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Hi gents,

I was browsing internet archives for pics of Gulf war helos and started to update my pages and research the H-46 more.

Thanks to a fellow modeller, Dutch, for pointing me to the fact that CH-46Es had TWO different sponsons during the service time (they had the old "short" sponsons in Gulf).

Also, they used metal and fiberglass rotor blades.

So, I was able to find info, pics, instructions of kits in 1:72 and 1:48 scale.

 

I did write a table with info and facts etc.

 

Here is the conclusion:

 

1:72 scale:

you are out of luck, as NONE kit contains the fiberglass rotor blades, so you can not build any Gulf war H-46 version. There are kits either from Fujimi or Hobby Boss, I will post what I found under this post.

 

1:48 scale:

 

CH/HH/UH-46D - use Academy kit no. 12207 as it contains all the specific parts for various versions

CH-46E - two choices (either of them not so good):

- use Academy kit no. 12207 + OOP set MAW 48-R009 with resin updates AND find new fiberglass rotor pylons (Academy kit no. 12283)

OR

- use Academy kit. no 12283, but you need to use the old "short" sponsons from Academy kit no. 12207

 

Can anybody prove me wrong about this ? Can anybody shed more light on Gulf war era H-46s ? Had all of them fiberglass rotor blades ? (It looks like YES from the pics I have)

 

Thanks !

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Jakub,

 

The CH-46E's and some CH-46F's were modified to "BullPhrog's" which meant they received the new larger fuel sponsons.  I do not believe any BullPhrogs were in Desert Storm.  The HEF's were easily bolted on and off when the CH-46's were aboard ships.  But were taken off for weight considerations when in country and hot conditions limited the CH-46's power available.  If you find a picture or two of them in the desert, they must be operating close to their mother ship, or they have not taken them off yet as the aircraft was just arriving to its new location.  It was not normal combat operations ashore to have the HEFs installed.

 

r/Gunny Dan

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Thanks Dan,

so far, I found NONE pic with the HEF installed 🙂

It really shocked me, that you can not build Gulf war CH-46E from the box ...

And in 1:72, you are missing the composite rotor blades completely, so you have bad luck .....

 

Thanks !

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On 1/13/2021 at 12:22 PM, JakubJakepilot said:

1:72 scale:

you are out of luck, as NONE kit contains the fiberglass rotor blades, so you can not build any Gulf war H-46 version. There are kits either from Fujimi or Hobby Boss, I will post what I found under this post.

 

12 hours ago, JakubJakepilot said:

And in 1:72, you are missing the composite rotor blades completely, so you have bad luck .....

 

The rotor blades are actually a relatively easy fix - I can't vouch for the accuracy of those in the Academy kits, but the below image is a simple overlay of the two types that they provide, and displayed at approximately 1/72 scale:

1776_1_aca2226_2.jpg.a04cd93b18b73c6d99d13b97d5094602.jpg

Highlighted are the squared-off end areas of the metal blades - as provided in the Fujimi and HobbyBoss (and HobbyCraft) kits - that simply require removal and a few swipes of a sanding stick to achieve the angled root profile of the composite type...

...@Dutchmight be able to advise if the chord differed between the two types - Academy have it the same - however, in 1/72, a difference of only a couple of inches actual size would be barely noticeable...

Edited by andyf117
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Hi, yeah, I guess, if the blades dont have different cross section or chord, this is the easiest fix I guess.

Btw, I found a pic of this Fujimi boxing:

647930-17023-43-pristine.jpg

 

Is there a chance that this kit has the correct blades and also the bigger sponsons + lumps and bumps as on the pic ? It was probably released in 2004, but can not find instruction sheet or other pics of this issue.

 

P.S. Page with options is updated - https://www.dstorm.eu/pages/build_instructions/h-46_en.html

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Jakub,

 

That is for sure a CH-46E/F "picture" on the box with large sponsons, or as we said earlier a "BullPhrog".  You can easily tell by the refueling/defueling point on the direct front of the sponson.  I have not seen the inside of the kit to check the sprues to see if indeed they molded the large sponsons to depict the picture, or if it is a re-box of a older Fujimi/Italeri kit with just new decals put in.  I would look on the scale mates run down of the kit revisions and see if they say just "re-box", or if they say updated tooling.  Hard to tell on the blades.  But as Andy said it is an easy fix to to the kit provided blades.  Pretty sure the chord on the blade is hard to pick up on these 1/72nd blades, but I don't have them in front of me.

 

In 1/48th the Academy kit is pretty nice, and according to your source web page it can be turned into a pretty nice 46 model.  I have both the Marine version of that kit as well as the Navy version of the HH-46D.  If you build one in 48th scale I would love to follow along with your build.

 

s/f

Dan

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5 hours ago, JakubJakepilot said:

Btw, I found a pic of this Fujimi boxing:

 

Is there a chance that this kit has the correct blades and also the bigger sponsons + lumps and bumps as on the pic ? It was probably released in 2004, but can not find instruction sheet or other pics of this issue.

 

I'm fairly certain that there were no changes to the plastic - Fujimi did a few re-releases with just new decal sheets...

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In 1:72 scale, no "BullPhrog" sponsons exist.  You would have to reform with plastic sheet and a lot of putty.  As Dan pointed out, the Fujimi boxing is most likely the same old plastic with new markings.  Can be built as a mid 1980s CH-46E or F, the only difference being the shape of the exhaust and the addition of armor plate behind the pilot's door.

 

The new CH-46E rotor blades had a slightly different camber. Best done by gluing a long piece of .020 plastics rod along the upper leading edge of the blade and sanding it down to create a slight "bump" along the leading edge.  That, and trim the inside / trailing edge at an angle as Andy suggests. HTH.

 

Kind regards,

Dutch

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13 hours ago, Dutch said:

In 1:72 scale, no "BullPhrog" sponsons exist.  You would have to reform with plastic sheet and a lot of putty.  As Dan pointed out, the Fujimi boxing is most likely the same old plastic with new markings.  Can be built as a mid 1980s CH-46E or F, the only difference being the shape of the exhaust and the addition of armor plate behind the pilot's door.

 

The new CH-46E rotor blades had a slightly different camber. Best done by gluing a long piece of .020 plastics rod along the upper leading edge of the blade and sanding it down to create a slight "bump" along the leading edge.  That, and trim the inside / trailing edge at an angle as Andy suggests. HTH.

 

Kind regards,

Dutch

Hi Dutch, thanks for the suggestions, I will update my pages with your text. Hope we will see the correct kit one day...

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