Cross-kitting a Wessex HC.2 in 1/72

[Procopius]

Hullo all,

 

My understanding is that the Italeri Wessex HU.5 kit can be combined with one of their Choctaw kits to make a Wessex HC2. I would be most gratified if someone was able to shed some light on the whats and hows of the process.

[perdu]

I understand, anecdotally Egmundo, that a simple job is; nose and legs from the 5 get tacked onto the fuselage of the Choctaw

 

I think we need to make the tail rotor rotate clockwise viewed from port side but that is subject to memory loss from an old geezer who has not tried it yet

 

Simply little windows on the 2,  big windows on the 5 and all the fun of the Wessex

[Jazzie]

Hello,

In no way am i an expert in anything, but here is what i have in the memory banks if its of help.

 

Did this quite a while ago to make 2 HC2s and until earlier this year i had a Heritage Aviation conversion nose that had to be sacrificed as i needed funds and little hope doing another.

 

I didnt bother with ensuring the main gear was correct and only the second one had the tail rotor reversed. I did try and get the correct parts for the equipment(air conditioning?) on the belly but i dont think this is achievable using parts from the kits.

 

An issue i wasnt aware of at the time is the fuselage is a fair bit too short, which is apparently in the section between the main cabin and tailboom. There is aftermarket stuff out there to correct this if you are inclined.

Arabest,

Geoff. 

[Procopius]

Thanks, chaps, that's exactly what I needed to know! One further question -- will any of the Italeri UH-34s work? 

 

5 hours ago, Jazzie said:

An issue i wasnt aware of at the time is the fuselage is a fair bit too short, which is apparently in the section between the main cabin and tailboom. There is aftermarket stuff out there to correct this if you are inclined.

 

Thanks, Geoff! I've ordered some of the correction sets from Freightdog.

[perdu]

Some!!!

[Procopius]

9 minutes ago, perdu said:

Some!!!

 

I like Wessexes. They look so friendly.

 

 

[perdu]

Me too, go PC

 

[hendie]

what everyone else has said - also, throw away the internals for both kits. The bulkheads are wrong, the seats are wrong. and to reiterate what Bill and Jazzie said - you need to reverse the tail rotor as they got that wrong too.

If you can bear to read through my Wessex thread I think most of the faults have been identified in there though mine is 1/48. Italeri pretty much screwed up on all their versions

[hendie]

oh, and I think the cabin step is the wrong length too

 

 

[Procopius]

Follow-on question -- can a HAS.1 Wessex be built from the HAS.3 kit?

[perdu]

It's basically a windows difference again

The HAS3 has big windows, the HAS1 the same small ones as the HC2/HAR2

When I made the 'two greens' HC2 out of a Matchbox HU5 I filled in the middle space between the frames with plasticard to give me the smaller squarish ones

 

So yes you can make a 1 out of a 3 but there's work to do

 

If you can find my build thread for the HC2 it's all shown as a 'how I did'

 

Don't use the hump

Don't use the parrot beak if there's one in the box

Don't use the dipping sonar fairing under the belly it's a different arrangement

Don't take too long, there's not much time left in the STGB

[tonywood]

The HAS1 had the same larger windows as the HAS3 (It was the original prototype RN one that had small windows), I made a HAS1 out of a Revell HAS3, as well as not using the parrot beak a new intake mesh needs to be made, I used fine brass mesh.

The belly is also different and was scratch built from photo's.

[perdu]

 Beg to differ, as I understand it both types of windows appear on HAS1s with later airframes getting the picture windows

 

RL Ward shows both types on in service 1s in Modeldecals number 99 which is of their usually very high standard

 

I should purrups have told PC that both types were extant but gave way to overgeneralization

 

Oops

 

I like the brass mesh idea myself and would assume that Edmundo would research the underpinnings before committing to paint

 

[Procopius]

5 hours ago, perdu said:

 

Don't take too long, there's not much time left in the STGB

 

Oh, I'll never make the STGB, sadly. I'm a creature of whimsy and caprice. 

 

3 hours ago, perdu said:

and would assume that Edmundo would research the underpinnings before committing to paint

 

 

Er...uh...oh...naturally.

[tonywood]

I stand corrected having found some photos of early HAS1's with square windows in the overall grey scheme, I think another HAS1 might be on the cards as I like that scheme.

[Procopius]

So wait, I would or would not need a UH-34 to crosskit with a HAS.3 to make a HAS.1?

[tonywood]

You will have to check individual references, certainly for a very early HAS1 you will need the Choctaw fuselage but for most HAS1's the HAS3 kit is sufficient on its own.

[perdu]

I think its clear that you dont NEED to get two kits PC

 

This is what I did with my big window HU5 to make a HC2 of it, dead easy

 

This is a Matchbox model but the same applies to the Italeri big windows kits

 

Make the gap smaller

 

Not the science of M. Verne even

 

[Miggers]

On 01/12/2016 at 8:15 AM, perdu said:

It's basically a windows difference again

The HAS3 has big windows, the HAS1 the same small ones as the HC2/HAR2

When I made the 'two greens' HC2 out of a Matchbox HU5 I filled in the middle space between the frames with plasticard to give me the smaller squarish ones

 

So yes you can make a 1 out of a 3 but there's work to do

 

If you can find my build thread for the HC2 it's all shown as a 'how I did'

Where might this thread be then oh Great Perdu Master?

 

I have a nItaleri HU.5(1/72nd)to play with and come out as a 772 London Flight cab.

[perdu]

Hmm good question well framed...

 

It seems that at that early juncture of my BM iteration I hadn't done a WIP thread and only started that with my HC2 from a Froglet

 

There is a RFI of course at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/77940-westland-wessex-hc2/

 

and I understand it is possible to access the Photocrappit thread I posted them in at perdu1

 

There is also the first WIP I did on the HC2 XT601 at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234914338-xt601-wessex-sar2-a-portrait-in-progress/

 

if you need any specific stuff ask away old man  I hope that this can get you underway

 

Edited December 4, 2016 by perdu