Czech Master Resin 1/72 Sikorsky R-6A

By Jim Schubert

History

Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky was one of those rare, truly brilliant, foresighted, people that nature produces all too rarely. He was born into a comfortable bourgeois academic family in Czarist Russia in 1889. In his pre-teen years he was heavily influenced by the writings of Jules Verne, which turned him toward aviation. His family's station in life afforded him an education in the Imperial Russian Naval Academy in St. Petersburg, in Paris and finally in the Polytechnic Institute of Kiev. From the conclusion of his formal education he had three quite distinct careers. The first was in Russia where he designed 27 different airplanes. This first career ended with the November revolution of 1917 motivating him to emigrate to France in February of 1918. In France he designed only one airplane, a large four engine bomber for the French Air Force. The contract for this airplane was canceled with the end of the war in November. His second career started with his emigration to the United States in March of 1919 and culminated in 1942 with the VS-44A flying boat. Nowadays, however, Sikorsky is best known for his third career in which he tamed the helicopter and became the first to mass produce practical rotary winged aircraft.

His VS-300 helicopter first flew September 14, 1939. Intense development of this design led to the first production helicopter, the Sikorsky R-4 (Navy: HNS-1). Production started May 30, 1942. The R-4's successors the R-5 and R-6 were developed in parallel; the R-6 being essentially a refined R-4, while the R-5 was a truly new type - larger and with significantly more power. The R-5 in its HO3S form is the machine flown by Mickey Rooney in the movie The Bridges Of Toko-Ri.

In house the R-6 was Sikorsky's type S-49. The XR-6 first flew October 15, 1943. Sikorsky only produced one XR-6 and five upgraded XR-6A's before licensing production to Nash-Kelvinator, which then built 193 R-6A's for the U. S. Army. The Army transferred three XR-6A's and 39 R-6A's to the U. S. Navy as HOS and HOS-1's respectively . These were used by the Navy and the Coast Guard. The Royal Army operated the R-6A as the Hoverfly II but I have been unable to determine how many they received and whether these were new builds or were drawn from U. S. Army and Navy inventories. So far, I have also been unable to find any information on the HOS-1's Navy and Coast Guard operations.

The R-6A was the first US helicopter to see combat, starting observation and rescue operations in May of 1944 in China and later in the Philippines.

At least one R-6A, s/n 45473, survives; it is in the United States Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker, Alabama and was used as a reference by CMR in designing this kit.

The Kit

As usual with CMR, this kit comes in a plastic bag with a color profile by our publisher, Chris Banyai-Riepl to illustrate the contents.

Five A-4 size sheets, printed on both sides, present 30 "walk-around" style photos of the Fort Rucker specimen, colors and markings for 11 U. S. Army and five Royal Army machines. Three of these last are "Pink Elephant Circus" machines as demonstrated at the 1950 Farnborough Air Show with big elephant ears, trunk and shocking pink trim. This paperwork package also includes one very well done exploded illustration showing the assembly of the model. Two well printed, in perfect register, decal sheets provide the markings for all 16 (!) of the options set out in the instructions.

All of the colors and markings schemes, except the pink elephants, have standard US WWII Olive Drab over Neutral Gray and are pretty dull. I wouldn't even dream of doing a pink elephant - they're much too undignified for my taste. I suspect the Navy and Coast Guard also used the same OD/Gray on their HOS-1's even though the Navy's paint standard for the time called for helicopters to be Sea Blue Gloss overall. Chris thinks he has seen a photo of a Coast Guard bird in overall silver. Can any reader help with information on other color schemes - especially for the Navy and Coast Guard? (Not thinks, knows. Check this link for photos of Coast Guard HOS-1s, including a photo in color. Ed.)

There are 30 well cast resin parts, with no bubbles or warpage, making up the bulk of the model along with two sets of the four clear parts required for the extensive glazing typical of a helicopter. I am especially impressed by the level of detail provided in the, all too visible, cockpit. There is some really nice detail here.

The only significant enhancement one could add would be to cut out the extensive areas of engine cooling air intake and outlet on either side of the fuselage and replace them with fine wire mesh. For a "Collection Model" it will suffice to wash thinned black into these areas after painting but if you're building a contest winner, you'd better go for the mesh.

Conclusion

A beautifully executed kit of a fairly obscure aircraft. Kudos, once again, to CMR for their choice of subjects.

References

The Aviation Careers Of Igor Sikorsky: D. Chochrane, V. Hardesty & R. Lee, University of Washington Press for the NASM, Seattle, 1989, ISBN 0-295-96916-4. NB - This book is a very good read and will give you a genuine appreciation of the fascinating and diverse life led by Igor Sikorsky.
United States Military Aircraft Since 1909: Gordon Swanborough & Peter M. Bowers, Putnam/Conway, London, 1989, ISBN 087474-880-1.
United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911: Gordon Swanbourough & Peter M. Bowers, Funk & Wagnalls, New York, 1968, Library of Congress #68-21647.