bootneck Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I have just been having a look at the sprues of the Italeri 1:48 Westland Wessex HAS.3 kit; mainly the internal flooring area, and then comparing with photo's I took of an actual Wessex HAS.3 currently being refurbished. On the kit, the sonar dipping opening is represented as a rectangle within a larger plate on internal decking. On this photo of the actual aircraft, XM328 currently being refurbished at the Helicopter Museum, it shows that the opening is round, quite large and takes up most of that deck plate area. Also on the kit floor piece, the circular deck plates are raised and prominent but on the actual aircraft they are flush with the flooring. It shouldn't take much effort to: a. cut out the circular opening, although that may also need the vertical plates under the floor adding. b. a little sanding down of the circular plates to a less prominent level. There are more images of this aircraft in our Walkarounds section. The images above, plus many more, will also be added to the WA section in the near future. HTH Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Hi Mike. It's another of Italeri's corner/cost cuttings, besdies the new nose section and the oil coller shroud which now has the slots in it (very nice) there isn't too much new. It would have been good if Italeri had ammended the PE sheet to reflect the RN version of the tail rotor GB grill. The early nose has been offered but not the two gas bottles for the engine start system. I see the price of the kit has also jumped a few quid. So it would have been good if we had been offerd the whole SONAR suite to reflect this. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 I would agree about having some more internal detail such as the sonar fit. I have taken a bucket load of internal photos, whilst all the covers and plates are off, and plan to do some scratchy building of this component - just for the fun of it! cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidcurrie42 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Thanks for sharing Mike, I have been searching like crazy lately for the HAS.3 interior pics and until now I had more or less come up empty, infact the others I did find were from the restoration site. Happy Modeling John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Reference pics on the SONAR winding gear and operators stations is pretty thin on the ground. I've been trying to make sence of two illustration from the tech manual. The winding gear is the simpler of the two parts, it's the skelital seat support frame which is proving the most complicated and probably a reason Itaelri shyed away from offering it. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 Hi Colin and John, I have been taking all these photos as I am trying to get the actual frame locations in the sidewalls etc., for a model I want to build. The images eventually get posted in the Walkaround section. The WA section is being updated with these images currently; however they are 'resized' images, down to 1024 or sometimes less so that we don't eat up all the available bandwidth. Here are some images of the seat area and, as you can see, the seat base has an off-set leg arrangement. If you send me a pm with your details then I will get some hi-res versions to you. *****Edit - I work in the archives department of the Helicopter Museum and am literally surrounded by tech manuals on all helicopter subjects but we're just too busy to actually find time to look through them ourselves! I take the time out to take these photos whilst on my way to, or back, from lunch. Sad or what? cheers Mike Rear view of Operator's seat in position - note offset leg arrangement Front view of Operator's seat - removed from normal location and temporarily stored at rear of cabin - again, note the framework Side view of Operators seat - note the bolt-down points at the base of each leg frame Positions of screens, communications and other devices Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 As Mike has said I have all of his images to add this week to the HAS.3 thread I started yesterday. I can't put them up at the original resolution or we might kill the server, there was over 560MB of pics before I resized them! Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidcurrie42 Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 I will never complain about the chair I had at the Missile desk again, that looks severely hard and cold,, just have to find a way to cram it all into a 1/72 cabin after scratching it, I wish we had some sets in 1/72 that are available from Rotor craft Thanks Julien, Great work on the Walk Arounds Happy Modeling John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Thanks Julien, Great work on the Walk Arounds Absolutely right! Without all the hard work and effort, in the background by Julien, the Walkarounds section would only hold a mere fraction of all the great content within. BZ Julien Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I have just been having a look at the sprues of the Italeri 1:48 Westland Wessex HAS.3 kit; mainly the internal flooring area, and then comparing with photo's I took of an actual Wessex HAS.3 currently being refurbished. On the kit, the sonar dipping opening is represented as a rectangle within a larger plate on internal decking. Hi Mike Just on the note of the sonar well, with all the sonar gear removed a blanking plate would normally be fitted (basically to stop the aircrewman falling through!) So although it is a cop out by Italeri it does represent a aircraft that would have no sonar gear fitted. Cheers now Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Hi Bob, yes, I can see that the plate in the photo could be removed and replaced with the blanking plate. I was just showing anyone who wished to model the kit as a dunker/pinger what is involved. This is great though because we are getting little snippets of info here that we may otherwise not know about. Keep 'em coming please! cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Absolutely right! Without all the hard work and effort, in the background by Julien, the Walkarounds section would only hold a mere fraction of all the great content within. BZ Julien Mike The Section is only as good as the submissions we get in. Working my way through Mike's 520MB of pics and getting them ready for posting up, should be this week. Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAVY870 Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Cant speak for my Royal Navy brothers but in the RAN the area in question was also used as an unofficial stowage for the extra duty free stash of ciggies and liquid refreshment when departing the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julien Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 A shed load (well 137) more of Mike's pics added today. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F234953439-westland-wessex-has3-xm328%2F Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 I have managed to find the Mk.43/Mk.44 torpedo and Mk.II depth charge pylon and I will try to get some dimensions for it when I am next at the museum. In the meantime, a colleague from 'The Friends of the Helicopter Museum' has supplied me with the image below. cheers Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 Thanks for your efforts here Mike. This is a turning into a very valuable thread indeed. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidcurrie42 Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Its great being able to find so much info in one area, Thanks Mike/Julien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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