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Hi guys, well I fancied building the Russian helicopter gunship that was flown in the Rambo 2 movie, it was supposed to look like the Hind, the Puma was modified for the task. I picked up this 1/32 Revell kit as the basis for the build, lucky for me I got it off eBay for only £15 including delivery. It's a pretty rough kit, very basic and crude in some areas but not too bad in others, but it's more than adequate for this project. I will have to scratch build the wings and pylons but thankfully the weapons are available from Trumpeter.

Hello! Let me show you my little Dapuphin. This model is based on the anciant Matchbox-Revell 1/72 AS-365 Dauphin. The kit itself was a great challange as both de moulding and the details were realy poor. However the Revell boxart shows us a US Coast Guard chopper, we can not build it out of the box, and as no aftermarket detailing sets are available (as far as I know) I had to scratch a lot after photos. I see a lot os misstakes of me and its culd be done even better, but this is what I could. The finishing is a 1/1 mix of Revell 30 orange and Humbrol 60 red. I have hasiated a lot about the weathering, especially about the main rotor but I guess thats enough. So please wellcome it! See more at: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235007503-hh-65-uscg-revell-172/

Hello everyone, I started this one in a rush hoping to get it in the blitzbuild page but I didn't realize it was over. This is from an Italeri and my fifth Italeri at that. All previous Italeris have disappointed me one way or another and this kit is no different. Indeed it's the straw that broke the camel's neck. Not a single more Italeri for me, thank you. Seat was connected to the sprue in the most unnecessarily inconvenient way. The shape was also "bad". Ultra simplistic cockpit, and Italeri never bothers making gauge decals. It expect more precision from us by painting the gauges while it's kits lack precision. Gathering together all the pieces that will go the same color. I diligently painted in grey all parts to be painted in grey according to the manual. If they bothered indicating what goes in grey, why did they miss this out? To bother us, instead? That was pretty much it. What nonesense. Maybe I put the panel wrong . Maybe it was supposed to go a little back, but the detail lacking manual and all the rest of indications made it seem that the panel goes there, Was I right about the panel? I thnk so. But Italeri was wrong somewhere in the placement of the control stick. Had the same problem with another Italeri and hated it. Besides being wholly inaccurate because the Eurocopter Tiger does not have "just a whole" on the sides as you can see here, they could have bothered asking us to paint the inside in black so it wouldn't look this bad. Do something Italeri! I put that round thing confidently where it goes thanks to the indication on the plastic. Is this a ******* joke Italeri? Only the antennas had indications as to where they go. But just the indication. Nothing to help you secure them in place while the cement dries, nothing. The handles were all guess work, to be placed on smooth plastic. The horizontal stabilizer was really fun. Minimum indication and no creativity from the maker to make sure the modeler knows when he's doing it right. The little pin heads (whatever you call them)... too long for the holes the go into. After the first coat of paint. It's too bad that Italeri is so bad at this because I finding another maker that makes models like these is not easy. Hasegawa and Fujimi, the big and high quality made in Japan companies only seem to make mainstream jets and they hardly have a selection of helicopters. It is as if one has to do whatever the quality companies produce in order to have a pleasant time building the models.

Pics from Tony (sniperUK)

Seen on IPMS Philippines http://ipmsphilippines.com/test-shots/testshot-hobbyboss-35th-eurocopter-as365-dauphin/ 1/35 - 05106 - SA.365N Dauphin II - 05107 - HH-65C Dolphin - 05108 - AS.565 Panther - 05109 - Z-9WA Haitun V.P.

The UH-72 Lakota is a militarized version of the Eurocopter EC145. The helicopter was selected as the winner of the United States Army's Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) program in 2006 with a production contract for 345 aircraft to replace aging UH-1H/V and OH-58A/C helicopters in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard fleets. These helicopters are built in the US. Pics thanks to DL Munne. Photographed at Cecil Field, the UH-72 is replacing the OH-58A+ previously operated by the Florida National Guard. The unit has four aircraft. Two are slicks and two are MEP versions. MEP is able to mount a FLIR turret on the nose and a Nightsun on the pilots side.

