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1/72 Sikorsky S61NM - Off to the Scilly Isles for the day - Whirlybird Models


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Its not new and I cant remember if it ever made it to this forum; built about 6 years ago from the Revell 1/72 Sea King and the Whirlybird Decals / Models S61NM conversion kit, this diorama has been totally re-built and brought back to life after being totally smashed to pieces by a rogue tennis ball aimed at it by some moron. Left in many pieces to rot in a very well buried box in my attic, I found this during a house move in February and decided to bring the memory of the Lands End service back to life.

 

Originally built as a memory of my childhood days when my parents owned a cottage over on Tresco in the Scillies which we flew to originally via St Mary's and then in later years as a direct service to Tresco; the family would trek over on what was originally a BEA service and then in BA's red white and blue colours. This particular S61 (BEON) ditched killing 20, just 1 month ahead of one of our numerous trips over to the Scillies.

 

A big mention to Roger Evans of Whirlybird Models who has brought this amazing model to our benches - another subject that had for many years been overlooked by the main stream manufacturers. Hopefully, one of my club colleagues at Farnborough  shall soon bring another Whirlybird 1/72 S61NM to life to compliment this diorama

 

After the 2017 rebuild...

 

DSC_7679_zpsg4d5owcb.jpg

 

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DSC_7681_zpsf64bvxoy.jpg

 

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DSC_7683_zpsgsx5cvrw.jpg

 

And finally, as it was before its new facelift and rebuild back in 2011

 

DSCF4091_zpsdbcdd3e5.jpg

 

Thanks for looking in - John

 

 

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Well done recovering from the tennis ball incident John, can't tell there was ever any damage.

I love the S61N, it just looks right if you know what I mean and of course it's in my favourite BA livery!

Cheers,

Ian

 

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hi fellow modellers - thanks for all the kind words and helpful pointers for improvement if ever I attempt to model the return trip!

 

Hope fully another member at Farnborough will soon be bringing another S61NM to life in 1/72

 

John

 

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Lovely - also brings many memories of the Scillies run, in these and the preceding Rapides.  Great that you managed to get it back together again so successfully after the 'incident'.

 

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On ‎21‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 0:35 AM, kapam said:

That is awesome!

Can't believe that ever got hit by a tennis ball!

Where do the 1/72 figures come from?  They really set the whole thing off!

B)

Hi Kepam - these little chaps are Preiser figures - expensive but worth the investment

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  • 3 years later...

Hi I just came across this and very interesting to see G-BEON so nicely depicted.

A colleague from my company Ron Goddard and most of his family were killed in the crash - only his 12 yr old son survived.

Seeing the people walking out is quite poignant.

 

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On 2/12/2021 at 2:41 PM, steveparry said:

Hi I just came across this and very interesting to see G-BEON so nicely depicted.

A colleague from my company Ron Goddard and most of his family were killed in the crash - only his 12 yr old son survived.

Seeing the people walking out is quite poignant.

 

Hello

 

That was a tragic accident and something I remember all to well. We had a property on Tresco so were very frequent flyers over to St Mary's or Tresco once the direct service was launched back in the '80's. We were booked to travel on the service 1 month after the crash but ended up in Cape Town instead that year. I remember being extremely apprehensive boarding the next S61NM on our next trip to Tresco thereafter. Having flown on the service so many times beforehand, I thought the trip to be safe and without any potential dangers. 

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