Italeri 2025 - programme & catalogue - reissues & Platz boxings from Italeri kits

[Homebee]

First Italeri's aircraft announcement for 2025.

A reissue with new decals expected in late December 2024.

- 1/72nd - ref. 1476 - Sikorsky HO4S-3 /HAS.7/H-19 Chickasaw

Source: https://www.martola.com.pl/en1878/produkty118587/sikorsky_ho4s_3__has_7_h_19

 

 

 

V.P.

 

Edited yesterday at 07:55 AM by Homebee

[Dennis_C]

That was supposed to be 2024 re-release. But now it becomes my likely first 2025 purchase

[JWM]

I am a bit waiting for a comeback of Do 217 E. Interesting if /when it will appear again?

Regards

J-W

 

[cherisy]

Brilliant news. Been waiting for this. They seem to be made of unobtanium  and fetch silly prices on a certain auction site. I'll  certainly be getting a couple to go with my RAFDEC set.

[Homebee]

Released in 2024... - ref. 1476 - Sikorsky HO4S-3 /HAS.7/H-19 Chickasaw

Source: https://www.italeri.com/prodotto/3158

 

 

V.P.

Edited December 13, 2024 by Homebee

[VMA131Marine]

Great scheme choices. Might have to pick up a couple.

[Dennis_C]

Nice schemes! Now what I'd love to get - a rerelease of Eduard photoetch for this helicopter. Italeri kit is not bad as is but as any helicopter could be hugely improved with photoetch. 

[Rabbit Leader]

Can a Royal Navy HAS.7 really be made out of these OOB parts? I thought the underside was quite different on this version to what’s provided? 
 

Cheers.. Dave

[Dennis_C]

I know that with helicopters I throw away any instructions and use available references and a lot of scratchbuilding to produce a right modification. In this particular case I highly doubt Sikorsky USMC/USCG, Westland anti submarine, and Sikorsky French army helicopters could be built from the same parts. 

Nothing that I can tell more precisely as need to do a heavy research first

Edited December 13, 2024 by Dennis_C

[Piotr Mikolajski]

4 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Can a Royal Navy HAS.7 really be made out of these OOB parts? I thought the underside was quite different on this version to what’s provided?

 

BTW: decals have inscription "No 1475 - HAS22 / HO4S-3 / H-19" while variants are HO4S-3 / HRS-2 / HAS.7 / H-19.

 

XM685 from 1964.04 to 1965.11 served in SAR Flight aboard HMS "Ark Royal" (R09), it seems markings in the kit are from 771 NAS.

 

Some photos: https://www.airhistory.net/registration/XM685

[Dennis_C]

26 minutes ago, Piotr Mikolajski said:

it seems markings in the kit are from 771 NAS

Markings in the kit are from Newark Museum. 

[VMA131Marine]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Can a Royal Navy HAS.7 really be made out of these OOB parts? I thought the underside was quite different on this version to what’s provided? 
 

Cheers.. Dave

It’s Italeri. Remember this howler: the Wessex UH.5 🤦🏻 They were even told it was wrong.

 

[Piotr Mikolajski]

1 hour ago, VMA131Marine said:

It’s Italeri. Remember this howler: the Wessex UH.5 🤦🏻 They were even told it was wrong.

 

It's really interesting. They started off almost right, then corrected, but in the end decided they knew better:

• 1997 - 1/72 #082 - HU-5
• 2007 - 1/72 #082 - HU.5
• 2012 - 1/72 #1329 - UH.5
• 2012 - 1/48 #2720 - UH.5
• 2015 - 1/48 #12299 - UH.5 (Academy rebox)
• 2022 - 1/48 #2720 - UH.5

[sniperUK]

13 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Can a Royal Navy HAS.7 really be made out of these OOB parts? I thought the underside was quite different on this version to what’s provided? 
 

Cheers.. Dave

 

Not without a replacement underside to the fuselage, the HAS.7 had the hollow weapons bay for depth charges and torpedoes .

And all the artwork is wrong,  they show the early straight tailboom but at the later cranked angle,  typical Italeri, close but no cigar.

Edited December 14, 2024 by sniperUK

[Dave Swindell]

15 minutes ago, sniperUK said:

 

Not without a replacement underside to the fuselage, the HAS.7 had the hollow weapons bay for depth charges and torpedoes .

And all the artwork is wrong,  they show the early straight tailboom but at the later cranked angle,  typical Italeri, close but no cigar.

Rotor Craft did detail and conversion sets for this kit, if @Colin @ Freightdog Models still has the moulds/masters I'd guess these will make a re-appearance in the none too distant future...

[Dennis_C]

As I've been scanning through photographs - looks like Korea (100% as kinked boom came up in 1956) and Coast Guard versions should have straight tail boom while as I understand the kit will have kinked. Given HAS.7 needs different bottom side of the fuselage - French version could be the only one you can assemble more or less OOB for this kit. 

[troschi]

16 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

As I've been scanning through photographs - looks like Korea (100% as kinked boom came up in 1956) and Coast Guard versions should have straight tail boom while as I understand the kit will have kinked. Given HAS.7 needs different bottom side of the fuselage - French version could be the only one you can assemble more or less OOB for this kit. 

On the photos of the parts you see the straight tailboom with the narrow tailfin, whereas the HAS.7 has the kinked one with the wider tailfin. This must be sourced out of a (harder to find) H-19B (no. 1206) kit then. 
Airwaves, Heritage and Rotorcraft models did HAS.7 bellies with the weapon recess as stated earlier. The height of the cargo/pax cabin sliding door has to be adapted from my point of view. 

