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First Build Since 1980's - 1:72 Westland Sea King HAR.3 (Starter Set)


MD80

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Hi All,

I have not built a model kit since I was a young teen back in the late 80's, and back at that time I had no money to buy equipment or models, so I never really took it serious. My son bought me two Airfix kits for Christmas this year, the Harrier GR9A and the Westland Sea King HER.3, both starter kit versions as he knows I love both the aircraft.

I have absolutely no idea what I am doing grinning, but I am keen to learn and have a go. I have watched a few YouTube videos and spent some time on this forum, and I am blown away with what is possible with model making. I am not expecting much from my efforts on these two kits, but I am going to give it a really good go, take my time and hopefully learn something to take on to future kits and slowly get better. My biggest worry is painting, but I will give it a go with my main goal being to get as nice and even surface coverage, and to add some panel lines in.


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I have decided to start with the Sea King Kit. I have junked the paints and glue (but kept the brushes). The yellow pot had very little paint in, and the rest were completely dried up. I popped down to my local model store on Saturday and bought some basic cutting tools, sand paper, a brush set, a pot of thin glue, and all the paints detailed in this kit (enamel), with some enamel thinners.

If anyone has built this kit and could offer me any experiences or pointers (for the beginner level), I would be very grateful.

I intend to use this post/thread to show my progress, issues, etc and ask some questions to hopefully get some guidance and advance from forum members to help me learn and build my knowledge and experience. I will also as specific question in the relevant forum sections when I get stuck or needs some help and reference back to this post/thread.


Thank you for reading, wish me luck.


Matt

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Hi Matt,


I built this kit a while back, it's a great kit but not without some minor accuracy issues that I don't think you will be too bothered by if returning to the hobby after all this time. This may sound like nit picking but to be honest with you, because I used to work on them I guess I notice these things.

Take your time, check fit before adding glue and I suggest investing in a set of Eduard pre-cut paint masks (catalogue No. CX517) for the glazing to make life easier.

Painting yellow can be a frustrating experience, I used a white primer as undercoat then several light coats of acrylic Model Air yellow with an airbrush.

I posted a thread with photos of my finished Sea King but they have since disappeared after the Airfix site was revamped.


Enjoy building your Sea King, keep us posted and just ask if you need any more advice on modelling or the aircraft itself.


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Hi MD80.

To see Kenneth's build see the post previous to your one as he's reposted his photos.

Painting an overall yellow is probably one of the most difficult things to do even with airbrushing. Seeing as you say you've brought enamel thinners I take it you're going to use enamel paints, it might be stating the obvious but don't try thinning acrylic paints with enamel thinners. Personally, I feel you're making thing difficult for yourself using enamels, I'd go down the acrylic route, it's much safer. Make your model into sub-assemblies and prime with an Tamiya can of white primmer or some other suitable matt lacquer from your local hard-ware store. (I'm sure other members can give you more advice on this.) This should give you a good start to painting the yellow colour.

Irrespective of which brand of yellow paint you use it'll probably need three or four thin coats to build up to a good solid colour, the white primer should help in minimizing any blotching, and I'd advise using a wide flat soft brush in the 15 to 20 mm range, and if you can get one that's cut at an angle you'll find it most useful. (The angled one is my go-to brush if painting large surfaces.) I take you're not using an airbrush. Just take your time and give the paint plenty of time to cure especially the second or further coats. the paint might feel dry after a 15 to 30 minutes, but it probably isn't totally cured and any further painting could pull of the previous coats off. Therefore leave it for at least 24 hours, maybe even longer for the third or fourth coats thoroughly cure. Finally take Richard's advice about the mask set, as a decently painted canopy framing can make a good model into an outstanding one.

Good luck (I just hope I haven't scared you off the build.) and hope to see the the result on the forum in the not to distant future.

Remember we do this for fun. John the Pom.

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