andyf117 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) As mentioned in the Chat thread, with re-builds of my badly-damaged German Mk.41 and Belgian Mk.48 Sea Kings coming along - to the point of having now reached the re-painting stage - this GB provides the ideal opportunity of completing the planned DayGlo-adorned trio of Westland Sea Kings with the Norwegian Mk.43... I could just build a 'plain' one using a set of Aifix kit decals as supplied in the later boxing of their 'old' HAR.3 kit, but because I like to be different, I'll be using a set of home-printed decals in order to model a Mk.43B complete with nose radome, large dorsal radome, double rescue winch, and externally-mounted dinghy packs. I'll be using one of the '45th Anniversary' boxings, as pictured, along with the afore-mentioned home-made decals: As the above markings were printed on white decal paper, there is an additional '071' sitting on another (clear) sheet... Edited January 18, 2020 by andyf117 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 A couple of almost perfect side-on views reduced to 1/72 scale are providing fairly-accurate size references for the additional items I need to manufacture - I'd previously used this version of it on Crisp's 1/48 HAS.5 thread to illustrate the correct radome height, after discovering that Revell's supplied version is too tall, and requires correction: 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planebuilder62 Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Great choice Andy. Whirlybird models provide a set of bits to make an up to date Norwegian Seaking, complete with the Vingtor decal set with all the stencils and very good placement guides. Regards Toby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Planebuilder62 said: Great choice Andy. Whirlybird models provide a set of bits to make an up to date Norwegian Seaking, complete with the Vingtor decal set with all the stencils and very good placement guides. Thanks, Toby - I'm 'old-school', and rarely use after-market parts, preferring to adapt, convert or make my own whenever and wherever possible... ....decals are the main exception, though as I have a good-quality laser printer, I like producing custom ones - I did the Mk.43 set a few years ago, long before Vingtor! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 welcome along Andy, it's great to see you here with one of your Sea Kings. I do like the scheme you've chosen, nice and bright for sure (thought I do like the kit one even if it isn't eligible), are you going to "grubby" her up as in the photo? Plus it's great to hear that the Sea King Recovery process is progressing along. Well good luck with the build, it'll be an enjoyable to follow as usual. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Great to see a Sea King in the mix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Martin Posted January 18, 2020 Share Posted January 18, 2020 Did you find any information on the interior colours? PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeroenS Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 A helo, nice... I'll be following this one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, Patrick Martin said: Did you find any information on the interior colours? PM Westland Sea Kings were all finished with Dark Admiralty Grey interiors - later, some cockpits were repainted black when NVGs were used; rear cabin sound-proofing material was usually a dark grey... ....however, Norwegian aircraft had a distinctive silver-grey quilted material, which, due to their operating environment, I'm guessing also acted as insulation against the cold as well as sound - I'm still working on finding a small-enough mesh or similar to reproduce the effect... ....in the linked pic, note too that the floor looks 'carpeted', probably another form of insulation - it is clearly fitted on top of the waterproof sea tray, the green edge of which can be seen along the cabin wall and rear bulkhead: http://data3.primeportal.net/hangar/luc_colin3/sea_king_mk.43/images/sea_king_mk.43_105_of_122.jpg Edited January 19, 2020 by andyf117 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 19, 2020 Author Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) After consigning all the un-needed kit parts to the dedicated Sea King spares box, the first job was to remove un-required items from the fuselage halves, open up a few holes, and add some details. The result of just a few hours' work can be seen as described: 1) The two rear observation window locations were cut out using the recessed inside demarcations, and their edges carefully filed to ensure an all-round tight fit. 2) The Mk.41's moulded-on aft flare/chaff launcher mounts were cut and sanded off, the areas cleaned up, and rivet detail restored using tiny drops of Mr Surfacer. 3) Mounting points for the second winch unit's struts were drilled out. 4) The raised battery compartment cover plate was added from plastic card - it's not pictured here, but a similar plate was also added to the port sponson. 5) The rear fuselage strengthening plates were added, cut from plastic card which was then sanded-down to reduce their thickness. 6) The Crash Locator Beacon was added, comprising a plastic card base plate and suitably-sized flattened-off wheel half, deliberately mounted slightly high on its base. 7) Barely visible, the undernose landing/spotlights were drilled out - Norway's Mk.43s were unique in having an additional landing light, in the aft position on the port side. Edited January 19, 2020 by andyf117 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 A comprehensive start and clearly a subject you know well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 20, 2020 Author Share Posted January 20, 2020 (edited) As the large dorsal radome is provided in the kit, and I had a spare hoist unit (from my ASaC.7, which didn't need one) available in the spares box, there remained two distinctive items I needed to source elsewhere or make myself - namely the nose-mounted weather radar, and the two side-mounted liferaft containers. As mentioned in post #4 above, I rarely use after-market parts, preferring to adapt, convert or make my own whenever and wherever possible... The nose radome - seen under the