Looking for a tiny Dolphin

I recently built the Revell kit, it goes together fairly well, athough all the glass is a bit fidly to get lined up right. I made a few changes to fix the most obvious differences which can be done fairly easily if you don't mind a little extra work, mostly just a bit of filling with putty and sheet plastic.

One thing to watch out for is the stripe around the tail boom, the blue & white stripes are reversed so you should apply them as two seperate decals not one as shown in the instructions. 

 

Here is the link to mine with some of the changes I made.

/forums/733887/ShowPost.aspx

 

this one might help too

/forums/717291/ShowPost.aspx

 

You're welcome Senojrn,

To be complete: Phil's assumption was right: the Revell kit is a Matchbox rebox. Only differences are the USCG decals in the Revell kit (the Matchbox kit has decals for a civil McAlpine machine and a French army helo) and the colours of the moulds: Matchbox are pale blue and grey, Revell moulds are red.

Apart from the exaggarated panel lines as ajlafleche already mentioned, imho the kit goes together well.

 

Good Luck!

Gertjan

Thanks for all the input! 

senojrn wrote:

Any suggestions on which kit (Revell or Matchbox) is "better"?  Anybody know of any problems with fit or otherwise on these kits?

As Revell has reissued quite a number of old Matchbox kits, I suspect (but can't guarantee) that the two kits are one and the same.

I built the Matchbox in the late 80's as a Coast Guard helo. No one who saw it commented that it was wrong. So if you're looking for Close-enough-for-cntract-work, satisfying the casual observer, you can get buy. I don't recall any real problems with it, but it probably suffers from the usual Matchbox Grand Canyon panel lines.

GeejeeZ,

Thanks for the input...I am really just looking for just a simple, easy-to-build, "close enough" representation to HH-65A in 1/72.  I am building a HH-3F Pelican, a HH-60J Jayhawk and a C-130H Hercules all in Coast Guard livery, so I need a Dolphin to complete the 1/72 set.  These are my "relaxing" builds, so I'm not doing any interior detailing (just blacking out the windows), exterior is all I am thinking about on these. 

I think I may try one of these kits and if I feel like dressing it up, I may try to fix the fenestron. 

Any suggestions on which kit (Revell or Matchbox) is "better"?  Anybody know of any problems with fit or otherwise on these kits?

Thanks again!

Hi Senojrn,

Don't want to spoil your day, but be aware that although the Revell kit has the USCG decals, the model is of a AS365N Dauphin, that is different from the 366 the USCG uses: it has a different shaped engine housing and a smaller fenestron (fan in fin) than the USCG machine. The kit doesn't come with a hoist and has no cabin interior.

It depends if you're a "rivet counter": although the basic outlines of the Matchbox/ Revell kit resemble a USCG machine, it actually is a different helicopter. A hoist can be scratch built ofcourse but rebuilding the tail might be a tough job...

Same goes for the 1:48 Trumpeter AS365N (!) kit... This one however, does have a hoist included. 

 

HTH, good luck!

Gertjan