AIRFIX 1:72 WESTLAND SCOUT

Reviewer: Myself  (braithy@bigpond.com)

This nifty little compact five/six seat helicopter was the British Army's chief helicopter before being replaced by the larger Westland Lynx.  Originally a Saunders-Roe design, the Scout first flew in July 1958, followed by an improved powered version a year later, and the helicopter entered service with the British army in 1963.   The Scouts have seen extensive duty over Northern Ireland on anti-terrorists duties and have been used by the Army Air Corps for a variety of uses, almost everything other than heavy lifting.  Westland AH.1 Scouts also played a role in the Falklands war, being used as a counter-insurgency supporting weapon and airlifting patrols/casualties.  It's primary role is to be a TOW anti-tank combat helicopter, the role which has now been replaced by the Army Lynx.  The Scout also has a sister, the Westland Wasp which is used for maritime duties.  The most distinctive differences other than torpedoes attached are wheels on the Wasp instead of landing skids, the engine and the omission of a rear stabiliser under the tail rotor.  Five countries used the Westland Scout for military use being the UK, Australia, Bahrain, Jordan and Uganda.

The Airfix is quite an old mold and contained bits that would most likely make a completed Wasp version if one chose to, however, I could only see the wheels added and there is a little bit of difference between the two.  In any event, I was constructing the Scout version, which is subject to this review.  The kit comes in a small box, about the same size as the Boomerang and other small aircraft and you can see why when you open it up.  There aren't many parts to this kit and it looks pretty simple.  The parts put you off a bit, they are molded in a dark green injected plastic and are up to the quality one would expect of late 70's Airfix kits.  Raised panel lines with a reasonable amount of detail.

The cockpit is quite disappointing when you start to assemble the kit, you are given two pilot figures to put on seats attached to a base, with a centreline instrument panel.  There are no other added details to speak of such as side panels or rear cabin seats.  This is further made annoying by the fact that the interior is easily visible through the top canopy on the completed model.

Construction is extremely fiddly and quite difficult.  The helicopter stands at only 5" in length (excluding rotor area), 2" in height (including rotor strut) and less than 2" in width (excluding rotor area), which makes for a very small model.  There is nothing wrong with this as such, because the size is accurate but it makes it hard to construct small components like struts and landing skids.   Unfortunately Airfix has not made your job any easier.  The engine comes in a few parts and the landing skids have to be totally assembled with all the components being separate.

The fits of most parts are terrible, in particular the helicopter's 'back' where the engine sits behind the cockpit and the one-piece canopy unit (which includes front and side floor windows, windscreen, rooftop and rear corner windows).   Nevertheless with a lot of patience, a bit of attention and a good swab of putty on hand you can fix it so it looks quite presentable.  Curiously all the other larger parts presented no real problems at all.  Attention needs to be taken with the rear stabiliser as it is only glued at one point in the centre, underneath the boom and needs quite a bit of care to get it sitting correctly - if you can fix up something to keep it steady, then it will make drying a little less tension inducing.  The engine constructs quite nicely to sit on the helicopters back, behind the cockpit, but I would recommend painting both the body and engine before attaching to avoid any nervous breakdown getting it done afterward.  There was quite a bit of flash encumbering the engine pieces which required sanding back before commencing assembly.

Both the main and tail rotors sit on spikes - one pointing up and the other pointing out - and in particular for the main rotor it makes it quite attractive and moveable, abling one to spin it around at high speed - great for the kids!  The downside of this is that both the mounts are therefore blatently inaccurate (you don't have rotors sitting on spikes!), not to mention them easily coming off and disappearing somewhere in the expansive void of a similarly coloured carpet, only to be stepped on when you think it's landed somewhere else.  But it does add another dimension to the attractive little model.  These are the only two moveable parts on the model - no doors or windows, for instance, can be left open (not that you would want to given the lack of detail in the cockpit area).  I have a few flying shots of 'doorless' Scouts and this would have made for an attractive in-flight alternative with troops peering out but it wasn't to be.  The detail revealing the doors are barely visible on the kit's surface anyhow.

Because of all the frustrating corrections and fit problems associated with this model it took some time to complete, but was very attractive once finished.   You're given a couple of options for different aircraft and I chose a Royal Army Air Corps chopper XP890 which is in real life an AH.1 variant.  Both the model itself and my reference photo of this actual aircraft lack the pylons and roof sight for missiles that an actual AH.1 would have.  Of course, the real life example would have had these fitted later as the shot was taken in about 1978!

Overall, accuracy can only be awarded an average at best.  While the helicopter is quite clearly a Scout, a number of small imperfections make it an undesirable kit for those who like exact replications of the real thing.  The engine is mounted too high on its back in proportion to it's size and compared with reference photos.  A number of small details (like door handles, fairings and panel lines) are omitted - not to mention the rotor mounts and inadequate cockpit area as touched on above.  You would have to say that this kit is really one for the kids and those just learning to make models, except the fit problems I encountered are only suited to at least those of intermediate modelling skills!  You will have to make your own mind up on this one, I'd personally look elsewhere for a better replication of this attractive little helicopter and given that Airfix obviously use the same mold for their Wasp you wouldn't expect much better in that offering either. 

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This is XP890's sister - XP897 (I know because I have this photo in a book and found it on the Net)
As such it's basically the exact example the kit is replicating (save for serial number)
It's a Westland Scout AH.1 with a new paint job and minus the pylons and roof sight for missiles

These are some more detailed views of the Scout (top three)
The bottom example is a side on view of the Westland Wasp, Navy version of the Scout