Jump to content

Sea King HAR3 tail code/decal help


daryl_five_zero

Recommended Posts

Evening, all. 

Just a quick question for any Sea King aficionados on here; I'm in the planning stage of building a 1/72 HAR3 for a friend, and want to depict the cab they got a ride in up in Lossie when they were in Cadets. 

I've been shown a few very blurry/distant pics, and can only make out that it's a 202 sqn cab, based in Lossie in 2009, and has 'D' on the tail. I can't make out the tail code, though, and my limited googling skills have come up fruitless. This is the cab in question:


dIq59bj.png

If anyone can offer any answers, I'd be very grateful! And as a bonus question, does anybody want to hazard a guess as to the easiest way to get decals for this? Xtradecal X72156 contains the 202 sqn crest, but the 'D' and tailcode may be a more troublesome affair. 

Many thanks in advance for any help that can be offered! 

Daryl. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scimitar's just beaten me: the only picture of a 202 Sea King coded "D" that I can find is of XZ588 (it's not the one you've used Daryl) but it's undated.  IIRC she was the 4th RAF Sea King.  As Scimitar says standard RAF code letters and serial numbers are available from Modeldecal and Xtradecal.  You may well need to do a bit of trawling of the specialist sheets for the squadron emblem as that was subject to change over the years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Scimitar said:

D's serial number is XZ588

Modeldecal and Xtradecal among others do sheets with the letters and numbers needed.so is not a major problem.

 

37 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Scimitar's just beaten me: the only picture of a 202 Sea King coded "D" that I can find is of XZ588 (it's not the one you've used Daryl) but it's undated.  IIRC she was the 4th RAF Sea King.  As Scimitar says standard RAF code letters and serial numbers are available from Modeldecal and Xtradecal.  You may well need to do a bit of trawling of the specialist sheets for the squadron emblem as that was subject to change over the years.


Ah, many thanks, gents! I really appreciate the help. Yeah, I've been looking all evening for any clearer pics, but they seem to be extremely few and far between. You've both saved me a lot of frustration! 

Daryl. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Google image search Sea King HAR 3 every pic you'll  need ,some great profile art work.

 

If you're ever stuck for any pics use the  Image search ,can't beat it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hope this helps. 588 in 2012. Sorry for the crude censorship but couldn't get hold of everyone for their permission to show.The tail was repainted after a repair and looks like the D never got re-painted. The 202 crest will be the same as in 2009. They were full colour vinyl stickers, as opposed to stencilled paint outlines that some decal sheets replicate. Oh, and it was very rare for them to be this clean. Washed and polished for an AFI but would have been operational grubby within a few days.http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/baylistic12/media/IMG_0433_zpsk2ytxy12.jpg.html?o=0

Edited by Rescue137
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, andyf117 said:

When the RAF Sea King HAR.3/3A fleet acquired 'code' letters, it did so in alphabetical & numerical order:

 

XZ585 - A

XZ586 - B

XZ587 - C

XZ588 - D

XZ589 - E

XZ590 - F

XZ591 - G

XZ592 - H

XZ593 - I

XZ594 - J

XZ595 - K

XZ596 - L

XZ597 - M

XZ598 - N

XZ599 - P

ZA105 - Q

ZE368 - R

ZE369 - S

ZE370 - T

ZH540 - U

ZH541 - V

ZH542 - W

ZH543 - X

ZH544 -

ZH545 - Z

 

Note a couple of exceptions - 'O' was not used, and for some reason ZH544 appears to have never worn what should have been 'Y'.

Thanks for this lot Andy

Never seen the full HAR 3/3A list before. Just checked my old work notebook. I didn't mark them as 3/3A. I've either serviced or was on the production line ( 6 x ZH's ) of all of them except the 4  ZA and ZE prefixed cabs. Do you know if its just the ZA,ZE and ZH that are 3A's.

I've looked at 100s of 544 pics, not one of them has a  Yankee on it, bit weird. No idea if it left Yeovil like that either.

We'll soon have the definitive, all you need to know but were afraid to ask RAF Sea King info.

 

Just remembered to story told to by the old sweat Westland blokes...

Who wants to fly on a Sea King ? We need a full load so if you fancy a trip in work's time put your name down. Filled the quota is a minute !

