have selected is the Revell 1:72 Bell AB 212 / UH-1N helicopter. The kit has the following features : - Highly Detailed Surfaces - Detailed Cockpit - Detailed Passenger Cabin, choice of seats - Rotating Rotor - Detailed Main and Tail Rotors - Separate Sliding Doors - Engine Cowling's for the Twin Engine Version - Antennae and Cable Cutters - Missile Pods for the USAF Version Decal Sets for the USAF and Civil Defence Versions: - Bell 212, c/n 30879, D-HBZS, Christoph 12 , Luftrettung - Bundesministerium des Inneren, 2007 - Bell UH-1N, 69-16670, USAF, 90th Missile Wing, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming, 2005 The kit contains 132 parts spread over 2 sprues in white plastic plus 1 clear sprue. I will be building this kit as 69-16670, Bell UH-1N USAF. Anyway here are photos of the sprues. Anyway more photos when I have some progress to show. Rick

Bell P-39Q Airacobra "Brooklyn Bum-2nd", pics thanks to Mark Mills.

Does anybody know of any decals for the Defence Helicopter Flying School Griffin HT1 1/72 scale. Cant seem to find anything on the interweb Rodders

Bell X-1 Decals and Stencils 1:32 MH Models Now, MH Models are new to this reviewer and I was passed this set from another BM member who received them from the company. They appear to be a Czech form of Local Model Shop that has decided to produce their own decals and masks. As a first effort I think they have done very well. Inside the ziplock poly bag you will find quite a large sheet of paint masks and a small, but well filled decal sheet. The decals are very well printed in good register and with minimal carrier film. They look very thin and only usage will determine how they adhere and settle down, hopefully without breaking up. There are decals and masks for other Bell X-1s in the program not just Chuck Yeager’s aircraft. There is a full set of stencils for both the exterior of the aircraft and the cockpit, along with the famous name, us titles, test site name and the Bell Aircraft logo. The larger items, such as the national insignia, photographic crosses, identification codes etc come in the form of paint masks which are pretty easy to use once you have found the correct colours. The instructions only show the markings for Glamorous Glennis so research will need to be carried out if other aircraft are to be modelled. Conclusion As stated above, for a first product I think MH Models have done very well. The masks are die cut, so easy to remove from their backing sheet and the decals are very well printed. Apart from the extra research required for the other X-1s I’m quite happy to recommend them to anyone who has the 1:32 kit. Sample provided by MH Models

Hi I'm thinking about dioramas, and was wondering who, if anyone, operated the Twin Huey in Bosnia during the early UN operations. I've found this photograph but I can't be sure of the helicopter's operator... any help would be much appreciated

Bell UH-1 Iroquois "Huey" pics by Mike from the Vietnam War remnants museum.

OK, time to start HueyCobra number two! I'm not bothering with sprue shots as they're exactly the same as my other build, and to keep it interesting I'm not telling you what I'm doing These are the only kit parts I'm using, the only other things I'll be using are scraps of card etc. I've made a start on the trenches with Mr. Surfacer already.

Call me insane, but here is my 6th and final entry. (Unless I find another gem on eBay cheap ) I've just won it, so until Mr Postman pops it through the door and it's in my grubby little hands you'll have to make do with an eBay photo. I built one of these in the late 80s but the skids ended up a bit lopsided, I was using Revell Contacta Pro and unfortunatly didn't leave it long enough to set. Those were the days before I trusted myself to use superglue. (I now live near a hospital as well...) I can't wait to get started on this one, the AH-1G is a beautiful looking aircraft and with my move to 1/144 (mainly) it's not often I'm going to get a second chance at building a kit from my early modelling days. ***Update*** Now I've got the kit here's a photo of my lovely sealed HueyCobra

Originally released in the 1960s and available (yet again) this year it has been superseded by the offering from OzMods . I'll be building this OOB.

New 1/72nd Bell TP-39 Q-5 Airacobra Trainer kit by RS Models - ref.92151 Source: http://rsmodels.cz/cs/modely-letadel/plastikove-modely/1-72/92151/tp-39-q-5-airacobra-trainer V.P.

Desert Snake Hi mates, here are some pictures of my last year finished Airacobra from Eduard. I`ve used the old but great Profipack with photoetched parts, Express Masks and no less than 6 different variants of paint shemes. Additional I used both CMK accessories for engine compartment and front armarment. The model you see represents an aircraft of 346. FS, 12.AF, Noth Africa.The 346. was the last USAF unit using the P-39 in Europe. Only used as an attack aircraft, as this type didn`t rocks as dogfighter against german fighter ! The built was pure fun and gone straight forward! Only minor mods are necessary to convert this model to a L-1-BE type. A wonderful source with all necessary informations is Book No. 6129 of MMP`s Yellow Serie. [/url]

Augusta licence built 206 as used by the Italian Police, pics taken by Bootneck Mike in the Weston Helicopter Museum

1/32nd Bell P-63 Kingcobra resin kit by HpH http://amg.cdc.cz/kat69.html Price: 3.100,- CZK = +/- £ 110,00 http://amg.cdc.cz/ V.P