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AMP 1/48 Kit 48019 HH-43B Huskie


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It's not been released yet. There's CAD and sprue shots floating around on their FB page and you can read more here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235039874-148-kaman-hh-43-oh-43d-hok-1-huskie-family-by-mikromir-huk-1hok-1-released-hh-43-final-renderssprues/

 

It's been imminent for a while...

 

Jon

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Hello Everyone, My father worked for Kaman for 40 years. As a result, I'm very familiar with the aircraft the company produced. The HOK was released by AMP a couple of years ago. It is a very complex kit but one I have waited for since I was six years old in 1958. (I still have the built up Aurora kit but it was never accurate.) That version of the helicopter was designated OH-43D. 

 

To further confuse things, a version of the HOK was produced for the Air Force in the later 50s. It had a different tail arrangement and it was called the H-43A. The H-43B was another design that took out the piston engine and replaced it with a Lycoming T53 gas turbine. The new helicopter was also larger by about 15%. Other than the rotor blades, I don't think it shares many components with the HOK/H-43A. So yes, it is a new aircraft. If AMP is just re-releasing the HOK with a different parts, that would be a very inaccurate presentation and I don't think they would do that given what I know about the company. "Dutch" has that right. It's not easy to see the difference between the HOK and the H-43B but there's a photo on-line of both helicopters, side by side, at a museum.

 

AMP's box art shows the Huskie over Viet Nam in silver paint. In the States it had a lot of very bright insignia, yellow and black bands on the tail booms, and Day-Glo Orange on the tails and around the nose. The first thing the crews did was to use gray paint to cover those Hi-Viz markings. (The descriptions of the early missions make for good reading - I'm in awe of what those young men did to rescue their countrymen. There was no "manual" for how to rescue downed pilots from the jungle and they had to start from scratch. [Check out the missions from the base known as NKP. "Naked Fanny" and H-43B are good search words.])

 

The other good news (for me) is the Clear Prop release of a 1/48 scale UH-2A/B single engine Seasprite. It was primarily used on Plane Guard off aircraft carriers but Kaman also made a gunship prototype from it and named it the Tomahawk. The Army was interested but the Huey was purchased instead. I will probably build a Seasprite and a Tomahawk. The is substantial research available on both the UH-2 and the H-43B. Thank you for the opportunity to present this information and for reading.

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I've built the HUK-1 and have the HH-43B. The sprues are all different. The rotor blades look very similar if not identical. It should be described as a new tool in my view; I can't see any commonality.

 

Jon

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Please post photos of any completed kits.

I recall HH-43Bs on air based while growing up +or as much as I ever did grow up), plus I had a Japanese tin-toy and the old Hawk 1/32 kit.

 

I few years ago I saw a HTK in a small museum.

Interesting.

Alsi, surp!us units were used for logging about 30 miles from here.

One is even illustrated on a community mural.

And I passed by an estate which had one under restoration outside of a hangar/shop.

I only saw it the one time.

 

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I would love to see AMP release a 1/72 HH-43B/F Huskie kit.  All we currently have is the Airmodel vac kit and the Mach2 disaster.  

 

I am extremely pleased with the Clear Prop 1/72 UH-2A/B kit, and look forward to the UH-2C & UH-2D kits in 1/72.

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On 7/25/2022 at 6:14 PM, Patnab said:

Hello Dutch,

Why not this one ? :

https://modelingmadness.com/scott/viet/previews/croco/ch43.htm

 

Regards

Patrick

Hmm, Thanks Patrick. I was not aware of that one!  I see it is listed on SCM. I must have skipped over it.  Thanks for the link. Maybe I shouldn't say "Mach2 disaster" as there are several good kits built from it.  Nevertheless, I would still prefer a Clear Prop or AMP release! 😎

K/r, Dutch

 

Edited by Dutch
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