OK, the 1980s adventure series with the super helicopter was a bit over the top, stretching what a helicopter could do, possibly to the breaking point. Years later though, the TV series has achieved cult status and is fondly remembered for good characterization and some very good flying scenes.
Building Airwolf for me was a sentimental thing. My now adult daughter, loved watching the show with me and not only developed a life long interest in aviation that she still shares with her Dad, but because the lead character played the cello, she took away from the series a life-long interest in classical music. The build is a gift (a bit of a gag gift) for her.
The Aoshima kit is a new kit, that apparently didn't stay on the market very long. Molding, fit and finish are top notch. The kit contains a well detailed cockpit that begs for a cutaway build with some interior lighting. Anyone planning a full build like mine, don't bother. It can't be seen once the fuselage is assembled. It must be assembled though to allow the rest of the kit to fit correctly. Only the main instrument panel and the two front seats can be seen though when finished. I added some masking tape seat belts.
Of course, the Airwolf helicopter was a modified Bell twin engine 222, and the TV series used two of them. One for flying sequences and the other a non-flying one for studio shots and interiors. There are several interesting web sites with detailed photos and articles about the modifications and the hoops the studio had to jump through getting waivers from the FAA to fly the tricked out bird.
My build is OOB. The parts are molded in black, white, gray, clear and there's a chromed sprue. When assembled, the model required priming since black parts needed to be white, and also black, etc.
The fit is excellent, but I had the top mount for the main roter slip during assembly which required more filing and sanding for the fuselage and the cockpit area than would have been needed otherwise. The model requires the cockpit windows to be mounted from the inside, prior to fuselage joing which lead to a few problems when the door windows popped loose during masking.
While Airwolf was fictional, it still was a flying bird which requires some thought approaching even a OOB build. The series originally intended that Airwolf would be more of a disguised civilian helo, a "wolf in sheep's clothing." In fact the patch worn on the actor's flight suits illustrated as much. As the series developed, that point sort of faded into the background, but you still had a glossy two toned painted aircraft. The model was painted with Tamiya Pearl White for the lower half. While many folks believe the upper aircraft is painted black, it isn't. It was painted a Dupont metallic dark grayish green commercial aircraft paint. I decided that using any kind of metallic model car paint might be a problem because a final metallic look wouldn't be to scale.
I did a metallic black undercoat and then over painted it with Tamiya Luftwaffe Gray Green. There's flat black anti-glare on the nose, etc., to show the contrast. Looking a web photos and watching episodes on DVD shows I got it close.
The only change I made was to add a piece of foil to the topside between the grill work. It matches shots of Bell triple deuces and again shots from the series.
My missed fit created a problem with the wind screen frame. I used a bit of foil to cover it too. It works OK. I was afraid to sand in to close to the already mounted windows.
My only two complaints with the kit are the jet exhausts and the clear plastic. The clear plastic, in my kit had some distortion and the exhausts are solid. Once painted and mounted and if one doesn't look to closely, the exhausts are OK, but on a tighter glance, you can see they just stop.
All in all a fun build and researching the helicopter and the series was more fun than I had imagined.
