Italeri’s 1/72 H-21C
Shawnee
"Flying Banana"

By Norm Filer

History

Frank Piasecki, typical of the early aviation pioneers, was a young man with a dream. He built his first helicopter in 1945. It was successful enough to attract venture capitol from the likes of Laurence Rockefeller and Felix DuPont, and thus Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was founded. Its main products were first the HUP-1 and later the H-21 tandem rotor helicopters.

As is so common in industry, many of these men were brilliant designers but perhaps not experienced businessmen, for sure not capable of swimming with the Rockefellers and DuPonts. In 1956, founder Piasecki lost his company when the money interests brought in another manager. When Piasecki departed the company was renamed the Vertol Aircraft Co.

Vertol became a division of the Boeing in 1960. It is still building helicopters today with Frank Piasecki’s tandem rotor concepts. The H-21 probably the reason Vertol is around today, as it was their first really successful product, delivering in excess of 500 to the U. S. Army, Air Force and several foreign countries.

The Kit (click on thumbnails for larger image)

Italeri has slowly but surely carved out a spot as the primary source of great helicopter kits. This latest effort does nothing but enhance that image.

Parts breakdown is pretty standard- left and right fuselage sides, and a very nice clear nose. The interior of a cargo hauling airplane is perhaps a bit more important than the interior of some models as it is so visible. Italeri has done a really fine job on the interior. The rear bulkhead even includes the "shower curtain" that separates the cargo hold from the engine compartment. The canvas litter type bench seats are also included, as is the forward bulkhead and shelf area between the cockpit and cargo area. The front office is equally complete. I suspect the controls are a bit oversize, but make it appear impressively busy. My only complaint on the interior was the lack of a ceiling. Getting everything trapped between the sides is a bit of a challenge, but once in place it all fits well.

As with many helicopters, the H-21 has some substantial external screened areas for cooling. In the past this has been simulated with a screen pattern but really has not been very convincing. Italeri has solved the problem in simple but neat fashion. They included a small piece of plastic screening. They give you a pattern on the instructions (a simple rectangle) and that’s it! To really complete the replication, they give you some structure and a drive shaft to go under the screening. Now you can really see what is supposed to be there.

Parts are provided for two early H-21A/Bs and one H-21C. The difference is mostly in the landing gear and alternate vertical tails. The later H-21s had a provision for an external fuel tank on the fuselage side just in front of the rear door. Due to its very short range, this tank was usually on the bird at all times.

Unfortunately, Italeri did not provide this tank. Another minor point is the instructions would have you clamp the cargo hook over the rear entry step. Probably a convenient place to hang it on the museum sample they may have used as a pattern, but not the normal practice.

The only real fit problems I had were with the one-piece front cockpit glass. The fit is somewhat complex and it just does not want to slide down enough to fit snugly on the sides. My suggestion is to study it a while before starting to "adjust" it. I finally managed an acceptable fit, but it is a bit of a puzzle. The other problem also concerns this clear part. When the nose part is finally in place, the fairings over the sliding side window tracks of the fuselage sides don’t line up with the matching windows. Unfortunately the problem is with the clear parts. The side window frames should be parallel with the cockpit floor. Fixing this would require removing the upper and lower frames from the clear nose and re-polishing, masking and painting new frames.

Markings are provided for three versions: a blue French bird, an OD German one and an early Vietnam era two tone green and tan bird. While all three are interesting, none are very colorful. With so many colorful U.S. Air Force and foreign H-21s, and even a couple of Airline versions, this thing really needs someone to do a good after market decal sheet.

Conclusion

Italeri has done an outstanding job of late on several helicopter kits. Each seems to provide better versions of existing kits, or whole new models. This one makes the Hobbycraft kit into a throw away. The neat screening concept makes the possible release of things like an H-19 something to really look forward to.