Month: December 2014

By Fred Boucher

with kit history by Alan Bussie

Introduction

In the salad days of the early atomic and jet ages, Cold War fears pushed the envelope of aerospace design and an atomic powered strategic bomber was seriously considered.  Convair, Lockheed and Northrop (perhaps others) submitted proposals for such a plane and reactor-fuel concept engines were built.  And if a nuclear powered jet bomber isn’t growling-Geiger counter-cool enough for you, consider the zany nuclear powered Mach III SLAM (Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile) of Project Pluto† streaking just above the tree tops, spewing radioactive particles in its wake and lobbing H-bombs.  Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper’s dream come true!

    

SLAM (Project Pluto), three popular Atomic Bomber concepts and the nuclear turbojet engine (click any to enlarge) 

USAF was not the only air force to explore an aerial nuke plant- the Soviets did, too.  And Hawk was not the only model company to kit a fanciful model of that radiant subject.  Aurora kited the Russian Nuclear Powered Bomber shown below and also reviewed on this website.

 

The original magazine article and the resulting Aurora Kit (click any to enlarge) 

Your humble reviewer built this marvellous model aeons ago – I still have the parasite fighters from it!  It was, in the lexicon of the era, one cool kit!

“hawk” or “Hawk”?

OK, was it hawk or Hawk? Their logo was ‘always’ spelled in lowercase. Yet the company name as printed on the instruction sheet is capitalized.  While I personally want to use hawk, henceforth I will punctuate it as a proper name: “Hawk.”

Kit History

Hawk, like Aurora, liked to be first to put new concepts into a kit.  Combining Atomic Power and the parasite fighters, Hawk issued this kit in 1959, shortly after conceptual drawings of Nuclear Powered Bombers appeared in popular magazines.  The first issue was in a sturdy hardbox (a thick cardboard upper box lid and tray, with the top covered with a lithographed paper ‘slick) and was given part number 514-98.  This exact artwork layout was used in the second issue (roughly 1961) with no changes other than the part number.  It was changed to 514-100.

#514-98 

Continue reading “Hawk Beta One Atomic Bomber XAB-1 Kit Review”

By Fred Boucher

with kit history by Alan Bussie 

Introduction

In the chill of the Cold War a golden age of aviation inspired many new aerospace vehicles, including surface-to-air missiles.  One was the supersonic, long-range anti-aircraft Bomarc missile.  The USAF originally categorized it as a fighter aircraft and designated it F-99.  Later they re-designating it IM-99A and IM-99B after 1955, and finally CIM-10 after the McNamara Sept. 1962 dumb-down.  

Bomarc Base #1 with missiles in launch position (courtesy Wikipedia) 

Most of these kits came out before I was born so perhaps it isn’t so strange that I never saw them at my hometown hobby outlets.  In fact, I was not even aware that many existed until the advent of online sites.

Kit History 

Aurora wasted little time detecting and acquiring information to cut tooling and produce injection molded models of those contemporary subjects.   Their goal was to be to market first with the latest – and they were!  The Boeing “Bomarc IM-99 Intercepter- [sic] Missile With Mobile Launching Platform- Newest Weapon for America’s Defense” was released in 1958.  Aurora scaled it to 1/48.  It was packaged in an Aurora standard “long box” carton, a sturdy cardboard conventional lid-tray design.  Dramatic box art shows a Bomarc searing skyward from its launcher into the atmosphere to smite commie inbounds.  In an effort to maximize mold utilization, Aurora issued this model as two kits (just like the Regulus II).  377-198, the subject of this review, was the Bomarc with a working launching.  At nearly double the price, this kit featured completely new box artwork, decals and instructions.  The traditional Aurora stand was not included, presumably because the launcher doubles as one.  

Continue reading “Aurora’s Boeing Bomarc IM-99 (CIM-10B) With Launcher Kit Review”

by Fred Boucher

Introduction

As the Cold War deepened, aerospace companies developed delivery systems for nukes that lessened hazards to pilots.  Cruise missiles and “stand off” weapons were developed and deployed and model companies developed and delivered kits of them almost as fast as the military received the real things – or sooner, as in the case of the Bell GAM-63 Rascal!

Rascal on the transporter 

Monogram Models, Inc created this amazing 1/48 model of the Bell GAM-63 Rascal.  It was released in 1958, with the kit number PD42-98; “-98” was the recommended retail price of a whopping 98¢!  More than just a model attack missile, this kit included a tractor with a transporter loader, and a trio of figures.  It also boasted “action” features such as folding missile fins and a positionable loader.  Like many of the vintage missile models reviewed, this model was a surprise to me.

PD-42-98 Rascal GAM-63 Missile by Monogram 

As amazing as this model is, it was only released by Monogram for a short time, perhaps because Strategic Air Command did not field the weapon. But more likely it was because model missile sales, after great initial success, completely stalled.  This lead to very short issues of one to three years on average.  This has made them very popular among collectors today.

Continue reading “Monogram’s Bell GAM-63 Rascal Missile – Kit Review”

By Fred Boucher

with kit release history by Alan Bussie 

Introduction

Your humble reviewer has been planning to present this model for years as the Cheyenne has always intrigued me.  The AH-56 was an aesthetically odd helicopter designed in the aerodynamic transient era of rounded and squared contours.  It had an airplane propeller for thrust and a great looking airframe behind a goofy looking canopy and nose that resembled a cartoon AV8 Harrier!  Yet the machine was so fast that during test flights nobody had a helicopter that could keep up with it.  Army aviation had to procure some refurbished WWII P-51 Mustangs to chase this raging rotorwing across the sky!  The AH-56 was able to perform aerobatics and there are many minutes of AH-56 video available on the internet.

The AH-56 Cheyenne Story

AH-56 was designed to fit the requirements of the US Army’s Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS) program (1964-71).  The helicopter won the competition and the first prototype flew (unofficially) in September 1966.  AH-56 was expected to enter service in 1968, but the program was terminated and the helicopter never advanced beyond prototype stage.

While the AAFSS was won by the Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne, Bell had entered a scaled-down version of its Iroquois Warrior and the other competitor was the Sikorsky (S-66) (1964) which looked similar to the AH-56A Cheyenne, but had a Rotorprop tail rotor which could rotate on it’s axis through 90 degrees to act both as an anti-torque rotor or as a pusher, thereby transforming the S-66 into a compound aircraft in cruising flight.

Continue reading “Aurora’s Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne – Kit Review”