Khee-Kha Art Products 1/72 Bellanca CH-400 Skyrocket
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History
Giuseppi Mario Bellanca, "Pepino", was born in the Sicilian village
of Sciacia on March 19, 1886. He received his secondary education at the
Technical Institute of Milano where he earned an education certificate
to teach mathematics. In 1910 he earned a degree in mathematics and engineering
from the Milano Politecnico. At the age of 24 his first plane, built with
two partners, was destroyed on its first flight. A second plane never
flew because the partners could not afford an engine. In 1911 he moved
to the United States with his family, settling in Brooklyn. Bellanca taught
himself to fly on his third design and started the Bellanca Aeroplane
Company and Flying School in 1912. Successful design followed successful
design, through the Wright-Bellanca WB-2's famous New York - Germany flight
in 1927, to the CH series in the midst of which is our subject airplane.
 The
Pathfinder, Pacemaker, Skyrocket and Senior Skyrocket were all strong,
light, simple, docile workhorses, which suited them perfectly for "Bush"
operations. The CH-400 Skyrocket was a higher powered development of the
Wright-Bellanca series and the later CH-300 Pacemaker. The Skyrocket was
intended to be a more sporting airplane for wealthy customers demanding
speed and comfort. Its qualities also attracted the attention of commercial
operators and Skyrockets were soon doing the heavy lifting in the Canadian
and Alaskan bush. Early owners included movie stars, the US Navy and Marines,
Colorado-Utah Airways, Alaska Star, Wien, Alaska Air Transport and the
Treadwell-Yukon Mining Company amongst others.
The Kit
 This
is Khee-Kha's second kit. The first, a Fairchild F.71 was reviewed in
the April 2004 issue of this magazine. Khee-Kha's growing line of civil
types is a welcome break from all the killing machines offered to our
hobby by the mainstream manufacturers. Lars Opland, owner and entire staff
of Khee-Kha, lives in Alaska and is keenly interested in the aviation
history of his state and of western Canada.
 The
kit comes in a resealable plastic bag containing one 8" x 10" sheet of
white polystyrene, which has been vacuum formed into a female mold to
produce 46 finely detailed parts. A beautifully cast resin engine, propeller,
eight intake manifold elbows and two exhaust manifolds are carefully taped
into the recesses on the backside of the vac formed sheet to protect them.
A vac formed windscreen is also protected in its own recess. A 3/4" x
3" sheet of clear styrene for the side windows completes the kit.
Ten pages of well written, and even better illustrated, instructions
tell you how to convert the beautifully detailed bumps vac formed in that
white plastic sheet into an accurate scale model of an airplane of great
historic significance. The instructions also set out five different color
schemes for you.
No decals are provided. It is quite simple, however, to either find
regular lettering fonts in model airplane and railroad decals or press-down
lettering or to cut your own from plain colored decal stock. Another source
is the vinyl stick-on lettering found in office supply shops, which can
be used as masks for painting. Whiskey Jack decals of Canada are about
to issue a sheet of 1/72 decals for Canadian Fairchild F.71s built from
Khee-Kha's first kit and I'm sure they will soon follow with decals for
Canadian registered CH-400 Skyrockets for this kit.
Conclusion
 This
is a fine kit of an important civil subject. It is not an easy build but
the end product is worth your effort. The qulity of the kit is head and
shoulders above other vacuum formed kits. A big thank you and many kudos
to Lars for producing a kit of this great airplane for us.
The kit is available directly from the manufacturer for $20 plus $5
postage, which is good for up to three kits.
Lars Opland
Khee-Kha Art Products
P.O. Box 875638
Wasilla, AK 99687 USA
References
The instructions list four useful references on the type. For the personal
history of Giuseppi Bellanca, I also referred to:
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Famous Aircraft of the National Air & Space Museum No. 6, Bellanca
C.F.: Jay P. Spenser, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC,
1982, ISBN 0-87474-881-X
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