Revell 1/48 PAH-1/Bo.105

The Bo 105A made its maiden flight on the 16th February 1967 at  Ottobrunn in Germany with Messerschmitt-Bolkow and Blohm pilot, Wilfried von Engelhardt, at the controls. The German Civil Authority certified the helicopter on 13 October 1970 and production for German civil and law enforcement organizations began shortly afterwards. Further safety certification by the FAA was granted in April 1972 with United States export orders following.

The Bo 105C was developed in 1972 and the German Ministry of Defence selected this model for its light observation helicopter program, purchasing 100 helicopters in 1977. A specialist anti-tank version armed with Euromissile-HOT missiles and designated as the Bo 105PAH-1 was procured by the German Armyaround the same time, with a total of 212 eventually being delivered.

In 1976, the Bo 105CB was developed with more powerful Allison 250-C20B engines. This was further developed as the Bo 105CBS with the enlargement of the fuselage by 10 inches to meet American market demands for emergency medical service operations, with this version becoming known as the Bo 105 Twin Jet in the United States.

In 1984, the Bo 105LS was developed with the enlarged fuselage of the Bo 105CBS combined with more powerful Allison 250-C28C engines to increase the maximum take-off weight.

Production ended in 2001, due to the Bo 105 being superseded by the more modern Eurocopter EC-135 after 1,406 machines had been built. The last BO105-LS was delivered in 2009 to Dam Helicopters Inc of Nelson BC Canada.

Being the first light twin-engined helicopter in commercial service, it gained widespread use over rural areas (policeand ESM / Medevac) as well as offshore.

The four-blade hingeless main rotor,a worldwide first, with composite blades ensures high maneuverability. A Bo 105CBS used for promotional purposes by Red Bull USA is fully aerobatic, performing loops, rolls, Immelmmans and other maneuvers normally regarded as for fixed-wing aircraft only. All main systems (hydraulics, electric, fuel, lubrication) were designed to be fully redundant. 

This is another Revell kit arriving in the usual blue box with all contents in dark green plastic and its sprues sealed in bags. Either of the two versions of the Bo-105 can be built from the kit, a PAH1 belonging to the ‘Round-up-Team ‘ and hence carries a set of six rockets/grenade launchers, or a Bo-105 VBH of “Fly Out 1994” in very colourful markings when the unit disbanded in Bavaria. The clear parts come in a separate bag. There is hardly any flash and the surface detail of the parts is very neatly done.

 The kit contains four frets of sprues with 100 parts to produce an interesting anti-tank helicopter well known in service for its maneuverability. Two separate pages of instruction booklet depict five view drawing for each version with camouflage pattern shown on all places and decal emplacement clearly indicated in numerical form making it easy to locate all the tiny details in decal form that go on the kit. In common with other Revell models there is colour code Revell style with no FS or cross-reference to other paint schemes.

The construction was carried out by simply following the instruction sheet, which depicts part item, and position where it goes. The first area to be assembled is the cockpit station with two seats forward and a combined 3-seat bench at the rear. Seat straps on front seat are moulded on and these are embossed in such a way to make them easy to paint on. The areas for placement of instrument panel decals are also indicated. There is lack of detail to areas as cabin interior walls or interior of doors. The rest of the fuselage all seems to fit well and there was only a small area on the roof and another area under the fuselage that required filling with a small quantity of putty followed by smooth sanding.

The main propeller hub assembly is quite well represented at this scale and one may decide at some stage if the propeller has to remain rigid or is left free to rotate. The box art is quite useful for reference in adding further detail. Among such possible detail is a brightly coloured fire extinguisher positioned in the foot well area of the starboard front seat, and transmission cables which connect from a rectangular pylon to the back of the instrument panel. Another very pronounced detail, which is missing in the kit, is a 1.5mm diameter strut that connects the HOT missile launch tube pylon to the fuselage on both sides. A small rectangular guard plate also needs to be added  to the starboard side of the upper fuselage close to the exhaust duct. It is apparent that the pictures on the side of the box which illustrate the finished model are of another version of the helicopter, where the cable detail was covered with a front panel and are therefore are of little use as reference for the kit inside.

There is an aft bulkhead that separated the front crew compartment from the engine compartment. The fuselage all fits together well and there was only a small area on the roof and another under the fuselage that required filling with a small quantity of putty. The undercarriage skids are of reasonable scale dimensions, so care needs to be taken when parting these from the runner to preserve their smooth continuous edges. Care is also needed to ensure that these dry with the correct angle and alignment when glued into place. In addition, the engine assembly contains control links, which are close to the rotor head, and care is needed not to break any of these. Turning to the cockpit glazing, the clear parts come in a separate bag. They are well moulded and very clear, with fine rivet detail on their framework in a style typical of Revell. They are all thin in section and showcase any additional work that that the modeler puts into the interior of the cockpit. The transparent pieces fit well with no effort whatsoever. With all the major parts in place, I noticed that no ballast weight would be needed in the forward fuselage area since the skids are long enough to hold the model level.

The Bo-105 is finished in a wrap round camouflage of dark grey and dark olive green which seemed to suite the kit very well. The decals included standard markings or highly attractive colourful markings, complete with a full set of coloured HOT missile tubes. The tubes mounted on pylons on each side of the fuselage carry three different colours and when assembled on their launchers add a real nationalistic flair to the Bo-105. The tubes come complete with a full set of minute decals.

The kit builds into a fine replica of the Bo-105 and it is certainly recommended to the 1/48-scale modelers particularly keen on Helicopters and VTOL aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org

Carmel J. Attard

July 2009

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