Miniwing 1/144 Bell OH-58A "KIOWA" in Vietnam War
By Matt Bittner
Overview
According to Wikipedia:
"The Bell OH-58 Kiowa is a family of single-engine single-rotor military helicopters used for observation, utility, and direct fire support. It was produced by the American manufacturer Bell Helicopter and is closely related to the Model 206A JetRanger civilian helicopter."
Miniwing has a number of Kiowa kits they have released, and as far as I can tell the only difference being the markings provided with that particular release along with two types of skids. Another choice in the model is whether to add the minigun or not to the port, fuselage side.
The Kit
The Miniwing 1/144 Bell OH-58A "KIOWA" consists of 22 pieces of gray, injected plastic and six pieces of clear injected plastic, consisting of the fuselage halves and separate doors if you choose to use them. Miniwing has been producing their new kits with clear fuselage halves, ensuring no gaps when fitting any clear pieces to "colored" injected plastic. Also included in the box is the instrument panel as a separate part (in its own baggie), a set of masks thankfully, a photoetch fret, and decals for the following two schemes:
- OH-58A 70-15236 (15236) Australian Army, 161 Recce Flight Assoc, Nui Dat, Vietnam, 1971
- OH-58A 69-16962 (16962) 17th Cavalry Regiment Quang Tri, Vietnam, 1971
Miniwing provides separate doors on their clear sprue which can be used to display your model with these doors open. However, be aware you will need to cut the in-situ doors away from the fuselage halves prior to any assembly. Take your time and you should have close-fitting doors.
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The interior is pretty complete aside from the lack of seat belts as decals or anything else. Miniwing does provide instrument panel decals which is nice and the "collective control" is molded to the side of the front seats. Not included is the "cyclic control" nor the antitorque pedals. Hopefully the supplied masks will work on the inside of the fuselage so the cockpit sides can be sprayed prior to adding the assembled cockpit.
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Once the cockpit pieces (front and rear) are glued into the starboard fuselage half, then the port fuselage half is glued to it and the stabilizers and veritical tail is glued on, along with the rear rotor and photoetch grab handles on the tail boom (they and the rotor best left off until after painting and decaling).
Now the skid, grab handles for the sides of the fuselage and upper exhausts are added, along with the main rotor (again, best left off until the end). If you removed the molded-in doors to take advantage of the separate doors, those are added now as well, along with the optional minigun. Finally, the rest of the photoetch fret is used to add all antenna and the tail boom bumper-skid.
Conclusion
Miniwing continue to provide excellent helicopters in 1/144 and this is no exception. It should build up quick and in little time you'll have a Kiowa gracing your shelves.
Huge thanks to Miniwing for supplying the review kit.