andyf117

Certainly can't argue with something that 'Conforms to BS939 for Squareness'! As for the miniscule brass work - simply stuff that's right out of my league...

The best part was despite them coming from the US, they still only worked out at about seven quid each, including postage - back in the days before eBay's rip-off GSP... I think the most I ever had of one aircraft type was back in the late 80's when I decided to build one P-51B, C or D of each 8th AF unit that flew them - Fighter Squadrons, Fighter Group 'Hacks', Scouting Force and Photo-Reconnaissance. I amassed somewhere in the region of 50 Airfix and Monogram Bs and Hasegawa Ds - only ever built around a third of them!

It started off as intending to build one of each UK military variant, which expanded to include European ones... ....then a joblot of seven cheap Fujimi kits led to US, Canadian and Japanese versions getting added to the list... ....and sub-variants and 'specials' got added, and somehow I've ended up with almost three dozen Sea King kits!

Simple economics - replacing all the sponsons on 20+ kits would cost me over £100, about two-thirds of what I paid for the kits...

With regard to the H-53, see my response to the question over in the other thread:

And alleged to be responsible for the disappearance of some of its rivals:

Y'mean this one?

I wouldn't call them a disaster, but at £5.00 a pair for yours, I have too many to even consider replacing them - in the same way that others can live with the lack of rivets (and other detail) on the 'new' Airfix kits, or the myriad of issues with the Dragon ones, I can live with the undersize sponsons... ....I tried replacing one pair with a Fujimi set for last year's RAF 100 GB Grey Whale, but reverted back because the sit was all wrong - so ditched the idea of also using other spare Fujimi pairs for a few other select builds...

I conceivably, maybe, might, possibly, probably have something suitable in the stash as per the list compiled recently for a post in CedB's Sioux build thread: 23 Sea Kings 16 Hueys 8 Chinooks 8 H-53s 8 H-60s 7 H-46s 5 Wessex 4 Kiowa/Jetrangers 3 Merlins 3 Lynx 2 HH-3 Jolly Greens 2 Pumas 2 Apaches 2 Cobras 2 Dauphins 1 Cayuse 1 Cougar 1 Seasprite 1 Skycrane The likelihood is I'll end up doing a(nother) Sea King - maybe not, possibly, but in all probability, I will, though you never know, I might not, we'll see...

The Belvedere originated, of course, from a design for Naval use, hence the undercarriage arrangement and high sit, to allow easy loading of an underslung torpedo... ....so makes sense to use the same starter fuel as its contemporaries - shame no-one thought about designing it to fit onto a carrier lift and in a crowded hangar, etc!

It's already available, and the blade root placement shows it is for the folded position: https://reskit.com.ua/index.php?route=product/product&search=H-53&page=2&product_id=469

And according to a post at PPRuNe, the co-pilot's seat just had a curtain in the doorway behind to separate it from the engine compartment! https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/383552-belvedere-hc1-2.html#post5111295

Ah, OK, I wasn't there, of course - not either of these, then?

Which one?

It's multi-platform, with versions for Windows, Mac and Linux - I've never encountered a problem with it, and it's not memory-hungry or bloated like bigger programs...

Sorry, Bill - I only ever use Paint to reduce the file sizes of images I've created/edited using GIMP, and I've no idea how or why it alters their properties... ....all I do is open the image in Paint, click 'Save', close it again, and the file size has magically halved, or whatever - pure witchcraft, these MS programs! Seriously, though, give GIMP a try - totally free to download and use, and very capable. It can be a little awkward sometimes, but it has a lot in common with similar software, so it's fairly intuitive - and things like altering colours is quite straightforward... ....if you've still got it, email me a copy of the original interior, and I'll manipulate and send you back a few variations... GIMP link: https://www.gimp.org/

Can you not just 'select all' and adjust the colour? Or copy & paste in a different shade?

Sure I saw a range of Gator Glue only a week or two ago - possibly in Lidl? EDIT: Cancel that - getting my Gators and Gorillas mixed up!

That green might be a bit too green, but otherwise looking good... ....re-reading the earlier posts, deducing that the original Plan A gave way to a new Plan A, which I was calling Plan C? Plan B, is, of course, a hip-hop artist...

Grey Whale - so over-painted Yellow! You can just see the forward edge of the sea tray under the seats - better views back in the build thread here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235035890-revell-172-sea-king-har3-completed-twice/&do=findComment&comment=3024196

Well if Plan A doesn't work, and Plan B won't because of Plan A, there's always Plan C (for Card)... Fairly sure that is a floor you can see - wasn't the bulge on the port side where a passageway was, allowing access past the engine to and from the cockpit?

Been doing something similar for my Sea Kings - using GIMP II, made a page of cabin roofs, with variations as appropriate... ....but rather than transfers, they're simply printed onto thin card, and fixed in position with PVA glue - couple of examples:

The later Special Ops MH-53 Pave Low III fleet certainly did, to enable deployment on carriers, as evidenced here:

Didn't realise you were a time-travelling Martian, Martian... ....for the uninitiated, Stardate 1312.1961 is 06:19:49 on April 24, 2324...

All looking good, though I'd be slightly concerned about one thing - is it a slight distortion in the above photo, or do the stub wings have a bit of a 'forward sweep' to them? The root of the port one looks parallel to the fuselage side, but the starboard one definitely appears canted...