We have the latest kit from Academy Models of Korea to review for you today. This one kind of sprung out of nowhere, so military helicopter fan shave been pleasantly surprised with what has been seen before. What does it look like in the box and compare to the original? See in our comparison...
From: Academy Models Korea
1/35th scale
Kit No# 9-12127
Four grey sprues/ 1 Clear,
Vinyl Masks Included
Cartograf Decals for four versions included
Box Dimensions: 410mm x 270mm x 70mm
Available from HobbyEasy on pre-order for (a very cheap USD$ 38.29!!)
Available from HobbyEasy on pre-order for (a very cheap USD$ 38.29!!)
Academy has just released a new tool kit of the US Marine Corps latest attack helicopter, the AH-1Z in 1/35th scale injection moulded kit. This boxing is called "Shark Mouth" as three of the four markings have grimacing teeth on the nose of the chopper that gives it a menacing look. In this boxing of the kit we are promised:
-The USMC's newest upgraded variant of the AH-1 attack helicopter used by the USMC.
-Weapons include 20mm rotary cannon, AGM-114 and AIM-9 missiles, two types of rocket pods
-Accurately detailed cockpit, panel lines and rivets.
-Photo-etched parts
-Mask for canopy
-Cartograf decals
The AH-1Z "Zulu" Cobra:
The AH-1T that was modified to the AH-1T+ demonstrator and then the AH-1W prototype was later fitted with an advanced composite four-bladed rotor system that provided better performance, less noise, and greater resistance to battle damage. This "Four Bladed Whiskey (4BW)" Cobra didn't lead immediately to a production contract and the rotorcraft was returned to Marine service in a normal AH-1W configuration, but Bell continued work on the concept.
AH-1Z Specifications
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed: 200 KIAS
Combat Radius: 131 nm
Maneuverability: -0.5 to +2.5 g
Cruise Speed: 139 KTAS
Sideward/Rearward Flight: 45KIAS
CAPACITIES: Max Gross Weight: 18,500 lbs
POWERPLANT: T700-GE-401C
Pilots: 2
Armament: Cannon: 20 mm cannon with 750 rounds
Missiles: AGM-114A/B/C anti-tank missiles, AGM-114F anti-ship, AIM-9 air-to-air missiles, pods with 70 mm unguided rockets, free-fall bombs
Inside the box, we have some coloured warning paper signs, a black and white fold-out instruction manual, a colour fold-out markings and colours guide for painting, a small vinyl masking sheet and photo-etch fret. One decal sheet and lastly five duck-egg light blue sprues and one clear sprue for transparencies.
Instructions:
So we can give you more context of the sprues I will start at the Instruction manual. This fold-out four-page double-sided instruction manual is printed on black and white on standard paper. There are seventeen instruction steps in this guide and these steps are sometimes broken up into little smaller sub-builds.
The cover - as you can see these instructions are written in Korean and in English
Steps 1-17: Or - "Start assemble with number 1"
Step 1: OK, for a change construction starts in the cockpit, with the two pilot's seats, front cockpit "glass" panel and rear radio/ electronics panel are added to the centre before it is all seated in the cockpit "tub". Paint call outs, decal additions and the photo-etch of the kit is notated handily here.
Step 2: Most of the inside of the cockpit and the sensors on the nose are from sprues C & D which cuts down on roaming around the sprues. Instructions also point out little boxes with "reference" notated, where important parts of the build are shown in shaded line drawings like this one with the cockpit below. Notice here the Target Sight System (TSS) in the nose can be rotated after installation. In step two we see we need to add three gramms of nose weight at this step (Put in five just to make sure huh!).
Manual 2 - Coloured Instruction Guide:
The second part of the instructions is printed on coloured smooth but still pretty thin paper, this part of the instructions has on it a sprue map, a guide to the placement of the vinyl masks, a data stencil and photo-etch assembly addition instruction sheet and markings for the four Zulus on it.
Sprue tree & Mask instruction placement
Small decal & data stencil placement
Data stencils and weapons colours are here.
Photo Etch - much of it can be placed after the main parts are built) is here.
The four colour profiles from both sides are included. These four pages - and four colour schemes to match are placed in a particularly unorthodox order, instead of seeing all of the aircraft markings on one side of the (again a fold out manual) we see three on one side and one on the other side - Instruction makers - please use your heads dudes!
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SM-47"
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SE-47"
USMC AH-1Z, 168003 "QT-615"
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SN-47",
While we already see colours called out on the main instruction manual which again is peculiar, but I suppose people will need to see it while the interior is being painted. It would be easier for the modeller to have this on the second manual so you can have both open. Colours are called out in Humbrol, GSI Creos, Lifecolor, Testors, Revell, Vallejo and AK Interactive. Light ghost grey, Dark Ghost Grey and Olive Drab are importantly given FS numbers also.
