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After spending the best part of 5 months building this I am quite pleased with how it's finally turned out. During my time on the 'Junglie Circuit' I cut my engineering teeth on this airframe: ZF121 from 772 Squadron then I met her up again on 846 Squadron. Where I worked with it in Northern Ireland I hope you like her There are more images but didn't want to swamp all the bandwidth hehe

Build 15 OK, first surprise with this kit... It's NOT made by Sweet Anyone who's ever made a Sweet kit knows how good the mouldings are and how beautiful the surface details look. So imagine my confusion when I opened the bag the kit comes in and find "soft" surface details, flash, seam gaps and cloudy glazing! It turns out that the kit is actually the F-Toys "ready made" Sea King but in "snap-together" kit form. The only involvement from Sweet is an extra sprue to turn it into a rescue chopper and the beautiful decals. Despite this, the kit looks like it should turn out OK and I'll have a nice bright yellow helicopter to add to my collection. Price: £4.75 from HobbyLink Japan

Well finally something to show for my time. First build in at least 40 years, so I'm quite pleased though I still see places for improvement. Did tire a little and not correct a few obvious faults, but I have it's big Hasegawa brother waiting! As the reviews for this kit state, not perfect, age is showing. Glazing was a poor fit, but thanks to Kristal Klear managed to get it on. Decals are nice and help make it look good. Vallejo Model Air and Future. Haven't decided on whether to weather or not!

SH-3D Sea King Etch Detail Sets - for the Cyber Hobby Kit 1:72 Eduard The Cyber Hobby Sea King has been released now in several guises and on the whole it's regarded as a great kit with good detail and assembly. Whilst I don't have this kit, from research, I believe the sonar operators station is not reproduced by Cyber Hobby, which in this aircraft being an anti-submarine warfare platform is a key element. Within this review, I'm looking at the interior, exterior and Zoom set. SH-3D Sea King Interior (Set 73477) This set comprises a clear piece of acetate, a pre-painted self adhesive and two standard etch frets. The interior of both the cockpit and rear cabin get treated, however one noticeable omission is the sonar operator station that the kit doesn't include either. Whether this is planned as a separate later release, I don't know, but it's quite disappointing given that there is a door revealing this if you choose to have it open. With that negative element out of the way, lets move on. The cockpit gets pre-painted instrument panels, which with such a large canopy, will be on show. There are quite a lot of cabin side wall panels with fine rivets on the unpainted fret that sit between the moulded in frames, however I'm not sure how noticeable these will be once painted. The cabin floor is provided and has some good detail which after a panel wash should show up very well, especially if you plan to have the barn door open. What is very nicely represented in the set is the sonar housing and hoisting mechanism that sits on the floor in the middle having seen some images of this made up. For more information, see HERE SH-3D Sea King Zoom (Set SS477) This budget pack includes the pre-painted self adhesive fret included in the above set which primarily focusses on the cockpit panelling. For more information, see HERE SH-3D Sea King Exterior (Set 72562) Producing the exterior of a helicopter with the various meshes, handles and protrusions that are typically visible in plastic is quite difficult. As such, etch allows the ability to significantly improve the appearance with more scale accurate parts and that is exactly what Eduard have done with this set. Whilst there is only one fret included, it is very well thought through. The Sea King bristles with vents and mesh covers around the engine area and these are beautifully reproduced. If one could be critical, then even with etch, it's not possible to create the fine mesh so that you can see through it. As well as the detail around the engine covers, other panels around the aircraft are included with several under the hull and along the fuselage. Hydraulic lines and hinges for the rotor hubs are included as is the folding mechanism for the tail. One of the most impressive parts of this set in my opinion is the stunning access step for the rear cabin on the port side of the fuselage. This will look rather special when assembled and painted, although of course it will reveal the vacant sonar station unless you scratch build one. For more information, see HERE Conclusion Apart from the missing sonar station, these sets are very impressive, in particular the exterior set as it will be immediately noticeable on inspection. There are some tricky assemblies around the sonar hoist framework that will need great care in assembly, but there is no doubt that a rather special build can be achieved using these additions. Review sample courtesy of

