Snake Eater From Italy

Historical Background

The Agusta (now AgustaWestland) A129 Mangusta (mongoose) can trace its origins to a 1972 Italian Army requirement for a light observation and anti-tank helicopter. The Italians' need coincide with a similar requirement by West Germany. This led to a joint project between Agusta and Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB). However following preliminary works, MBB dropped out of the project, leaving Agusta to proceed alone. Initially Agusta studied the development of a combat-oriented derivative of their A109 utility design. However they decided to proceed with a new design, with a slim fuselage, tandem stepped cockpit and engines mounted high on the fuselage sides. In 1978 work formally began on this design, the A129. The first prototype flew on 11 September 1983 and the Italian Army initially ordered 60. The new helicopter followed the design convention set by the AH-1 Cobra by having a slim fuselage with the crew seated in tandem (gunner in front, pilot at the back) staggered so that the pilot has a better view forward. The rear of the A129 however was derived from the A109. The fuselage is highly angular and armoured for crew protection. The composite rotor blades were able to withstand hits from 23 mm shells and the entire airframe is made crashworthy.

The Mangusta is powered by two Piaggio (Rolls-Royce) Gem 2-1004D turboshaft engines rated at 890 hp each. This allowed the A129 to fly up to 170 mph and a combat range of 320 miles. It has a rate of climb of 2,025 feet per minute and a service ceiling of 15,500 feet. The Mangusta is also equipped with infra-red night vision systems allowing day and night operations in all weather conditions. On newer aircraft, laser system is fitted to allow self- or third-party target designation. The Mangusta is designed to undertake anti-armour, armed reconnaissance, ground attack, escort, fire support and anti-air missions. The weapons are carried on two hardpoints under each stub wings and include BGM-71 TOW (later AGM-114 Hellfire), Israeli Spike-ER ATGW, 70 mm or 81 mm folding-fin aircraft rockets or 12.7 mm machine gun pods. Since 2003, anti-air capability was realised when FIM-92 Stinger missile was cleared for use. The original Mangusta did not have any built-in cannon but the three-barreled 20-mm M197 cannon on  nose-mounted Oto-Melara TM-197B turret was installed on the A129 CBT variant.

There are four variants of the Mangusta. Apart from the original A129, there is A129 International, an upgraded version with five-bladed rotor, the aforementioned M197 20-mm cannon, ability to fire Hellfire and Stinger missiles, advanced avionics and LHTEC T800 turboshafts. The third variant is A 129 CBT (ComBaT): basically the International but retaining the original engines (with new transmission). The final major variant is the T129 / AW129 for Turkey with Turkish avionics and missiles. Deliveries of the 60 Italian Mangustas started in 1990 and 1999, the last batch of 15 was upgraded to the CBT standard. In late 2001, it was decided to upgrade the entire A129 fleet to this standard. In 2011, AgustaWestland modified 24 airframes to a new ARH-129D standard and manufacture a further 24 for the Italian Army. In January 2015, the Italian Army opted for an enhancement package which focused on improving the Mangusta's endurance, speed and the crew's situational awareness and information handling capabilities, reduction of crew workload and integrating the systems with tactical UAVs.

The Mangusta has seen deployment with the United Nations' peacekeeping operations in Somalia, Angola and Kosovo. The Mangusta was also used in Iraq, supporting Italian ground forces in Nasiriyah while others were deployed to Afghanistan.  

The Kit

Despite being based in the same country that produces the Mangusta, Italeri only came up with a kit of the helicopter in 1999. Portraying the early standard of the A129, the kit's 79 or so parts were spread among two olive drab and one clear sprues. External details are good but the interior is poor, with too-heavy seat belts and seat cushion details and that there are no collective levers! Although in general the external details are good, some of them are overscale such as the crew access step. The clear parts are OK except that windshield wiper is moulded-on, making painting difficult. The rotor blades have built-in droop which is a good thing. Weapons provided are of the prototypical helicopter gunship load of four TOW missile tubes and a rocket pod for each wing. The decals are of typical Italeri fare - nice and well-printed (except for the slightly offset central dot of the Italian AF roundel. Markings are provided for two machines : E.I. 936, CAE, Viterbo, 1998 and E.I. 933, 7th Regiment 'Vega', Casarsa della Delizia, 1998. Tamiya in 2001 re-released this kit under their label.

