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Name that helicopter!


Michael Morris

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I'm thinking about producing a model of the X-RV lifting body from the film Marooned.  One option is to depict suspended from the helicopter which in the film transports it to Cape Canaveral. (see attached picture).  But what type of helicopter is it?  It looks a bit like a Sikorsky CH-53, but of course I could be VERY wrong.

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/pRQxnWoasmYHmuXm9

 

Thanks

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Thanks

Just found this

http://www.impdb.org/index.php?title=Marooned_(1969)

They name is as a Sikorsky CH-3C c/n 61527 s/n 64-14224 of the USAF.  Reading some more it looks as though the HH-53 and CH-3C were essentially the same aircraft.

 

Thanks for the help.

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Revell made a kit many years ago. It was a very nice kit covered in rivets but a good base for a nice model. Although 1/72nd was the scale, I have some suspicion a suggestion that it was just off that comes to mind. To me it wasn't obvious compaired to a Sea King.

 

Keith

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I think that at least part of the confusion stems from the name used by the USAF

HH-3E = Jolly Green Giant

HH-53 = Super Jolly Green Giant

 

The HH/ CH-53 has been developed over the years into the 3 engined CH-53E Super Stallion /  MH-53E Sea Dragon and now the CH-53K King Stallion, which will be the largest / heaviest helicopter in the US armed services. No doubt if the USAF were ever to take it up (unlikely) then it would become the “Super Duper Jolly Green Giant”!!

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That's definitely an S-61R, the Sea King variant with the CH-35-style tail and the reversed undercarriage.  Whether it’s an actual HH-3 is less clear - it could be a CH-3C, as it has none of the lumps and probes that the HH-3E rescue version had.  Or it could be an early HH-3E before the lumps and probes.  The yellow band on the tail almost certainly makes it USAF either way.  I don’t think it’s an HH-3F as it has no Coast Guard titles.

 

In any event, there’s not much around in kit form, if memory serves.

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There have been three injection moulded CH-3/HH-3 kits, all quite old - the fore-mentioned Revell is the best of them...

....there were also offerings by Aurora and Lindberg - one of which was re-issued by Starfix, and those appear often on eBay...

 

Whirlykits have done resin kits - one of which is being built with a C-130 right here on BM:

 

 

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The old injection kits are pretty crud really if you get familiar with the type.

 

The Sikorsky S-61 family (from which the  S-61A/ SH-3 / Sea King, civilian S-61L,M,N and utility S-61R/CH-3/HH-3 are all part of) all share a distinct change in fuselage cross section under the engines. It's one of those once seen/never unseen things and it's completely missing from the old plastic HH-3 kits. The rotor heads, glazings etc are all very crude too. On the plus side they are often very cheap.

 

A decent one could be made using a more modern Sea King as a basis and just using the rear cabin, cargo ramp, tail boom, pylon and sponsons from the Revell HH-3E and throw the rest away.

 

The Whirlybird kit is by contrast accurate and nicely detailed, but it was £67.50 for a 1/72 helicopter when I bought mine!

 

 

 

Just as a point of interest, the CH- designation was for all the basic cargo helicopter types. The HH- was "heavy helicopter" which in practise meant rescue helicopters. You wouldn't want to use a HH-anything for carrying slung loads - they were usually* weighed down with armour plating, defensive guns and usually long range fuel tanks. You'd want a basic, lighter CH- for carrying stuff.

 

*the HH-3E was the USAF combat search and rescue chopper with armour, guns and LR tanks. The HH-3F was used by the coast guard and still had the personnel winch etc but didn't need the armour. Looks pretty much the same from outside except white and red rather than green & tan.

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The helicopter in the picture is definitely a USAF CH-3C/E. The two only differed in the engine variant installed and most C were converted into E in around 1968.

41st ARRS at Patrick AFB used the CH-3 to support various space programs, starting with the Gemini and through the Apollo era into the early days of Space Shuttle operations. I would expect this to be a helicopter from that unit

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^ Wot they said. HH-3. Aurora/Revell did it, I have one built up on the shelf beside me as the 67th ARRS flew them from RAF Woodbridge. It's slightly underscale. Basic, rivets like man-hole covers. Whirlykits do it - for a price, and that Kingkit is way over asking price. You should be able to find one half that. 

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Speaking of CH-3/HH-3 kits, the Lindberg one has been available til very recently and can still be found for a tenner or little more

There's been kits made under a couple of Polish names, like ZTS Plastyk and Chematic. As most of these kits, it's likely a clone of someone else's kit, don't know which one though

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At one time I had unbuilt examples of the Revell , Aurora and Starfix kits but sold them as a job lot a few years back , from what I recall Revell was a bit sharper and finer although Aurora had one or two better detail features and a cargo frame but worse drop tanks and that the Starfix kit seemed to be a mix of the two.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 12/5/2019 at 2:32 AM, EwenS said:

I think that at least part of the confusion stems from the name used by the USAF

HH-3E = Jolly Green Giant

HH-53 = Super Jolly Green Giant

 

The HH/ CH-53 has been developed over the years into the 3 engined CH-53E Super Stallion /  MH-53E Sea Dragon and now the CH-53K King Stallion, which will be the largest / heaviest helicopter in the US armed services. No doubt if the USAF were ever to take it up (unlikely) then it would become the “Super Duper Jolly Green Giant”!!

Hi Ewen, the USAF did take it up (the H-53 airframe, but not the 3 engine version), their version was the MH-53J Pave Low, thought I have to admit "Super Duper Jolly Green Giant" is a much more exciting name :)  The Pave Low's role in the USAF was replaced with the Osprey.

Edited by MikQuattro
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  • 2 months later...

Don't know if you got anywhere on your search for a Revell HH-3. But Atlantis models bought Revell and just re-released the Jolly Green.
https://www.atlantis-models.com/preorderjollygreengiantrescuehelicopterhh-3e172atlantis.aspx?utm_source=cheyenne+peacemaker&utm_campaign=12-8-19&utm_medium=email

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