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Fly 1/32 Wessex HC2


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Possibly.. no actually, my most ambitious project to date is the Fly Wessex. Initial thoughts are the external details are so good, the test fit of fuselages show this is not a Tamiya shake and bake. Lots of different materials to master, resin, plastic, PE and paper.

My father was with 72 squadron in 1976 and I remember the long hot summer with the sounds of the Wessex and Puma flying around Odiham which is why I chose the 72 squadron option.

So after 1 almost full day a start has been made. It will be completely OOB perhaps with some added wiring but what colour to finish her in? Grey and green or green and green? Final paint is a long way off I think though.

D25AC479-C5C9-4A7E-A7D2-A8A02968E9EC_zps

Starting on the internal ribbing

C0857CD9-E1D8-440F-89E1-815DCCBC9C4F_zps

Day one complete but little to be seen. Each spar is individual..

FA4C6335-F4E5-4304-ADE7-0A212C7A462F_zps

Going to be a big beast when finished

952527CF-C8CC-4434-A31C-229846683BB6_zps

So lets see how far I progress this week with a few hours in the evening..

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Ah my favourite chopper! (even if it will be of the 'wrong' service :wicked: ). Not seen one of these go together so if you don't mind I shall pull up a chair, sit back and relax :popcorn: . Nice framing work by the way.

Bob

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There's a build feature in the March edition of Military illustrated Modeller of the HC2 version , the builder recommends removing 5mm from the rear end of the interior roof for a better fit, this is also confirmed by the manufacturer Fly , worth checking if you can, I forgot to mention this in my 1st post, Birchy UK

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Ah my favourite chopper! (even if it will be of the 'wrong' service :wicked: ). Not seen one of these go together so if you don't mind I shall pull up a chair, sit back and relax :popcorn: . Nice framing work by the way.

Bob

Might not be the senior service one but is the better service one..

There are plenty of detailed views in our Walkaround section. Here is the RAF version

I took some internal views of a Naval version (scroll down about half way), it has the same internal framing

Mike

Thank will go have a look

There's a build feature in the March edition of Military illustrated Modeller of the HC2 version , the builder recommends removing 5mm from the rear end of the interior roof for a better fit, this is also confirmed by the manufacturer Fly , worth checking if you can, I forgot to mention this in my 1st post, Birchy UK

That's a shame I missed that.. I saw some reference to the build when doing a Google search but unable to see the write up.. I noted that the cabin roof was 5mm to long.. Might get to confirm this over the next few days. There are not enough of the PE plates even after counting numerous times and searching for an extra sheet.

Got to be the grey/green/black choice!

Am I right in thinking that they had the floor covered with plywood to make it squaddieproof?

Richard

Grey green and black it will be then.. I think I may have to buy some more paints to cover this beast..

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I arrived at Odiham in September 1976 fresh from training

and went into the servicing hangar on the Wessex until

they left to be replaced by the Chinook.

I had a few mates on 72 and have happy memories of those times.

I suggest you look up hendies recent 1/48th Wessex build on here.

It contains huge amounts of useful information about the Walter.

It just has to be Grey, Green and Black! And yes, there were plywood panels on the floor.

The 1/32nd kit is an impressive beast when built. Good luck!

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I arrived at Odiham in September 1976 fresh from training

and went into the servicing hangar on the Wessex until

they left to be replaced by the Chinook.

I had a few mates on 72 and have happy memories of those times.

I suggest you look up hendies recent 1/48th Wessex build on here.

It contains huge amounts of useful information about the Walter.

It just has to be Grey, Green and Black! And yes, there were plywood panels on the floor.

The 1/32nd kit is an impressive beast when built. Good luck!

My father was on 72 during the hot summer of 76.. We left Odiham in 78 I think.

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great build, kit looks great and I'll follow and be interested in your opinion on fit issues as you progress. I followed your #11 post link to Julian's walk around phots from the FAA museum, which instantly triggered memories, in my teenage years, the ONLY chair in my bedroom was a Wessex 3 "looker's" seat - ideal from modeling so as to be able to reach the parts scattered around me on the floor! (I think it was a fire dump rescue - no doubt returned when modelling took a distant 3rd to birds & beer as I grew older!!)

Would have given you a "like-this-post" tick until reading your comment on the Senior Service !!!!! Likewise I'll have to seriously examine my moral compass on following this post once the final paint scheme goes on :shutup:

I followed the Rumourmonger thread on this (& the Wessex V) last year - Do you think the breakdown of the parts suggest a follow on Wessex 1 or 3?

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I've got one of these in the stash but after my 1/48 attempt nearly took my sanity, I decided to leave it there for a while until I recuperate.

I'll be interested in seeing how you progress (I've seen a few of these started but none finished) as I would like to be aware of any potential issues before I get around to starting mine

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Just a small update.

Painting of the cockpit ongoing. Console has individual decals for each instrument. Drop of clear gloss placed onto each.. Sadly one or two slipped so alignment a bit off.. But from a distance looks ok.

The detail on the resin parts is lovely however some small parts did not arrive intact. Long way from Hannants to Kuala Lumpur.. Paper belts touched up with marker pen.

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So this weekend was spent doing the seats. Now how hard could that be? Well let me tell you its mind numbing and a recipe for very sore eyes.

Each individual paper seat plus individual belts have to be cut out..AA22FA1F-8BCA-4FA5-A733-A2F1A08439F9_zps

Then for each seat two PE parts and for each belt one PE part. So the short bench looks like this

97A6A2F0-1D92-45E2-847D-76893F5A6B2F_zps

Well it all went together reasonably well. Would I do it differently? Yes I would make sure all the seat PE are perfectly in alignment with each other before pulling down the paper to secure them. Anyway onwards as they say..

So decided to take a rest and mask the canopy, another thankless task made easier by using some good masks

3A430D71-1F63-4EE4-A1A2-724B733205A4_zps

Now trying to fit the seats into the cabin. Thats were things turned difficult.

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Not quite sure how to do them to be honest and a mess was made.. Will try and repair some of the damage caused. Due to the difficult curves you cannot place heavy weights to secure the seat runners. And my clamps did not have a long enough reach. So glue place weight and wait then move on a little further and secure the next part was the method finally after numerous efforts. if it was not for Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP I would have given up for the day..

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Next step will be to repair the damage and weather the seats a little. Then close the body up.

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Nice work on the seats, not tried fitting etch to paper before, looks like it went ok. What did you use to secure it? PVa or superglue? Just a small note, those gold coloured clips at the top of the seat are the items that should clip onto that rod along the back. The rod was secured to the airframe and then those clips just clipped onto it.

Great work so far

Bob

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Nice work on the seats, not tried fitting etch to paper before, looks like it went ok. What did you use to secure it? PVa or superglue? Just a small note, those gold coloured clips at the top of the seat are the items that should clip onto that rod along the back. The rod was secured to the airframe and then those clips just clipped onto it.

Great work so far

Bob

Superglue works well. Yep tried to clip them to the rail but it sounds easier than in practise..so I placed both halves together and actually they look ok through the door. So just a bit of tidy up and weathering needed..
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