Eurocopter SA365N Dauphin, F-WQAP, C/N.6001 at The Hekicopter Museum, Weston-Super-Mare. The aircraft in the Museum was donated by the French manufacturer Eurocopter. The helicopter, the first production SA365N, was modified by Eurocopter to test a fly-by-wire flight control system. Pictures are mine.

http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Ausstellungen/Nuernberg2013/Bilder_VH/Nuernberg_2013_VH_030.htm This certainly looks like a step up from the old kit! Although it's a shame that they haven't re-engineered the windscreen parts to make assembly easier - hopefully the fit at least will be better. Separate doors are a nice touch. Does anyone know if the Red Bull boxing is a reboxing of this new tool or the old tool. If my memory serves me, the Red Bull boxing is due for release before this one. thanks, Andrew

Eurocopter BK117 "Space Design" Revell 1:72 The Eurocopter BK117 is a twin engine medium lift utility helicopter. It is used for personnel transport, often in the VIP role; aerial lifting work; Police & Military uses; Air Ambulance and Search & Rescue. The BK117 was originally designed as a joint venture between Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm of Germany and Kawasaki of Japan. MBB was later bought by Daimler-Benz which then became a part of Eurocopter. Development costs were shared between the 2 partners with MBB developing the rotors (based on those used for the Bo 105, the tail boom, flight controls and hydraulic systems. Kawasaki developed the landing gear, airframe, and main transmission. The first prototype flew in 1979, with 443 helicopters being produced (331by MBB and 112 by Kawasaki). The successor of this aircraft is the EC-145 and indeed the last variant of the BK117 the C-2 is actually an EC-145. The Kit This kit was first issued by Revell back in 1992 in this scheme and its a welcome return to a good little kit. The most obvious change on the box, and a sign of the times is that the kit is now an "Eurocopter Officially Licensed Product". The kit comes in 2 sprues of blue plastic and one of clear. Thankfully as well Revell seem to have done away with those dreadful recycled paper instructions and the new ones are very clear. Construction starts with the main cabin, front and rear seats are added along with what looks like a comprehensive set of pilot controls. Decals are provided for the instrument panels. following completion of the interior the main fuselage is closed up adding what looks like to be an engine face part at the same time, also the instructions would have you add the main rotor par at this stage, however I suspect a lot of modellers will leave this to later on. The engine pads are then assembled and added to the main fuselage pod. The next steps in construction is to make the tailboom with the end plates and attach this to the fuselage pod. The main rotor head is now made up. This is a traditional two part hub which sandwiches the end of the rotors into it. Like a lot of 1/72 helicopters this does look a bit flimsy and will need superglue or similar to make it more sturdy. Following this the skids and clear parts are added to the model, the tail rotor attached and a few aerial added. Though I suspect some of these will be better left off until after paining and decaling has taken place. Canopy The canopy parts are well moulded and clear, they should pose no problems. Decals Decals are provided for one scheme only, what Revell calls the "Space Design" In the early days of the BK117 project, MBB contracted well-known designers of the day to create eye-catching designs which would highlight and publicise the BK117. In 1986the BK117's sales slogan was of a Space ship (ie roominess not actually space!) MBB contracted German born Luigi Colani to create this livery, "Colani's Spaceship," apparently to coincide with Halley's Comet which was visible that year. The helicopter wore this scheme from 1984 to 1986. The decals have been designed by Syhart of France and are printed in Italy. They look glossy and in register. There are large areas of clear film over the star design which will mean the modeller having to get a good paint finish and I suspect use of setting solutions to avoid any silvering. The scan unfortunately does not show the areas with the small white stars. Conclusion Overall recommended, and good to see this kit re-released by Revell. Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

This is an EC-135 T2 operated by The Police Service of northern Ireland, good reg G-PSNI Pics from Tony (sniperUK)

East Anglian Air Ambulance G-OEMT, BK117C, pics by Angelo (HL-10)