Pat C Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 (edited) Glad to have finally finished this lady. She has sat patiently on the shelf of doom for about three years or so, brought our every now and then for some work and then put away again as the finishing line seemed to recede rather than draw nearer. mer8 If you are making one of these, remember two crucial tips. First, attach the tail section to each fuselage half separately rather than gluing the fuselage together and then the tail and joining the two as the instructions suggest. The fit is poor and at least if you join the two parts on each side you can get them to line up, and then you get the easier job of filling the gap top and bottom when you bring the whole lot together. mer5 Second, the side sections of the fuselage need to be packed out with plastic strip otherwise they will sit too deep and leave a nasty step. There are a host of other small issues with this kit that if you were so inclined you might try to correct. Everytime I compared the kit with pics of the real thing I could see subtle differences in the shapes and positions of various protrusions and intakes - I added two blisters above the sponsons (originally clear parts from a Matchbox Mosquito!) which seemed quite prominent on the real thing. I sanded down the raised areas around the steps near the cockpit, but lost the heart to do the same to the steps at the rear. The mirrors also seemed to stick out too far so I trimmed down the attachments. mer4 The sleeves that the rotors fit into also seemed quite unlike the real thing - I understand this has been corrected on later boxings of the kit like the Revell HC2 and the "Skyfall" one [EDIT as has been pointed out below not all Merlins have folding rotors which would account for the later change in shape of these parts] . The Italeri decals were really a very poor effort - pretty much all of them were the wrong size, colour, or font - all sometimes all three. The White Ensigns and "Guinevere" markings came from a Modelart sheet, although I thought that some of these decals were also the wrong size and replaced the serial myself. mer7 Paint was all over Xtracrylix Medium Sea Grey with Dark Green main rotors. mer3 Hope you like!! mer2 mer10 Pat Edited August 4, 2018 by Pat C 42 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeR Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Looks very good indeed! Mike. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevemk1 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Wow, that's a great looking Merlin. At first glance I thought the first photo was a picture of a real one! Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philtn Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Wow. Very good job ...is there a WIP thread of this one? Would love to see how exactly you did the wash and finishing touches because the copter has very nice "shades" in it's painting Great job, congratulations 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 That's the best RN Merlin I've seen from that ... err ... challenging kit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Very nice, you did a great job! I got the kit from Revell today, so right now I'm gathering some infos about the kit. (unfortunately, the rotor head will need some adjustment, as it's not corrected...) Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave N Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Wow! great looking Merlin and great photography. -D 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dermo245 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Magical Merlin...love it! Makes me want to build one.. If there were any WIP photos would be great too. Regards, Dermot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HL-10 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Wow! That is very nice 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Congratulations Pat, never nice to leave a helo model on the shelf of doom. She, looks a cracker. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 very nice looks great 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Pat, Well worth the effort put in, that's a cracking looking Merlin! Mark. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 I like it a lot,.......easily the best 72nd scale Naval Merlin that I`ve seen! Cheers Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike DeTorrice Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 A superb build of this big copter, Pat ! A very impressive machine that poses great here in the photos. Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitok1983 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 Cracking build! Sharp work indeed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat C Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 Thanks for all the nice comments all! For the weathering, as these Merlins did seem to have a bit of a worn appearance, I did a bit of preshading the panels and then a wash of Flory Dark Dirt wash. The Revell version of the kit does have better decals i think. One other point i forgot to mention was the forward window on the port side that you need to open up yourself. I thought the resulting hole too big and ended up filling it partly with miliput and then sanding carefully to shape. It's a surprisingly big machine, significantly bigger than a Sea King. Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeHavillandDan Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 That's a fantastic looking helo , really enjoyed the pics , well done 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 I am glad you did get this one finished. It has turned out very nicely and, although I can't quite put my finger on it, the model has got something rather special about it. Martin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingo Degenhardt Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 A very nice built. As I have one in the stash as well: I do not quite get the meaning of this (I am not a nativ english speaker): "Second, the side sections of the fuselage need to be packed out with plastic strip otherwise they will sit too deep and leave a nasty step." Are the side sections the fuselage halves? It would be nice if you could add an explanation regarding this 'operation' on the kit. Ingo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Fantastic Merlin,well worth all the effort put in! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat C Posted September 28, 2014 Author Share Posted September 28, 2014 Hi Ingo - there is a separate panel that contains most of the side windows (to allow for the different versions to be made) which stretches from behind the cockpit until just in front of the rearmost window. This is fitted to each fuselage half but will end up recessed rather than flush if you do not modify it as suggested. Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Nice one indeed Pat,she really is a rather fetching machine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Bangin'! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasmahal Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Might have taken a while but you got a great looking Merlin on your hands. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro 66 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 That looks a lovely 1/72 Merlin, nicely made. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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