Falklands/Malvinas War 30th Anniversary GB

Thank you kindly for posting that image Azorean .

I went onto Aztec Models web site and just ordered the 1/72 scale sheet .

I like the look of the Argentine camouflage Sea King and that Westland Scout looks interesting as well , I have two Airfix Scout kits in the stash .

Tony , Your HMS Sheffield is amazing , Excellent work buddy .

I'm not a Store owner , I just have a ridiculously large stash of model kits ; Probably enough kit's that I could well open a store but I don't wan't to sell any of them . Bish was too kind when he mentioned it might be a bit of a fetish ...... It's more of an obsession , mostly with 1/72 scale military helicopters .

John .

The RAF alphabet decal sheets arrived and I placed the X and P letters in position on the HU-5 Wessex

I'll have a go with the "fishing line" antenna cable next and she will then be finished .

Bish , I'm having trouble getting the Chinook canopy to fit . Did you file the ends of your Chinook instrument panel ? . It seems to hit the inside of the canopy .

John .

Yep, was a right *** to fit. Had the same trouble again on this one. I had to thin the back of the IP. Also, i used PE which replaced the bits that come off the bottom of the IP. I had to trim this as well. Even then i had to force the canopy on and there were still some gaps. The biggest one was at the top centre of the canopy, i had to use putty for that. Also gaps around the bottom.

The canopy is the main and probably only let down on this kit.

P.S. Wessex is looking sweet.

Hi Bish and Vance,

I've moved on to my Harrier GR3, Italeri, 1/72. Can you chalk me in please.

Just did some light work tonight, cleaned up the seams on some of the stores.

Cheers

Tony

Gotcha Tony,

I'm calling the Westland Wessex HU-5 , XS518 /XP , No.847 NAS Falklands 1982 ; finished .

I struggled with the fishing line for the antenna as my line wasn't fine enough , along with the crappy super glue I was trying to use , I just couldn't get the antenna line taut enough . So I decided to go with the black thread .

The antenna line looks okay , perhaps a little overscale somewhat but given how thin the wire is on the real bird I think anything would probably look slightly over-size .

Anyway I'm happy with the build and I just wanted to get her finished and off the bench .

There's a broken submarine kill marking decal on the nose ...

My two reference books only have a small section devoted to the Falklands conflict and describes most HU-5's of 847 NAS , were landed at Port Stanley and thereafter in various locations in the Falklands , giving support to land forces in carrying troops , weapons , freight as well as casevac purposes .

So I'm not sure of the significance of the broken submarine marking ?

John .

Helo H-34

So I'm not sure of the significance of the broken submarine marking ?

John .

And like so much of the conflict, there's a lot of detail.

My understanding is that Westland XS518 was an HAS.3 at the time of the conflict, and was involved in the recapture of South Georgia Island. THAT in itself has enough data to keep you sling wings interested for a while. The ARA captured SGI on April 3rd, aided by two airlifts of marines in a Puma, which was destroyed at it's second landing.

On April 25th, the UK retook SGI in part because the submarine ARA S-21 Santa Fe was detected in a resupply mission and depth charged by an HAS.3 (XS518 ?) off HMS Antrim. Santa Fe was an ex-USN Balao, SS-339 Catfish, later converted to a Guppy and then sold to Argentina.

The SAS lost two Wessex 5's on the Fortuna Glacier, without loss of life.

The submarine battle also involved a Lynx and at least three Wasps, some armed with AS-12 missiles.

Santa Fe made it to port but later sank at the dock.

After the war the XS518 was converted to a HU-5, ala the model, and later to an HC5C, as such she was lost at Akrotiri in 1986.

I guess as a veteran of the war, and apparently a Navy helo at the time, she later became a symbol of the retaking of SGI.

Very nice build helo. Great job on this

I'm guessing that if this landed at Stanley, it was used after the campaign. Not sure on the broken sub marking either. The only argentin sub that was damaged was at South Georgia i believe.

Hi John

I have no affiliation with the company whatsoever, by I bought some black EZ-line from Red Roo models. It is the best stuff for any rigging on aircraft.  It has some elasticity, so cut it a little shorter than needed, anchor one end with CA gel then stretch slightly for a taut, easy to use, effective looking piece of rigging. I love the stuff, as you can tell. I don't want to sound like an advertisement so I'll leave you to google it rather than paste the link.

Cheers

Tony

John,

The Wessex is outstanding. You've put one on my build list. Hope to see many more

Cheers

Tony

Thank's guy's , as alway's I enjoy building any type of Sikorsky/Westland S-58 helo .

Tony , thank's for the tip on the EZ line from Red Roo models . I just ordered some and it should arrive by the middle of next week . With lot's of other on-going Wessex builds , I am definitly going to need something better for my antenna cables .

Bondoman , great info on the HU-5 Wessex , I had no idea she had started out as a HAS bird .

Back on the Chinook , I filed down the back of the cockpit instrument panel and rounded the corners a little as well

I  pushed it in as far as it would go to make sure it wouldn't hit the inside of the canopy

As Bish mentioned before , I also used quite a bit of masking tape to pull the canopy into place

The round fuselage windows are glued in place as well . So first thing in the morning I'll deal with the small gap at the top of the canopy and hopfully the Chinook will be not far off from masking and painting .

