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George Schembri
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1/72 Bell AH-1S Cobra Hasegawa 00535

August 3, 2022 · in Aviation · · 12 · 1.3K

Thanks to the Helicopter Group Build, I found and bought this kit which I might have looked over otherwise. The last chopper kit I built must have been Revell's H173 Sikorsky H-19 Rescue kit way back when, so being part of the group build was great motivation to give a whirlybird another try.

This Bell AH-1S kit from Hasegawa (#00535) looked really nice and didn't seem too difficult. The most frustrating part of the build was having to fix the landing skids multiple times as I kept using them to handle the model – took me a while to figure out that I'd NEVER pick up or hold an aircraft by its landing gear, so why was I doing it with a helicopter?

Also had a minor setback as I couldn't figure out with the decals were melting away the paint and gloss coat, but then I figured out that I forgot that I coated the decals with Decal Film and didn't trim any the excess.

Thanks for the Group Build gents. I'm also glad I no longer have the image of Arnold in the back of my head yelling, ‘GET TO THE CHOPPA!”

Reader reactions:
6  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


12 responses

  1. A wonderful result, George! Love it!

  2. Great looking Cobra!

  3. Beautiful Cobra, George @georgeswork
    One of my favorite helicopters.
    Well done.

  4. This was a quick build, George (@georgeswork). Well done on building a fierce-looking machine. The reason you keep using the skids as handles is because they do look like handles. I have done the same thing many times with the same results.

  5. Nice work, George. That’s a great looking kit. I never knew Hasegawa did it.

  6. Very good work! Nice Cobra!

  7. Nice, well built and intimidating helicopter George.
    I have not built a chopper in 40 years. Never too late..

  8. Spiros (@fiveten), Robert (@roofrat), John (@johnb), George (@gblair)

    2nd John (@j-healy), Lis (@lis), Bernard (@bernardbedeur)

    Thanks for the comments gentlemen, glad you all like the Cobra. But I gotta say, I am glad I tried this chopper but I think it'll be a while before I try another. Fixed winged seems to have my fancy.

    Participating in a the GB is a great way to focus on a kit which may have been overlooked.

    Cheers

  9. Nicely done George, looks good, I've built two Cobras so far with a few more to do.

    • Thanks Allan (@kalamazoo),
      It'd be great to see one (or both) of your Cobras. You work wonders with your choppers.

      • Thanks George, I posted my Super Cobra in April 2017, my AH 1G is in the Fangs GB from early 2020, here's a couple of pic's

        2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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