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Sweet Sea King(s) 1/144


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Hello, 

I was in the last flying boat GB with a 1/144 PBY-5 - sadly I didn't finish it in the GB but I did finish it and now it sits on a stand on my Mum & Dad's piano, painted up in the markings of mum's father's aircraft from a mission over the South Pacific in 1943 (the plane that is not the piano). 

 

As I am almost finished my build in one of the other current GBs, I figured I might have another shot at the Flying Boats one. 

 

So I am going to build one or maybe two of these sweet little Sea Kings from the appropriately named Japanese brand Sweet. I have five of these, though two are too far along to join a GB.

 

Here are the colour schemes - I've already decided for sure to do the USN 66 one, but not for this build because unless I can spray, I can't get much of a finish with white. And present living arrangements don't allow me to spray. That maybe rules out the RAN version, too, for which I will also reserve one kit, although the white area is smaller.

 

Of the remaining three, I can do any of the following. I'll post a pic of the kit itself once I get started.

 

Interested in your suggestions, though I hasten to add, this is a cheerocracy, not a democracy (Bring it On reference, for those who wonder WTF - haha). 

 

Looking forward to getting started - these are awesome little kits and relatively quick builds.

 

IMG_20190927_085622505_HDR-1024x768.jpg

 

IMG_20190927_085540278_HDR-1024x768.jpg

 

IMG_20190927_085527254_HDR-1024x768.jpg

 

 

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Hi!

 

Welcome to the GB! A Sea King or two is/are always welcome!

 

If it was my choice, I'd go for the Bealgian camouflaged version. A second choice would be the German version and the third option would be the grey/orange japanese version.

 

I wish luck! Let us know what you'll be building when you decide.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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Well great minds think roughly alike!

 

The Belgian cammo version is one of the three I plan to build, though I will use the more modern radome style which came in one of these kits. That's the sort of large flat round one as opposed to the little dome shown in these pictures. 

 

Like this (image free to use from wikicommons with this tag: © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons

800px-RMM_Westland_Sea_King_Mk.48.JPG

 

The other two are going to be the two colourful Japanese ones - I guess I like the colourful options! I do like the German SAR one, but I'm going with the Japanese one for the dark grey/orange because I like that it was part of the Japanese Antarctic survey, as you can see from the box top of that kit by googling Sweet JMSDF Sea King - there's a nice cartoon style drawing of it (sorry, I can't find the box top to photograph). 

 

And, as noted, I will also do the RAN version and USN 66. 

 

That leaves no real reason to do the grey/white JMSDF version, and the white NASA one is kind of boring, and the all-green one? Well, I live in DC and see it, and more than enough other helicopters, pounding around the city at low altitude at all hours and you know what, it's just about killed my interest in helicopters! I see Marine One (or its identical siblings) more than I'd like to; also regularly (like 10 times a day) see a lot of Hueys (or I guess they're 212s), those Dauphin things the Coast Guard has once or twice a day, and fairly often, maybe once a fortnight, one to three Blackhawks in formation. Once I saw some AH-64s. And these are all at about 50 feet above the roof of the 6-7 storey buildings around here. Low and loud. I never thought I'd say it, being a big plane fan,  but they are really annoying!

 

Anyway, off to the workbench soon. 

 

thanks for the input!

 

 

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9 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

The Belgian cammo version is one of the three I plan to build

 

9 hours ago, bianfuxia said:

The other two are going to be the two colourful Japanese ones

So, I'll update your entries to three in my control sheet: 1 Belgian and 2 Japanese amphibian helicopters :)

 

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34 minutes ago, jrlx said:

 

So, I'll update your entries to three in my control sheet: 1 Belgian and 2 Japanese amphibian helicopters :)

 

Haha  - ok if you like! I think I can probably get at least one of them done, let's see!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Here is the kit - they mostly come in these plastic bags except for the twin-pack Japanese one which came in a box with cool cartoon box art. I still haven't started but I will soon.

 

IMG_20191013_000657185_HDR-1024x768.jpg

 

IMG_20191013_000730772-1024x768.jpg

 

IMG_20191013_000904514-1024x768.jpg

 

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This decal sheet is for the USN 66 helicopter involved in the space program in the 60s, as well as a NASA version and Marine One (the President's helicopter). The sheet is indicative of the high quality of the other sheets I have, too.

 

Each kit comes with two noses - one with the intake cover common to later Sea Kings. Each also comes with two variants of the side sponsons or landing gear. Some kits came with the larger alternative radomes, too.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Some great stuff going on in this GB!

 

Well, I have yet to make much (ok, any) progress on this. Recently I was finishing up my ship in the 80s Asia Group Build, then I had a work trip and now my folks are in DC.

 

So I took them to the Mall today and saw three Sea Kings fly past. Theoretically I could build what I saw from the kits I have. I won't. But here's a video of it just to show I haven't forgotten this GB! I'll get stuck into it as soon as my parents head home.

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I'm finally off the starting line with these. 

 

First I set out everything to make sure it's all present - missing one tailfin but otherwise everything's there. 

 

IMG_20191114_104144385-1.jpg

 

From left to right up the back there, it's the three Sikorsky versions (USN and the two JMSDF) with the five bladed tail rotor, and then the two Westlands: the RAN with the small dome shaped radome and six bladed tail rotor, and the Belgian SAR with the big flat radome and also the six bladed rotor, plus the intake shields.

 

A moment ago I was here - rotor blades all painted (each has a different colour scheme, all black underneath but different colours on top, based on the instructions). I also tried out a green on the Belgian one.

 

IMG_20191114_113054243.jpg

 

The fuselages of the two Westlands were already glued together and the Belgian one is probably too far along to qualify for the GB but I'm doing them all as a batch. I won't put the Belgian one in the gallery (assuming any of them make it that far).

 

I also painted inside the clear parts of each one.

 

The USN 66 one needs some modifications - for example it had a movie camera mount on the side by the door - but other than removing some of the surface detail on some of them, I'm going for an OOB build on these. Not enough time in my life to do more I'm afraid.

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Love to a Sea King being made!

 

Sadly they have gone out of Service with the Royal Navy over here, I use to enjoy watching them flying overhead, especially the Arctic camouflaged ones.

 

Good progress, I look forward to seeing the rest.

 

Cheers,

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  • 1 month later...

Sorry to say I'm flaming out of this one. I had a family trip followed by a week-long business trip and another trip tomorrow. With everything, I haven't been able to get to these choppers at all unfortunately.

 

good luck to the rest of you all!

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Sorry to know you didn't manage to progress any further. These would certainly look great in the chosen schemes. I hope you find the time to finish them later, after the GB.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

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