richard shea

What a great kit. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of building this - unputdownable. The detail Airfix crammed in is just brilliant. it is obvious that there will be a HAR3/3A and HC4 Junglie in later boxings. I added some extra detail; Seatbelts and inertia reel drums. Rotor brake handle at the pilots overhead panel. Electrical and hydraulic connectors blanks and winch attachment mounts above the cargo door. Hot rod/ice accretion indicator under the second pilots footwell window (a cut down bristle). Tail fold unlock warning flag made from a piece of paper painted red. Forward door hold open stay and step restraint braces. (Not fitted at time of photos) HF aerial cable from fine thread. Some other observations on this kit. What’s good. Instrument panel and consoles are excellently detailed. External surface detail and panel lines. Mesh grills over gearboxes. Rotor head (within the limits of injection moulding technology). Filler points and sight glasses for the Intermediate and Tail rotor gearboxes. Lower hull detail and aerials. Engine bays have the potential for super detailing or aftermarket resin parts. Small stuff, e.g., wing mirrors, tail pylon break ratchet, disconnect coupling on the tail rotor drive shaft fold point. Troop seat canvas texture. ASW dipping equipment. Forward doorsteps and tread recesses. Flotation bags details and creases. Optional tail and main rotor blades including folded option. The plastic. EAPS/SNIPS engine intake filter box assembly surface detail. MSS/FLIR turret and downlink antenna. Cockpit glazing – wipers and screen wash nozzles. What could be better? Forward door, upper and lower hold open stays and cable restraint. Winch connectors for hydraulic and electrical plugs. Winch frame spot lamp. The ASW radome could do with a murphy proof tab to ensure correct orientation when attaching to mount frame. No wet fit floor/sea tray option – this is a major feature of any SAR Sea King. Lack of seatbelts. Weighted tyres. Lack of MS 10 crew life raft. The cargo door crewman’s grab rail (D28) is in the kit but no reference in the instructions. EAPS/SNIPS engine intake compressor wash connectors not featured. These are located just above the forward entry door. No sea anchor lanyard. Rotor brake handle at pilot’s overhead panel. No Semi-Automatic Cargo Release Unit (SACRU) option or release cable. The retail price is also very competitive in my opinion.

Yes. 10% discount for club members per the club rules.

I am beyond excited about this kit, even if it is a navy cab it still looks like a great kit and a sure fire big seller. The sprues clearly indicate a HAR3 and HC4 as future editions; I’m not sure about a 3A as I haven’t seen the inside of the LH fuselage that might have holes to drill out for the VHF aerial masts. Amongst the clues are the domed observation windows and pressure refuel point next to the cabin door (there is another pressure refuelling point under this door with blanking plates depending on the variant). There are holes to drill out on the tail boom for the VOR-D grab handles style aerials applicable to HAR and HC cabs. For the HC4 there is the longer troop step and IR jammers on the clear sprue; I expect a new sprue for the fixed landing gear & sponsons, GPMG and pintle and maybe some other antennae’s etc. If I had anything to grumble about it would be the lack of a SACRU cargo hook or an engine (like the 1/48 Buccaneer, I get there are cost implications) but an AM supplier will fill this gap I’m sure. Maybe the later HAR boxing will have some interior stuff like the stretcher, MS10 dinghy and other role equipment. What I do like is the crew controllable spot lamps, they are on the clear sprue so hopefully can be fitted in any position - as they often were when the cabs landed and were shut down. I also like the price, but it is still a navy cab. well done Airfix

I finished this Sea King earlier this year for a group build at my local club. This is the second Sea King I’ve done, the other being the yellow HAR3. Operation Mikado was a botched mission to insert British special forces into mainland Argentina. The mission required flying a stripped down Sea King loaded with SF troops at the limits of the helicopters range - it would be a one way trip. I had to make quite few modifications to backdate this kit to 1982. Most of the lumps and bumps were cut off or used and a blister fairing added to the right hand side. Another major change was to replace the main rotor blades from the kit for a set robbed from the Cyber Hobby kit. The blades in the Airfix kit are the later composite style and have a different profile. Other additions include detail on the tail fold, rotor head hyd lines, leaving off the rescue winch (I assumed this would be removed for weight saving) and adding plastic rod for the mounts and hyd/elect plugs and scratch made VOR-D aerials on the side of the tail boom. Decals came from the kit, the spares box and Xtradecal. A bit of mix and match went on here to get something that resembled what few reference photos I could find. On the left side of the cab I replicated the removed squadron crest by cutting out a mask outline and applying Matt varnish, the rest of the cab is semi gloss. Weathering was limited to exhaust soot and streaking grime down the cab sides of oil and comp wash fluid.

My photos disappeared after the site revamp so I though I'd add them again.

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.

All done. Built mostly out of the box with Eduard cockpit and mask set used. Very nice kit but it needed a bit of shimming between the wings and lower fuselage but not much other filling needed.

Zinc chromate is a good shout. I recall from my airframe training course (many years ago) the gear and equipment compartments being this colour. Google Jaguar GR1 Landing Gear Bay for images. Landing gear bays vary from aircraft to aircraft so do your own research.

