GeejeeZ

Wow! A real beauty. Congratulations! Thank you again for sharing your pics. Gertjan

;) My my, it just struck me: you miltary kit modellers just don't know how lucky you are! The luxury of mentioning kits that are already there in some scale, but that you're not content with anymore! Where are the civil models??? S76? S92? B407? B214ST? S61N? AB139? Well alright: I'll vote for the A109 then... Best regards, Gertjan

Hi Sakura Eagle, I wouldn't know about the decals. I know (some) differences between the AS332L1 (the Italeri Kit) and the AS332L2: four bladed tailrotor and the fuselage piece between the sponsons and the tail on the L2 is longer than on the L1. Hth, Good Luck! Gertjan

Hi Cardinal and welcome to the forum! Nice to see someone do civil stuff! I have been looking for American civil registration numbers as well, and haven't found them yet. There are lots of decals around with only numbers, but the N's and other capitals are missing. Nowadays I print them myself: I use clear decal film and it works ok, although unfortunately I can't print very small fonts, since I print from Word. So: anyone for civil decal sheets??? Good luck, Gertjan

Sorry guys, not to ruin your day, but you might be referring to this: http://www.network54.com/Forum/163130/thread/1108050282/ :lol:

Thanks for the heads up, Woland! Looks like a serious kit to me! But imho it is a shame Heller decided for the EC145; we already have the Revell-one, and their 1:72 ADAC EC145 that is scheduled for april 2006 will probably, besides the seperate sliding doors, have the same stuff (radar nose, hoist, flotation gear, search light) as the Heller. Thanks again! Gertjan

Great work Medevac 71! Always good to see civil stuff, especially in this quality. I mainly do civil helicopters myself and it struck me that no model manufacturer has ever released a Huey (/212/ 214/ 412) -type with a high skid version. Building the higher skids definitely sucks, as I've just discovered while building these for some of my 1:72 412's! Thank you for sharing your work! Gertjan Btw: not to be a rivet counter :o , but Whirly Bits sell a 1:48- Kiowa-to-civil 206-conversion kit that has the civil 206-doors with big windows.

Still a great thread Merlin! :o Just like Ray (and others) said, your brush painting results are a great inspiration to me. I brush paint my models as well but must admit I have never achieved results like yours... Therefore, it IS great to know that I don't necessarily have to use an airbrush to get a better result but can "just" strive for better brush painting quality. Keep us informed, I can't wait for your next post. Thanks again, Gertjan

Scott, I actually have given the idea of scratch building a 214ST some thought but gave it up: looking at the specifications of the real machine, it is quite different from the other big Bells. I did manage to build a 1:72 214B ("Big Lifter" as it was named by Bell) by just changing the shape of the engine housing and using the vertical tailfin, main and tailrotor of the Super Cobra, but the 214ST has a completely different cabin size and shape: not only longer but also wider with a different nose...

The Bell 214ST is on my wish list as well, but so is the S76 and I already bombarded the Revell poll with that one :P Gertjan

Nice build, Livio! You did a lot better than I did on the EC135. I've built five of them but somehow I have never been able to get the rotor head and the exhausts right The other problem I have never been able to solve, is the flash on the fenestron: when trying to clean that up I every time managed to break blades off the fenestron. Thanks for sharing! Gertjan

He sure is! Un be lie vable!....

I also have a 1:48 Mi8 kit. I think it is different than the one mentioned before because it has the square airliner style passenger windows. Too bad I got rid of the box, because it's a very old kit from the pre-Gorbatsjov days (the instructions were still plastered with communist propaganda!).

The BK117 (Bölkow Kawasaki) was developed in the 1970's and was a coorporation between the Messerschmidt-) Bölkow- Blohm factories in Germany and Kawasaki in Japan. As we can all understand, from that moment on, each of these countries has claimed to have made the biggest contribution to the project. This is the reason the machine comes under different names: (Messerschmidt-) Bölkow- Blohm, Kawasaki and even Eurocopter (that has absorbed Messerschmidt- Bölkow-Blohm). The 1:32 Revell BK117 is nearly completely out of production: if you can get your hands on an original one, grab it! The on

Just read on HeliKitNews: the Italeri kit will be rereleased next year by Revell.

Well GiZ, that's the tragedy of it all: :P Apart from two (?) civil prototypes and one machine for the Tokyo Police, the EH101 still hasn't attracted any civil orders! Although the makers hoped that it would find its way to the offshore helicopter operators who need to replace their S61N's, no succes yet... It seems that offshore operators have a preference for the one class smaller machines: AS332 Super Puma, EC225 and the S92. Regards, Gertjan

Very nice work, Merlin! I like the interior! I myself have also built some civil 101's (not prototypes, but what-if-versions). The first one, I did just like you: cut out extra windows in the fuselage-side-parts. Later on I got lazy and decided to make one kit out of two: I needed the civil-tail from the one version and used the fuselage sides with more windows from the other! It's about time somebody started to sell these parts separately! Keep up the good work! Gertjan

Hi Bill, Just like Mungo1974, I think the old 1:48 Esci-kit is good. The 1:48 Italeri-kit is not an Esci-rebox, but has in fact brand new moulds! IMHO this kit is just as good as and in some aspects better than the Esci-one. The engine housing is better 'pronounced' and the doors seem to have a better shape than those on the Esci. If my memory serves me well, Italeri released a version of the kit with the crossed sabres decals, but I might get corrected on this. Anyway: good luck! Gertjan

Hello Liam, Just in case you hadn't noticed already: Whirlybird has some different sets of decals for G-HEMS. And maybe nice to get an idea: Whirlybits has a, 1:72 though- paramedic interior conversion set for G-HEMS. Good Luck! Please share pictures when you're done. Gertjan

Hi John, I built my Italeri AS332 just a while ago and it didn't need a nose weight. Good luck, Gertjan

You're right Stephen, although I'm not sure if the drinking birds are in it <_< The 412 is available in 1:72 (Italeri) and if you can still find it: Revell use to have one (the same moulds), with RAF-decals if my memory serves me well... In 1:48 you'd have to get the Heller/ Italeri UH1N (/Bell 212) and use the Belcher Bits conversion to modify it to a 412. Good Luck, Gertjan

That's right: the CMK-figures are in resin, and resin of a strange quality: CA or regular hobby glue cannot be used on it. I had to use a two component glue to get the parts bond. Besides that: although the CMK figures have a lot of detail, they're actually significantly smaller than the Dragon/ MRC -figures. Good Luck! Gertjan

I second that Tgoetz! Ofcourse: helicopters in general don't get the attention they deserve in the modelling world, but it's even worse when you like civil helicopters . The only chance us civil helo-lovers get, is to "civilize" military models. That is why I was very disappointed when the US selected the US101 as the new presidential transport over the S92; if the Sikorsky had been selected, there might have been a chance that a kit release could have been interesting for a model manufacturer. That way we would have got ourself another civil helo. Glad that Revell still brings out the occ

For an In the box-look at RoG's Ch53 (with newer type rotor blades): http://www.helikitnews.com/issues/hkn151.htm HTH, Regards, Gertjan

<_< Darn those polls!..... But everytime I jump in just in case this time some major model manufacturer reads along, thinking: "My my, this GeejeeZ...That IS a nice list..." :lol: 1:35: OH6/ MD500 (Dragon rerelease) 1: 48: S76 B206L B407 B214ST B412 AB139 EC155 1:72: S92 S61N EC225