LF Models Scout AH.1 1:72 – build review

Full Review with Geoff Coughlin
See Geoff’s Photo Reference images in the Library

A bit of background

I have always loved the Scout helicopter, mostly because of the spirited displays at airshows back in the day. It just looks ‘right’ to me and although now retired from service, at least one still flies in private hands as an historic tribute to the type, along with the naval version, the Wasp.

The Westland Scout is a light helicopter developed by Westland Helicopters. Developed from the Saro P.531, it served as a land-based general purpose military helicopter, sharing a common ancestor and numerous components with the naval-orientated Westland Wasp helicopter. The type’s primary operator was the Army Air Corps of the British Army, which operated it in several conflict zones including Northern Ireland and the Falklands War. (Source: Wikipedia)

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VIDEO DEMO

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The plan…

The plan is to build this one almost straight from the box – maybe a bit of wiring later on for the engine, but maybe just a few bits and bobs to busy that area up a bit, plus any missing seat belts and aerials etc.

I just love the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) option on the decal sheet, having seen this airframe in the flesh at an airshow.

(Photo: RAF Fairford Royal International Air Tattoo 1985, featuring ETPS and A&AEE units from Boscombe Down. A Scout AH.1 XP849 shown here. Courtesy: Kitmasterbloke)

The LS Models kit…

You may have seen my in-box browse video review when I bought this kit? If so you will see that the parts are nicely detailed, especially for a short-run production kit. There are some small sink marks, plus quite a bit of excess flash that needs to be removed, but what you get does look good at first glance. My aim with this build is to give you a heads up on how it all goes together and offer some tips along the way to help you with your build. This may be useful for this Scout kit as well as their Wasp release as many of the parts for both kits seem to be included in this boxing for a Scout AH.1.

The kit instructions are okay, but it can be hard to find the parts that are numbered in the instruction booklet but not on the sprue.

I think it’s going to be a very good idea to try and make this model in several sub-assemblies and then bring it all together after painting, I’m sure this will make the whole task easier. We’ll see.

The build…