Scale aviation modeller international

A

little history, courtesy of

Wikipedia: “The Piasecki

H-21 Workhorse/Shawnee

is an American helicopter, the

fourth of a line of tandem rotor

helicopters designed and built by

Piasecki Helicopter (later Boeing

Vertol). Commonly called the

“flying banana”, it was a multi-

mission helicopter, utilizing

wheels, skis, or floats. The

H-21 was originally developed

by Piasecki as an Arctic rescue

helicopter and had winterization

features permitting operation

at temperatures as low as

−65 °F (−54 °C), and could be

routinely maintained in severe

cold weather environments.”

There’s a lot more out there...

I have to admit that I was quite

excited to be asked to build this

kit; I suspect I am one of the few

people who has actually seen one

of these aircraft in the metal,

as they have one at the Ailes

Anciennes collection in Toulouse.

But let’s start with what’s in the

box. There are four sprues of a lightish

grey plastic; one clear sprue; a small

etched sheet with grilles, seatbelts,

and the like; and a nice looking,

glossy decal sheet printed in Italy

by a company new to me, Zanchetti

Buccinasco. The main plastic parts

have fairly restrained engraved

detail, but the plastic has a texture

to the surface that would benefit

from a little attention, especially if

you’re doing a gloss silver finish.

The 16 page A4 instruction

booklet looks at first glance to be

nicely done, using CAD renderings

to illustrate construction, and four-

view, full-colour profiles for the

three schemes provided, which are

an overall green US Army example

used in Vietnam in 1963, a colourful

silver/red/yellow USAF rescue

aircraft from 1960, and an overall

blue French navy bird from Algeria

in 1956. Given the one in Toulouse

I was already leaning towards the

French markings, especially as

the kit markings appear to be for

that particular aircraft (D/16).

BANANA

French

Building Italeri’s

H-21C Shawnee

“Flying Banana”

by Peter Marshall

22 • JUNE 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

BY SACCO DE VRIES

H-21C SHAWNEE

BY PETER MARSHALL

1/48

022-27-FEAT-Banana-0618.indd 22 11/05/2018 15:50