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My dad was a crew chief for a helicopter recovery operation in Vietnam and had mentioned to me that he wished he had some nice models of some of the helos he flew and pulled out. Seeing as that's something that's kinda up my alley, I was wondering if someone with a bit more experience with these types of models could recommend a good kit manufacturer and purchasing source. Thanks ahead of time

Wow purdy cool!

Helos aren't really my bag but if it helps will pose the question on Britmodeller.

which types was he involved with? The ubiquituous Huey no doubt!

Also what sort of scale are you thinking of?

uhh, try hasagawa

Any help is more than welcome

Some of the specific models would be:

AH-1G Cobra
CH-47B and or ACH-47A (gunship version, ACH-47A was the same thing to the CH-47 as the AC-130 is to the C-130)
UH-1D (possibly also the gunship version of this)
OH-6A
and maybe a A-1H Skyraider, as he pulled a few of those out as well.

As far as scale, I'm thinking 1/48th but can go with 1/72 if need be.

Not so fast there hotshot!

True Hase can have some nicely engineered kits but the earlier moulds are not that brilliant and I don't think they have many helos in the inventory.
I may be wrong but don't think that they did many of the period in question.

Italeri have some pretty nice helos in 1/72
have been tempted to get a couple of the Hueys.
Academy may do some in 1/35 scale.
Not sure about Tamiya.

Very cool, I will check those out. Thanks again

Ok Maelstrom wilco

sorry we cross posted
I know that Italeri covered the choppers in 1/72
The Skyraider is another nice subject.

In 1/48 reckon that Tamiya will get the nod on that one

PS If you know of any specific units/airframes/markings it may be possible to get the decals to depict something your father actually worked on

Very good info, almost everything is covered (including the gunship version of the Chinook, was a bit surprised at finding that). Looks like the only thing that neither of them carry is a G model Cobra, so I'm still on the look out for that one. I definately plan to talk to him about the units markings he would like as I know that there were a few units that he recovered aircraft for on a regular basis. 1st Air Cav was one of his regular "customers" so I imagine that their markings would end up on the Cobra and Huey gunships. The slick version of the Huey and the Chinook would have his own unit markings on it for Pipe Smoke recovery. I know we have pictures of them, but I don't know if I can find some clean versions on the net that I can print on transfer paper.

There maybe some artwork/colour profiles on the net somewhere that would be helpful if you can print your own decals.

check this site out just for some super noseart!

can't figure out how Andy Capp got there??



Automatically Appended Next Post:
The AH-1G was modelled in 1/32 reccently
May be worth following the link to the build thread

Fujimi do/did a 1/48 G variant