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Hi, Appreciate that there has been a recent group build for the Sea King however I didn't take part as it's taken me 5 months to get to this stage. I'll admit, I've not got that far however my hope is that I will end up with a large model representing this actual aircraft, which coincidentally, was the last aircraft I flew in back on 21st August 1996. Not a particularly interesting flight .. more of an AFCS ( automatic flying control system) check test flight. She passed and was serviceable for future use. The last I heard .. she is sitting down in HMS Sultan, being used as a training aircraft for future WAFU's The link for this is http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=1036995 Anyway, I started with the excellent ( and only) 1:48 scale kit that I could find and ask Santa for. The har.5 kit from Hasegawa "Ark Royal" ?? edition because this would require the least of all options to convert to the has.6 version. First job was to source a MAD sponson for the stbd side, which I did from fellow member "WAFU" and sent him the regular sponson from my kit. Next came the purchase of some PE, which I have never really used before and was pondering the purchase of PE tools. In the end and after some discussion with other members, I just bought some quality smooth pliers and snips. This was mainly due to the fact that there was no real requirement for bending lots of PE that I'd purchased. And so I began... I decided to leave the front seats as is and I appreciate that the Westland versions do not have the large seat supports shown here. This was to help support and place the PJ production 1:48 Lynx crew which I will add later ... especially the all important aircrewman and then... ..the most frightening job for me was to take a saw to my model and I carefully cut out the main cargo door, which thankfully I can reuse and attach later. This was nerve racking to say the least but after some hints and tips from other members, I purchased the best quality micro saw I could afford ... best investment ever. Dry fitted almost everything that I could, as I wanted to minimise fit issues which would require sanding and as such , loose detail. I haven't tried re scribing and due to the good quality of this kit, hopefully I won't have to. There was a gap above the main cockpit and fuselage and this was addressed later. This picture shows the hole I cut in the cabin floor, in order to fit the sonar and you can just see the first bit of PE fitted, which is the sea anchor storage, fitted behind the P2's seat. Decided not to fit the PE yaw pedals as I actually preferred the plastic kit parts, however I did fit the pedal surrounds and sanded down the instrument console, ready for the attachment of the self adhesive PE parts. PE broom cupboard bent & attached. This is where the hydraulic actuators and other gubbins for the AFCS are housed, behind the P1's seat. The first aid kit, flare pistol and piddle tube ( back up intercom !!?? ) was also attached to this cupboard. Finally , I was ready to start some scratch building for the back of this aircraft as the kit is absolutely bare ... which is a shame. The rear crew seats were made using bits n bobs of plastic, copper wire and cocktail sticks. I cannot take credit for this idea, it was borrowed from the excellent thread below http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234976450-sea-king-crew-seat-detaing-revell-72nd-scale-kit/ The seats I was happy with .. the observers / aircrewmans stations .. eh not so much !.... so I started again .. from scratch. Whilst I was trying to figure out the rear consoles, I decided to fit some soundproofing and cabin flooring. For this I simply used some cut up plastic sheet, cut up jiffy bags and some of the plastic straps that held the polystyrene packaging on my new fridge freezer ... another expense I could have done without. Waste not... want not !! Rear consoles v2 ... made using some of the polystyrene packaging, cut to shape and faced with some plastic card. I also use the jiffy bag to make the cover that surrounded the dipping sonar. This was maily due to the fact , that even with the rear cabin door open, viewing access is minimal through said door and cabin/cockpit windows. As you can see, the dimensions of the consoles are much better second time around. I also took the opportunity to fit soundproofing to the cabin ceiling. .... and after painting and applying the cut up cockpit decals from OOB, I ended up with this. I elected to keep the front personnel door closed, so I simply used some polystyrene block to make the fwd equipment rack and also a representation of the MS10 liferaft.. which you can just see through the cockpit. View from the other side Actually quite liked the self adhesive PE for the cockpit .. but it did require a lit bit of help to stick ie superglue Back to the rear cabin area and shown is my first attempt at rear cargo seats. These have since been removed and v2 fitted. I used the luminous "hamma bead" method to fashion the radar screen. Melt the beads using a warm iron and cut to shape. This worked quite well and when exposed to strong light and viewed in darkened conditions you get the following effect. Excuse the poor quality photo .. but you get the idea This was the dirtied effect I was looking for and so far so good. It was then time to take possession of the following bespoke decals sourced from Roger at www.whirlybirdmodels.com Fantastic and just what I wanted. This guy is a genius and we spent several months conversing by email and phone to get the above just right. These are unique to my model and I am over the moon... but lots to do so they have been safely packed away for now The fit of this kit is the best I've come across yet and I finally joined the two halves and dry fitted the various access panels. The gap above the cockpit and glass were filled with platic card and some detail added using wire. The hull is a snug fit and fits perfectly despite what the picture above suggests. I am not going to glue the boat hull section until I've attached the various antenna and decided what I'm going to fit inside the sonar well. I know it will be the correct dipping sonar but I am thinking of scratch building the full body, which I can remove to display, if so required. So this is where I'm at to date. This has taken me 5 months so far, mainly due to work commitments. I could not commit to the time scales of the group build but the fantastic work of all contributors was borrowed for incorporation into my model. This is going to take me several more months but hopefully the result will be be worth it. By posting on this WIP forum, it should ensure that I don't forget about it and do bits n bobs when I can. Thanks for looking in... best wishes