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Airfix 1:72 Royal Navy Sea King HAR.5 - 771 NAS - XV699


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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.

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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

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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

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This looks very nice but aren't your rotor blades doing some funny things?

Unfortunately, Nigel, yes the rotor blades are quite badly warped in some cases. I only noticed the fault with the blades after I had glued them into the rotor assembly,

All told this kit has quite a few problems, especially with the fit of the canopy and the front fuselage fi together and front lower nose panel having gaps even when correctly fitted together. I'm thinking about staying clear of Airfix model kits as soon as I finish the remaining kits n my stash.

Still I am happy with the way it looks.

Cheers, Rick

Edited by Rickpadwick1801
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Oh man , i remember this rotten apple so well.. I built it myself as a teenager during the falklands war.. That front glazing? Fiddled around with that so much while placing it with wet glues that it had stains all over the place... And that rotor assembly.. A nightmare, when trying to straighten out the blades it all broke off, tried to attach thin sanded wooden coffeespatels as replacements, that never sat stable against the rotor linkage and all fell off.. Got so frustrated that i replaced all linkages with sawn off flathead nails...for endurance, that did the job as they never fell off and still stand straight till this day, and i am turning fifty next year :-) for looks? ... it didnt really help...

When the RN introduced that AEW version with the inflatable dome, i modified my Sea King with a half shell of the KinderSurprise choco egg.. A tad off-scale though..

... screw accuracy... we had a war to fight, we were not going to a dance to look pretty!

It still sits in the cabinet behind me while writing this.. I looked at it for all these years always thinking.
" should toss it away ...its rediculous... But then again, it stands as a tribute that man must first crawl before learning walking straight. It did put me off building helicopters for the very rest of my life though!

Congrats on your brave attempt mate.... Don' t touch it any further! :-))))

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23440401@N06/9396366165/

Edited by Skybert
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You could try bending the rotor baldes by hand. Be carefull of course but by overbending you should be able to acieve the correct set. I am hoping you have not glued the main rotor in place.

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I have built this kit. It is awful, but a testiment to anyone that gets to the end with something looking anywhere near like a Sea King! Dont be put off Airfix their new tooled kits are a whole lot better.

Leon

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Looks good to me. For your info XV699 has now been retired from service. She spent her final time up here at HMS Gannet SAR, she was retired after a crack was found in her main lift frame.

She had a six bladed tail rotor, the only Sea Kings with 5 bladed tail rotors were the MK1 and some MK4 have been modified for operations in high altitude / temperature.

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You could try bending the rotor baldes by hand. Be carefull of course but by overbending you should be able to acieve the correct set. I am hoping you have not glued the main rotor in place.

Hi Nigel, thanks for that suggestion, I might give that a try. Unfortunately, I have glued the rotor in place.

I have built this kit. It is awful, but a testiment to anyone that gets to the end with something looking anywhere near like a Sea King! Dont be put off Airfix their new tooled kits are a whole lot better.

Leon

Hi Leon,

Thanks for that. I have found that certain Airfix kits are good fits, however I still have a Severn class lifeboat to build.

Looks good to me. For your info XV699 has now been retired from service. She spent her final time up here at HMS Gannet SAR, she was retired after a crack was found in her main lift frame.

She had a six bladed tail rotor, the only Sea Kings with 5 bladed tail rotors were the MK1 and some MK4 have been modified for operations in high altitude / temperature.

Thanks for that. The tail rotor mixup is my mistake. I got confused with the number of different parts especially as how the instructions don't show a 6 bladed tail rotor and the parts have the same numbers on the instructions.

Oh man , i remember this rotten apple so well.. I built it myself as a teenager during the falklands war.. That front glazing? Fiddled around with that so much while placing it with wet glues that it had stains all over the place... And that rotor assembly.. A nightmare, when trying to straighten out the blades it all broke off, tried to attach thin sanded wooden coffeespatels as replacements, that never sat stable against the rotor linkage and all fell off.. Got so frustrated that i replaced all linkages with sawn off flathead nails...for endurance, that did the job as they never fell off and still stand straight till this day, and i am turning fifty next year :-) for looks? ... it didnt really help...

When the RN introduced that AEW version with the inflatable dome, i modified my Sea King with a half shell of the KinderSurprise choco egg.. A tad off-scale though..

... screw accuracy... we had a war to fight, we were not going to a dance to look pretty!

It still sits in the cabinet behind me while writing this.. I looked at it for all these years always thinking.

" should toss it away ...its rediculous... But then again, it stands as a tribute that man must first crawl before learning walking straight. It did put me off building helicopters for the very rest of my life though!

Congrats on your brave attempt mate.... Don' t touch it any further! :-))))http://www.flickr.com/photos/23440401@N06/9396366165/

Thanks very much. I don't intend to touch this kit again. I will keep it n my bookcase for the moment. Your Sea King looks very nice.

To Everyone :- Thanks for the comments, they are much appreciated. This was a very difficult build, but I do like the way it has come out. I will be sticking with Airfix kits for future projects as soon as I have completed all of the projects I have got.

Cheers Rick

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Hi Nigel, thanks for that suggestion, I might give that a try. Unfortunately, I have glued the rotor in place.

That makes it a lot trickier but should still be doable. My preference is not to glue main rotors as I think it makes them more vulnerable to damage.

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