1/72 Westland Sea King build (pic)

Looks fine to me. When you get it closed up those ribs and stringers you added along with the fabric shroud will give an impression of internal structure which is all you really need. The seats add some visual interest also. Good job to date, send more photos as you progress.

Nice job Bossman. Whether the structure is right or wrong won't be noticed by 99.9% of those who see it anyway. It will look great when it is all closed up.

Mac

Looks AWESOME!!! MORE MORE!!

Mate
If you need any info for the Wessex or an Aussie Sea King,let me know.I'm a maintainer on RAN Seakings and have heaps of phots and diagrams,and I took a few photos of oue museams Wessex for my own project.Keep up the good work,can't wait to see it finished!!

Thanks for the compliments guys - you are most generous.

Here's the exterior shot that I mentioned...


The color is just a base coat. I'm going to go for the tri-color camo pattern that is shown on the box top. I was able to find some reference photos of a bird that is from the same unit as the one for which I have decals. That should help me with some of the coloring.

Death - I have this idea in the back of my head that I'd like to do a bunch of Sea Kings in various international schemes. I have built the bright yellow British Navy SAR bird, I have leftover decals for the Norwegian bird (which is particularly striking), I'm building the German bird now, and sooner or later I'd like to do the US Navy version that was used in the NASA capsule recovery operations. An Aussie Sea King would be excellent - but I must admit - I model very slowly. It will be a while before I finish this one. But I will definitely look you up when I start on a bird from down under. I suppose I'll have to switch the way the rotors turn to account for the coriolis effect in the southern hemisphere.

The Wessex is another story... A shot of the Wessex cockpit would be great ! That of course, is where I'm starting. I'm not a great superdetailer as you can see, but the Matchbox interior could use a bit of help. I know I'll have to do something about the windows. I'm thinking I'll have to cut the "glass" out of the frames because it is so thick and distorted.

Thanks for the input.

Chris

Chris I agree with you with the Matchbox Wessex.I'm actually only using the nose and grafting it on to the Italeri Wessex which is an awesome kit.l'll try and scan the cockpit photos over the next couple of days and get back to you.
In regards to the Aussie Sea King there is a company down here that make decals in 72nd and 48th scale for different Aussie cabs.Check them out at www.hawkeyemodels.com.au. And no, the blades don't spin the other way,but try taking tail rotor authority off and see what happens to the fuselage!!

Chris,
Coming along nicely. I'm a bit of a "Choctaw/Wessex" fan myself, having logged a few hours in the type during my previous life. I know Chief Snake over at www.cobracompany.com makes interiors and cockpits for the HC3 and HU5
and I believe there are a few other companies that make conversions and detail sets for the type. I have two resin nose plugs for (HC2/HU5) and earlier version (HAS1??) which were originally done for the old Frog kit if anyone would like them. Also have an old C. Scale white metal set for the Sea King HAS/AEW2. Keep on plugging; practice and experience will out.

Your pics died man. I have seen the pics before though, looks great!

Ackk !

As the great and powerful Monty Python once said:
"I'm not dead yet !" (in an accent that can't really be captured in type)

I'm lookin at 'em.

Chris

I wouldn't call thast interior crude. I'd call it well done! Far better than I would have done! Keep up the great work! I'd love to see a shot of all your Sea Kings sitting next to each other.

Bossman
My scanner has packed it in but I'm picking up a new one this weekend so I'll get those Wessex photos to you ASAP.Sorry about the delay.
Mick

No hurry Mick,

I'm working on three right now: Sea King, Wessex, and a Hawker Hurricane - so I just put one on hold and work on the others when necessary. Thanks !

...and thanks again for the compliments guys. I got the front end glass installed and the framing painted last night. Progress is slow, but I manage a couple hours a week on it.

Chris

Isn't the front end glass a pain to put together? My kit was a little warped.

Rex,

One corner of the glass piece is popping out so that it's not quite flush with the fuselage surface - near the foot of the co-pilot. Its about 1/32" proud of the surface. I haven't really given alot of thought on how to correct it yet. Maybe re-gluing and clamping it will work. If I could have found a way to squeeze it just right while the glue was drying I wouldn't have had a problem. But I guess I rushed it a bit.

I've really been impressed by the detail and fit of this kit. It is quite intricate.

Duke,
I figure that after after I finish a third one - I'll post a pic of all of them in a thread titled "We Three Kings".

Chris

heya, im a big wessex fan and i was wondering...is the an AM set that i could use in the italeri 1/72 wessex? im after the engines for the nose, and maybe the transmission and rotor gearbox, can anyone help? if not do you know where there are any references? ive sorta got a 1:1 refernce at the navy base where i work, but DAMMIT its off limits to me!! (civvy apprentice) thanks for the help....Dan

Yeah I actually had trouble with the pilots side fitting with the fuselage. What I did was filled it in with clear glue (Elmers) and It looks fine now.

Dan: try searching for wessex books on yahoo and amazon.

Dan,

A recent FSM magazine from earlier this year had an article about detailing the Italeri kit. It was incredible ! - and it was the main inspiration for me buying the matchbox kit. The builder used several resin detail kits - but if I remember correctly, I think he had to scratch build the visible engine/tranny components. I know at least one of the resin AM bags was from Cobra Co - there's a link to their website in an earlier post in this thread.

As an update on the Sea King.. I'm at a point now where I've painted the complex camo pattern on the main body - but I really dont like the way it turned out. I'm going to have to go over the olive and dk blue grey colors. They just don't look dark enuf compared to the reference photo I have. Also - there was at least one error in the pattern shown in the instructions because there's an area on the top view that doesn't match up with the port side view. I think I figured out how to correct it. I think they forgot to add a single line in the port side view. An area that should have been partly dk blue grey and partly olive is shown in the instructions to be all dk blue grey. The camo pattern on the front face is not very clear. There is no front view to the painting instructions - so it leaves a little room for whimsical creativity.

If you're looking for a quick build - this is definitely not the kit ! There are tons of little fiddly pieces. It'll look like a hedgehog when it's finished. The camo scheme takes a long time just to lay out, and the decal sheet for this kit is gigantic - a good 50% or more are stencils. I'm thinking it will take several hours to do the decaling alone.

But it will be a very cool end product.

Chris

I am converting mine to one of the ones used during the falklands conflict. Simple scheme: Dark blueish greyish all around.

Rex,

How far along are ya ?

Chris

Bossman

Have you seen this? It may help you sort out your camouflage problems. Note that the patch of RAL 7021 shown on the port side, lower forward does not match any of the pictures I have seen.

Fly -

I'm not seeing a picture in your post. At this point, it might be too late. I put a future coat on three days ago and I got almost all the decals on the main body last night. If the 7021 doesn't have to go under any decals, I may still be able to make a change to it.

After putting the decals on, I realized I made the dark blue/grey and olive a little too dark. The dark grey word "MARINE" near the national insgnia on the rear is almost invisible because it has almost the same tone as the dk olive. At this point there's nothing I can do to fix that. Still - It looks nice. I'm happy with the way it's turning out

Chris

Quite far.  I have finished the paint scheme.  I am trying to figure out a way to get the sliding door to be able to slide and not have to glue it in place.  I don't really know what color to do the propellors.  I am using some decals from an old Italeri sea harrier FRS. 1 kit.

Rex,

That's one advantage that the Airfix kit has over the Revell kit - the slider can slide.

Chris