Helicopters..Alouettes by Heller, Gazelles by Fujimi

[yeehah1]

23-12-07

Hey guys...couple of questions please...

I recently got a 1/48 Fujimi SA 341F Gazelle and a Heller 1/48 SA 319 Alouette.

Is Heller kit really 1/48 or is it closer to 1/50??

Also, can anyone tell me the differences between a SA 341F Gazelle and a SA 342 L Gazelle?

And what would be the differences between a SA319 Alouette 3 and a SA 316B Alouette 3?

I would like to make an Irish Aer Corps Gazelle and Alouette and have a number of kits and would like to see which would be suitable or if some cross-kitting might happen.

As always, thanks in advance

Liam

[hatchet]

Can't answer the other questions, but I think I got this one

And what would be the differences between a SA319 Alouette 3 and a SA 316B Alouette 3?

If memory serves, the SA316B was an Alouette 2 with the Alouette 3s engine and drive-train. Called a Lama I believe, although that might just have been in India.

[Ponti]

Hi Liam,

looked on Airliners.net and found these pic's hope they help loads more on there.

Aerospatiale SA-316B Alouette III

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1274076/M/

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0945117/M/

Aerospatiale SA-342L Gazelle

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0272574/M/

[corporate]

23-12-07

I recently got a 1/48 Fujimi SA 341F Gazelle and a Heller 1/48 SA 319 Alouette.

Is Heller kit really 1/48 or is it closer to 1/50??

Liam

Hi Liam - I've investigated both these in the past, and to my disappointment abandoned my own plans to build them. Both are a bit uncommon, and seem to be sought after, which pushes the price up - and surprises me, because neither of them is the right scale! The Fujimi Gazelle looks pretty, but even though it's a smallish chopper, putting it alongside (say) an ESCI Huey demonstrates that the Gazelle is to no bigger scale than 1/50 at best: it's tiny. I wanted to build a Falklands War type, with the add-on door-mounted GPMG and those rocket pods (I went to RNAS Yeovilton and shot pics of the real things!). But this model would not sit happily alongside other true 1/48 choppers, the scale disparity is so obvious.

The Heller Alouette goes the other way - it's huge! Most people say it's around 1/40 scale, which sounds about right, and though it's a somewhat crude, old fashioned kit in garish yellow, it could be built up into a nice Argentine Navy Alouette III, with flotation bags etc. IF one was happy with the scale disparity, which I am not. Sigh... Doesn't seem amazingly likely that any manufacturer is going to provide true 1/48 kist of these relatively obscure choppers now.

Regards, Malcolm