ArsenalM 1/87
EC-665 Tiger Attack Helicopter

At the latest Great Scale Train Show in Baltimore this weekend one of the vendors had two new kits from a new HO scale military manufacturer from Germany, ArsenalM. They offer a collection of HO scale kits in resin and styrene as well as styrene kits from other companies with their own modifications; the kits also appear to be Czech, Austrian, German or Russian in origin.

This kit is of the Eurocopter EC-665 Tiger attack helicopter, which has been gestating for a number of years. While not as well known as the American AH-64 Apache or Soviet Mi-24/35 series, it is a “third way” for anyone wanting a modern attack helicopter with high capability. Most Americans would probably recall it as the “secret” helicopter from the James Bond movie “Goldeneye” where the villains steal it to take out the security around a Soviet “doomsday” laser weapons system. This particular version is a Bundeswehr version.

The kit is nicely done and shows how big the machine really is – ROCO made a nice kit of the AH-64D a few years before they went bankrupt and changed ownership, and this is nearly as large when you compare the two. It comes with a choice of armament options - Milan, HOT or FFAR pods.

The crew compartment is well detailed with armored seats, sticks and panels as separate parts, but from a wargamer’s standpoint there are no crew figures.

The kit has some very nice detailing to its sides with very petite scribed panel lines and a respectably clear canopy. But some details show its Eastern European thinking in that the rotors have separate blades without fully positive locking mounts and neither one is capable of rotation once installed; while some consider that to be a “toylike” feature, it does prevent snapped or broken blades which is very handy for wargamers. Also wheels are split in half as is the mast sensor package.

Only one part is apparently not supplied with the kit, an antenna which must be made from either wire (recommended in the kit) or stretched sprue and fits to the right side of the tailboom.

Finishing directions are shown for a generic Bundeswehr machine but the decal sheet provides a “number jungle” to allow multiple aircraft to be covered; the one shown is coded 74+08.

Overall this is a neat little kit and one which both HO model railroaders and wargamers will also enjoy.

Sprue layout:

• 18 Right fuselage half, HOT missiles, crew compartment
• 20 Left fuselage half, HOT missiles, details
• 39 Rotors, exhausts, small details
• 3 Cockpit canopy, lights (clear styrene)