Daedalus72

There are some small sections of fuselage/cockpit frames which survive with a private collector in the Burnley area. These were recovered from a quarry in Cumbria over 30 years ago and even then they were in pretty poor condition. I am not aware of any progress regarding restoration

Wow that's great, just what I was looking for. The parts in the Flightpath set are obviously meant to represent the later type. Thanks again everybody

Thanks, but it is the bottles (cool gas generators?) that inflate the bags that have me confused. AFAIK, the cans were the same as the Wessex. The bottles are fitted to the rear of the stub wing and can't be seen from the front, and I have no clear photos of the mounting bracket. Thanks again

Hi guys, I am converting the Hasegawa Sea King into a HC 4 in the initial delivery fit using the Flightpath detail set. Much of this is not applicable but the floatation bottles and flot cans are included. All the photos I have found seem to show the bottles as spherical in shape similar to the Wessex type, and contained within a bracket below the stub wing. The items in the Flightpath set are oval in shape and much bigger, and the instructions seen to indicate fitting them below the supplied etched bracket. Are these bigger bottles a later upgrade or incorrect? Thanks

Cheers at very much

I am building the Italeri 1/48 Wessex 1 as the Commando version, These early aircraft do not have the twin HF aerials but there appears to be an aerial on the port side from the area of the normal stanchion at the rear of the tail cone which runs forward. I have not been able to find a picture of the forward end of this aerial. Any info on this would be most welcome

Just been perusing the instructions for the kit,and I can't see any reference to the pipework on the fuselage sides, but maybe I'm just being thick. Also the more I look at the way Fly have done the nose door intake,the more I dislike it. Seems a cop out just provide an intake cover with not even a FOD guard. They could at least have attempted to put in some kind of intake interior as the guards were only fitted in summer IIRC

Recently found this thread and have not been able to leave it alone since, more addictive than Game of Thrones! I thought that as an ex grubber I knew the Wessex pretty well but either I've forgotten most if it,or to quote 'Goshawk Squadron' by Derek Robinson, 'the eyes looked but they did not see'. The level of detail you have incorporated is astounding, and the only problem for me is that I now have grave doubts as to whether I will ever build my Fly MK 5 which is in the loft. Excellent work!!!

Re the cockpit seats, the seat pan could be folded up, but there was no fastening device provided. When up, they were held in position with elastic bungee cords hooked around the seat pan and back. Lovely work on this

When 772 were providing aircraft for the SAR flight at Lee, after the Falklands, on arrival at Lee the cabin door was replaced with one which had 'Royal Navy Rescue' titles. This was then removed and the original door refitted when the aircraft rotated back to Portland.Otherwise the markings were standard.

Maybe Alan will produce a Firebrand,or Sturgeon or Whirlwind or.........

I recently built the Airfix Sea Fury and it was generally good but let down by the poor moulding in places and the annoying fit of the cowling, which I replaced with the Aerocraft item, which is a worthwhile buy. If you wanted to go the whole hog, Barracuda do a resin cockpit,wheel bay,mainwheels engine cowling and brass u/c legs. That said,the kit itself looks good when built and is way ahead of the Hobbycraft item (not built the Trumpeter)

I agree about the decals they are very iffy, but should be relatively easy to replace apart from the squadron markings. It would take a braver man than me ( and a far better modeller)to attempt to fold the wings as they are solid resin. The canopy and windscreen are very thick and none too clear but may polish up, but the rest of the kit looks ok IMHO

I too have mine, can't wait to get to grips with it

Oh boy oh boy oh boy, just ordered one of these. If it comes off it will be the best thing since bread came sliced. Who needs 1/48 Vulcans!!!