Sikorsky S-51 Los Angeles Airways - LF Models 1/72 injected kit

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

What a joy to see a civil Sikorsky S-51 released by LF Models!

And with a Los Angeles Airways option (there are three different options in total), none the less!

Los Angeles, the city that we, its dwellers, love to hate.

I live now in the same county, but not fortunately anymore in that city, for which I praise and thank all the saints of all religions, those already invented and the ones to be invented yet.

I rushed to buy one. And what a pleasure it was to open the box and see what looks like a nice molding, plenty of detail, a photo-etched set and decals, accompanied by nicely printed instructions.

Thanks LF for releasing a very nice kit of a civil helicopter for us suffered and often dismissed civilized builders!

I have built LF kits before, and this new offer is above in quality from what I had built.

LF offers, separately, the option to purchase painting masks for the decoration and another set for the transparencies, which are NOT included with the kit.

I immediately plunged into frantic research. To my luck, I found some pictures of the intended model, and even some movies.

Here are some of the things I noticed: the green color suggested by the kit for that livery may be a little light. Color photos of the Sikorsky S-51 and other Los Angeles Airways helos show a darker hue, consistently. I even found a color photo with a sign of the company logo in a darker green.

A mystifying detail: while some of these S-51 LAA helos have the exhaust to the left as shown in the kit, some have it to the right (no, the photos are not reversed, they are oriented the right way). Hum.

Photos and clips suggest that at least some of the helos had the tail rotor blades painted a warning red (which looks a tad faded), not black as depicted in the kit.

Some stills show a narrow red line separating the green and the white, at least in the cabin area.

Pay attention to the P.E. details, as not all helos had the belly elements the same way.

I have seen before Sikorsky logos where the "S" is blue, but, lacking evidence, I'll take the all-gold logo offered by LF.

You get two sets of blades, earlier and later styles. Check your references!

The transparencies look good.

Now, I have been in love before, and at the beginning all is roses, but things change as you start to build.

We'll see what's the case with this kit, but so far, I am very enthusiastic about it.

 

Very nice choices:

 

Things very reasonably packed, colorful and quality-printed instructions:

 

The goods, nice!:

 

All contents come in re-sealable bags, well done!:

 

Fair, clean moldings with good detail:

 

Hum, I would like to open that door...I am surprised that it isn't an option in the kit already:

 

 

 

Nitpickings start here:
Why, oh why, do so many manufacturers chose to represent in their instructions very small parts and sub-assemblies with very small drawings? 

Maybe blow-up drawings, representing small things with bigger drawings? so we don't have to guess what the heck is going on there and/or run for the magnifier?
And would it be possible to proofread the translations into English by a professional, or even an English-speaking modeling enthusiast you may be in touch with?
As you sell your products through British and American distributors, what about them having a look at the translations?

Or asking an English speaker as native language to have a look at the text included in the kit, giving him/her a production sample? Many will be happy with that simple arrangement.

 

 

[Dennis_C]

Oh nice! I'll be watching this thread attentively!

[perdu]

What Dennis says!

 

I have an S-51 of sorts to build, received as a welcome gift last year.

 

Remember last year?

 

When we were allowed to talk to people, maybe accept a gift or two?

 

(OK this means I can learn any drawbacks from yours, lead on maestro)

[adey m]

I think the little red arrows are missing from your kit Moa .............. good luck

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

6 hours ago, adey m said:

I think the little red arrows are missing from your kit Moa .............. good luck

Not only that, the little numbers and big letters too!

Or is there a little red arrows and black letters and numbers sprue missing from my sample?

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Here some links to very nice (and old) clips that show many details:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuX_zHLGiU8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEWGq6z_czg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGf6V5M4ol0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=XPBSVJ7rFdg&feature=emb_logo

 

[Vesa Jussila]

Nice project. And again not so ordinary. 

[Jonners]

I'm definitely in! I might even have to consider this myself, as it's about time I built a nice injected kit instead of trying to do things the hard way. A helicopter (I'm passingly familiar with them), an old helicopter, and there's a BEA option too! What's not to like?

Jon

[Bengalensis]

A civil older helicopter, this will be nice!