This is the new tool Sea King from Airfix using an aftermarket EAPS/SNIPS air intake filter, wire for the VOR/ILS aerials on the tail boom and 202 Sqn insignia from the spares box. Built as a HAR3 allocated to D flight based at RAF Lossiemouth around 2002-4. It's a great little kit but not without some accuracy issues that aren't difficult to correct. She is very clean with subtle and minimal weathering. A future build of the "Grey Whale" Falkland Islands version is in the queue which is also destined to become a 202 Sqn cab from the same period. /media/tinymce_upload/2faf46b851dd22a7e8035b5e26b25dd9.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/621c192aae0898fc97d5caa613008db2.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/5ec60bb5ddf5ae05dbbf0ae7b2d0ca2f.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/ef690eb2a442b0483c74ad32007b6516.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/aeac60103e573f1097fdb4e6f5db6048.jpg

You could try Alton Model Centre, the last time I was in there he had one on the shelf.

The Dark Grey Sea King HAR3‘s were indeed used by 78 Sqn in the Falkland Islands, one of their other distinguishing features was the RWR fairings on the nose and under the tail boom. Sea King HAR3 XZ586 (from memory) in Dark Grey with RWR equipment was allocated to D Flt 202 Sqn at RAF Lossiemouth as late as June 2003 before leaving the Sqn for a major servicing at St. Mawgan - I believe the RWR was removed and she returned to service with a shiny yellow paint job. One of the first jobs I did on this cab was to replace the upper personnel door with a part robbed from the other standby cab - which was yellow - until parts for the original door were received, for a few days in late 2002 she flew with a multi-coloured personnel door. In June 2003 I spent a week in Benbecula changing her main rotor gearbox in the open air because there were no hangars.

Harrier GR3, 4 Squadron, Royal Air Force Germany This is the Airfix new tool 1/72 Harrier with CMK resin engine and nozzle set, Freightdog replacement fin, Airwaves RBF pennants and Pavla aftermarket seat; the decals are from the kit. Built and displayed to depict a deployed operations field maintenance task on the Rolls Royce Pegasus engine with MT, GSE and other clutter to recreate a typical scene in RAFG during the 1980’s. The camouflage netting was omitted for clarity and all reference photos showed field maintenance without it anyway. The Bedford MK bowser is the ex-JB models kit modified with scratch built wing mirrors, bonding strap and hessian screen cover. A Wiking 1/87 scale Unimog was repainted and detailed with a Kingfisher miniatures resin trailer load, Bren Gun crew steps, spare decals and scratch built mirrors. All of the other accessories were from Flightpath, various model railway aftermarket suppliers or scratch built while all scenery was from Woodland’s Scenics on expanded polystyrene in a box frame from Hobbycraft. Clutter includes drip trays, floodlights, oil/jerry cans, generator, cables, chocks, toolkits and caddy, fire extinguisher, scaffolding, Houchin and a lineys jacket hanging from one of the pylons. Figures are from Noch, Preiser and Matchbox. /media/tinymce_upload/884b804bcc52d15db86e7c2eb1f567da.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/ca2026a1d0558522031fce7dc7677394.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/3c571b74b51d78b13c4a9957e77762eb.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/0f918a3f3ef5d9028cb848bd8213b1c5.JPG

I don’t remember much about that weekend to be honest, only that a copious volume of beer was consumed.

Buccaneer, in 1/72 or 1/48. Seaking HAR3/3A, in 1/48. Phantom FGR2, in 1/48. Puma HC1/2, in 1/72 or 1/48. That is all...

This old Airfix kit has been embellished with white metal intake filters and the Whirlybirds detailing and decal set to create 230 Sqn's Puma HC1 as shown at RIAT Fairford in 1997. I was on this detachment and after helping to stick all those tigerstripes on and then applying a coat of PX to make it shiny I retired to the beer tent for the weekend. We were fortunate to take a cab to Fairford that year as the Sqn was heavily tasked with supporting the RUC and Army; the IRA announced their second ceasefire during the detachment. No special paint scheme could be applied to the aircraft and all the decals were made from black self adhesive fablon type material pre-cut before departure and applied at Fairford. It all had to be removed again before the return flight to RAF Aldergrove where it was discovered that the adhesive from the decals had remained on the paint and attracted lots of exhaust particles! There is some silvering to the decals and this is due to lousy paint and varnish...made in China. The Whirleybirds kit is excellent and includes plenty of lumps and bumps to recreate a Puma in the NI P1 or P2 role as a Nitesun light and mounting frame is in the kit, a small deficiency is the lack of the intake filters and Jimpy and pintle for the RH cabin door. Composite rotor blades with the correct droop are also in the aftermarket kit. It's about time Airfix re-tooled this kit and upgraded it to the current HC2 model perhaps. /media/tinymce_upload/238bdd4be05fd8a27b72ce40ba3d6333.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/4e31ac258e5281594669f433b773f8f0.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/0d05ea5d17ff88992af2d29447f3cefb.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/9911102fc53ac3b2d6986c2269370d73.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/84bfd11bce89bf945305dd32ee835dde.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/9663bec31e7d07666708f661ae5b1771.JPG

This is all out of the box except tape for the seat belts and Lycra for the HF aerials and painted with Vallejo Model Air paints and varnishes with a Mig pin wash and pigments for the exhaust stains. I had some problems with the engine nacelles to wing joins and two decals that go over a couple of air scoops. The base is scratch built and has been used before for my Nimrod MR2 build, both aircraft types operated from RAF Kinloss so this model looks quite at home /media/tinymce_upload/e73d74c9bdc98f24fd6a99c5f59052cc.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/44feedd2383476b958b74514b53eaf2e.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/fb7e06eefd502bc34814bb8e7b727cab.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/7690551316744cc90e169f060724b86f.JPG/media/tinymce_upload/1b444514865038ddad6b2923c5e02edc.JPG