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Westland Whirlwind HAR 10 converted from Airfix 1/72 scale kit!


SimonR

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As a child of RAF Chivenor I have built a small collection of Hunters & Hawks in 1/72 & 1/48 scale, but I have a big hole in my collection and that is the 22 Squadron SAR Helos. I did attempt a HAR 4 a few years ago with the aid of RAFDECS sheet but it didnt turn out too good.


The HAR 10's were a daily sight where I grew up in Braunton next to the base and during the summer they could be seen plucking grockles out of the sea at Croyde & Saunton!!
Anyway, this is not so much a WIP but more a look at what i did as the model is pretty much finished but I dont want to clog up RFI with progress pics.
I recently picked up a job lot of four unboxed Airfix Whirlwinds for a tenner (bargain!), I sold a couple and thought i'd attempt a MK10 conversion with one of the others. I picked up an Airwaves MK10 nose on ebay and set about chopping the kit up to see if it would fit!
I only attempted the most obvious changes ie the nose and the bent tailboom, I expect there are more suble differences that I hadnt noticed but i'm sure somebody will! :-)
I'm not expecting this to be 100% accurate but just a bit of fun really and if I can end up with something that looks a bit like a 10 in the cabinet i'll be happy!!
First up, heres the helo I am modelling with the aid of RAFDEC sheet and some spares for the serial XP350. Photo taken by my brother on Braunton Burrows sometime in the late seventies I think.
whirlwind-3.jpg
Here's the sprues and extras. This mould is dated 1950 something and it shows, pretty basic with minimal interior detail and lots of rivets!
whirlwind-01.jpg
First thing to do was chop the nose off, I measured the width of the Airwaves nose and the kit fuselage and it was pretty close, only problem was I had to remove the whole of the front end from under the windscreen to get the resin part to fit.
whirlwind-02.jpg
Next up was the tail, I cut it in rougly the right place and then cut the boom at aprox the right angle to get the drooping tail, may have gne a bit too far but if I'm going to all this trouble it may as well notice!! I also had to remove the faring between the boom and fuselage and re-build this out of plastcard. Managed to get the boom back on with a lot of filling & sanding and the nose is taped on, so far so good!
whirlwind-03.jpg
I'll add some more photos when finished....
And heres some more old pics of 22 at Chiv...
Edited by SimonR
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Hi Simon,

I always like modelers who take the challenge building an old kit. I also like it if a build is embedded in a piece of personal history.

Despite the fact that I would rather opted for an Italeri H-19 kit as a starting point if I would be in your position, I wish you good luck with the ancient Whirlwind and lots of success during the build. Happy modelling

Felix

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Looking good.

I recall starting to modify an Airfix Whirlwind into a SAR10 when I found a vacformed fuselage mould (might have been some of John Aero's work) and decided not to use the Airfix parts at all. I scratchbuilt everything, for the hell of it as you do, and now that model is sitting in the model display at Cosford. Quite chuffed about that. Then used the Airfix kit as a float fitted S55/H19.

I'm sure you will be making a lovely model of the old bird

Nice choice of subject.

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Nice to see - I also have that RAFDec sheet and have plans to create a small fleet of SAR Whirlwinds...at some point in the future! Si's not wrong about the difficulty in finding the Italeri H-19 kits. To be pedantic the tailboom does seem to be too steeply raked, but I'm very interested to see how this turns out with the resin nose conversion.

Jon

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Thanks for input guys!

I have seen some vac-formed kits on KingKit Perdu, tempted...

Jon, tailboom droop may be a little overdone, looks worse in the bottom pic as the model is at a slight angle.

I now have paint/decals on so will get some more photos up at the weekend!

Si

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Quite funny,

US modelers also complain about the limited availability of the drooped tailboom H-19D kit. Here in Germany you'll occaisionally find them on ebay and other sources. The last ones I bought this year were priced 7,50 EUR and 8,20 EUR (about 6,60 GBP). Of course they're becoming harder to get, but with some patience and luck you don't have to wait more than 2 or 3 months until you get one.

Anyway - good start so far!

