Christchurch's Next Top Model

Thirty nine year old family man and Christchurch aviation enthusiast, Anthony Galbraith, could be referred to as a model citizen. By day he works as an Account Manager for an optical company, but during his spare time his attention turns to creating incredibly detailed scale model replicas of famous aircraft.    "I started building models from a very young age, mostly of NZ aviation subjects", says Anthony. " As time went on I honed my skills and started getting requests to build models on commission for individuals and museums". Two of Anthony's impressive previous projects are shown in the picture gallery below.

Recently Anthony had a couple of very good friends rescued by the Westpac Rescue helicopter team.  "They were extremely grateful for their services and professionalism and had it not been for the helicopter crew, one of them may not be here today", he says.  "This event really helped me appreciate what an amazing job these people do and it gave me the idea for my next project."
 
Anthony is currently building a scale model replica of the Christchurch Westpac Rescue Helicopter - the BK 117 , ZK-HJC.

 "The BK 117 has always been a favourite helicopter of mine," he says. "Being somewhat of a perfectionist and having the Christchurch machine relatively close by, I set off to Garden City Helicopters armed with a camera and measuring equipment, to document all of the helicopter's details.  I was overwhelmed at the help offered by all of the engineering/marketing team, because without their assistance I would not be able to produce such an accurate model".

Anthony's project takes the base Revell brand kitset model of the BK 117 helicopter and meticulously transforms the details into an exact scale replica of the aircraft currently operating from the Christchurch base. We'll be following Anthony's progress here on our website over the following months - up to the completion of his impressive project.

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