THANKS to Brengun for providing more of their expansive line for us IPMS reviewers to address. For the Detail hounds, AMS, whatever among us, Brengun continues to provide really cool items for us to use. And this set holds great promise to upgrade the venerable 1/72 Italeri kit.

Notice I said 1/72. When I was digging through the “Review stash” to see where I could help, I saw this and thought “great, I can finally build the small version (Having the 1/48 model sitting in the box, I made a big assumption.

1/48 and 1/72 do not mathematically convert into equals. “why is this set of screens for the transmission and engine cooling intake too small when held up to the 1/48 model?”

Stupid reviewer. Brengun, I sincerely apologize, you don’t get one of my fantastic, non-sniper reviews with a kit involved, because I don’t have a 1/72 kit. I thought for some reason this was for the 1/48 kit when I agreed to do it.

SO, for anyone out there wanting to upgrade a 1/72 italeri H-21 model, give me your address and I’ll send it by my personal account. And you can benefit. Grrrrrrrr..

Up front, the set has the usual detailed nickel or brass (I think brass) fret of PE, one small clear overlay for the instrument panel, and a Photo-negative film for the instruments themselves. On the PE fret are screens for the aforementioned cooling intake area over the transmission drive between the two rotors (a visual necessity to add validity to the model), and interior details for the aft engine areas (another very visible area, where the exhausts and the cooling air are dumped via the two big holes on the underside tail of the heli) which means in the kit there are a lot of details missing.

Additionally, there are footrests, seat details, seat belts and harness, and myriad other little bits to add to the Italeri kit. The nose comm antennas (VHF IIRC) are also part of this set, and prominent on ARMY H-21’s.

This is where Brengun shines; adding these parts will make a major visual impact to add the PE panels and interior bulkhead details. Other items include various cockpit and exterior details, including rear-view mirrors for cargo missions. (Why the mirrors? Because these old helis had wooden blades, extremely small center of gravity balance moment arms, and carrying even one more person on board detracted from load lift capability; a mirror served the function of an additional set of eyes riding along with very little weight added). So there…

Thanks again to Brengun for the review item, I give it full marks. Now, if y’all could make a set of cabin bulkhead and stringers (which are painfully missing from the Special Hobby AND Italeri 1/48 kits) I’ll be first in line! Another company already had a shot and missed the opportunity (The interior framework is very visible inside the actual aircraft, as soundproofing is not a requirement on these old reciprocating-engine noisy birds and all you have are plenty of open frame interior views)