Went on a tour of RNAS Culdrose today (guess where I'm on holiday!) - it was great to be able to see behind the scenes at a live Naval Air Station, even if we were mostly confined to the coach. Although August is their quiet time, there was a fair amount of flying going on: Merlin Mk1 Sea King Mk7 Sea King SAR Mk5 King Air Avenger We saw into most hangers including one full of shiny black Hawk T1s! All lined up with engineers fiddling with stuff. Saw plenty of Sea Kings being serviced as well. Was nice to see a handful of retired Sea Harriers that they use for aircraft deck handling practice - they fire them up & taxi around as well as having the guys push & pull them with tractors. Tour guide was very knowledgable and we also had a more detailed tour of the base fire station including the kids having a go with the hoses on the tenders - one's remote controlled via a joystick in the cab and the other's a bl**dy great jet on the roof! Am staying between Truro & Falmouth and we see the grey & red SAR Sea Kings overhead a lot - one buzzed by overhead at breakfast time (my camera was inside unfortunately!) and I've just heard one now overhead (pitch black though). Haven't downloaded my photos from today yet but if I get any decent ones I'll post them. £30 for a family ticket - worth it IMO. For more info see http://www.fleetairarm.com/culdrose-air-station.aspx Cheers, Andrew p.s. can't believe they're privatising SAR soon :-(

Hi everyone, Here is my finished Sea King HAR.5, according to the details it is aircraft XV699 from 771 NAS based at RNAS Culdrose. Happy with the way this one came out. Here is my Sea King with other my completed Airfix models, all Royal Navy - think I might need a different subject matter i.e. RNLI or Royal Air Force My Type 45 destroyer has stayed on my work desk at the moment, for the final decals to be fitted in place. I will not be starting another project until those decals are done. Thanks for looking. Cheers, Rick

Sea King HC-4 Etch Internal & External Detailing Sets 1:72 Eduard for Cyber Hobby Kit Having reviewed the EAW.2 etch parts for the great Cyber Hobby kit, the HC-4 variant has also been given the Eduard treatment. The kit by itself is certainly not lacking, and with good clear parts, the interior can be seen quite easily, not that you probably need an excuse to pack it with more detail ! There are two sets being reviewed here, one addressing the interior, the other one for the exterior. Sea King HC-4 Interior (set 73465) Firstly, this pack indicates that it’s for the Italeri kit, but with no evidence of one existing, I suspect it’s a misprint and indeed for the Cyber Hobby kit. This contains three frets of etch parts; almost if not identical to the AEW.2 set, one being pre-painted and self adhesive for the cockpit area. Included on the pre-painted fret is a replacement main panel made up in two layers together with a replacement T-frame. A replacement bulkhead with wiring and surface detailing gives a good but subtle improvement. The cockpit side and overhead panels get the same treatment from the coloured fret. The cabin interior walls are catered for with a considerable number of panels that are designed to sit between the framework. How beneficial or noticeable these will be, I’m not sure. The crew seats are significantly improved with seat belts and structural frame work. Finally, many electrical panels of varying sizes are catered for in the set to really ‘busy’ up both the cockpit and cabin areas. Sea King HC-4 Zoom Interior (set SS465) If you just want to give your cockpit a makeover, particularly useful if you intend to have the rear doors closed, then the Zoom set offers the budget alternative. It contains just the Self Adhesive pre-painted fret shown above. Sea King HC-4 Exterior (set 72558) This is very similar to the AEW.2 set, however because the HC-4 doesn’t have sponsons or look-down radar, there is only one fret included which is suffice to give the same level of enhancements to the rest of the airframe. There’s a vast amount of access panels, handles and tie down hooks included to give the surface the busy look of the real thing. A stunning set of boarding steps is included which in itself is a work of art. This requires wire of around 0.15 diameter that isn’t included, so you will need to source some yourself. The main rotor hub has several enhancement parts. The diagram in the instructions is a quite complicated affair, so I would recommend spending some time digesting this step, but the results will no doubt be worth it. The tail rotor also receives a makeover on the hub. If you want the tail folded, the additional detail offered in this set will be most welcome with no less than 14 parts making up the folding mechanism and structure. Tail spine and vertical reinforcing plates as well as various vent grilles add to the tail area detailing. Conclusions It’s good to see Eduard giving detail options to the HC-4 as well as the AEW.2 variants. I guess these sets will sell more successfully across the pond in comparison to the AEW.2 sets, but both are great upgrade options. There are some fiddly parts such as the tail rotor and boarding step assembly, but with patience, some experience handling etch and defence from the carpet monster, great results can be expected. Review sample courtesy of

