The MH-47E Chinook is
a heavy assault helicopter operated by US Army's 160th Special
Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), aka the 'Night Stalkers'. Tasked with
the long range, all-weather/all conditions clandestine infil and exfil of
Spec Ops forces, the MH-47E is aided in it's mission through the use
of enlarged external and internal fuel tanks and a plethora of
state-of-the-art navigational equipment. The MH-47E carries an extensive
self-protection defensive suite against most heat-seeking and infrared guided
missiles and also carries two M134 General Electric Miniguns for use
against soft targets and personnel. Twenty three MH-47Es are in
service from the original twenty six that the 160th SOAR started
with (three losses to date-two accidents, one combat related). The MH-47E
is slated to be joined by the new MH-47G, which features reduced
vibration, improved avionics and more powerful engines. All E models will
eventually be upgraded to G standards.
This is
Italeri's 1/72 MH-47E Chinook Special Operations Aircraft. The kit is a modified
reissue of their CH-47D/HC.1 kit, with most of the parts to convert it into
an MH-47E. The first order of business was to remove the small fuselage tanks by
following the guide lines on the
inside of the fuselage. The cuts were cleaned up and the larger tanks installed.
The rest of the build-up went together as prescribed in the instructions. Two
areas to watch out for is the bottom of the fuselage and the clear nose/canopy
piece.
Both required
copious amounts of sanding and tweaking to fit (sort of-the nose
piece fit is still a little rough on my model, even after judicious
sanding. At the risk of cracking the part, I just left it as is). After
building the main fuselage assembly, time came for all the fiddly bits
like the antennas, chaff/flare dispensers, hoist, landing gear struts, and
external sensors. Two new set of dual chaff/flare dispensers were
made from thick sheet styrene, with brass rod for the mounts. The
in-flight refueling probe was replaced with a short length of 080"
styrene rod with a brass wire inserted for strength. I also added some
additional warts and antennas that were overlooked in the kit. |
Click on
image below to see larger image
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Next I turned my attention to the
rotors. They were mounted in a way which allows them to be removed for easier
handling (and transport). The rotor blades themselves were modified to
represent the carbon-fiber composite type used on modern Chinooks (removed
the 90 degree cut out and reshaped into a 45 degree taper at the blade root).
Last thing to do before painting commenced was to mask off all the windows ()
and the door openings (my masking agent of choice is Bare Metal Foil).
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Now comes my favorite part,
painting! I chose the now common Night Stalker scheme of overall black with
Olive Drab lettering. I used Tamiya NATO Black for the base coat, followed
up by a light coat of Model Master Interior Black. A lighter shade of the
Interior Black was used for post-shading some of the panels. Future was
applied and left to dry. While the fuselage was drying, I painted the rotors and
wheels. The rotor mounts were painted flat black, while the blades were painted
Interior Black. the rotor-heads were drybushed to bring out the detail. The
decals were added next. The OD US Army markings came from Cobra Co,
while the rest of the markings (what little there are) came from the kit. There
are some OD stencils on the real deal, but none were available on the
kit decal sheet or Cobra Co decal set (the RoG boxing has an extensive
sheet, but the stencils are black, meant for a Helo Drab Chinook). After all the
markings dried, a heavily thinned coat of lightened Interior Black was
sprayed over the entire model to subdue the paint and the markings. A few coats
of Model Master Acryl Flat clear-coat dulled the whole works down. The widow
masks were removed and the glass polished to a nice shine.
Next up on the list was adding the
final detail bits and touch-up/detail painting. The wheels were added to
the struts (adhered with slow curing CA glue to allow for alignment), and the
miniguns were installed in the doors. Navigation lights were added by shaping
a couple of small drops of Microscale Krsytal Kleer, then painted their
respective colors. The rotors were glued to their mounts then placed on
the model. A final detail that was added were exhaust covers, which are made
from aluminum foil, then painted olive drab. All in all an enjoyable build,
even with the snaggles that I ran into. Now it just needs an MH-60L or K, and
a couple of MH/AH-6J Little Birds to go along with it. NSDQ!
This model was built as tribute to men
of 'Razor 1' an MH-47E (92-00475) which was lost in combat with seven US
service men KIA, on 04 March 2002 in support of Operation Enduring
Freedom. For more on 'Razor 1' and the Battle of Roberts Ridge, see here;
For
more on the MH-47E Chinook SpecOps helicopter;
http://www.boeing.com/rotorcraft/military/mh47e/sitemap.html
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/history/MH-47E_Model_History.html
http://www.specialoperations.com/Aviation/MH47/default.html
Albert
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