Heller
[ page 7 ]
Alouette III models in 1/72 scale
... continued from page 6....
On the Heller kit, the left slide/ port cabin sliding door door was cut open and set to the rear.
Overall colour was olive green airbrushing Revell Aqua 65 acrylic.
On the nose extra antennas were set made from thin rod. Below the tail a wire antenna was set made with fishing line glued with superglue.
The Nepal markings were home designed. These were home-printed as described on page 5.
UPDATE NOTE: a few years later I used decal laser printing. Interested in a decal set? Look at my decal pages here....
The rotor blades got a bit different colours than usual with olive green on top and the lower blade surfaces black, and red tips.
NEPAL
[area: 147,000 sq.km | population: 28,5 million | capital: Kathmandu | GDP 1,000 USD per capita nominal ]
In the Himalayas lies the land locked country of Nepal. It was sort of buffer state between India in the South and China in the North. There were in the past close relations with British India with the famous Gurkha soldiers. From 1951 a democratic political system was introduced in the "Saṅghīya Loktāntrik Gaṇatantra Nepāl".
In the 1960s with British and American aid, a Royal Flight was established with 2 Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneers and a Ilyushin Il-14. Soon, a pair of Short Skyvans followed along with Twin Otters. In the mid 1970s 2 HS.748 transports were acquired and a pair of Puma helicopters. In the 1980s followed with some 8 Alouette III (SA.319) licensed HAL Chetak and some 7 HAL Cheetah (Alouette II SA.315B Lama) for high altitude operations with also the armed version called HAL "Lancer" supported by the Brazilian Helibras.
In recent years from India came HAL Druv helicopters and several Mil helicopters like the Mi-17 along with 2 PZL-Mielec M28 Sky trucks. The VIP flight has an AW.139 and Bell 206.
Most aircraft have civil registrations and all fly with the Army Air Wing with the main base at Kathmandu-Tribhuvan with dozens of smaller air strips in the mountains.
View on Kathmandu-Tribhuvan International Airport with military section in the East.
Main NEPAL airports:
At Lukla, the small Tenzing-Hillary airport is often the way to the Mount Everest trail:
UPDATE NOTE: a few years later I used decal laser printing. Interested in a decal set of this scheme and others? Look at my decal pages here....
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Equatorial Guinea
The next Heller 1/72 model was made as Alouette III of Equatorial- Guinea.
On the kit, the right crew door was to be set open so with a razor saw carefully cut out. Take care here as the plastic is very brittle. The assembly was done as for the other made kits.
The colour scheme is white upper surfaces and a darker blue lower fuselage colour. This was airbrushed, first overall white with Gunze Sangyo H1 white and than, after masking the curved demarcation, for the darker blue Revell Aqua 52 blau.
Main rotor blades were airbrushed medium grey with yellow tips. The tail rotor the standard darker yellow with red stripes.
This Alouette III / SA-316B was used in the 1980s. The markings were designed at home and custom printed, such as the white lettering. The blue cheat lines were made with Xtradecal stripe decals. It appears only a flag was set on the Alouettes. I added a (temporary?) French code F-WKQH which probably used at the French manufacturer plant prior to delivery.
Two antenna wires were added below the tail boom from fishing wire. (note: later on, also a small screen wiper was added, not yet seen on photos below).
Equatorial Guinea
[ area: 28,000 sq.km with 5 islands and Rio Muni main land | population: 1,5 million | capital: Malabo | GDP 7,000 USD per capita nominal ]
For more information about the Equatorial- Guinea armed forces, look at my SU-25 page here...
UPDATE NOTE: a few years later I used decal laser printing. Interested in a decal set? Look at my decal pages here....
Rwanda in Central Africa also used about 5 SA316B Alouette III helicopters in the 1970s and 1980s so another Heller kit was made in these markings.
The model was made with all doors closed. The model was built as described for the earlier made models.The overall colour airbrushed was Revell Aqua 65 "bronsgrun" acrylic paint.
On the nose a pair of wire antennas were set and the entry steps refined.
The decals were home designed and printed. The white lettering was composed using the Xtradecal set 72158. See note below.
Below the tailboom an extra bar was installed. Small stubs with anti-collision lights were set at the forward fuselage and a wind screen wiper from scrap.
RWANDA
[ area: 26,338 km2 | population: 13 million | capital: Kigali | GPD 800 USD per capita nominal ]
Rwanda is a small country in central Africa. It was a German colony (called Rwanda-Urundi) from 1884 to 1916 until the Belgians from the neighboring Congo took over in 1917. Rwanda became independent in July 1962 (as well as neighboring Burundi). In the nineties there was a terrible civil war between Hutu and Tutsi populations with a genocide that lasted until 1994. It is currently the most densely populated African country with almost 13 million people living in a country of no more than 26 thousand square kilometers with many hills living. It is a very poor country with few resources. In recent years, the country has been praised for the reconstruction that is taking place there, but the President does not tolerate opposition.
In the sixties, 3 second-hand French Fouga Magister jets were flown with technical support from Belgium. Furthermore a British Norman Islander was used. A Dornier Do-27 was used as a small transport aircraft and later also five Alouette III helicopters for transport tasks. Larger transport aircraft were a Douglas C-47 and three Nord Noratlas and for VIP flights a Caravelle.
A number of Gazelle SA342L helicopters were also flown along, but the main force was formed for years by about 20 Mil MI-17 helicopters. There have been no fighter aircraft in service in the Air Force for years.
The air force is now part of the "Forces Rwandaises de Défense", the name of the entire armed forces. Current types are Cessna Caravans transport aircraft and 5 armed Mil Mi-24 hind helicopters. A dozen Mil MI-17 helicopters of the first 20 remain. A Gulfstream G550 is the VIP jet. The only airbase is near the capital Kigali.
UPDATE NOTE: a few years later I used decal laser printing. Interested in a decal set of this scheme and others? Look at my decal pages here....
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Created this page
November 6, 2021