Head in the clouds. Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 (edited) Thanks PB for my Saturday night spent reloading images. These have been up before but if you have not seen them, here they are instead of the annoying PB "sorry" board. Hello all. I was looking for something different to build and after a lot of head scratching and research I decided to build this variation of the venerable Sea King. The model is of Westland Sea King HAS5 XZ570 modified by Westland as a test bed for the up and coming Merlin programme, it stayed as a test airframe for a considerable time until superseded by Sea King HC4X ZB506. The shape and size of the test equipment up front was continually changing through the development of the Blue Kestrel radar, both with XZ570 and ZB506 so that was a point to bear in mind when deciding which to build. I decided to build what I believe to be the second incarnation of XZ570, the reason being I liked the old colour scheme as it was a bit different with the day-glow and black/white calibration markings and I could only find one black &white photo of XZ570 as an HAS2(modified) but two photo’s, port and starboard in colour after modification to HAS5 this cemented my choice. These were the only two colour pics I could find of XZ570 HAS5(modified) and had to use the more available pics of ZB506 for detail of the sponsons which remained consistent in design. The base kit was the oh so not so good Airfix Sea King HAR3 kit which need a few mods to bring it to where I wanted it as follows; Blue Kestrel Radar taken from ESCI Melin HM1 kit. Top section made from Milliput and sanded to shape followed by hollowing out to avoid a nose sitter( how often do you hear that!) Sponsons made from Evergreen sheet and brass square bar for strength and fixing points made from Brass rod and left over PE. HAS 5 sensors made from Evergreen stock. Engine Barn door baffles altered and modified with filler and Evergreen. Pitot tubes from Brass tube. Fill in two observation windows Round out and fit grille to APU outlet. Fit Eduarde grill to tail section. Rear tail boon handrails replaced with brass tube. Holes drilled in U/C. The glazing on this kit is poor but I did not attempt to rectify this. Paints were Tamiya Acrylics ( self mixed for main colour) and Xtracolour Enamels for the Dayglo covered in Alclad Gloss coat. Decals were sourced from several sources, however this I think is the weakest part of the build, the kit decal being very thick and the carrier film still visible on some, HAS 5 decals are not easy to come by in the old scheme. On the subject of decals the bird motif on the port side which was made from old red decals is only on this side, for some stupid reason I put one on the Starboard side as well and did not notice my lazy mistake until too late…..DOH! I hope you like this unusual Sea King and thanks for looking Edited November 13, 2017 by Head in the clouds. PB 40 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 (edited) Content withdrawn - I will NOT be threatened by a moderator, simply because I queried the actions of another... Edited June 27, 2020 by andyf117 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Very clever way to hang a test bed radar. Thats a nice build with bags of character. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Hello,Gary - My full compliments to you on another beautifully built and finished subject. I love the 'Sea King' helicopter and your variant and chosen scheme make a resplendent looking tribute to this fine aircraft. Great work indeed! 😉👍 All the very best,Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
celt Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 A wonderful build of an unusual Sea King,love the colours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dolphin38 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Great looking and unusual build of the Airfix Sea King Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huvut76g7gbbui7 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 That is really different. Thanks for posting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Tasty. Can any of you Sea King fans point me in the direction of anybody who makes a set of folded blades for the Sea King, or any choppers comes to that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali62 Posted February 11, 2017 Share Posted February 11, 2017 Very interesting model, and nicely made, well done, Ali Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Superb work sir. That is just a pleasure to behold in terms of colour and structure. The child in me thinks that this is almost ready for an episode of Thunderbirds, with that exotic structure out front. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Yes, very nice indeed. Masking must have been fun Thunderbirds or airborne pass the parcel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 10 hours ago, mcdonnell said: Hello,Gary - My full compliments to you on another beautifully built and finished subject. I love the 'Sea King' helicopter and your variant and chosen scheme make a resplendent looking tribute to this fine aircraft. Great work indeed! 😉👍 All the very best,Paul. Thank you Paul, you have to love a Sea King don't you, I grew up with them after all. 9 hours ago, celt said: A wonderful build of an unusual Sea King,love the colours. 9 hours ago, Scimitar said: That is really different. Thanks for posting Thanks Celt and Scimitar, that was the reason for the build, something a bit left field. 9 hours ago, spaddad said: Tasty. Can any of you Sea King fans point me in the direction of anybody who makes a set of folded blades for the Sea King, or any choppers comes to that? I did think of that spaddad as one of my two photo's showed them folded but nothing jumped out at me on the aftermarket, especially in 1/72, there may be one 1/48. 8 hours ago, Ali62 said: Very interesting model, and nicely made, well done, Ali 50 minutes ago, TheBaron said: Superb work sir. That is just a pleasure to behold in terms of colour and structure. The child in me thinks that this is almost ready for an episode of Thunderbirds, with that exotic structure out front. Tony Thank you both, I think there is a child in all of us Tony, the only thing that has changed is that I have found Ale and given up sniffing the Airfix glue 51 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said: Yes, very nice indeed. Masking must have been fun Thunderbirds or airborne pass the parcel? Cheers Pete, masking was to bad, trying to get the right base colour was a little harder as the photographs I had show it a lighter shade of Blue than standard for HAS2 and early HAS5. Thunderbirds or airborne pass the parcel....how about pizza delivery? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 For the tiger 'meat' feast? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said: For the tiger 'meat' feast? Really??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 It's early on a Sunday morning. I reserve the good stuff for later. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 15 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said: It's early on a Sunday morning. I reserve the good stuff for later. Now that was funny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragtag Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 20 hours ago, spaddad said: Tasty. Can any of you Sea King fans point me in the direction of anybody who makes a set of folded blades for the Sea King, or any choppers comes to that? Airfix includes them as standard in both their HC.4 and new HAR.3 boxings - you might be able to find someone who hasn't used theirs who'd be willing to part with them 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Rhodes Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Never mind the mods for the radar, this is mighty impressive considering you made it from the old Airfix kit. Darren 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 39 minutes ago, Darren Rhodes said: Never mind the mods for the radar, this is mighty impressive considering you made it from the old Airfix kit. Darren Thank you Darren, the glazing is not perfect but was not sure what to do with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Rhodes Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 7 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said: Thank you Darren, the glazing is not perfect but was not sure what to do with it. There's more than just glazing issues with the old Airfix kit! Your build is very much a silk purse from pig's ear. I literally opened the box and binned my kit...! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Darren Rhodes said: There's more than just glazing issues with the old Airfix kit! Your build is very much a silk purse from pig's ear. I literally opened the box and binned my kit...! Crikey, I will take all the compliments you want to through at me then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackem01 Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 That's a great build. I have never seen this testbed before and I'm amazed. Wonder what effect the installation had on the CG? Brilliant work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 20 minutes ago, mackem01 said: That's a great build. I have never seen this testbed before and I'm amazed. Wonder what effect the installation had on the CG? Brilliant work. Cheers mackem01, yes it certainly peaked my interest when I first saw it. I would imagine they had ballast somewhere in the airframe to centralise the Cof G. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaddad Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 8 hours ago, Ragtag said: Airfix includes them as standard in both their HC.4 and new HAR.3 boxings - you might be able to find someone who hasn't used theirs who'd be willing to part with them Thanks Ragtag Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted February 13, 2017 Share Posted February 13, 2017 Very nice build of something different 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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