Cheers Guys,

Felix, yep, I would have love to have done it with the Italeri H-19 kit, but bugger if I can get hold of one anywhere, they see like gold dust!!

cheers

Si

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Options:

Italeri kit no 1267 Sikorski HO4S-3 with the kinked tail boom + Heritage HAR 10 resin nose

Maintrack kit 72:15 which is a resin HAR 9

Airmodel vacform kit no 88 HAR 10 vacform fuselage halves. Best to hack off the boom and transplant.

All of the above are hard to come by.

Airmodel don't list the Whirlwind any more, but an enquiry might bear fruit. The new owner produces to order, so if the mould is still about, he will probably pull one.

The Airfix tail rotor pylon is too skinny for a HAR10.

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This was the Airmodel one if I remember it right

I decided it would be better made as a kit in its own right than attacking the Airfix one.

It pleased me, considering there were no decals easily available then

I'd do another slightly differently now though

far less pencil work to represent the mesh grillework

If you can get hold of one it is a very viable build

Wessexday2083.jpg

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I'd say marry and snog and sno...

I am very biased towards Whirlwinds and Wessexeseseses so I'm a very poor judge, but having said that I like yours a lot.

She looks the business and I have no doubt about it, that is a HAR10.

A very nice one.

:thumbsup:

bill

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Thanks for the kind word Bill, I too have a soft spot for the Whirlwinds & Wessex (the only chopper I have flown in) so kind of chuffed with this considering what I started with and taking my scratch build skills into consideration!!

Now working on the rotors...

cheers

Simon

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Looks very nice. The clear stand in the sprue shots is very nostalgic too. Do you know what's inside the elongated nose?

Cheers abat!

The nose was re-modelled to house the Bristol Gnome turbine engine as far as i'm aware, guess somebody with more knowledge than me can confirm that.

cheers

Simon

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Looking good Simon. You have captured the sit of the Whirlwind just about riight. One thing if I may and it's way too late for your to correct it is that the tail boom crank started at the joint with the fuselage and not back where you had cut it. You may also have a tad too much droop, 4 degrees is I thing what it should have been. Then I'm pernicaty about these thing and I mention it just to pass on the info, just like the 4mm missing from the rear cabin of the Italeri Wessex.

I'm looking forward to see the finished cab.

Colin

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I have just bought 2 italeri rescue h19 from ebay they came from Korea and were 13 quid each only took 6 days to get here he still has some left

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300948814571?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

Rodders

Nice find Rodder, remember if you need drooped booms, Ali at A2Zee has a conversion kit which contains that and the corrected U/C for the British types.

Colin

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Looking good Simon. You have captured the sit of the Whirlwind just about riight. One thing if I may and it's way too late for your to correct it is that the tail boom crank started at the joint with the fuselage and not back where you had cut it. You may also have a tad too much droop, 4 degrees is I thing what it should have been. Then I'm pernicaty about these thing and I mention it just to pass on the info, just like the 4mm missing from the rear cabin of the Italeri Wessex.

I'm looking forward to see the finished cab.

Colin

Cheers Colin,

Yes, I winged it a bit on where to cut the boom off and thought I may have not gone close enough to the fuselage, not got any scale plans which would have helped. To be honest it was more of an experiment really to see if I could get anything close to a 10 with a spare Airfix kit!

Anyway, been good fun and i've learnt a bit along the way about the Whirlwind, so if I may well pick up one of those H-19's from Korea, great find Rodders thanks for that link!!

Cheers

Simon

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Great work Simon, I have the same dilemma no Italeri H-19 all but a built one on the shelf and an Airfix Whirlwind in the stash along Rotorcrafts Mk 9 conversion ( cheers Colin).

Thanks Neil!

Do you reckon the Rotorcraft conversion will fit the Airfix kit? I have 2 more in the stash and wonder if its worth giving it a go on one of them.

cheers

Simon

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Simon,

The Airfix kit is under scale according to the plans from the Rotorcraft conversion and I'd rather go with the plan's. Airfix kit would be 1/76 I'd guess. It would be a lot of work to marry the two but not impossible.

Neil

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Nice find Rodder, remember if you need drooped booms, Ali at A2Zee has a conversion kit which contains that and the corrected U/C for the British types.

Colin

I have the mk9 kit already as well as the airways mk10 nose. I will be ordering the Mk7 next month I find the rotor craft conversions of a very high quality.

Rodders

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