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Westland Dragonfly HR3, Whirlybirds kits 1/72nd scale


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My first entry to this group build is the Westland Dragonfly HR3 from Whirlybird kits. The Dragonfly was a licence built Sikorsky R/H5 and was used by the FAA and RAF from the early 1950's for about ten years. The Navy machines were used as communication aircraft and for plane guard duties on carriers and wore a variety of colour schemes  which are catered for by the kit. 

The kit itself is a combination of the vacform  fuselage parts from the old Britavia kit  combined with new resin and etched parts, these looking to be of a high standard and well cast or etched. Very full instructions are given with some nice photos and drawings of the real thing.  some of the undercarriage and rotor parts are cast in a hard resin , which a good idea. The vacform fuselage appears to use a sheet styrene rather than acetate as it is very rigid and a little brittle and responds to adhesives like Tamiya Extra thin, which may make life a little easier. Once the fuselage halves are cut out and sanded down that is the vacform bit dealt with apart from removing some of the intake detail to replace them with much better resin pieces. 

Here are some pics of the box and what is inside it. 

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I have cut the fuselage halves out from the sheet and rubbed them down. the material is quite hard, but behaves like styrene or Perspex and is very clear, Looking forward to building this. 

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Thanks everyone. I bought this kit at SMW in 2017 and although there is the LF kit and one in prospect from AMP, this still looks a nice kit and  wasn't cheap. 

I have primed the resin interior bits and realised I have probably lost the control column which is very fragile but fairly straightforward to make from a bit of brass wire. Some intakes still need to be cut out and replaced by much nicer pieces of resin. The doors can be cut out and replaced by etch but might not do that as although it will look nicer, I do not want to push my luck too far with what feels to be quite brittle material. 

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Nice subject choice and this looks to be a good kit of it for those not afraid of a mixed media model :thumbsup:

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A bit of work done on the Dragonfly, it is going to be a bit slow as I have just got to the stage of gloss varnishing a Vista Fulmar prior to decaling, but it should speed up pretty soon. The fuselage halves have been cut from their backing sheet and sanded down and the intakes etc, that need to be replaced by resin inserts (which are hugely better than the vacform parts) have been cut out. One set of resin intakes have been inserted and look good. Interior parts have been primed and painting will soon begin, now that I have found some info on colours. The instructions are good and give some nice cockpit drawings, but lack colour information. Probably going to have a look at the rotors head and blades soon as they will need some more detail adding. 

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The sanding down process has stopped just before the backing sheet disappeared as the otherwise the fuselage interior piece will not fit very well.  Now the fueslage halves are cut out this is just like any other kit that demands a bit of effort. 

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More work done with the Dragonfly now that the Fulmar is all but finished. I have added all the grilles etc. to the fuselage sides and they are a vast improvement on the original Britavia vacform. There is a big lump of resin that goes in the rotor housing that needs quite a bit of work on it to get it to fit, nearly thee and the instructions warn you about it as how well it fits depends on a number of factors around the inconsistency of mould thicknesses in the vacform and resin casting process, The cutout for the undercarriage needs more work and I want to sort it before the fuselage halves go together to reduce dust etc. being caught in the fuselage where they will inevitably stick to the transparent bits of the cockpit. The main fuselage interior bits are painted and just the seat and frame behind it needs adding. The cockpit is painted with grey-green where the passengers sit and Vallejo Black Grey for the rest with a blue for the seat cushions. It seems to match the colours I have found online. The cyclic stick has gone walkabout and so I have fashioned a replacement from brass rod. It is primed with some Mr Metal Primer and just needs painting The instruments are in black with white detail and just need some gloss varnish. I aim to have the fuselage together by the weekend.

The wheels have been cleaned up ready for priming and the rotor assemblies are on going. Pictures of them to follow. I am enjoying this build so far, it is much more interesting than the Tamiya  P47 I built earlier this year. It is a very nice and well engineering kit, but its excellent fit etc. made it a bit soulless, still each to his own  

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More to follow later this week

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Thanks for the comments. Fueslage halves joined and rotor blades attached to hub. Photos tomorrow whilst I wait for a coat of paint to dry while decorating. The fueslage is made of a really hard but brittle polystyrene. 

Thanks for the comments. Fueslage halves joined and rotor blades attached to hub. Photos tomorrow whilst I wait for a coat of paint to dry while decorating. The fueslage is made of a really hard but brittle polystyrene. 

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Some more progress, fuselage  join lines have been filled with Miliput and rubbed down, thus the frosted effect on the fuselage. The main undercarriage fairing has been added after a hole was cut out for it. Not as neatly done as I would have liked, but gaps filled with Miliput that will strengthen the join. Rotor blades assembled and some detail added and primed. One pinhole visible that will be dealt with Plastic Magic I think. Getting somewhere with this and after I have added a couple of intakes, It will be ready for a what I suspect will a first coat of primer. Rescue hoist needs a tidy up as well

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Thus we make progress as Otto Schrek iconographer of the Ankh-Morpork Times  would say.

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Thanks for the comments. I have had  to redo one of the seams on the underside of the fuselage which split as I had trouble with the join in the first place. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

More work done on the Dragonfly. seams sorted  and primer on, seams resorted and a bit more primer on. Cockpit masked and at last the side and underside colour of Sky on. The main and tail rotor are finished now, although I might tone the hub down a bit to something a bit more steel like and give a bit more texture to the rotor. Main and nose wheel are painted, but things like the steps and tail guard will not be added until the decals have gone on as it will be asking for trouble. I feel like I am getting somewhere now.

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I am pleased the way the resin replacement grills have come out, much better than the vacform marks on the fuselage.

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That's looking really good and is very impressive work with such a kit. I wouldn't know where to start.

 

I have quite a strong memory of the Dragonfly despite it being well before my time. I'm guess it is from holidaying in Cornwall as a child and there being one in the collection Flambards in Helston.

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Masked and sprayed up the EDSG uppersurfaces. Took the masking off and removed big chunks of Sky with it. Ages since I have had this problem, but probably my fault for being a bit blasé about prep. I had used acrylics (Xtracyrlix) which meant easy enough to repaint, but a bit annoying. 

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Airframe is now painted and gloss varnished ready for decals. The steps, aerials and hoist will be added after the decals as to do anything else is asking for trouble. Not sure what the decals are like, but the look good on the sheet. 

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Decals and bits and pieces of PE and resin like the wheels and rescue hoist are now on. Next step is touching up the paintwork and painting the new additions. I feel I am not far off done with this now and can start to turn my attention to the Allouette II.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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