ITALERI INCOMING - COUGAR HELICOPTER UPGRADE KIT

Italeri's 1:72 scale Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar helicopter kit has received an upgrade to the moulds, and a four-country super-decal sheet. This looks like a worthwhile job and the revamped kit should make a useful addition to the helo’s fan’s build-list.

Wide range of markings

You now get decals for four air arms, those of Sweden, France, Spain, and Thailand. And if you want to add more you can, because the Cougar - an upgrade of the Puma - has been a big success around the world, with a user base totalling some 40-odd countries.

Moulding quality

Detail on this upgrade kit is really well done, though there’s always room for more, especially at the relatively small 1:72 scale. The pic of the Turkish machine (below), used for combat search-and-rescue, gives an idea of just how much fine detail there is on the full-size helicopter. It's worth pointing out that there are no crew figures supplied, so if you like humans aboard your helicopters, you will have to supply your own. When assembled, the kit has a main rotor diameter of 226 mm (8.9 in) 

Summation

An upgrade that’s worth having for helicopter fans. The Cougar will be in stores soon, meantime there are more Italeri helicopter kits, including our favourites, the massive Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low III and ‘Night Raid’ edition of the MH-60 Black Hawk. See them all here.

And plenty more Italeri kits here.

Four service markings supplied in the kit (above) and one of the many options (below), an AS 532 in Bulgarian service.

2012 INCOMING - CHINESE COMBAT HELICOPTER FROM CHINA

SMN report:

Next up from Dragon is this interesting 1:144 scale ‘Warbird Series’ kit of the PLA WZ-10 attack helicopter, the Chinese answer to Western types like the famed US-built Boeing AH-64 Apache. In layout, the WZ-10 is pretty standard, with a stepped tandem cockpit seating two crew: gunner in front, pilot behind. Flight controls are dualled to act as mutual backup, and the cockpit sides and bottom are protected by composite armour, as are the engines and fuselage fuel tank.

Stealth capability

As for the kit, the general shape looks pretty accurate, not that there have been too many decent pictures released of this Chinese combat machine. The sloping sides reflect at least a token attempt to deflect radar waves, giving the WZ-10 some stealth capability.

Landing gear choice

It’s a new-tool kit, so we can expect the fit and finish to be on a par with Dragon’s other recent kits - in other words, pretty good. According to Dragon, the landing gear can be assembled in ‘landing or flying’ modes. To the best of our knowledge, the WZ-10 does not have retractable wheels, so we’re guessing that this means with oleos extended in flight mode, or compressed in weight-bearing landing position.

Sensors and more

The real thing has a six-blade main rotor, and Dragon has reproduced this nicely, together with an assortment of nose-mounted sensors and combat ordnance hanging under the stub wings either side.

Summation

As you can see from Dragon’s test-shot builds, this is a neat little model, and one that would look good when displayed next to more familiar Western helos, such as the Westland Lynx or Eurocopter Tiger. It’s pretty tiny at 1:144 scale though, and we’d really like Dragon to consider releasing a more detailed version in one or more bigger scales.

Visit Dragon here.

The WZ-10 is coming soon, meantime more Dragon stuff is available here.

Pic of WZ-10 in flight, courtesy 'B747SPNKG'.