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AZmodel 1/72 Bell AH-1G Cobra

By Matt Bittner

Introduction

The Bell AH-1 Cobra was developed in the late 1960s as the main attack helicopter for the United States (US) military. While the engine was the same as the UH-1 the rest was purpose-built to provide especially the US Army with its first front-line attack helicopter. The design was born out of necessity during the Vietnam war and served with the US military through the late 1990s. The Marines are still flying the twin-engine AH-1Z, though, so the basis of its design is flying to this day.

The Kit

The AZmodel 1/72 Bell AH-1G kits consist of 59 pieces of injected grey plastic, one clear canopy and a photoetch fret with 14 pieces including belts for the seats. There have been multiple releases of this kit including a "joy pack" that consists of three kits with no instructions, decals nor photoetch. This review is for the the AH-16 "Marines" and the AH-1G "With Wiring Panels". The only difference between the two is the "With Wiring Panels" has an extra piece of photoetch for the port fuselage side right under the cockpit.

The "Marines" release (kit #7449) has decals for the following aircraft:

• AH-1G, c/n 15046, 46H, U.S. Marines training unit, 1969
• AH-1G, c/n 15033, U.S. Marines, Vietnam, 1969
• AH-1G, c/n 35046, 414, HMA-773, U.S. Marines, Vietnam, 1970

The "Army" release (kit #7450) has decals for the following helicopters:

• AH-1G, n.67-15649, 4/77th "Dragon", 101 Division, Air Base Khe Sahn in the midst of Lam Son 719, Vietnam, 1971
• AH-1G, n.67-15674, "Murder Inc", 2/20th ARA, Air Base An Loc, Vietname, 1972
• AH-1G, N.67-15090, 4/77th "dragons", 101 Division, Air Base Khe Sahn in the midst of Lam Son 719, Vietnam, 1971

One important point. AZmodel has included a supplemental instruction sheet which must be studied before construction starts. This is because there are different aspects of the build this sheet addresses.

Construction starts with building up the cockpit as well as constructing the rocket pods. Once the cockpit is painted and all together, then it's added to the starboard fuselage half after those halves are painted and a couple of other internal parts are inserted. You'll need to assemble the rotor blades and control rods, and that and a few more pieces are added the fuselage halves before those are joined together. I'm uncertain if you can assemble the fuselage halves without attaching the rotor blades, which will make painting very difficult. Hopefully they'll be able to be left off until after painting.

I would now add the wings and other external details before painting. However, I would leave the skids off until after painting is finished. That way you don't run the risk of breaking those off. I would also add whatever external stores you decide to attach to the wings until after painting and decaling, but right before your final dull coat.

One item of note. According to the instructions, the extra photoetch piece included with the "With Wiring Panels" is just that, an extra wiring panel for the sponson-mounted M195 20mm cannon. The M195 was a pilot-controlled Vulcan cannon, with over 350 made. Unfortunately, while the kit comes with the wiring panels for the fuselage side, it does not include the M195 cannons for the sponsons.

Conclusion

These are excellent additions to the 1/72 world, ones that have been needed for quite some time. If AZmodels' AH-1 Cobras build as well as they look, you should have a built 1/72 Cobra in very little time.

Many thanks go to AZmodels for allowing us to review these excellent kits.