tail of the upper fuselage half - was made using a suitably-diametered bomb found in the main spares box, married to the rear port section of the almost rectangular Mk.41 unit supplied in the kit. After cutting one half of the bomb to the required length to form the entire starboard side, the other half was used to make the shorter port nose, along with a curved rearward slope back to meet the fairing. Once I was happy with both the whole assembly's length and profile of its rear edges, the front was filled with Milliput so its pointy nose could be sanded to the correct fully-rounded shape. For the liferaft containers, I'd had one of those lightbulb moments some time ago, when our cat was prescribed some medication in the form of capsules. Whilst pushing one through the foil seal, it suddenly occurred to me that the plastic 'pod' I'd just squashed looked about the right size and shape - measuring an intact one I found it was the correct length, but too narrow; nevertheless, I filed the principle away for a later date. When thinking about it again in preparation for this build, I hit on the idea of making moulds with lengthways central dividers to cast resin copies in two halves, enabling spacers to be inserted to achieve the correct width. The theory successfully converted into practice, and I even managed to take slices from spare castings while the resin was still soft enough to cut with a scapel, which made the process of sandwiching and sanding to shape easier. The finished items are seen here placed in position, but not yet affixed to the fuselage sides. Edited January 21, 2020 by andyf117 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 that was a really clever idea with the capsule holder/pod, they looked to have worked out great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 Just a minor update, but including an important correction... As mentioned above in post #2, the Sea Searcher radome as provided is too tall, as seen here with its halves placed on the scaled reference photo: (Note the lower one isn't sitting flat, due to its locating pins) Accordingly, it needs to be reduced in height by six scale inches, so that its top edge sits level with the lines roughly drawn on the pic in post #2. Logic suggests cutting and re-sizing the halves before joining them together - however, to ensure the radome ends up perfectly level all around, it's actually better to cut the part along the upper of the two moulded lines after assembly, and to then remove the excess from the upper section by simple circular sanding motions whilst constantly rotating it. The resulting subtle but important difference can be seen with the yet-to-be-glued sections alongside an original unit from the built HAS.6 which I stripped and rebuilt as an AEW.2. The upper cockpit windows have received their coat of my 'Sea Green' mix, comprising equal parts of Tamiya Clear Green, Clear Blue, and Klear: 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hewy Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Hello andy ,nice to see another detailed seaking under way again 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 It's nice to have good reference - you can really immerse yourself to the build and learn a lot from the subject. It can be bit scary too, just how deep you will go as there are always things that are just a little bit off. But it seems you got the build under control and skills for the correction work needed. Good attention to detail, looking forwards to see more of the build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 23, 2020 Share Posted January 23, 2020 Clever solutions on show there 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Not a lot to show for more than an hour's work - today, I have mostly been... ....very slowly and carefully cutting out the forward crew door: 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 26, 2020 Share Posted January 26, 2020 Tidy cutting work Andy and well done for not wrecking the frame between door and canopy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reini Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Wow, yeah. Thats a tidy cut! I know I would have spent another hour repairing the damage I had done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 12 hours ago, Col. said: Tidy cutting work Andy and well done for not wrecking the frame between door and canopy. 2 hours ago, reini said: Wow, yeah. Thats a tidy cut! I know I would have spent another hour repairing the damage I had done Cheers, guys - having damaged the same area before on a couple of other builds, experience has taught me to use a brand-new blade and exercise patience... ....not just because of the thin section forward of the door, but also the raised lip along its top edge - fortunately, Revell's plastic isn't brittle like old Fujimi stuff! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevej60 Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Great to see a Sea King in the GB Andy and in such a lovely scheme too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 (edited) Following this with interest and taking notes as I've got one of these on my "long" to build list. For those of us who don't have work for cats, what are the dimensions of the liferaft canisters please Andy ? Edited January 27, 2020 by Richard E Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted January 27, 2020 Author Share Posted January 27, 2020 4 hours ago, Richard E said: Following this with interest and taking notes as I've got one of these on my "long" to build list. For those of us who don't have work for cats, what are the dimensions of the liferaft canisters please Andy ? I measured them out to be 48" long, 30-32" top to bottom; depth is more subjective - I've sanded mine down to 12" for now... ....but if before attaching I decide they need to be deeper - maybe 15" - I'll simply add plastic card spacers... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Martin Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Hi all: Doing the same project but with the Airfix kit and Whirlybirds conversion (Vingtor decal sheet). Does the interior of the 43 have any interior walls - or is it an empty cabin? Pat martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now