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| The Agusta Mangusta
is the first attack helicopter to be designed and produced wholly in Europe.
Preliminary design of the A.129 began in 1978, and the first of four flying
prototypes made its initial flight on 11 September 1983. |
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| The A-129 is an all-weather
day or night attack, anti-armor, and scout helicopter. It's composite
blades and 70% composite airframe are designed to survive 12.7mm hits
and have considerable tolerance against 23mm hits. |
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| Mangustas armed with TOW
and rockets provided escort to troop-carrying transports in support
of KFOR ground troops during the occupation of Kosovo in the summer
of 1999. |
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| The tandem cockpit
is designed with the pilot seated in the rear raised high over the gunner
below for maximum visibility to both crewmen. The Mangusta is fitted
with a variety of safety features such as Martin-Baker HACS1 (helicopter
armored crashworthy seats) and tailwheel type landing gear designed
for ground impacts at vertical velocities up to 15ft (4.6m)/sec. |
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| A variety of offensive armament
can be carried by the A.129 on four stub-wing attachment points, the inner
pair being stressed for loads up to 300kg. All four pylons can be elevated
3° and depressed 12°. Typical anti-armour weaponry which can be carried
includes eight Hughes TOW or Euro-missile HOT missiles. |
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| The kit
goes together well the only rough spot at the canopy to fuselage mating.
Overall a very easy fast build. |
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| I sanded the molded
harnesses off of the seats and made new ones with masking tape. The
helmets were carved off of some ESCI soft plastic helicopter figures
from a "NATO Pilots and Groundcrew" set. The add on instruments
above the instrument shroud were made with stretched sprue bits. |
Kit: Italeri # 006 |
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Scale: 1/72 |
| Cost: $9.95 (US) in year
2000. Like most Italeri helicopter kits, an excellent value. |
| Decals: I used the kit provided decals for 7° Reggimento “VEGA”.
Optional markings are provided for Centro Aviazione dell'Esercito -
Viterbo, 1998. Decals are thin and printed well. |
| After
Market Parts: None |
| Review: 3 sprues with approximately
90 parts molded in green. Fine raised rivets are nicely done. Parts
are crisply molded with no flash. Canopy is crystal clear.
Fit is good on most parts with the exception of the canopy. Filler and
very careful sanding is required to smooth out the clear canopy to fuselage
seam. Kit assembly is very straight forward and traditional. Interior
details are fair but nothing to brag about. Instruments are represented
by decals. Cyclics are included. Seats are simplified but do include
harnesses molded in. All things considered, this is a reasonably accurate
and easy kit to build. |
| Customizing: I sanded away the molded in seat harnesses and made new ones with masking
tape. I carved two appropriately styled helmets off of some ESCI "NATO
Pilots and Groundcrew" figures and placed them in the cockpit for
an added touch. Both metallic and transparent sequins were used for the
various optics and formation lights. Stretched sprue was used for plumbing
and electrical runs on weapons and rotor hubs. |
| Reference: "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters", 1984 |
