21st Century Toys' 1/18 Bell AH-1W Supercobra
|
 |
21st Century Toys turns out some very interesting subjects in 1/18th
scale. If you recall the 1/18th P-47 Thunderbolt that we previewed at
the 2003 hobby show coverage and then looked at much closer last month,
they've also released the AH-1W Supercobra as well!
The AH-1W was actually released before Christmas and my lovely wife
brought me the version that features the light gray airframe with the
dark gray snake running down the fuselage (also covered the the TwoBobs
AH-1W decal release for smaller scales). 21st Century Toys has now released
the AH-1W in the two-color tactical camouflage and we'll take a closer
look.
 Packaged
in their usual bullet-proof box, the AH-1W has a separate tail boom that
snaps into place on the rear fuselage. The wing stubs are pre-armed with
TOW missile tubes and rocket pods. These too snap into place on the fuselage
sides. The main rotor assembly snaps into the top of the airframe and
the main rotor blades are keyed to go into the rotor assembly. At least
that is the theory.
When I assembled the snake my wife gave me, the rotor blades did assemble
as advertised. With this new release, I was surprised to see one of the
blades keyed backwards! No matter, a quick grind with the Dremel and I
was able to correct that blade (though I did have to refer to the other
AH-1W to ensure I was correcting the right blade).
 The
canopy snaps off the aircraft to gain access to the crew figure provided.
The figure that was included with the first AH-1W shared something in
common with my grandmother - a broken hip. The new figure fared better.
Neither came with helmets.
 The
cockpit is nicely detailed though there is potential here for the superdetailer.
With the canopy in place, the rear cockpit door is positionable. Likewise
both sides of the nose access bays are positionable (including a removable
ammo box); as are the engine bay access doors on both engines.
If you're a snake fan, you're going to want one of these on your shelf.
If you're a snake fan AND a super-detailer, you'll have fun making this
aircraft accurate inside and out.
My sincere thanks to 21st Century
Toys for this review sample!
 
|
|
