CH-47 Chinook

Aurora made a hook in 1/48th but the kit's discontinued, occassionally you can come arcoss them on ebay or a few websites (sorry I can't be more specific). Panda is supposed to come out with a 1/35 scale hook sometime between Sept. and Dec. of this year but don't hold your breath, the kit's release date has been pushed back since May and we can't get Panda to reply to our emails.

FSM (latest edition) advertises a multi-media kit of the CH-47A/B. Here's the link they gave in the ad.

http://swiftsite.com/Rosemonthobby/robch47.htm

I've come across this vacu-formed model a couple time during my travels around the net. It appears all this guy did was vacu-form and cast resin parts off of the old Aurora kit and repackaged them. Just just by looking at the parts, they are exactly the same as Aurora's. $60 bucks isn't a bad price really, considering i paid $110 for my Aurora kit on E-Bay.

May be your only choice for now if you are anxious to get started. Either that or wait for Panda's release (which may never come).

As far as tail-numbers are concerned, try here:
http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/history/history.html

Appreciate the input. I'm leery of vacs. Several years ago I did up a couple and probably since I was new to that genre, they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. In 1/48th I can envision that the fuselage for the Chinook would be pretty flimsy and the bulkheads would probably have to be strengthened. Anyone have any thoughts on that? If my math, and the calculator, are working right, at 1/48th the CH-47, with rotors, would come in at around 24" long. Does that sound close, Hooker06?

If you are measuring rotor-tip to rotor-tip, then that sounds right. I believe the fuselage itself is around 11-12 inches long. Don't have the A/C in front of me at the moment (currently at work), but it may be a bit closer to 20 inches.

Not sure what guage styrene they used for the fuselage halves, but i can't imagine something that big being anything less than .020 or .025. So strength may not be an issue. If all else fails, you can contact them just to be sure.

I certainly appreciate all the input. Just may give the vac a go as soon as I get a couple of other projects off the bench.
Thanks again.
Dick McC