So a day or so later the "lucky" ones troop off to the Flight Shed. Fill in the blood chits get on board and lift off. Up  and flew off for a bit ,oo look theres Glastonbury, oh yeah, this is alright isn't it? King's Drain wow ! Over the Somerset Levels it was up, up, up and some more up.. straight up to the height where the book said ..No more height. Pilot turns round says OK? and gives the crew member in the cab the thumbs up, he returns the thumbs up. He tells everyone to hold on and the Pilot dumps everything (I'm crying typing this) . Straight down, they didn't have clue what was happening ! My mate said his knees passed his haircut, stomach gone ,we'll all be killed gig. The word Bast***********************d was heard a few times. Pilot caught it not vary far from smashing into Somerset. Probably an exaggeration..There wasn't a steady set of legs when they got off. Nobody on that "flight" ever volunteered again !

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Scimitar said:

Was this before the Ben Nevis incident or after repair?

(Sorry for hi-jack Daryl)

 

Richard

 

Hi Scimitar. I cannot remember the dates but there was definitely snow around during the "incident", so sometime before May I would imagine. I remember because it made finding the bits of distributed sand filter easier to find. The only repairs after that were a new filter and a new set of blades, along with the associated excessive torque checks, track-balance, etc etc. The photo was most probably taken after that, maybe summer of 2012. The repair to the tail was due to cracking around the strake mounts, that was then repainted at major servicing before 2012 if I remember correctly.

Edited by Rescue137
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, bzn20 said:

He tells everyone to hold on and the Pilot dumps everything (I'm crying typing this) . Straight down, they didn't have clue what was happening ! My mate said his knees passed his haircut, stomach gone ,we'll all be killed gig. The word Bast***********************d was heard a few times.

Ah, the joys of autorotations. Don't know what was worse, the "on purpose" crashing or without much engine noise, the sound of the gearbox and head over speeding. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

XZ588 D in 2004,

This was during its time on maintenance, and it transferred from 22 to 203 Sqn

6868697320_e6d64717fc_c.jpgSea King HAR.3s XZ586 B & XZ588 D 9 March 04 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

7014729377_934109497c_c.jpgSea King HAR.3 XZ588 D 9 March 04. by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

6868617644_f1d07da8d8_c.jpgSea King HAR.3 XZ588 D by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

7014728457_229a542ef6_c.jpgSea King HAR.3 XZ588 D 13 June 04 by James Thomas, on Flickr

 

 

BZN20, 

ZA105 was a 1980 HAR.3 and the ZE368-370 were 1985 HAR.3s.

The ZH serialled 3As came along mid 1990s.

Edited by 71chally
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/30/2016 at 10:12 PM, Scimitar said:

I think the old Airfix kit was in 202's markings. (sorry I don't have it)

re the markings..you only need two 8s and Ds as the kit comes as '586 (?)

Richard

 

On 10/31/2016 at 0:35 PM, andyf117 said:

When the RAF Sea King HAR.3/3A fleet acquired 'code' letters, it did so in alphabetical & numerical order:

 

XZ585 - A

XZ586 - B

XZ587 - C

XZ588 - D

XZ589 - E

XZ590 - F

XZ591 - G

XZ592 - H

XZ593 - I

XZ594 - J

XZ595 - K

XZ596 - L

XZ597 - M

XZ598 - N

XZ599 - P

ZA105 - Q

ZE368 - R

ZE369 - S

ZE370 - T

ZH540 - U

ZH541 - V

ZH542 - W

ZH543 - X

ZH544 -

ZH545 - Z

 

Note a couple of exceptions - 'O' was not used, and for some reason ZH544 appears to have never worn what should have been 'Y'.

 

On 10/31/2016 at 1:02 PM, Rescue137 said:

Hope this helps. 588 in 2012. Sorry for the crude censorship but couldn't get hold of everyone for their permission to show.The tail was repainted after a repair and looks like the D never got re-painted. The 202 crest will be the same as in 2009. They were full colour vinyl stickers, as opposed to stencilled paint outlines that some decal sheets replicate. Oh, and it was very rare for them to be this clean. Washed and polished for an AFI but would have been operational grubby within a few days.http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/baylistic12/media/IMG_0433_zpsk2ytxy12.jpg.html?o=0


Gents, once again thankyou so much for the help. The model's future owner won't be too picky if everything isn't absolutely exact, but I will know! 

