Popular Post Hamiltonian Posted February 23, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted February 23, 2020 This is US Navy Sea King SH-3D, BuNo 152711, affectionately known as "Old 66"--the helicopter that recovered the crews of Apollos 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13. (Screen capture from Apollo 11 documentary by Todd Douglas Miller.) (Source) I've modelled her as close as I can get to her appearance at about 07:55 GMT on 24 July 1969--as she was being towed across the deck of USS Hornet, with the Apollo 11 astronauts on board, towards the elevator on which she'd descend to the hangar bay: (Screen capture from Apollo 11 documentary by Todd Douglas Miller.) My starting point was the Hasegawa 1/48 SH-3H, combined with an instruction sheet for their rare SH-3D version, which used most of the same sprues. I added CH124 short sponsons from Belcher Bits, carved a chunk off the tailplane, removed various lumps and bumps, filled in a window, and scratch-built various details--the sea-anchor cable, the fore and aft cameras and their mounts and cable runs, the SARAH yagi antennae on the sponson struts and their cable runs, the retainer sling for the main rotor, and a few other minor bits and pieces. The wheels come from an unidentified resin set a friend fished out of his stash. Also present but not particularly visible are a set of QuickBoost seats and Eduard cockpit detail that I found in the Hasegawa box after I bought it on eBay. I used the Starfighter decal sheet specific to this aircraft, combined with some bits and pieces harvested from the Hasegawa decal sheet, and some decals I printed myself to provide the yellow tape on the camera cable runs, and the yellow stripes on the rotor blades. (The Starfighter sheet and instructions are very good, but are wrong in a couple of details when compared to photographs of the aircraft.) Thanks are due to andyf117 and Ex-FAAWAFU for keeping me right on various points, and to JayBee for a very useful reference photograph. Build log is here: And a closer look at the camera and winch detail around the cabin door: 72 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe M Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Very Nice! Cheers Joe M 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Brantley Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Cool build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephLalor Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Excellent job on a subject I’ve wanted to have another go at for a long time. You mentioned SARAH. I take it that’s Search And Rescue Active Homing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyK Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Nicely done, great job an all the extra detail! J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Callahan Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Great job. It looks amazing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmerboy Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Wonderful, that’s a lot of work you have done there and it’s certainly paid off, fantastic! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abandoned Project Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Lovely whirlybird Sir. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfinished project Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Superb Seaking 👏👏👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spruecutter Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Very nicely done - always like a Sea King! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Hello Hamilton, The famous Sea King model, bringing us some history, that most of us from the fifty's can remember very well. Looks great. The old color scheme with the carriers name on the sponsons Outside under the sliding door, camera's! Could/would it be possible to ad the reference picture to this article. SARAH, never heard of that abbreviation before. Technicians that can explain this device. Thanks. Thanks for sharing this article. Regards, Orion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orion Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Hello Hamilton, Just checked your WIP. Found the camera's and the Yagi antenna. Great stuff. Regards, Orion 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Nice build Hamilton I've bookmarked your build thread for future reference when I get around to building my own version rgds John(shortCummins) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Lovley 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamiltonian Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 Thanks for the kind comments, everyone. 🙂 On 2/24/2020 at 12:09 AM, JosephLalor said: Excellent job on a subject I’ve wanted to have another go at for a long time. You mentioned SARAH. I take it that’s Search And Rescue Active Homing. Search And Rescue And Homing, according to Grant Fish's Hornet Plus Three: The Story Of The Apollo 11 Recovery. The paired aerials, one either side of the fuselage, were good at direction finding, but notoriously bad at ranging. This resulted in an interesting near-missing during the Apollo 11 recovery, as described by Scott W. Carmichael in Moon Men Return. "Swim One" (Helo 53) was trying to get within visual range of the descending capsule before it splashed down: Quote Weather conditions at the splashdown site were considerably better than those at the previous site, but it was still quite cloudy. Richmond was flying in and out of clouds at an elevation of about eight hundred feet as he raced along the bearing indicated by his SARAH operator. He emerged suddenly from a cloud and screamed "Oh, [redacted]!" into his microphone as the window filled suddenly with the sight of three huge billowing parachutes, about one thousand feet directly in front of him. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaton01 Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dec0da Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 smashing!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamiltonian Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 23 hours ago, Orion said: Could/would it be possible to ad the reference picture to this article. The problem with this aircraft is that it is documented by small blurry images, or clear close-ups of parts of the fuselage. But I've added a couple of distant port and starboard reference shots to my first post, as well as a partial view of the state in which I've modelled her, which shows the arrangements of the aft cameras, the winch and the rotor sling which I've tried to reproduce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamiltonian Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 23 hours ago, Orion said: Hello Hamilton, Just checked your WIP. Found the camera's and the Yagi antenna. Great stuff. Regards, Orion Thanks. The aft cameras, in particular, were pretty close to the limit of what I can do with brass rod and bits of styrene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 Absolutely beautiful work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted February 25, 2020 Share Posted February 25, 2020 (edited) That is an amazing build of a helo that is every bit as famous and beloved as the FAA's 'Humphrey' Amazing detailing to recreate all the bits and pieces carried on the recovery missions. You are a steely-eyed model builder! Mike Edited February 26, 2020 by 72modeler removed incorrect text 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamiltonian Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 5 hours ago, 72modeler said: That is an amazing build of a helo that is every bit as famous and beloved as the RAF's 'Humphrey' Amazing detailing to recreate all the bits and pieces carried on the recovery missions. You are a steely-eyed model builder! Mike Thanks. Nice reference to the heroic days of spaceflight, too. 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattcour Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Very good job, nice model indeed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyf117 Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 19 hours ago, 72modeler said: That is an amazing build of a helo that is every bit as famous and beloved as the RAF's 'Humphrey' That would be the FAA's 'Humphrey'... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IGKent Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 Nice KING! Looks luxury! 1 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