HeloDrome

Here's some details about my latest Rotary Action related purchases, now on display in the ‘Hanger 13’ cabinets...  

Chop Chop helicopter

This 'Chop Chop' plastic helicopter is battery operated but it’s at least 35 years old, so modern batteries don’t fit into its differently sized compartment. Made in China for American company Marx Toys (long since gone), it is in good condition for its age. The USAF or RAF markings and window stickers are missing but, anyway, it’s the colour (my favourite) that makes this plastic toy such a collectible item for me.

Sikorsky’s MH-X Silent Hawk, is a version of the UH-60 (S-70) Black Hawk modified for stealth. Two of these helicopters were used by the SEAL team in a mission against Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan (as depicted in the movie Zero Dark Thirty). This is a neat diecast model, the very first of its kind, made by Italeri (who previously produced a fine model of an Agusta-Westland AW-101 Merlin from Skyfall), at a scale of 1:100. 

Silent Hawk

It’s a great addition to the ’Hawks (note the six-blade rotors, a contrast to the usual four on this type of helicopter) of my Sikorsky collection, which includes two Black Hawk models (New Ray - 1:60, and Amercom - 1:72), an SH-60B Sea Hawk (New Ray - 1:60), a bigger MH-60G Pave Hawk (FOV - 1:48), a U.S. Coast Guard HH-60J Jay-Hawk (Winged Ace, easy model - 1:72), a sand-coloured Desert Hawk, and a VH-60N ‘White Hawk’ (the U.S. President’s ‘Marine One’ flight), both smaller models made by the Maisto brand. An SH-60F Ocean Hawk (Amercom - 1:72) is still on my wants list.  

Super Stallion

Also added to my Sikorsky range, the CH-53E Super Stallion (Motor Max - 1:72), was bought cheaply (only £7) in Amazon’s New Year sales. Unlike the better quality model of the similar MH-53E Sea Dragon (Amercom - 1:72) that I bought last summer, this Super Stallion is a contrast with shiny and rather plasticy-looking finish to its die-cast weight, presenting itself as something in-between a collector’s model (boxed for static display, the CH-53 is screwed onto its own labelled stand), and a fairly detailed toy for playing with. Nonetheless, it’s a nifty item suitable for positioning on top of a small cabinet.  

Sea Dragon

Helicopter blues

Model helicopters in blue... I collect them because I'm very keen on helicopters in movies and TV (see my unique website RotaryAction.com), and blue is my favourite colour. To me, these models are cooler than a freezer full of ice-cream. This is the most expensive one I've bought so far: Blue Thunder, a diecast model based upon the modified Aerospatiale SA-341 Gazelle seen in John Badham's techno-thriller Blue Thunder, and its follow-up TV series.

Blue Thunder model by Organic (Japan).

The model is 1:32 scale and produced in Japan by Organic's dream machine project. Blue Thunder is certainly the most iconic helicopter in cinema, especially with its sci-fi dimension as a stealthy urban surveillance platform with limited capabilities as a gunship. The model's geeky qualities include rotors that turn, a swivelling and tilting front-cannon, and a removable cockpit canopy to view the cabin's interior detailing. There's a pilot figure, but no back-seat observer. Of course, it's an exquisite scale model, not a toy, and so many of the plastic parts are very fragile. The model comes with a long black plinth, but it can also be displayed without any stand, on its own landing skids. In my cabinet it shares pride of place with the 1:48 model of Airwolf (made by SGM-08).

The model Gazelle that I have is only a small 1:70 scale but, as it's a French helicopter I wanted this vintage red one for contrast, and because it was actually made in France by Majorette.     

I don't own one of the smaller and older 'Blue Thunder' collectables (made by Ertl, I think), but I do have a Matchbox 'Mission Helicopter' in a blue finish (they produced several different colours), which is quite obviously copied from Blue Thunder.

Collectors of diecast stuff might also like the Hot Wheels toy 'Sky Knife' - clearly inspired by the 

likes of Blue Thunder and other helicopter names such as Airwolf.