 

Rescue137, thanks for going through the trouble for that pic. I can assure you it will be grubby by the time I've finished weathering it! 

I've picked up Xtradecal X72157 for the 'D' and 'XZ558' codes, so that's sorted. The best I've found for the 202 sqn crest is on Xtradecal X72156, so I've picked that up... it looks good enough to my eyes, so hopefully that will do the trick! 

Now to raid the spares box to find some 'volunteers' to stick their feet out of the side door of this model and play Cadets for the day! 

Thanks all for contributing to the thread, though. I love how this site makes you realize how little you know about aircraft one might claim to have a particular fondness for, and this is certainly the case here! 

Daryl. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if Hannants have the old Modeldecal sheets 33 to 36 (IIRC), but one of those should have the right-sized "D"s on it.  Alternately if you have a Sabre sheet with an "XD-" serialled aircraft or a Meteor NF sheet with a "WD-" serialled aircraft on they should also be the right size.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, andyf117 said:

 

Hate to tell you this, but you need 18" letters for the 'D', and I believe X72157 only has up to 12" - however, all is not lost, as if the large 'Royal Navy' titles on it are 18", then you can modify a couple of 'O's using the verticals from a couple of the other letters ('R', 'L' or 'N').....


Ah poop! Yeah, you're totally right on that one. Big thanks for the heads up, though. Appreciated. I think that's what they call 'bad research' on my part! They do look like they are the 18" titles, although the 'O' looks a little less rounded than the 'D' would be. It's definitely at least something to experiment with. 

 

15 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Not sure if Hannants have the old Modeldecal sheets 33 to 36 (IIRC), but one of those should have the right-sized "D"s on it.  Alternately if you have a Sabre sheet with an "XD-" serialled aircraft or a Meteor NF sheet with a "WD-" serialled aircraft on they should also be the right size.


This is a massive help, thanks! I don't have either, but it's definitely something I might have to look into putting the feelers out for. At least now I can narrow the search to an 18" letter 'D'  

 

It's things like this that make me love this site at times! 

Daryl. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The HAR3As also differed structurally internally below the MRGB.  Frames stn 243.5 and 290 were monobloc machinings rather than being made up from numerous alloy and steel plates, capping angles and straps etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
11 hours ago, andyf117 said:

Edit: Completely unscientific, but quick 'by date taken' searches at ABPic and airliners.net result in code letters first appearing in photos dated March 2004...

Thanks @andyf117 I didn't remember having them in my time but my memory is not that good so could have been wrong! I left 202 in 1989 so long before they were introduced.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...

Does anyone know if this item from Whirlybirds is a conversion set or simply a decal sheet? 

 

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/en/modelling/westland-sea-king-har3-22sq-raf-50-years-of-helicopter-operating--for-afv-kit-whirlybits-wba44008-159210.html

 

The old Facebook page for Whirlybirds says the similar set, WBA44007, is a conversion set, as does the page above. Scalemates have it listed as a decal set only. Does anyone know the full story behind what's in the bag. At that price, it had better be a conversion set with Sand Box, Composite Blades, FLIR and six-blade tail rotor! Thanks for any info anyone can offer.

 

BM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Blue Monday said:

Does anyone know if this item from Whirlybirds is a conversion set or simply a decal sheet? 

 

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/en/modelling/westland-sea-king-har3-22sq-raf-50-years-of-helicopter-operating--for-afv-kit-whirlybits-wba44008-159210.html

 

The old Facebook page for Whirlybirds says the similar set, WBA44007, is a conversion set, as does the page above. Scalemates have it listed as a decal set only. Does anyone know the full story behind what's in the bag. At that price, it had better be a conversion set with Sand Box, Composite Blades, FLIR and six-blade tail rotor! Thanks for any info anyone can offer.

 

BM.

Read what it says on the box: "contains resin, etched brass and decals".  Whirlybirds would have known better what was in their boxes than Scalemates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, I did read what it said on the box. The problem I highlighted is the conflicting information about this set. Asking for assistance from someone who actually has one of these sets from Whirlybirds seemed like the best way to find out what exactly is in the box.

 

BM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...