ANOTHER LOOK AT THE WASP HELICOPTER

As I’ve been posting photos of my W.A.S.P. Arrowhead fighter, and the Spearhead Bomber, I thought I’d repost some photos I did back in April, of my Italari 1: 32 scale Kaman H-43B ‘Huskie’ plastic kit, which is pretty much identical to the 1961 Hawk kit used in the Stingray TV series.

The model makes a couple of notable appearances in the series,(Pink Ice, Titan Goes Pop) being used as a V.I.P. transporter to and from Marineville Airfield.

The studio model makers doesn’t veer too far from the look of the actual H-43B ‘Huskie’, although the distinctive twin intermeshing rotor blades which make a tail rotor superfluous has been modified to just a single blade for practical reasons to accommodate a central support wire. There is also the addition of an extended tail fin, which was used to fix the rear support wire.

Although we don’t see the inside the control cabin, or the pilots, we do see one of the crew escorting Comr. Shore off the helicopter. He is dressed in a Marineville security guard uniform minus his helmet. With that in mind I decided to paint my pilots in the same uniform colours. As the kit doesn’t come with pilots, I used a couple of Britains 1: 32 scale tractor drivers.

I added some detailing in the rear cargo hold, two bench seats and a control panel.

The W.A.S.P. Helicopter as seen in the Stingray series.

The ‘Huskie’ kit also makes makes the odd appearance in Thunderbirds. In the episode, ‘Brink of Disaster’, a Pacific-Atlantic Monorail helijet checking the monorail track is hit by lightning and crashes into a bridge causing part of the track to collapse – cue International Rescue.

The real life H-43B ‘Huskie’ first flew in April, 1953, and was designed for aircraft firefighting and search and rescue. It saw action during the Vietnam War, and was retired from military service during the early 1970’s.

Some info on the 'Huskie'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_HH-43_Huskie