I've still been thinking about a HAS-3 Wessex build but I've had no luck so far trying to find something similar in 1/72 to make those depth charges . I did see a WIP post on another web site where a modeller scratch built some along with the brackets , here's a link ...

http://hyperscale.com/2007/features/wessexhas372ap_1.htm

It's an awesome build and gets me feel all 'brave and crazy' about having a go at a Humphrey HAS-3 Wessex . Making the brackets seems straight forward enough , I just wish I could find something to use as the depth charges . I guess I'll keep searching .

John .

Tony, i hadn't heard of that EZ line. I managed to find some in the UK. Nice one mate, its even black so doesn't need painting. Thanks for that.

They even tell you which one is best for certain scales.

John, that chinook canopy is a real bithc isn't it. But at least i know it wasn't something i did wrong. That gap at the top is rather big as well isn't it. I left my side windows out so i don't have to mask, just put some tissue inside so paint didn't get on the seats.

I've just picked up a couple of mags, The May edition of 'Model Aircraft' has four articles relevant to this GB.

Airwars in the South Atlantic

Watch Out there's a Humphrey about (John !)

Malvinas Deltas

Is this a Dagger...

Cheers

Tony

PS: The other one was FSM, er, of course.

Guys, I'm changing my next build from a Harrie GR3 to an FRS1. Due to the miracles of mold sharing between releases, I can do so and only not use a small part of the work I've done so far.

The reason for the change is that I've spent 30 years believing that the FRS1 was THE version of Harrier in the Falklands, and only learned about the GR3 recently, due to this GB.

Since I've now got an FRS1 kit, I can make it come alive.

I've got a resin Martin Baker bang seat and photoetched instrument panel to tart it up a bit.

Cheers

Tony

No problem, I have you switched up on the builders' list.

I'll have to see if I can track down that May issue of Model Builder , thank's for the tip Tony .

The Chinook canopy is nicely fitted in place . There are some quite large gaps top and bottom and after applying blobs of Micro Kristal Kleer into the gaps and letting it dry , I finished off sealing all round the canopy with a product called Selleys No More Gaps

It's a water clean up sealant , not silicon . I find it's great for wing root joins like on F-4 Phantoms and A-4 Skyhawk aircraft builds and also around canopies if there are larger than usual gaps . You need to mask any clear parts to avoid any smearing and I just wipe it on with dry cotton tip and wipe off with a wet cotton tip

I'll let it dry over night and I can finally start masking the Chinook . Bish I thought about leaving the round fuselage windows out to save me time masking them but I'll just use little balls of Blu-Tack (poster tack) and mask them that way .

I've also made a start on the Sikorsky S-58ET Helicopteros Marinos

I have airbrushed the interior pieces medium gray and found some stretchers to add to the cabin section

I drilled and filed out for an extra forward window on both fuselage halves and I borrowed a fuselage cabin door from a HU-5 Wessex kit and added an extra window in the door as well

My build will be standing on her legs with rotors intact , unlike the reference pic I'm using showing the S-58ET in the most undignified position on her belly on the back of a truck ....

John .

Blue tac, why didn't i think of that. And you done a great job on the chinook canopy. That no more gaps looks handy as well. I just used filler and CA glue on mine, but means a bit of sanding. I'll get some pics up later today.

John,

You've got the most interesting collection of bulldog clips that I've ever seen.  Good job on the Chinook. I've used PVA glue for the same purpose as No More Gaps, didn't think of it. In fact I can see this happening on the under side of the wing roots on my Sea Harrier.

Cheers

Tony

John, excellent work on your Wessex and all those other helicopters you're bringin' to us. Very well done!

Heres the update pics of the Chinook. I still have to do some sanding along the top. I have added the canopy but have no piccys of that. And as i am sure John knows to well, it was a pain in the butt.

It'll be a good looking thing when it's done Bish.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks, i am hopeing it turns out as well as the other one as i was really pleased with tha. And as this is for someone else, which i have never done before, i don't want to disapoint.

Helo - nice option with the next S-58 - I assume that machine was left in civvy paint & used for med-evacs?? A different looking scheme for sure.

Bish - Chinook part 2 is coming along well too. Does this one also have the full-on interior treatment that you gave the first one?

Ye, everything is the same. Even got the same base and Falklands patch. I forgot to take pics of the fuselage interiour before i put it together. Been able to get some paint on, should have the green on by the end of the week.

Able to get a midweek update this week. Not a great change from the last pics. After the sanding, i was able to get the Grey on last night.

 I should be able to get the green on tomorrow night, so more at the weekend.

A question for Jere:

My Neptune is green brown. Came from the bad feelings vs Chile in 1978 or so.

You had the colors, but I can't find the post upstream in this VERY successful GB.

Please remind me.

Bill

Bish second Chinook?? great ;D

Nice deuce Bish. I'ts an unusal and outstatnding effort to get two Chinooks done.

Cheers

Tony

bondoman

A question for Jere:

My Neptune is green brown. Came from the bad feelings vs Chile in 1978 or so.

You had the colors, but I can't find the post upstream in this VERY successful GB.

Please remind me.

Bill

Too many pages to sort through - I guess that's a good problem, right??