The OH-6 is a compact light helicopter used for observation, light transport, training and light attack. This particular boxing depicts a Japanese aircraft used in the observation role.

This kit looks to be the Academy kit reboxed for Hasegawa. The molds have been around for quite some time but the moldings don’t show its age. The plastic is typical Hasegawa light grey plastic on four sprues. The plastic was quite shiny and polished. My review copy doesn’t have any flash or blemishes. The panel lines are recessed. There is a sprue of eight dark grey resin parts that includes antennas, FLIR, tail lights and spotlights. The resin pieces will require some careful cleanup but they look really great.

A sprue of clear styrene has the nose and windows.

The parts breakdown and assembly looks quite simple and easy enough to build. The hardest part will be to determine which aircraft you want to depict. You must be careful about which parts go where. Once you’ve determined that the Hasegawa instructions are very easy to follow.

There are decals for three Japanese aircraft, including one from the 50^th anniversary of the J.G.S.D.F. Hasegawa decals always look thick on the sheet but when applied they snuggle down and are perfectly thin. The decals are in register and opaque enough to go over the Japanese camouflage.

There are parts included on one sprue to do an Israeli TOW machine, but no decals. This sprue also contains the two pilot figures that are actually quite nice. This release has a new FLIR ball that is very similar to the one used by Task Force 160^th. So there are multiple options available for this kit.

If you’ve never done a helicopter this would make a really nice first helicopter. It is small and compact and colorful enough to be fun. The unique paint schemes will make an attractive model. I do wish that the doors themselves were separate but opening them up should be easy enough. The price tag may be a little high for some, myself included, but the kit is really nice. I’m going to enjoy building this one.

Highly recommended with reservations about the pricing.

Thanks to Hobbico and IPMS/USA for the review copy. You can obtain your copy at your local hobby shop, online retailer or directly from Hobbico.