Background 

The Bell 47 entered service with the Royal Malaysian Air Force in the sixties. Its main role was to train pilots destine to be operational helicopter pilots with the RMAF. It secondary roles ranged from being a scout to a utility copter. It stayed in active service with the RMAF until the eighties when it was faced out from active military service. Few Bells were given to the aviation branch of the “Rakan Muda” program. This is a social program developed by the government of Malaysia to instill interest in the youths of the country in flying and the aviation industry in general.

The Kit

This is the 1/48 offering by Italeri. The kit is quite good in my opinion as it has a lot of detail in the engine, cockpit and exterior areas to make a decent looking chopper. Construction is fairly straight forward and easy to understand. The only gripe I had with this kit is that the skids seem to be too thin to represent the chopper well in 48 scale. Other then that it was easy and a joy to put together. 

I usually build my kits strictly OOB and this was no different. The only exception was the decals which were taken from the Italeri F-5E 1/72 & the FREMS MB339 kits. I finished the kit in Revell colors and made it look dirty with water color washes and some paint chipping here and there.

Overall an easy and trouble free build with above average fit and detail. 

Final note: 

The chopper represented in this model belongs to 2 FTS or 2 Flying Training School RMAF Station Kuala Lumpur in the seventies. This unit was later transferred to Kluang Johor Malaysia where it remains today.  

Thank You, 

Mr B (Brian)