Legato 1/72 Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne

LEGATO 1:72 LOCKHEED AH-56 CHEYENNE
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Dana McGee (rec.models.scale)

Kit: Legato AH-56 Cheyenne #72066

Price: 32.65 from Squadron Hobby (review Apr 05)

Rating: Good

Aircraft: The Lockheed AH-56A was designed to meet the U.S. Army's requirement for the Advance Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS). Lockheed rolled-out the first prototype on May 3, 1967. The rigid-rotor Cheyenne, with a crew of two, featured a XM112 swiveling gunner's station linked to rotating belly and nose turrets, and a laser range-finder tied to a fire control computer. It was armed with an XM52 30mm automatic gun in the belly turret and a XM51 40mm grenade launcher or an XM53 7.62mm Gatling machine gun in the chin-turret, TOW's, and XM200 rocket launchers. Ten prototypes were completed before the program was terminated August 9, 1972 due to delayed development, rising costs, and the appearance of two competitive company-funded initiatives by Sikorsky and Bell. The Army wanted a smaller, more agile Advanced Attack Helicopter (AAH) with a less complicated fire control and navigation system. The helicopter's mission would eventually be assumed by the Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) AH-64 Series Apache attack helicopter. The Cheyenne had a single rigid four-bladed main rotor and anti-torque tail rotor, and a three-bladed pusher. The Cheyenne was powered by one General Electric T64-GE-16 3435 shp turbine engine. The AH-56A had a speed of 246 mph (214 knots).

Parts: 5 Bags of Resin parts, 1 large sheet of heavy gauge PE a single vacuformed canopy in separate bag and a small but complete decal sheet.

Instructions: Single folded hand drawn sheet with diagram of parts, building page and color chart all in Czechoslovakian. This is the biggest drawback to this kit. Look for other references prior to building.

Versions: 4 Color options

Decals: One small sheet, covering the option listed. They appear to be of excellent register and very clear.

Accuracy: Looks like a Cheyenne, though there are a few major issues. (See below)

Detail: Surface detail is recessed and a bit soft, all the panels are clearly outlined though where the fuselage halves meet they have a rolled edge which will create a seam needing filler.

Options: 5 Paint schemes are provided for, though it only comes with the short span wings, so not all can be built.

Impressions: This looks like it will build up into a very nice model, but definitely not for the beginner. Everything needed to build it is there, though the main and tail rotor are made up of photo etch and resin and will be tricky to get done right. Parts are present for some nice detail touches, such as 2 crew ladders each made up of 5 PE parts. (and these are small) Many of the parts are extremely fine and will need great care to remove from the mold sheet. But the overall impression is with care this will build up into a very detailed and accurate model. The interior is very nice, but will need extra detail to bring it out.

Other Comments: Look through the pics to see what you get. I can recommend this kit only to experienced modelers, who have built short run and resin kits before. Right Now this is the only kit of this unique helicopter as the Aurora kit is very hard to find and more expensive.

Addendum: Was just going to do this as an inbox review but decided to start building. There are a number of discrepancies. The Intakes are completely wrong in shape, causing the whole upper engine housing to be wrong also. This would take major surgery to fix. The fuselage halves do not fit together that well, I started with the top lining up the halves added spots of super glue until it was complete, then the bottom rear and nose. This gives you a slightly twisted fuselage, with a seam that’s mismatched by 1/8 inch. I then added 7 “C” clamps from top to bottom and along the sides. This brought the belly together and corrected the twist giving a nicely aligned structure, needing considerable putty to fill in, as the fuselage edges have a nice roll to them. The sponsons don’t fit very well and both have different shapes. Fitting them to the fuselage is a bit of work and allot of filling and sanding, especially since they sit so close to major detail areas. These are an intake and an exhaust housing, the problem with these is after checking with pics of the real one they appear to reversed as to which side of the fuselage they belong. A test fit of the canopy (after removal from it base) shows it to fit nicely, but its too flat at the back angle, this is the way its molded and will need to have new rear windows made. The window slide tracks molded into the fuselage are also way oversize. These will need to be removed and new smaller ones made. The upper pic shows the exhaust sugar scoop in place, the version I am building that has this will also need new long span wings. The fit of this part is very bad and needs considerable work to fit. Also the putty you see along the right engine cowling is caused by a mismatch of the two sides of the fuselage. The right side is molded lower than the left.

Will add a complete build review when done.

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