I fell in love with photos of Qatar’s beautiful Exocet-armed Sea King/Commandos in the late, lamented World Air Power Journal back during the Gulf War years. I always figured that some aftermarket company would produce suitable decals…eventually…but 20+ years on that still hasn’t happened. Finally, with the advent of the Internet age and the proliferation of good online photos, I was able to find an image clear enough to use to reproduce the Arabic inscription used on the tails of the Qatar Emiri Air Force’s Sea King and Gazelle helicopters. This done, I was able to make up and print my own decals on my PC.
Chosen aircraft for my depiction is the oft-photographed QA33 (c/n WA922), one of (8) Commando Mk. 3s acquired by Qatar for the anti-shipping role, fitted to carry Exocet missiles. These aircraft serve with QEAF’s No. 8 Anti-Surface Vessel Squadron, operating from Doha.
I used Revell’s popular 1/72 kit of the Sea King Mark 41 with Skua missiles as the basis for the project, since it offered the necessary options for the required fuselage windows and included a few critical additional parts (like the “box” intake filter and 6-blade tail rotor) as “not to be used” spare parts. I removed the molded-in floatation bags from the kit sponsons, then scratchbuilt the smaller “thumbtack”-style pop-out emergency floats and sponson-mounted sensor domes. Most of the remaining exterior mods consisted of removing assorted molded-in fuselage bumps and sensors, slightly repositioning the refueling port aft of the “barn door,” and adding/repositioning various aerials and antennae. (I did a generic interior, but since the ill-fitting side door would only fit in the closed position, it’s largely invisible.)
The Exocet missiles came from Italeri’s old “NATO/US Aircraft Armament” set, with scratchbuilt launchers and mountings.
Camouflage colors are all Tamiya acrylics, mixed by eye. Drybrushing and weathering with Testors “square bottle” enamels, and artists oils. All decals home-made with the exception of the “dotted line” markings around the main entry and side fuselage door windows, which were borrowed from an old Model Decal modern German AF sheet.
Really a fun project, and very satisfying to have it done after so many years. I hope you enjoy the photos.