There are four marking choices supplied with this kit - but only two different aircraft are depicted, Three of the same aircraft with the "Sharkmouth" of the model title, and one other from the early production in 2011 in an all grey scheme for those who wanted a more plain looking Viper out of the box. They are (in order of date of appearance) :
USMC AH-1Z, 168003 "QT-615",
HMLA-369, C/N:59015. Iwakuni, Apri, 2011
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SN-47",
HMLA-169, C/N: 59218. Iwakuni, 2017
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SE-47"
HMLA-469, C/N: 59218. Itazuke AAF, August 2018
USMC AH-1Z, 168961 "SM-47",
HMLA-369, C/N: 59218. Iwakuni, April, 2018
Decals:
The single decal sheet is provided by Cartograf of Italy. These guys sure know their stuff, and the sheet has nothing out of register, and the colours are all solid with a thick white showing me that the rest of the decals will be fine. The LCD panels for the cockpit are included as green panels.
You can see some of the closer detail in here of the sheet - especially when matched up with the 1/1 scale (regular sized) match...
The wrap around sharkmouth will take some careful handling
Unit markings are very finely printed - this is great work by the decal printers.
Stencils & Decals have very little carrier film attached to them also.
Vinyl Mask:
Included thoughtfully in this kit is a Vinyl mask to enable you to simply and easily paint your cockpit canopy. The Vinyl isn't as good as Kabuki in my opinion but ow well something i s better than nothing. It has been peeled back here to show you the frames..
Transparent sprue (Sprue E):
The canopy itself is one sprue fairly clear and transparent so you can see all of the new digitised cockpit inside. There is a slight "wrinkle" in the plastic when it is magnified in these pictures that you may be able to see but only after blowing the pictures up. The clear parts for the AN/APR-39A Radar Warning Receiver & AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System and front Target Sight System (TSS) pod are included in this sprue.
You can see the bulged glazing here to good effect and in comparison with the real thing below it.
The front windscreen glazing is of a good angle and not distorted in clarity even thought it is bent.
The chin mounted Target Sight System (TSS) is pretty much dead on here. I noticed that mins has actually some wrinkled when magnified as much as I have in this picture. The shape of this alternative part is however correct. This part is an alternate that can be used to the grey part int he kit that has decals added to it - your choice.
The Five (Duck Egg) Grey Sprues:
Five sprues in this light grey/ duck egg blue colour are included in the kit also. Most of the sprues are sealed in their own bag, and I did not see any damage on the sprues bundled together. The nature of the surface detail of the kit will be of some great interest to many modellers, as there is not only recessed panel lines and rivets, but also raised rivets (yeah raised rivets you remember them).
An example of the surface detail in the front fuselage section
Sprue A: Sprue A is the largest on the sheet, and it features the two largest parts in the forward fuselage of both part and starboard sides of the "Zulu". Also are included here is the landing skid brackets, the wingtip pod fairings for the stub wing and a lot of the fins and aerials that bulge off the fuselage are here.
As we move rearwards down the fuselage you will notice the raised and recessed rivet detail travelling all of the way back through this part, catches for the engines, the two vents of the fuselage (for the avionics in the rear of the cockpit) in front of the engines
Detail of the fuselage is here a little obscured by the wingtip pylons but a good comparison to the real thing.
The struts for the landing skids are here moulded as one part which will help in their strength after I pack that whole three grams of nose weight in there!
Although the skids are on another sprue seeing we have some many pictures of them here I thought it would be good for comparison. You MAY want to trim down the tie-down loops if you want but wait until the end of the build to try for such fine detail.
The wingtip pod fairings for the stub wing (I wish I knew their exact name) are provided on this sprue also, and the detail on them is fairly close to the original details in the pictures below.
Sprue B: We go from the front to the back now with an interesting sprue that will save modellers some time. The tail section is featured in most of the parts here, with the one piece tail boom, the stub wings of the fuselage, the internal fan blades and engine exhaust shrouds, the engine covers, two tail halves and lastly the belly panels of the "Zulu" all here on this second sprue.
The stub wings on the Viper double up as not only weapons pylons, but as "wet" wings with small internal fuel tanks that extend the helicopter's range. The thickness of the wing and raised rivet detail on them look just about right to me.
Both the top and the bottom of the exhaust shrouds of the two engines are here, joined horizontally, I am sure there will be some sanding and filling here to be done don't you think?
The photo-etch from the kit is added on the top of the engine shrouds and the flat space between them masking most of the seam created by them joining horizontally.
The impressive one part tail boom had me at "hello" - no nasty seam to remove in amongst all of those raised rivets, if there was a part of this model I like the best it is this, smart engineering and accuracy in the part - can't ask for much better than that!
The belly of the aircraft is not often seen, but here the one piece belly is moulded so there are as little seams to clean up once again. The long piece travels right along the fuselage and horizontally along the bottom of the fuselage allowing you to add the whole bottom as late as you wish. The picture comparison here below shows the same panel on the real Viper and how the kit part is smartly made into one part.
