Bell HSL-1

Anigrand Craftswork, based in Hong Kong, is a prolific producer of resin kits of aircraft that were not manufactured in quantity (or even built at all) for whatever reason. They have been releasing a new one almost every month for a few years. Although requiring somewhat different construction techniques and skills than injection molded kits, good resin kits like Anigrand's can be built into excellent display models. Note: the use of a tight-fitting mask is a must when resin dust is being produced, as it can cause pulmonary problems or worse.

Their HSL kit, #2043, was developed from the technical material and photographs contained in Bell HSL monograph to be published by Steve Ginter. It is accurate in outline and size with detailed cockpit, pylons, rotor and landing gear. A vacuformed cockpit enclosure is provided along with decals for the basic markings. The model that results is actually in the production configuration, lacking only the rescue hoist and the torpedo racks. The BuNo provided on the decal sheet, 129182, is not correct for the type and the “X” on the aircraft designation above it should be removed.

The fit of the parts is very good in general, particularly the interface of the fuselage with the two-part R2800 engine installation, the canopy, and the pylons. The parts quality is not matched by the instructions, however, which consist solely of an exploded parts diagram. Some parts are provided but not shown – the flap under the nose and one of the fin attachment struts on each side – and the orientation of the fin struts is incorrect. The cabin components will not be correctly located using the raised outlines on the floor. Basically, the sonar reel is centered on the doorway and located in the middle of the fuselage, with the operator’s seat on the left side of the fuselage by the cabin window. His control panel is in front of him on the left side of the sonar housing.

Care must be used to distinguish the parts from the casting stubs, not damage the parts when removing the stubs, and correctly determine which part goes where. The landing gear is particularly tricky, since the landing gears are handed, i.e. there’s a left and a right, the fore and aft strut on each landing gear don’t fit well, and the struts running directly inboard from each landing gear are not shown nor provided. What’s worse, the landing gear struts themselves are about 1/8 inch too long, which would be very notable if left that way. The tail fin attachment is relatively straightforward by comparison and the parts fit is good, once you figure out which part goes where and clean each up.

Some omissions that are readily rectified if desired are the sonar well, the control closets  behind the pilot and copilot, and the aft bulkhead in the cabin. The latter is shown in the exploded diagram but is not in fact present. Also not provided are small details like the cockpit controls other than the cyclic sticks, the nose pitot, the swashplates and control rods on each rotor, the tail skid, etc. Surprisingly, very nice mounts/dampers are provided on the left side of the rear pylon but not on the right; no mounts or dampers are provided for either side of the forward transmission and they are fairly prominent. Other errors are the depth and height of the instrument panel and the shape of the center console that supports it, air inlets on the right side of the forward pylon fairing rather than an exhaust fairing, and the lack of scoops over the carburetor air inlets above the main landing gear attach point.

On production aircraft, the fuselage inboard of the main landing gear was also open like the engine compartment but is closed on the kit. Not only would this be somewhat difficult to correct, then you’d have to provide the detail of the R2800’s accessory section that was located in this area.

The painting and color directions are basically correct except the “silver” parts are closer to “aluminum” in color and the tops of the blades should be light gull gray. One blade tip on each rotor was colored red for two inches and the other white; for the next six inches, the blade was painted yellow.

Not withstanding the omissions and errors identified above, this is an excellent kit of a little-known helicopter that just missed providing the Navy with a true all-weather dipping sonar ASW capability decades earlier than the SH-60. Steve Ginter is publishing an HSL monograph in the near future which provides all the requisite information to correct the omissions and errors and add as much detail as you can and want to