Construction

As usual with aircraft models, work started with the cockpit. The parts were first painted separately on their sprues. The whole cockpit (and also the cockpit side walls) was painted XF-19 Sky Grey with details (just the tips of the control column and the seats really) in XF-1 Flat Black. The oversized seat belts were painted XF-10 Flat Brown with the seat cushions XF-62 Olive Drab. The side consoles and instrument panel decals were then applied. While the usage of decal instrument panels are OK in my book for 1/72 aircraft, the manufacturers should at least print them to represent there real thing. The A129's instrument panel includes MFDs but the kit decals have them entirely printed with dials. The cockpit parts were then cemented together while the instrument panels were cemented to the their places at the right-hand side fuselage. The nose sensor turret was assembled and was then trapped between the fuselage halves. Also before the fuselage halves were mated together, the main and tail rotor shafts were inserted and glued into their places. Afterwards I found out that the sensor turret was quite wobbly so I cemented it permanently using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement.

Next up is the engine nacelle assembly. Made up of seven pieces, the fit was not very good especially between the main body of the nacelle and the air intakes. The whole thing however fitted nicely with the fuselage. The tail stabilisers were fitted and with part of the tail wheel unit moulded to the fuselage, a bit of care has to be taken here to avoid the landing gear stalk snapping off. The stub wings was made up of two parts (perhaps to avoid sink marks) and they were duly assembled.  Fit here was good and the wings were then mated to the fuselage. The TOW and rocket tubes were assembled but were set aside at the moment. Other parts, such as the main landing gear, weapons, rotor assembly and sensor probes were left off at this time to avoid breakage during painting. Now its off to the painting stage.

Painting and Decalling

Both marking options are painted in the same colour : Olive Drab. In an online build review, the modeller felt that it should be a lighter colour, like Tamiya XF-49 Khaki. While I'm inclined to his reasoning, I have run out of that particular colour and am not going to wait for it to come through the mail. So I ended up using Tamiya XF-62. It was applied to the whole of the model unless the particular part/area require another colour. The tyres were painted Gunze H77 Tyre Black while the rotor blades XF-69 NATO Black. Part of the landing gear strut was painted silver. The sensor turret was also painted silver, followed by a layer of clear yellow. Then it was time for the decals.  Army combat helicopters, from whatever military they belong to, almost invariably have boring colour schemes (because of their job of course). I chose the 7th Regiment machine as the checkerboard tail markings added a bit of interest. The decals were excellent as usual and that the slightly off-centre roundel isn't really noticeable.

Finishing

To finish the model, I started by attaching all the landing gear parts. They fit nicely although the same cannot be said for the canopy, leaving a sizeable gap. The weapons pods were next and they were followed by the sensor probes and crew access step. They're all overscale especially the latter especially when you compare them with the size of the weapons pods. The rotor blades were then cemented to their places and this was followed by a spray of Flat Clear. The canopy mask was then removed, finishing the build.

Conclusion

This has got to be one of the fastest kits I have ever build (that is, in terms of building hours, rather than days). The combination of small size, not a lot of parts, generally good fit plus, of course, being an OOB build without any parts being replaced made this a rather enjoyable task, despite the kit's certain shortcomings. The price is very affordable, especially the original Italeri boxing. Highly recommended to helicopter modellers of all skill levels (maybe not the complete novice). As far as I know, at the time of writing, this is the only available A129 kit in the market. I read in the Scalemates website that there is another company, YUMTK/Interavia with a kit of the Mangusta (apparently of the International/CBT standard) but have not surfaced in any online modelling websites. Another one is Cunarmodel (also of CBT standard) but there is no further info about this company. Extratech produced a PE set for Italeri's Mangusta but I'm not sure whether it is still available.