Kaman HH-43 Huskie Modeler's Quick Reference Guide

When I started TacAir Publications in the late 1990s, its goal was to provide AMS modelers with useful references to make their quest for perfection a little easier. The first photo reference guide was this one for the HH-43 Huskie. At that time, Testors was releasing the old Hawk 1/32 HH-43 kit that had long disappeared into collectors' stashes. At last we had an inexpensive kit ($9.00 USD) to work with. Cobra Company even released a super detail set for the kit, how cool was that?

With an inexpensive kit and a fantastic detail set, what more could you want? Oh, no references out there, eh? That could be a problem. TacAir Publications to the rescue.

I had photographed the recently (then) refurbished HH-43 on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum, which has since had its windows painted over to protect the interiors from the sun. I had posted some of these photos online for other modelers to enjoy, but from all of the requests I'd received for higher resolution shots, it was time to put together a color reference. In addition to the photo walk around of the aircraft, I also extracted the USAF TO 1-1-4 painting instructions for the aircraft as well as a reference list of aircraft serial numbers.

Since this title was released in 1998, there has been only one other title that covers the HH-43, the Kaman H-43 by Wayne Mutza reviewed here. It has excellent coverage of the aircraft's history and operations, but virtually no photography of the aircraft in detail.

When we released the first version of this title (#8002), it had 20 pages with 24 nice color photos printed two per page. This version (#8002) has been updated with 31 color photos printed one per page, two black and white photos, and a few additional miscellaneous shots. We have far more detail in this edition than in our first offering. There are even three pages of diagrams outlining the fire suppression equipment slung under the USAF Huskie. All of these additions more than doubled the page count but only raised the retail price by $3.00 USD over the first edition and that price includes free postage anywhere in the world.

Stop by TacAir Publications to see what is new and you can stop by our eBay store to order a copy of this useful reference.