The tail section is finely moulded into something, that with a few wires around the gears and hub will make a very nice replica of the real thing. The raised rivets and recessed panels again here are nicely done and a good stand-in for the 1/1 scale item.
Even the makeshift hand hold is replicated in a separate piece...
The reverse side again here, the two blanked out inspection panels are in the right positions, as are the navigation light strips and skid base. Impressive to this modeller's eyes.
The real thing, a few fewer fan blades than the kit...
Sprue C: Sprue C is another large one with several parts on-board, the main rotor stub, swash plate and everything you need to replicate the centre hub. The cockpit tup, Panels and many controls for the pilots are there, the M197 20mm three-barreled gun and Target Sight System pod, pilot's seats, landing skids (which we have already looked at), horizontal tails
The M197 20mm three-barrelled gun is provided in the kit, and it is OK, but just that - nothing special, and nothing that many modellers would aspire to in detail. No hollowed out barrels are really a killer for me...
The axis of the four-bladed main rotor is here, the rest of the structure being built around that.
As you can see by the gun below - the barrels would be noticeable even in this scale, so try the Master barrels gun that is already freely available on the market
The real thing in comparison. A little bit of detail inside the sensor dome is missing here don't you think?
Sprue D (X2): The first and last double sprue, with the main rotor blades here and the external armament and it's pylons that they attach to, the pilot's seat and a few other parts are here.
The main rotor blades of the "Zulu" are each in two parts, and these slide over the "+" shaped stem on the other sprue. I Like the shape of these, and the thinness of the rotor's trailing edges is really impressive. A great replica of the real thing.
Although two sidewinders are included the detail on it is a little heavy, the bands around the centre are too pronounced and the front fins need the slightest trim to be scale correct also. Where the squares on the tail fins come from is anybody's guess...
As for weapons pods, we have four of them, LAU-61 nineteen tube Rocket Pods for 2.75″ (70mm) Hydra-70 rockets and the LAU-68 seven shot for 2.75-inch rockets. These are shown either loaded or empty, although the empty rocket tubes are not hollow, the front holes are however deep enough to be painted into looking like they are hollow if posed empty.
A similar story with the smaller seven shot LAU-68 - nice enough for display but not if you want to see hollow tubes.
The four-a-side AGM-114 Hellfire quad missile launchers are here in pretty basic form ( they are rails you know) however, the plumbing is also supplied in separate parts...
Included are eight in total AGM-114 Hellfire missiles in 4x M272 four-round missile launchers. these are pretty heavily detailed - a little too much for me, and I would look for replacements or leave these off. Eduard makes some great Hellfires - but not in 1/35th scale (yet).
The two-part seats are pretty bare, and no foam texture is really on display. There are no harnesses included for either crewman crew-person which is the only real roadblock to building this kit completely "low-tech" out of the box.
The exhausts are here moulded with some care, they do look pretty close to the real things also so I am impressed - people will look inside here at some point so I am glad these are better than the fan-blades in accuracy.
Photo Etched Sheet:
The quite small Photo-etched sheet that accompanies this kit has some of the finer details of the fuselage that could not be moulded in. These include the curved spaces between the engine exhaust shrouds (these come in two parts so this is a good solution) as well as the mesh grilles that are simply better in this thinner representation. Just enough on this sheet. but no seat belts which some people might want to be included...
OK - so that is all there is in the box of Academy's new tooled 1/35 USMC AH-1Z “Shark Mouth” kit. What do we think?
Price:
I found this kit at Hobby-easy at pre-order for just under $40USD, so for such a base kit that will need extra added to it this is the price point that it will be worth the money - not 50 -60 bucks US as it is currently going for on Ebay - so wait for this price-point and I would be happier with the kit for that.
Basic kit Vs need for aftermarket:
Well, it is a basic kit, there are no crew harnesses, no internal avionics bays and no rotor folding mechanisms. The decals are pretty nice but they are limited to two schemes with some slight changes to flesh them out to four (pretty cynical move actually - Werner's Wings will surely make some alternates). The nose gun is pretty mediocre (Master Model & DEF Model make great replacements) and the Hellfire even less desirable. No crew included in the kit (although DEF Model are fixing this).
The wash up:
If you want to wait for aftermarket to come to the party or scratch build some of your own details this accurate but rather vanilla kit can be made into something very nice without much trouble even for beginner or intermediate modeller.
By itself this model is enough for 80% of the modelling public, but some people want just that little more than this kit provides and that is fine. The better modellers will use this kit as a great base to make a show stopper.
By itself this model is enough for 80% of the modelling public, but some people want just that little more than this kit provides and that is fine. The better modellers will use this kit as a great base to make a show stopper.
Adam Norenberg
This kit is now available from HobbyEasy on pre-order for a very cheap USD$ 38.29!!
