tmanthegreat
Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2018
- Messages
- 1,737
I just received First Legion’s new VN037 OH-6A Cayuse/Loach Helicopter model from their Vietnam War range. I believe this is First Legion’s first foray into 1/30 scale aircraft models and, as such, the Loach has its good aspects and drawbacks.
The model comes in a beautiful and unique box with an outer sleeve showing detailed pictures of the promo model and a history and stats about the OH-6 helicopter. The model itself is superbly painted, weathered, and detailed. The crew figures are plastic in construction and have great poses. Only the door gunner is removable. In a nice touch, the rotor blades are made of metal, meaning they won’t sag over time. The terrain diorama display base is a very nice inclusion and the acrylic post to display the model “in flight” over the terrain was a really neat idea!
As for the drawbacks, this model is extremely delicate, meaning there is a lot of potential for breakage and quality control errors. Mine came in a perfect and undamaged box, but upon opening, I discovered the tail fin was broken. This damage almost certainly occurred at the factory while they were pushing it into the foam inserts. Thankfully, it was a clean break and easy to repair with some CA glue. The broken tail fin seems to be a common issue as even the model pictured on Treefrog’s website listing has the broken tail. I think it goes without saying that a nearly $500 model shouldn’t be arriving broken from the factory. Further, the horizontal stabilizer was tooled sticking out perpendicularly from the tail boom when it should be at an angle, like on an actual OH-6A helicopter and as shown in FL’s promo photos. It’s an annoying accuracy issue, but one I can look past…
Overall, I think FL’s OH-6A helicopter model has a lot of good things going for it, but some significant issues are present as well. Still, I hope that this is not FL’s last aircraft/helicopter model and that more are attempted in the future with improved quality control.
The model comes in a beautiful and unique box with an outer sleeve showing detailed pictures of the promo model and a history and stats about the OH-6 helicopter. The model itself is superbly painted, weathered, and detailed. The crew figures are plastic in construction and have great poses. Only the door gunner is removable. In a nice touch, the rotor blades are made of metal, meaning they won’t sag over time. The terrain diorama display base is a very nice inclusion and the acrylic post to display the model “in flight” over the terrain was a really neat idea!
As for the drawbacks, this model is extremely delicate, meaning there is a lot of potential for breakage and quality control errors. Mine came in a perfect and undamaged box, but upon opening, I discovered the tail fin was broken. This damage almost certainly occurred at the factory while they were pushing it into the foam inserts. Thankfully, it was a clean break and easy to repair with some CA glue. The broken tail fin seems to be a common issue as even the model pictured on Treefrog’s website listing has the broken tail. I think it goes without saying that a nearly $500 model shouldn’t be arriving broken from the factory. Further, the horizontal stabilizer was tooled sticking out perpendicularly from the tail boom when it should be at an angle, like on an actual OH-6A helicopter and as shown in FL’s promo photos. It’s an annoying accuracy issue, but one I can look past…
Overall, I think FL’s OH-6A helicopter model has a lot of good things going for it, but some significant issues are present as well. Still, I hope that this is not FL’s last aircraft/helicopter model and that more are attempted in the future with improved quality control.
