The Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight is a medium-lift tandem rotor transport helicopter. It is used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) to provide all-weather, day-or-night assault transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment. Additional tasks include combat support, search and rescue (SAR), support for forward refueling and rearming points, CASEVAC and Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP).

The first fleet units of the USN and USMC to begin operating the CH-46 did so in 1964. Today, nearly fifty years later, the type is still in service with the USMC as the CH-46E. All of these extant helos were upgrades of older CH-46A/D/F versions. Their replacement is the V-22 Osprey, which is slowly replacing these aircraft.

These are not complex kits at all. Molded in clear plastic, which seems to be in vogue for aircraft in these smaller scales, the kit consists of fuselage halves, landing gear and rotors. The rotors are available either extended or folded. Other bits are the engine intake area, a spotlight and a rescue winch. As clear plastic tends to be a bit on the brittle side, one should be careful removing parts from the sprue.

Instructions are on the back of the box and indicate the aircraft should be overall Neutral Grey. Well, that belies that the box art shows a darker grey on the upper surfaces. There are four identical parts sprues and so you have four identical decal sheets. Those with the skill will want to change the aircraft numbers just to have some variety. All appear to be for HMM-764 and the markings placement is also on the back of the box.  

So now you have a nice set of CH-46s for whatever you may wish to use them for. I am sure they are offered as additions to those provided in the Bronco USS New York kit, but can be adapted for pretty much any 1/350 ship use.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CH-46E

January 2013

Thanks to www.dragonmodelsusa.com for the preview kit. You can find this kit at your favorite hobby shop or on-line retailer.

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