RAN Mk.31A Wessex, 1965

[abat]

My build is a Royal Australian Navy Mk 31A in 1/72 scale from the Italeri HAS.3 kit. The 31A was an export version of the HAS.1. First task, as always, is to decant the contents into a top-opening box in place of Italeri's end opener. 

 

 

I've chosen to model an aircraft from February 1965 when the Wessex were an integral part of the part of the rescue and transportation of RAN personnel following the HMAS Melbourne / HMAS Voyager collision off Jervis Bay - Australia's worst peace-time naval disaster. The photo below from the Australian War Memorial (copyright expired) was taken on the deck of the carrier Melbourne the morning after the collision.

 

 

The early airframes appeared somewhat different from the latter 31A's and had no floatation devices attached to the front wheel hubs, a bare metal grill over the front intake rather than mesh, a different arrangement of serial numbers and markings, no winch (although a framework appears in the photo above) and of course no horse collar over the transmission cowling that came with the 31B upgrade. The photo below, also copyright expired from the AWM, shows an early N7-215 (825) above HMAS Melbourne. You can see the Doppler radar heads and what looks like sonar underneath the foreword fuselage. And this time no winch at all. 

 

 

I'll be supplementing the Italeri kit with some Eduard etch and the Rotorcraft fuselage extension plug. Other bits and pieces will be scratch-built or scavenged as required. The Australian boxing of the kit includes a small sheet of RAN decals (with proper kangaroos this time, not the usual Italeri skinny rat-like creatures) with markings for N7-221, 831. 

 

 

For reference I have the well-regarded 4+ book, numerous photos from the  ADF-Serials and Australian War Museum websites and my own photos of the last remaining RAN 31A (N7-217, 827) at the Queensland Air Museum in Caloundra. 

https://abat.smugmug.com/Fleet-Air-Arm/Aircraft-Walkarounds/Wessex-Mk31A/

 

Only minor progress to date - I've roughly cut out the front grill, and re-modelled the underbody conduits based on the 4+ plans. The Doppler radar head is made from small resin decorative beads sanded to the correct diameter. 

 

Really looking forward to this build. Andrew

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by abat
Added link to Wessex walkaround, corrected image link

[heloman1]

Hi Andrew, welcome, good to see something different. Looking forward to your progress pics.

 

Colin

[moaning dolphin]

A nice choice and what heloman said above, nice to see something different. Cant wait to see this one progress.

 

Bob

[abat]

7 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Andrew, welcome, good to see something different. Looking forward to your progress pics.

 

Colin

 

Thanks Colin,

I forgot to add a progress pic in my original thread.. here are the conduits and nose. 

 

 

3 hours ago, moaning dolphin said:

A nice choice and what heloman said above, nice to see something different. Cant wait to see this one progress.

 

Bob

 

Thanks Bob. I'm looking forward to the build and seeing how everyone progresses.

Andrew

[heloman1]

If you can get another pair of those green bawbles they might just do for the air bottles in the nose intake.

 

Coiin.

[moaning dolphin]

5 hours ago, heloman1 said:

If you can get another pair of those green bawbles they might just do for the air bottles in the nose intake.

 

Coiin.

 

We must be on the same wavelength, that's what I was thinking lol! I was looking for some suitable sized baubles for my build and it is amazing how few small spherical objects one has in their house! Nice start by the way, there is something aesthetically pleasing about a Wessex 1/3 with an open intake!

 

Bob

[heloman1]

I was using 6 or 8mm clear acrylic spheres from EMA in Feltham. They are a sod to sand as the rear has to be curved to fit the cowl inside the intake. That's part 27B  the front nose section is good to go as is. I've a feeling I sent the masters for the nose to Colin at Frieghtdog for casting and then sale in the ROTORcraft range. Similarly I sent him the master for the 72nd Wessi HAS Mk1/31 too.

