My Eaglehawk helicopter arrived today, I thought I would put that together this afternoon and share some photos and thoughts from first impression. The box isn't very big. Everything inside the box really was fit for maximum efficiency.
Outside of the box, the parts look familiar, but feel different and new. They are definitely thinner in material, but most everything seems solid.
The first disappointment came during spreading the parts, where the big air-to-ground obstacle missiles were given these stand-in half missiles.
The thinner plastic gave me a little concern, being able to flex these panels with little effort was something I don't remember being able to do with a Tomahawk. But, they held up and sprung right back to form.
Some details just didn't feel as deep in comparison to the Tomahawk.
The side forms here.
The chin turret of the Eaglehawk. The Tomahawk has one of my favorite GIJoe vehicle armaments. The chin turret went in very fluidly, it has a very nice smooth motion.
The front engine cover is gone, replaced by a whole piece with an intake facade.
I like how they have the fuselage designed out here, I can totally imagine this airframe rolling off the back of a certain cargo plane like this. Also, note the rotor shaft has a slight forward tilt to it.
Here's the bottom prior to assembly. There's no winch-box on the back end, I kind of like that.
The tail section came together all as one, the Eaglehawk has no thumbwheel on the tail rotor. The engine panels are sealed in details here.
These are some much larger connecting points on the wing from the original design. Although I haven't had problems with the Tomahawks connecting pieces, I think the Eaglehawks connectors might be just a little stronger.
The rear ramp has foot pegs, why the two are off set like they are, I can only guess. Either way, these pegs will not do my much good at all since, as you know, an old mold kind of collector.
I haven't unpacked my Tomahawk yet at the new HQ, but this back interior area seems a little different to me toward the top. Is there a little more head room toward the inner cabin but a little less as a figure goes down the ramp?
This is what happens when the flash is touching the edge of the Eaglehawk as it goes off. It's a neat effect. Now, what are the little bumps with holes for?
The "fixed" seats are things I really don't care for, however, I am totally digging the deeper interior cabin deck; that is cool.
I don't even know what this is. Wait, I do, it is a bad picture.
There is a lot of detail, the front rotor tilt is more apparent here.
Here's another spot of disappointment: manufacturing error. The front landing gear wheel ended up flipped on one side.
Oops.
Here I turned the wheel around, but marking on the hub is still there. I wonder if this was a sonic compression tool that put these wheels on the axle?
Well, it went together very smoothly. There was no usually satisfying "snaps" of parts going together. Things went in very softly, and fairly snugly. The part-to-part tolerances were pretty tight.
With regards to tolerances, with just a little finagling, the flip-down engine panels came together fairly tightly.
The tail-less Eaglehawk. Do you think the Eaglehawk (or Tomahawk) could fly with the tail missing? Or I should say, will your imagination allow this.
That's not a bad looking joint. If they had added the rivet details along this point, one would probably never know there were two pieces.
As things went, I found myself not liking the side pods. There was a little movement on these, where on the Tomahawk it is part of the fuselage. Perhaps it is a "used to" thing for me here, but feeling the little flex at one of the main points I hold the Eaglehawk makes it feel a little... less, I guess. But I do really like the flat bottom here.
The
folding rotors were one of the big points of interest for me on the Eaglehawk. The Tomahawk, or even the Eaglehawk isn't really that huge, but the rotors really add to the space these helicopters need.
However, while it was great to stick with the five blade design, I don't think these "folding" rotors really did anything to exceed or outpace itself from the original rotors. Here you can see the rotors folding still lead to a necessary removal if one wants to shorten this vehicle. It is what it is, though. The rotors seem really thin, too, and after just a few spins, the front rotor is knocking against the top of the fuselage. (not unlike my old one.)
Time to take off!
So, all in all, it's a pretty sweet ride.
Are you on the fence with getting this one? I wasn't, but now I'm wondering if I should have stayed on that fence?
For starters, in my personal 'Joeverse, I have wondered if there should be just one Tomahawk? And it would have to be my original one. With mostly all oring classic figures in my collection, I can't use the foot pegs on the Eaglehawk. Short of using rubberbands, my figures won't be able to stay in their seats in back if Wild Bill starts maneuvering evasively.
Plus, the mission-variability of the Tomahawk is lost on Eaglehawk with the "fixed" seats in back. There's no laying a wounded GIJoe teammate on one side, or hauling some sort of cargo to drop off the ramp.
As a display piece, heck yeah, definitely get this thing!
As a toy, sure, why not? It really comes down to a modern vs. old figure preference, and how you feel different figure styles work with either modern or old vehicles. It's like foot pegs, ya know?
And as far as a toy, who is going to be doing more of the playing? Compared to something like the
2011 VAMP, which is a tank that can take a tumbling of play by that ages 4+ crowd, could the Eaglehawk really stand up to the same play wear?
I think it will hold up better than my 1986 Tomahawk, I can be sure of that.
Do you think that the Eaglehawk will be repainted for an exclusive Night Force version soon? Or even a repainted version in green for general release, not unlike the PoC VAMP(s)?
Or maybe even better, a new version of 'hawk, maybe some special weapons variants, or mission variant?
