mikeboggan

About the paint scheme, many designs were drawn up and submitted to the palace for scrutiny, the Queen always had the final say of course. She had the red, white and blue of the flag incorporated in the paint scheme. The interiors were quite plain, no fancy gold plate, she didn't like that. The only exception was in the seats of the fixed wing aircraft, we called them "Lambo's" (lamborgini seats), beautiful leather work on a seat that could recline, turn and move backwards, forwards and sideways. But the helicopter seats were almost standard aircraft ones. I have been trying to upload my photo's from my computer, but somehow it won't work. The comment about the grass needs cutting is something we always hated, every landing site we went to was told not to cut the grass for 2 weeks prior to landing, but they always cut it the day before, it was a nightmare for us maintenance guy's with the clippings being sucked into the engine intakes. I remember on one occasion in the outer Hebrides when we called in a sea king to do a practice landing, it blew away everything, grass, policemen's hats and the local dogs. Scooby, there was always plenty of wine and food left over after the flights which the guy's on shift consumed with gusto after we finished work, never saw any cigars though. The only thing we didn't eat was the game pie, it was absolutely awful, even the police dogs wouldn't eat it. I did manage to collect a lot of "Ambassador class cutlery" and the trays from British Airways, they supplied the food. I still have them 30 years later. So don't worry. This is fun, re-living my past, and bringing back a lot of old memories, but it was very hard work and we all had to be dedicated to doing it. Mike.

I did not imply any criticism, the model looks wonderful, and I commend your painstaking work, I just have an eye for detail. We used to wash and polish these aircraft after the last flight of each day, then a Warrant Officer would inspect the whole aircraft, rivet heads included for missed dirt and smears on the paintwork, "bug smashers" picked up a lot of dirt. The Wessex was limited to flying below 6,000 feet due to the amount of Mag alloy it contained ( especially in the coupling gearbox) and it's maximum rate of decent (1500 FPM) in case of fire. Mag alloy burns very fast. As I am now semi retired, I have a wish to build models of all the aircraft that I worked on. I used to build them some 30 years ago, but little fingers kept breaking them, now however, I can display them without worrying. You are correct about the steps, there were 3, the lower step folded up and locked in place over the upper one. Can I ask how you managed to get hold of the "Queen's Flight" decals? I have looked up Italeri models and can't find a Queen's Flight one. Regards Mike.

Just been checking your tail rotor against the original aircraft, you have the blades fitted backwards. that is why it spins the wrong way.

Hi Rodders, I was searching for this helicopter on google as I spent five years (1982-87) working on it and it's twin 732. The model is beautiful in almost every detail. I see you have painted one of the rotor blades yellow, that did not happen on the Queen's Flight, they were all black with yellow tips. They were not worried about other aircraft seeing them normally as a "purple" airspace was imposed on all air traffic when they were flying Royal Family members. (no other aircraft within 5 miles I believe) Also you have a danger sign on the tail about the tail rotor, it was never there either. I spent many hours washing and polishing this helicopter, when I was on shift work. They also had floatation devices fitted into the main wheel axles when flying over water. I have a few photo's that I would gladly send to you if you want them. Let me amend the main rotor paint bit, the blade was black but the actual hub end was yellow. You have done it justice, well done. How can I send you a photo of xv732 with the floatation devices fitted? Just noticed, there are 2 D shaped radio antenna's missing, they were placed just in front of the tail wheel on the skin in front of the tail folding hinge and also you have positioned the "Queens Flight" decal too low on the port side, it was centred between the windows. Sorry to be picky. Mike.