 

Colin

[abat]

14 hours ago, heloman1 said:

If you can get another pair of those green bawbles they might just do for the air bottles in the nose intake.

 

Coiin.

 

8 hours ago, moaning dolphin said:

 

We must be on the same wavelength, that's what I was thinking lol! I was looking for some suitable sized baubles for my build and it is amazing how few small spherical objects one has in their house! Nice start by the way, there is something aesthetically pleasing about a Wessex 1/3 with an open intake!

 

Bob

 

Triple snap! The baubles are left over from my original 31B build a few years back (below) where I used them for just that (and the Doppler). Problem is there hidden behind the grill. Not this time though. 

 

 

This shows the colour scheme of the RAN birds - white over blue.  

[modelling minion]

If your RAN Huey is anything to go by then this should be a cracker.

[abat]

48 minutes ago, modelling minion said:

If your RAN Huey is anything to go by then this should be a cracker.

 

Thank you very much. 

[heloman1]

Hi Andrew. I just had alight bulb moment, after I found my abandoned Wessi Mk1 build (yes another, along with anothe HU 5). The two cool gas generator bottles for the flot gear are just the right size and may well in reallity have been the same. Parts 24D in stagees 8 + 9. Suitably cut and sanded to fit. Hope this helps.

 

Colin

[abat]

23 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Andrew. I just had alight bulb moment, after I found my abandoned Wessi Mk1 build (yes another, along with anothe HU 5). The two cool gas generator bottles for the flot gear are just the right size and may well in reallity have been the same. Parts 24D in stagees 8 + 9. Suitably cut and sanded to fit. Hope this helps.

 

Colin

 

Thanks for the tip Colin, do you mean 38B below?

 

[heloman1]

That's the ones Andrew, different numbers depending o which kit you thave,,,

 

Colin

[TonyTiger66]

Hello Andrew,

I'm going to pull up a seat and follow this one if it's ok?  

 

I live quite close to the museum here in Queensland; I'm looking forward to seeing how a model of the 31A goes together.

 

Looking good so far and you have excellent references  .

 

All the best

TonyT

 

(A 'Pom' down under  ).

[abat]

11 minutes ago, TonyTiger66 said:

Hello Andrew,

I'm going to pull up a seat and follow this one if it's ok?  

 

I live quite close to the museum here in Queensland; I'm looking forward to seeing how a model of the 31A goes together.

 

Looking good so far and you have excellent references  .

 

All the best

TonyT

 

(A 'Pom' down under  ).

 

Thanks Tony,

Its a good museum at Caloundra, tons of stuff to see and great reference material. 

Cherrs, Andrew

[abat]

A bit of progress today. I've started cutting and cleaning up parts for the cockpit and cabin. The interior of the fuselage has some prominent sinkholes so I've started filling those in. I also have the Eduard HAS3 etch set so I'm looking at what is appropriate to fit into the HAS.31. The IP is probably a little different but close enough tucked away in a 1/72 build. 

 

Also so thinking about interior colours. A post from our own Steve L on another forum stipulates an entirely black cockpit, green soundproofing on the bulkhead, light grey IP, royal blue seat belts, black seat frames and cushions varying from bright orange to a dark brown. This is for a RAN 31B. Best get started!
 

[NAVY870]

On 11/17/2016 at 3:34 PM, abat said:

 

 

Also so thinking about interior colours. A post from our own Steve L on another forum stipulates an entirely black cockpit, green soundproofing on the bulkhead, light grey IP, royal blue seat belts, black seat frames and cushions varying from bright orange to a dark brown. This is for a RAN 31B. Best get started!
 

 

31A was the same inside.

[abat]

2 hours ago, NAVY870 said:

31A was the same inside.

 

Thanks Steve, I was going to assume the same. Did they have lambs wool seat cushions?