Edited December 17, 2024 by troschi

[Dennis_C]

18 minutes ago, troschi said:

On the photos of the parts you see the straight tailbone with the narrow tailfin, whereas the HAS.7 has the kinked one with the wider tailfin. This must be sourced out of a (harder to find) H-19B (no. 1206) kit then.

That one in the kit is the straight one? Hmmm. That is a better news for me but not as good news for HAS.7 modellers. Why Italeri paints kinked booms on the instruction?  

 

As far as I understand the modification of H-19 tail boom had 4 stages:

- initial straight tail boom without reinforcement ribs and without triangle supporting insert on the back of the fuselage

- initial straight tail boom without reinforcement ribs and with triangle support

- straight tail boom with reinforcement ribs and still with narrow chord fin (most Italeri boxes)

- kinked tail boom with reinforcement ribs and with wide chord fin (Italeri 1206 box)

 

Was there a version with kinked boom and narrow chord fin like what Italeri painted on the colour schemes? Maybe modified helicopters with initially straight tail boom?

Edited December 17, 2024 by Dennis_C

[IT_Man]

Apparently re-issuing their A-26 A/B Invader #1274 and Saab Gripen B #2664 in January. 

[alt-92]

Cool, straight-tail H04S-3 works for me to do one of the MDAP supplied MLD S.55s.

All that remains is deciding whether to do Salome, Cleopatra or Delilah (yes, they named them that way).

(source: IPMS NL, NIMH database)

[JTninja]

10 hours ago, IT_Man said:

Apparently re-issuing their A-26 A/B Invader #1274 and Saab Gripen B #2664 in January. 

 

Thats good news, the prices for the A-26 on ebay have been a bit crazy these past few years. 

[Dennis_C]

If that is WWII A-26A/B bomber - I'm not so happy. I'd love to buy it for Vietnam collection and then need a B-26K ground attack version #1249. I think 1249 and 1274 contained quite different sets of sprues. Still a good news anyway as I think in a WWII incarnation it should be of high demand too. 

 

Gripen from Italeri is fine but it needs a refresh... still no good Gripen kit on the market. Revell is more accurate but as I know difficult to assemble and is OOP for a while. Is that SAAB license fee that stops a Special Hobby/Tarangus collaboration?

Edited December 18, 2024 by Dennis_C

[71chally]

On 12/17/2024 at 10:21 AM, Dennis_C said:

That one in the kit is the straight one? Hmmm. That is a better news for me but not as good news for HAS.7 modellers. Why Italeri paints kinked booms on the instruction?  

 

As far as I understand the modification of H-19 tail boom had 4 stages:

- initial straight tail boom without reinforcement ribs and without triangle supporting insert on the back of the fuselage

- initial straight tail boom without reinforcement ribs and with triangle support

- straight tail boom with reinforcement ribs and still with narrow chord fin (most Italeri boxes)

- kinked tail boom with reinforcement ribs and with wide chord fin (Italeri 1206 box)

 

Was there a version with kinked boom and narrow chord fin like what Italeri painted on the colour schemes? Maybe modified helicopters with initially straight tail boom?

 

No, the wider and more substantial fin and horizontally straight tailplane was part of the drooped boom introduced across much of the S55 and Westland Whirlwind variants as a modification after main rotor strikes against the tail occurred during some manoeuvres.

I think the boom without the large rear fuselage fillet was only seen on some individual machines, certainly not part of the general modification.

 

Italeri and Revell both issued this kit with straight boom, and drooped boom boxes originally.

 

Without major modification or use of aftermarket you can not build a HAS.7 straight from the box, it's almost like Italeri are trying to trick customers into thinking they can because the paint guide illustrations look correct. Heritage, Airwaves and Whirlybits did resin conversions for HAS.7 & 9.

Also worth noting that the the windscreen is only accurate for H-19A & B, the vast majority (if not all) HO4S, HRS, H-19C, export and all Westland Whirlwinds lack the distinctive thick A pillars (in dashed orange in pics below) of the early H-19s.

This is correctable with careful work and might as well get rid of the overscale wiper at the same time

Italeri Sikorsky HRS-2 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Italeri 1:72 Sikorsky HRS-2 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

Another thing that varies between the three basic variants of the H-19, HO4S, HRS and piston Whirlwind models is the engine cooling grilles, the changes in the various arrangements aren't that noticeable and fairly easy to modify, again there were correction parts for these on the market.

 

The biggest annoyance with the kit is the strange underside lump which bears no resemblance to reality across the whole breed.  In reality there was a large and flat tabloid shape cover for the various fuel tank drains and pipes, I made my own up, but again Whirlybits produced a correction part.

Italeri 1:72 Sikorsky HRS-2 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

HRS-2 025 (1200x801)1 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

 

 

The kit is still good and nice to see it back, it's fun to build, but is showing its age with heavy details etc, hopefully AMP will down scale their S55 beauty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2024 by 71chally

[Piotr Mikolajski]

17 minutes ago, 71chally said:

hopefully AMP will down scale their S55 beauty!

 

I was considering buying Italeri, but you have given me the idea to hold off. I have too many kits anyway, and maybe someone will release a new one with the correct details of the different versions.

[Homebee]

Next aircraft reissues expected in late January 2025

https://nowosci.plastikowe.pl/aktualnosci/zapowiedzi-italeri-styczen-2025/

 

1/48 - ref. 2664 - Saab J37B Gripen - twin seater - new decals

Source: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11160156

 

 

1/72 - ref. 1274 - Douglas A-26B Invader - new decals

Source: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11160155

 

 

V.P.