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Bo-105 "Swooper" in 1:72 by Airfix


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I want to contribute something again here - sorry, at the moment I usually post stuff on my german forum and continue modelling before going the extra mile to translate my reports...

 

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Well, I got hold of the old, but in my eyes still excellent kit of the Bo-105 by Airfix. I think this particular kit was released in 1978 and I think it´s still better than the new release by Amodel.

 

As you can see, I cut out the passenger doors - this is necessary to create a "Swooper"-version, which is a special variant that was used a short time to support the KSK, the Kommando Spezialkräfte, our German Army-commando unit, comparable to maybe the US Army Delta Force.

 

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So the role of this Bo-105 would be basically the same as the MH-6 Little Bird. The construction to this point went straight forward, with the only addition to the kit beeing a second pilot figure.

 

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Now some modifications come into play. Most visible the planks to the sides, like on the Little Bird. They were used (were they really? I never saw pictures of the Bo in the air with actually carrying operators on that plank!) to have soldiers ride into battle and quickly dismount.

 

Also I added the main base for the HOT-sight above the port-side of the cockpit. This was the sight previously used by the Anti-Tank-system of the Bo-105 PAH (Panzerabwehrhubschrauber - Anti-Tank-Helicopter), and the actual targetting unit was removed for the Swooper. I used a kit part from the 1:87 Bo-105 by Roco, and the thing looks quite good even though it´s intended to be much smaller scale-wise.

 

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I had no pictures of the underside and therefor used some artistic licence here. Pylons are again something from my ever-lasting Roco spare-box, this time coming from the ancient Bell UH-1D-kit.

 

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The Heeresflieger (Army Aviation) camoflage of the Bo-105 is one of my favorite: Simple, but clean and effective! Just love it!

 

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Another dominant feature of the Swooper-versions, whcih were the last Bo-105s operational in german service, was an added air-particel filter in front of the engine intake. A friend of mine once did a template for it´s shape and send it to me.

 

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I printed it on paper and soaked it with super glue to give the paper more stability.

 

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It looked good until I tried to add a mesh, using the material of a tea-bag. The paper-form began to warp heavily (apparently I`d better soaked the backside with super glue as well), and I decided to transfer to plastic card instead.

 

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Looked good as well, I´d say! Also visible: The decals that I already applied. I used some aftermarket decals for the Iron Crosses, but had to rely on the original kit-decals for the registry. Well, over 40 years old and still working like a charm - that´s quality!

 

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And here we have the mesh installed and painted with gun-metal. I´m quite happy with the result!

 

 

HAJO

 

 

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