ACH-47A Armed Chinook

Italeri, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Italeri's 1/48 scale ACH-47A Armed Chinook  is available online from Squadron

Italeri has released the first in an all-new family of 1/48 scale Chinooks with the ACH-47A.

The kit comprises 177 parts in green injection styrene, 7 clear parts and markings for three aircraft.

The plastic parts are well moulded with no visible flaws on exterior surfaces. Surface detail is by way of crisp, recessed panel lines plus some appropriately raised panels, restrained rivets in a few places and several convincingly moulded grilles and vents.

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

The interior is impressive, with structural detail moulded onto the separate fuselage sidewalls; and some nice extra touches including quilted bulkheads for a busy cabin and cockpit. The flat instrument panel with its decal dials is not quite up to the standard of the rest of the interior, but I am sure that we will have plenty of options for this space fairly soon!

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images:

A large proportion of the parts are ordnance and other small parts. In general, construction would appear to be very straightforward. For example, the rotor hubs are one piece each (plus a base plate). The detail still looks good, and should look even better after some careful weathering.

Transparent parts are very clear and free of distortion. The nose is a single large transparency, simplifying construction in this area too.

Three sets of markings are supplied - two for operational aircraft in Vietnam, 1967, and one at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in 1968. Decals are well printed and matt in finish.

The overall outline of the airframe appears to be accurate, but I am advised that the panel line arrangement on the sponsons is more typical of the AC-47D variant.

Italeri has delivered a nicely detailed 1/48 scale ACH-47A Armed Chinook, which should be quite simple and fast to build.

Recommended

Thanks to Italeri for the review sample