Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 I've had this kit in the stash since it was first issued several years ago, just as the Sea King fleet were facing retirement. on first inspection the detail looks good on the external surfaces, with indented panel lines that aren't to deep, and all the countermeasure sensors that a modern military helicopter carries supplied as separate parts.Two schemes are supplied both around 2010, one with a temporary winter whitewash applied, which is far the most interesting. I wanted to backdate it to a Falklands War machine, until I noticed it only had the postwar composite blades supplied, so I've gone for the plain green kit option, as I couldn't face the masking for the green and white one!Talking of rotor blades, two sets are included, one normal spread set, and the other fully folded, to go with the option of a folded tail. Other options are open or closed main cabin and pilot doors, and early or later intake dust filters (only later one needed for this kit).The instructions are the usual Airfix style, but, apart from internal callouts, paint references are few and far between. For example there are no specific callouts for the door gun, or undercarriage legs.Decals, as usual, are good by Cartograf, and include stencil and window frames, as well as rotor tip markings.I've already cut out the instrument panel ones.Before any major assembly all the internal parts need painting. I heavily weathered the deck and bulkheads, as being a troop transport helicopter, it would see a lot of dirty Royal Marine boots! simple belts were added with sliced Tamiya tape.As can be seen full troop seating is supplied, as well as crew seats. The instructions call for everything in the cockpit to be black, but I added orange pilot cushions as that is what I saw on the internet for this type.That's it for now, more to follow soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 I'll follow your build PMM with interest as I've got this kit in my stash too. The winter camo scheme does look far more interesting, but as you say would be scary to try and apply!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul71 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Hi pm would this help you out for the undercarriage, i know its the camo one but the all green one iv got was taken at a bit of distance on a very wet day so isn't as clear as this, I took this picture in 2012. The only picture of a gun on a helicopter is an American huey with an m60 i can post that if you want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 If it helps any, I've got a photo (sorry, copyright) of a HAS-1 with natural sheepskin covers on the 2 cockpit seats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 Hi pm would this help you out for the undercarriage, i know its the camo one but the all green one iv got was taken at a bit of distance on a very wet day so isn't as clear as this, I took this picture in 2012. The only picture of a gun on a helicopter is an American huey with an m60 i can post that if you want Hi Paul, Thanks, that is a useful photo, it will help with the undercart and the tiedown points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul71 Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 you are welcome pmm happy to help, getting to an air show early lets you see things before they unwrap them for the day joy, found the side view of it now and the rear tiedown point, if you save the pictures the will open up quite large Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 There has been some more progress on the Sea King. The interior has been assembled, and inserted into the starboard side of the fuselage. I've had no issues with fit so far, and was especially impressed with the fit of the deckhead (roof) piece. Detail is generally good inside, the only obvious place where more could be done in structural detail on the fuselage sides. Because of the limitations of this site I've had to split this post in two, but more's following shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted June 27, 2021 Author Share Posted June 27, 2021 Before the fuselage was closed up the ports (windows) needed to be inserted from the inside, including the blank for the rear starboard opening. The clear parts seemed a little to large for the openings and some adjustment around the sides of the openings needed to take place. The blank fitted okay, but some filler and a lot of sanding took place to make the join invisible. Another task before closing up was to drill out all the holes for the ECM fit and aerials.The two sides went together with a good fit.Then the underside panel went on. The fit here was not so good, with quite large gaps along the edges.Looks like I'll have some filling to do here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 So now the undercarriage sponsons have been added and all joints filled if needed, and sanded down. as can been seen from the second photo, quite a bit of filler was needed for the underside plate. One issue with the undercarriage cross piece is that Airfix tell you to apply the walkway decal before adding the cross strut. But I left it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Looking good PMM with steady progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 A lot of the smaller parts are now fitted, and the main colour painting has been started. The folded tail rotor and pilot canopy are only push fitted at the moment. The only extra I've done is to drill some lightening holes on the frames that hold the sensors either side of the upper cockpit.In the final pictures painting is done and it's ready for decals.When finally fitting the canopy I had some issues, and had to prise the nose panel off to get a good fit. I would suggest not fitting the panel until you are ready to fit the clear parts, and do it all in one action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 After a coat of Klear the decaling went ahead. As expected there was no problem with the Cartograf decals, but some were tiny. For example do we really need 6 decals on each CO2 bottle on the undercarriage, which are about 3mm across! The main rotor has a total of 30 decals (6 on each blade), and the tail rotor has 18 (3 for each blade). I used the tip markings, but in hindsight it would have probably been easier to mask and paint the, as they need touching up afterwards anyway.This was then all sealed with a couple of coats of vallejo matt varnish, detail painting, and touchups completed, and final assembly finished. The folded rotor head needed supported while the solve cured. Final touches were a little weathering around exhausts, refueling points and wheels, then adding the aerial wire, and it was finished.Overall I enjoyed this build, most of the fit was good, with a few exceptions, and good detail is provided from the box. I ay get another to do the RAF yellow rescue bird next, but I would like to see the earlier type rotors added so 70's to Falkland's War Sea Kings can be built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 Last two photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 The finished article looks very good indeed. I was never convinced by the box art to buy one [unusually], but your model has changed my mind. Thank you very much for sharing with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 Thanks Dominic,Don't worry, there are plenty of mistakes and imperfections close up! But that's all part of modelling and getting better, if we got it perfect every time what would be the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleD Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Very nice - tempted to try this one myselfthumbsup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth ONeill Posted July 7, 2021 Share Posted July 7, 2021 Nice. Also, FWIW the SAR bird has a different main cabin layout to the Junglie (qv); One caution if you buy the starter kit SAR bird the dinghy pack is shown as the wrong colour (grey instead of yellow). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 Thanks Kenneth, Different seats and layout are possible depending on which holes you open up in the floor and which optional seats are chosen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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