S61?

Haven't seen those guys in a long time.  I remember when Carson had the old S-58T's.  Did a lot of work in my hood back in the late 80's.  Seems Construction Helicopters out of Michigan gets the majority of the business as I see them most often.  Haven't seen Midwest, Carson, or McMahoan in years.

The Sea King would work.  (I understand they converted some old Navy helos.)  But not for the 61L.
Carson has a 61R also, an old converted USAF  HH-3H Jolly Green Giant.  That's the one I'de like to do in Carson colors.
Me, I would say the 1/48 Hasagawa kit. 

Good luck,
John

I was told this helo started out as a transport for Donald Trump so I'm assuming it is not a surplus Navy helicopter, Carson also shortend it (not really sure how one does that, sounds scary  ).

 

I have a little trouble with the Sea King / Jolly Green Giant, are they the same / very similar helicopter just Navy vs Army designations?

 

Would you suggest I look at the HH-3 or is a Sea King the best place to start. 

 

1/48 could work, because of the size of Air Tankers I lean towards 1/72 for aircraft and would even prefer 1/144 except the variety of kits is too limited (no P2V or S2). However I'm finding most 1/72 scale helicopters used in emergency services are pretty small so I've been thinking about going larger.

 

Thanks

I remember the Trump S-61L very well.  Didn't know they could shorten them.

Sea King is the best place to start.
They're plenty of the Sea King (SH-3) and Jolly Green (HH-3H)  in 1/72 if you would want to do both. Both are the H-3/S-61 family.

There's a big difference between the Sea King and Jolly Green.  Here's Carsons birds.
The 61R is pictured at the bottom

Here's your Sea King.

Here, for your references. 
Carson out west
Carson out East

Here's the Carson I remember.

H-3 ref pics.

Hope this helps
John

Hi AirMedical, try searching for an s61L or N @ www.aim72.co.uk ( I think that's right).  They make a Vac-u-form conversion for the S-61L and N.  Don't have one my self. but am long to get one... hoping an importer or the price will be right.  Other wise you and I are looking at lot of fill and sanding... buy the way did you see the air stairs(passenger loading) on the starboard side?

Another Question. where do 'you' have one of these that you call "our"??

Just courious...

 

Air 5 is out.

air 5 wrote:

Hi AirMedical, try searching for an s61L or N @ www.aim72.co.uk ( I think that's right).  They make a Vac-u-form conversion for the S-61L and N.  Don't have one my self. but am long to get one... hoping an importer or the price will be right.  Other wise you and I are looking at lot of fill and sanding... buy the way did you see the air stairs(passenger loading) on the starboard side? Another Question. where do 'you' have one of these that you call "our"?? Just courious...   Air 5 is out.

 

I work on the Sierra National Forest, Carson has had the contract for the type 1 helicopter we operate out of Mariposa, CA for the past couple of years. I guess technically its theirs but I refer to the engine I work on as Mine too, I guess I'm overly possessive.

 

As far as air stairs it just had a ladder type step.

Here is the other side

 I have pics all the way around the aircraft and in the cockpit, got some K-Max, and Skycrane walk arounds too (Siller & Erickson).

I'm pretty sure the K-Max would be a scratchbuild project from

 

Hi Air5

I didn't know those existed.  You would think someone state side would come up with something like that and make em. 
The web site worked but no pics.  Rats!

Aaron,

Well, there ya have it, you have an excuse now to make the various Carson S-61's. I want to see one of each and finished by next month.....oh!  ;-)

Hope to see pics!
Keep up the good work!
John

I hope this helps...

I 've worked on both SH3G and the S61L/N and there some differences in the machines Vs their Westland counterparts.

To start with you're going to need at least two SH3 kits as the S61L/N is longer in fuselage than it's military brotheren. This is most noticeable between the engine inlets and the cockpit.  All doors are on the right side of the S61 with the cargo door being forward to just behind the cockpit...leave room for the AUX SERVO compartment between the cockpit and the cargo door.  (Rough dimension would be the width of the air stair.)  Speaking of which, it is located aft where the cargo door begins, again on the right side.  Twin pitot tubes on the SH3 are on the roof aft odf the cockpit and fwd of the inlets. On the S61 they stick up on a mast through the "Beanie" as shown on your pictures. 

Word of note here a device called a "Bifilar" sits below the "Beanie" but above the rotor head, "Bifilar" was only use on the S61 and not on the SH3. Also delete all blade fold mechinisums and lines for S61, as it used an Air Force stile rotor head. (Some Air Force Heads used the "Bifilar" also)

As for the "rotary rudder" (tail rotor) Westland Commando had a 6 bladed tail rotor while the U.S. counterparts had a 5 bladed version. The Commando may be a good source of spares for 1/72 application because of the landing gear.

Landing grear SH3G and S61N both use the round stile floats/sponsons they can be the larger big stile or the narrower style with the floatation bags on the outboard sides of the unit. The S61L is the only version to use the sponsonless "L-Gear"  ( In the Commando kit). For 1/48,  Belcher Bits makes a nice set of the narrow sponsons with the correct inflateable floatation bags.

Lastly we come to the vertical fin, the S61's is longer and taller and sits at a steeper angle than the more graceful SH3 version. (I want to say closer to 45 deg, but that may not be correct) 

Oh, and both machines may/may not use the rescue hoist... Fun huh?

Well I've ordered the R-G 1/72 SH-3, it was $13 so if I completely butcher it, I'll at least have cheap parts and experience for my second attempt.  

 

NASA 736, thanks for the list of changes required, I probably won't bother with all of them but am going to attempt some of the more obvious, I'm going to have to redo the windows anyway so some of the fuselage modifications shouldn't kill me.

 

Airmedical the site with the S61L is back up, apparently they were gone for awhile, unfortuntely the S61 is not on their list of kits they hope to have available in 2007.

http://www.aim72.co.uk/default.htm

 

BTW I am currently working on a Carson S-58T similar to the one you posted, thought it would be good practice for the paint on the S-61.

 

Thanks to all of you for the help, hopefully I'll have this done by, oh say 2015.

Aaronw wrote:

Airmedical the site with the S61L is back up, apparently they were gone for awhile, unfortuntely the S61 is not on their list of kits they hope to have available in 2007.

I have experience with the AIM S61N-kit, and would not recommend it! It is pretty expensive and consists of two extremely basic lengthened fuselage halves with no windows or detail whatsoever. Decal windows are supplied though. The -N-kit also has two -N-sponsons, the only usable parts.

 http://www.helikitnews.com/issues/hkn103.htm

has a review.

In case of the (long) -L-version, I would just lengthen the fuselage just behind the cockpit with Evergreen plastic, scratch build the landing gear and rebuild the tail. I did this on the 1:48-kit and it was pretty straight forward.

The Carson-machine (Fire King) looks like a "Shortsky" or "Shortski"if you like.  Maybe they're the same length as a regular Sea King, and you would only need to rebuild the tail. On your Fire King pic, it looks as if the machine even has the normal Sea King aft cargo door, which would make things easier!

 

Anyway: good luck!

Gertjan

I was planning on using evergreen to make the changes, if it doesn't work out then I have a donor to use with a second kit. I figure once the kit shows up I'll compare it to my photos and go from there. I know the side windows are going to have to be changed which looks like fun

Thanks for the review of the S61L, guess its not so bad that it seems to be unavailable at the moment.