Alouette III

Royal Malaysian Air Force

History.

The Alouette III entered service with the Royal Malaysian Air Force in 1963 and today they are operated by No 3 & 5 Squadrons. The Alouette III was also the first rotary wing craft to be operated by the RMAF. The Alouettes of the RMAF were utilized alongside the S-61 Sea king or Nuri as it’s know here in Malaysia for communication, medivac, transportation, forward air control and etc flights within the RMAF. The Alouettes of the RMAF also flew actual combat missions in FAC and scout roles in the late sixties and seventies over the jungles of Malaysia to flush out and neutralize communist bandits. The Alouette III is still in service with the RMAF and the RMA or the Royal Malaysian Army today.

The Model.

This model is made by the Fujimi company of Japan and it is classified as 1/48 scale. In my opinion I feel that is a bit smaller then 1/48 scale. The kit is a basic kit and it is out of production today. As I recall Fujimi had 3 or 4 version of this Alouette mould and one of them had decals and markings (old) for a Malaysian Alouette as standard. The version I obtained is the version for the Danish Navy. The kit as mentioned is quite basic. There is an interior present with 5 seats, control sticks, and a basic panel. I added two collectives and anti torque pedals to try and spruce it up a bit. Fit is average but there is a lot of clear plastic which should join with normal plastic and fit here is not that good. External detail was good in my opinion and I added a radio antenna on the side of the copter as Malaysian Alouettes have this. Construction was fairly straight forward and instructions are easily understood. Model was finished using majority of Revell & Model Master paints. Model was weathered slightly emphasizing on the tail rotors and main blades and engine using water based paints. Overall an easy build with limited problems and shortcomings. National Insignias markings were custom made by me. The white identification markings are not the actual numbers belonging to the Alouettes of the RMAF. It is in fact taken from the Malaysian Air Force section of the FREMS Aermacchi MB 339 A kit. (Thanks Patrick Spitaels whom so kindly gave me his unused section). I had to make do with this because, it is hard to print custom decals in white from my current setup and there is no after market set with RMAF Alouette III decals.

Thank You,

S.B