1/72 ExtraTech Sikorsky VS-300

Gallery Article by Santiago Duarte on Nov 20 2013

 

 

This is the Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter, made by ExtraTech in a very rare 1:72 scale, this is a resin kit with a plenty of so tiny photoetched parts, that was a nightmare to cut & manipulated them. Anyway, it is delightful to see it finished, because as a helicopter fan, I know that the U.S. Sikorsky V300 became the first successful helicopter and had a very important role in the development of all further VTOL machines.

 

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Mr. Igor Sikorsky made himself, the first free flight on this machine on 13 May 1940, by July he was making useful 15 minutes of free flights, and on 6 May 1941 the further revised craft, now called officially called VS-300A, beat the helicopter endurance record by staying aloft for 1 hour 32 minutes 26.1 seconds. By this time the cyclic pitch had been perfected and made operative, and the "A" was added to its formal designation when Mr. Sikorsky felt he had reached a suitable configuration. In all, there were 18 visibly different configurations of this machine; at one time, in mid 1940, it had no nose wheel, but only a curved skid under each end. In April, Mr. Igor Sikorsky fitted two large rubber fabric floatation bags (the model version I choose) and carried out a successful flights from water environments. Another change was a further increase in power, the 90hp Franklin engine being exchanged for a flat six of the same make and rated at 150hp. Mr. Sikorsky continued to improve this historic machine throughout the 1942, and the following year it was placed on view in the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn, Michigan, where it remained and where I could capture some reference images for my project.

Enjoy the photos.

Santiago Duarte

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Photos and text © by Santiago Duarte