Sea King AEW.2 Etch Detail Sets 1:72 Eduard for the Cyber Hobby Kit With the Sea King now in the twilight moments of an amazing career, there has been a great deal of modelling interest in it lately. With the recent release of the Dragon AEW.2 Sea King, Eduard has released a number of sets to spruce it up. Whilst the kit is nicely moulded, it does I believe have some accuracy issues. Jessica has done a good review of the Dragon kit on Aeroscale and points out some of the inaccuracies well. There are three sets here that I’m reviewing: Interior set – includes cockpit and cabin interior improvements Interior Zoon set – budget version of the above focussing predominantly on the cockpit interior Equipment Set – this adds the avionic stations to the cabin area that I believe are missing from the Dragon kit Exterior Set - adds a significant amount of external detail to the kit · Sea King AEW.2 Interior (set 73468) This contains three frets of etch parts, one being pre-painted and self adhesive for the cockpit area. Included on the pre-painted fret is a replacement main panel made up in two layers together with a replacement T-frame. A replacement bulkhead with wiring and surface detailing gives a good but subtle improvement. The cockpit side and overhead panels get the same treatment from the coloured fret. The cabin interior walls are catered for with a considerable number of panels that are designed to sit between the framework. How beneficial or noticeable these will be, I’m not sure. The crew seats are significantly improved with seat belts and structural frame work. Finally, many electrical panels of varying sizes are catered for in the set to really ‘busy’ up both the cockpit and cabin areas. Sea King AEW.2 Interior Zoom (set SS468) This is a budget version of the above containing just the Pre-painted Self Adhesive fret. This includes the main, side and overhead panels. Sea King AEW.2 Equipment (set 73470) The rear cabin of the AEW.2 has a lot of radar equipment in it. This is faithfully reproduced in this set. Again, 3 frets are contained with the electrical displays and switch panels being supplied on a pre-painted fret. A significant improvement to the cabin area of your Sea King can be made with this pack. Sea King AEW.2 Exterior (set 72557) If investing lots of money to fill the interior of your kit that most will not see doesn’t really float your boat, they you might be tempted by this. There is a lot of detail contained on the two frets that will certainly transform the exterior of your build and in good scale representation too. The Sponsons and undercarriage get a comprehensive make over offering internal sidewalls, hydraulic and brake lines. Some plastic will need to be cut away from the main uc legs which looks quite fiddly. Replacing this section completely with a piece of suitable diameter rod looks easier. There’s a vast amount of access panels, handles and tie down hooks included to give the surface the busy look of the real thing. A stunning set of boarding steps is included which in itself is a work of art. This requires wire of around 0.15 diameter that isn’t included. The main rotor hub has several enhancement parts. The diagram in the instructions is a quite complicated affair, so I would recommend spending some time digesting this step, but the results will no doubt be worth it. The tail rotor also receives a makeover on the hub. If you want the tail folded, the additional detail offered in this set will be most welcome with no less than 14 parts making up the folding mechanism and structure. Tail spine and vertical reinforcing plates as well as various vent grilles add to the tail area detailing. The radome isn’t forgotten either as this is spruced up on the rear face. Conclusion The cockpit is already quite well catered for in the Cyber Hobby Sea King, but etch has the ability to improve scale accuracy beyond what is possible in plastic. The sets here make for a great improvement to the kit as described above, particularly with the radar control stations. They may also benefit the Airfix kit if you’ve already invested in one of those; it would be interesting to see if anyone can confirm this. The exterior set offers a huge transformation to the exterior of the kit in the way that plastic simply can't complete with. Review sample courtesy of

Westland Sea King HU5.SAR ZA134 825 CU, pics from Richard E