 

By the way, an interesting connection emerged with the build the other night. I was showing my older brother the kit and he recounted the day the new Wessex aircraft arrived at HMAS Albatross, Nowra late in 1962. He was a teenager playing golf on the airbase course when the trucks with huge wooden crates drove  past. I was just a toddler so I missed out on the excitement. 

[Caerbannog]

Great choice! I always liked this scheme.

René

[abat]

6 minutes ago, Caerbannog said:

Great choice! I always liked this scheme.

René

Cheers, but ease up on the popcorn, this may take a while. Andrew

[NAVY870]

2 hours ago, abat said:

 

Thanks Steve, I was going to assume the same. Did they have lambs wool seat cushions?

 

By the way, an interesting connection emerged with the build the other night. I was showing my older brother the kit and he recounted the day the new Wessex aircraft arrived at HMAS Albatross, Nowra late in 1962. He was a teenager playing golf on the airbase course when the trucks with huge wooden crates drove  past. I was just a toddler so I missed out on the excitement. 

The RAN does not use lambs wool seat covers, who do you think we are? The Air Force?

 

One of the boxes full of Westland treasure

 

 

825 was the only Wessex lost that involved fatalities when 2 crew were killed after a catastrophic input bevel gear failure in the main rotor gearbox. the aircraft rolled inverted and impacted with 

the below results, still amazes me how anybody got out of it

 

 

 

[abat]

6 hours ago, NAVY870 said:

The RAN does not use lambs wool seat covers, who do you think we are? The Air Force?

 

Certainly not, purely interested from a modelling accurateness-like perspective. Fly Navy, that's what I say. In penance for even thinking such things, must I now crack open my 1/72 Sea King and remove the said comfy cushions? 

 

Tragic end for 825 and sad loss of life. 

 

 

Too small to read the print but the original PDF can be downloaded here if you scroll to September 7. 

http://www.navy.gov.au/media-room/publications/navy-news/1984

 

And lastly, a minty fresh Wessex assembled from the big box together with the required dignitaries and a scale model of itself. Certainly has that "new car" look. 

 

 

 

[abat]

Time for some action ...

 

i have the Eduard etch set so spent time today bending that and fitting it to the cockpit. Hoping to get to the stage soon where I can prime the cockpit and cabin and work on the interior. Currently I expect to model it door closed so won't be going to town on interior fittings. The cockpit however should look the business with all the etch and stuff. There's still some complex folding required for the cockpit sides but I needed to glue the nose into their respective fuselage halves first.

 

 

Last time I built this kit I assembled the nose first and glued it to the assembled fuselage. This time, I'm taking the lead from others building this kit and joining the nose to fuselage halves first. The fit isn't all that great and I ended up taping the halves together in order for it to dry in somewhat of a nicer manner. I can still see a bit of work tidying these joins up. Should be a  doddle after my recent Eastern Express Sea Venom.  

[abat]

The cockpit and cabin is now painted and and awaiting weathering. Certainly an interesting colour scheme. I used Tamiya "rubber black" together with some personal mixes from Vallejo Model colours - red/brown/black for the seat cushions and a blue/yellow/white for the greens. 

 

 

Here's a question. The HAS.3 etch has a full-length roof console with the kit providing a small piece to cover the upper middle window pane. 

 

 

 

The 4+ drawings of the HAS.1 show this area as clear glass/Perspex without the cover. It's hard to find a decent photo of this part of the Mk.31A but the little bump does appear to be missing. So if this is the case, what does the roof console look like? Is it full length still?

 

And the last bit ... I've tried modelling the interior of the nose by modifying the intake hood from the HAS.3 kit. It doesn't quite match my reference photos (too broad) so I'm going to look for a suitable bit of curvy plastic in the spares box. Radomes perhaps? The air bottles and their semi-circular covers, etc are also needed. 

 

 

Here's the real thing. Quite distinctive. 

 

 

 

[perdu]

By my observations ALL the noses on any kits except the original Frog moulds are too wide 

 

 

I always fill the inside front piece with Milliput and file it away, making it rounder