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Aerospatiale Gazelle HT2, XZ938/45 705 Naval Air Squadron


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I started this for the Helicopter II GB 3 ½ years ago, and ran out of time because an elderly relative died near the end.  It sat gathering dust almost complete for a while, and then I dropped it when my dog was around; he ate the starboard skid and starboard horizontal stabiliser end plate before I could get it from him.

 

Anyway, as people who have been kind enough to read my Sea King WIP thread know, a few days ago I decided it was about time I resurrected my lovely Gazelle.  A couple of hours of scratch building later, to replace the terrier-ingested parts, and here she is.  I will take some better pics over the weekend.

 

Original build thread here: 

Finished helicopter here: the airframe in which I flew my first rotary-wing solo, on Trafalgar Day 1985.

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Hope you like it!

 

Crisp

 

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And here's another Gazelle memory coming along...

Somewhere between '81 and mid '83 and again Odiham.

I think it was 7 Sqn Chinooks had helped in a chase after

cross channel drug smugglers who used a Gazelle.

We wandered over to their hangar. I remember the Gazelle

was grey, can't remember any markings but I do remember

that the main rotor seemed to be disconnected from the

drive train in that it could be turned freely, can't be right surely?

I wonder what happened to it?

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You'd be able to turn the main rotor fairly easily if the rotor brake was off - though you would be turning the whole drive train, the fenestron means it isn't terribly obvious when things other than the main rotor are turning.  The Gazelle is a very light aircraft, so not much oomph required to turn the head by hand - especially if you are used to Chinooks!  Not a bad aircraft to choose for the smugglers; fast, small radar cross section, relatively quiet (though that very distinctive fenestron whine) and not unusual, so it wouldn't stick out in people's minds.  

 

It's been a while - aside from this week's finishing scratch stuff - since I worked on this build, so I have re-read the WIP thread.  The kit is very much of its time; some of the detail is a tad sketchy, to put it mildly - the cockpit and instrument panel are very iffy - but the basics are sound and you can, with some effort, turn it into a nice Gazelle.  The rotor head and transmission mast in particular can be made to look very nice after a lot of careful knife / file work and some detailed painting, and they are the focal point of any helicopter build (and so often they look nothing like busy enough).  I also have the Heller 1/50 kit, which I have yet to tackle, but of the two I think I prefer Fujimi.  As someone said, oh for a modern 1/48 tooling, though I am not holding my breath.

 

Anyway, thanks everyone for your kind words.  On with the Sea King (which is a whole different level of complexity and is going to take me a long time yet!).

 

Crisp

 

 

 

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