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1/72 Italeri Wessex [finished]


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28 minutes ago, Jur said:

These last two pictures now work for me, thanks. Good work on those rotor decals!

 

Re. a picture host, I have been using Postimage for several years now. It is free and it works fine for me.

Me too, the best I have ever found for these purposes

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On 03/08/2020 at 10:41, Jur said:

These last two pictures now work for me, thanks. Good work on those rotor decals!

 

Re. a picture host, I have been using Postimage for several years now. It is free and it works fine for me.

Another vote for PostImage, here!

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Well, I'm going to call that finished, take a deep breath and stick some pictures on RFI.

 

Having discovered only recently that using Facebook to upload pictures is a dumb idea, I'm conscious that in time my pics will disappear, and if I do find a spare hour I'll replace the duff pics with correctly hosted ones. Apologies for that.

 

What I did do a few days ago is this...

 

 

I take the liberty of concluding this thread with a summary of the issues I faced with this kit, in case anyone looking in fancies a go at an Italeri 1/72. I doubt that my list is exhaustive.

 

Problem: each side of the fuselage has two steps up to the cockpit. These should be in line, the wider step directly above the narrower step, not offset, as moulded and instructed. There are a couple of weird and superfluous recesses too.

Solution: the recesses should be filled and the steps resited. I went as far as opening up slots to accommodate the steps to give a bit of depth (I backed the holes inside the fuselage with bits of plastic card), though they could just be glued on.

 

Problem: the tail rotor turns in the wrong direction, that is to say the rotor blades have been moulded the wrong way round.

Solution: the blades need to be cut off and glued the other way round. If you have a drill bit small enough you could bridge the middle bit and the blades with fuse wire (the @Andwil method), but I just drilled out the middle bit, filled the holes with CA gel, and stuck ‘em on.

 

Problem: the nose section is peculiarly elongated, making the aircraft look, as @perdu put it, like a snow plough.

Solution: It can quite easily be shortened to the right proportions from the back using a dremel/rotary sander, file and sandpaper. The trick is to establish by how much and be consistent with this measurement on the bottom edge, the two forward-leaning edges and the curved bit above the intake.

 

Problem: the pylons. Oh Lord, the pylons. There are half-a-dozen little pylons which carry the two antenna wires around the fuselage. The information in the instructions ranges from ambiguous to wrong. There are pictures of many 1/72 Italeri Wessexes on the net, all built to a much higher standard than mine, but almost without exception they have at least some of the pylons in the wrong place.

Solution: firstly, look at a picture of an actual Wessex and you’ll get the idea. Step 1 in Italeri’s instructions tells you where to drill the holes to accommodate the pylons. It’s wrong. The forward pair sit aft of the cockpit, just behind the winch on the starboard side. The middle pair sit forward of the roundels (beware: there is a “red herring” pair of guide holes moulded into the fuselage halves, which will put them too far back, on the tail near the ROYAL NAVY marking. The roundels are on the bit that sweeps in from the cabin towards the tail.) The holes for the rear pair, according to the instructions, should be drilled aft of the tailwheel – they should be in front of it. By rights this aft pair should be inclined forward by something like 20 degrees from the vertical, but the way the pylons are moulded doesn’t lend them to this, though I don’t doubt it’s achievable with a bit of imagination.

 

Problem: the two windows on the port side are positioned the wrong way round, according to the instructions. The domed window is the forward of the two.

Solution: ignore the instructions.

 

Specific to XS522:

 

Problem: the box artwork and the instructions give conflicting information on which shade of green the aircraft should be painted. According to the box, “FS 34092 European Green”. According to the instructions: “FS 34079 Forest Green”, the same green as in the “sand and spinach” option also buildable out the box.

Solution: this is very subjective and some will disagree, but based on photographs of this aircraft and others with similar markings I feel that that FS 34092 is correct, not the more “olive drab” FS 34078. It’s a slightly darker, bluer tone represented by Humbrol 149. There are plenty olive drab Wessexes out there but personally don’t feel this was one of them.

 

Problem: the serial number decals are printed too large.

Solution: if you’re a proper modeller, you probably have a ton of serial number/code decal sheets so can use them, if not you could buy them specially. I fall into the latter category, I’m afraid, and chose to live with it. (The black panel decal aft of the rotor head seems off too – too wide. It’s printed this way on both the Italeri and Modeldecal sheets.)

 

Problem: according to Italeri’s instructions the Buzby decal is positioned well up on the aircraft’s nose.

Solution: it wasn’t, Buzby was practically on the underside of the aircraft, see the excellent photo on page 49 of @Chewbacca’s enormously helpful document. Ignore the instructions.

 

Some might argue that I’m spoiling the fun with all this and encountering multiple problems and finding solutions to them is all part of the fun of modelling. Personally I found it a time-consuming b*llache. Each to their own I guess. It’s not a bad kit per se in that it’s quite easily to build, and a few months ago I wouldn’t have lost any sleep whatsoever about any of these inaccuracies, but you know how it goes… have fun!

Edited by TonyOD
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