The Shearwater Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 I've fancied a 1/72 Puma HC.1/2 for ages - my brother had the Airfix one as a kid - but that was about the last time anyone produced a Puma kit in 1/72! Picked this Heller one up off eBay a little while back, but only then started researching in earnest. Sounds like lots of accuracy and fit issues lie ahead of me. I don't mind a bit of tweaking; I'm not a competition-standard builder, and I know my scratch-building limits, so as long as I can tweak it enough to look quite a lot like an HC.2, that'll do for me. Initial look in the box doesn't seem too off-putting...cockpit detail a bit simplistic, but the fuselage halves look ok with loads of raised rivets, which as it turns out, seems quite realistic! Initial build stages and everything fits together pretty well so far - nice to have locator pins/slots, unlike the last build (Sword Harrier T.10)! I read somewhere that the Airfix/Heller moulding has the undercarriage leg oleos at full extension... this is correct for a flying helicopter, but will look wrong on the ground when they should be compressed. Sure enough they're extended on the model. A quick calculation and I reckon about 15cm oleo extension on the real one isn't too far off, which equates to about 2mm in 1/72. So 2mm was duly removed from the front leg and a bit of Eduard etch (linkage) added. Turns out the plastic is pretty brittle after all this time - just about managed to do the nosewheel here but am a bit nervous about the main gear legs in the future. Before and after: 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evalman Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 Following with interest. One of my favourites. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 It already looks better than the Airfix one from what I remember! I wish someone would do a 1/48 RAF Puma. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 31 minutes ago, Lord Riot said: I wish someone would do a 1/48 RAF Puma. Before they're all gone. There are several builds of this kit on the site with lots of advice on how to do it properly. Yes, there are lots of domehead rivets on the airframe, but at this scale they'd be tiny. Give it a good rub down with a medium Micromesh. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 56 minutes ago, Lord Riot said: It already looks better than the Airfix one from what I remember! AFAIK the Aorfix and Heller kits are the same, just that the Heller one has the PIPs (Intake sand filters) and French decals. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 (edited) The Heller kit is a nice upgrade of the old Airfix one with the addition of the air intake filters etc,...... I hope you get this finished before the RAF drop them from service. Very sad news,.... I received my GOC`s Commendation for a casevac performed in the back of one of these flying low at night over Turkey,..... looking forward to seeing what you do with this one, Cheers Tony Edited March 27, 2021 by tonyot 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natter Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 1 hour ago, tonyot said: received my GOC`s Commendation Respect. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted March 27, 2021 Share Posted March 27, 2021 29 minutes ago, Natter said: Respect. Cheers mate,..... it was a pretty hectic few hours but thankfully everybody lived to tell the tale,..... and everybody did their jobs superbly. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 27, 2021 Author Share Posted March 27, 2021 2 hours ago, tonyot said: The Heller kit is a nice upgrade of the old Airfix one with the addition of the air intake filters etc,...... I hope you get this finished before the RAF drop them from service. Very sad news,.... I received my GOC`s Commendation for a casevac performed in the back of one of these flying low at night over Turkey,..... looking forward to seeing what you do with this one, Cheers Tony Blimey, congrats on the commendation, they can’t be handed out for any old stuff. You’re right on the Heller kit, I hope I can make a half decent shot of it but there are some phenomenally talented builders on this site... I’m not in that league, sadly (yet). Am going to have a crack at a slightly unusual livery too... more to go wrong!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Following with interest!, I have both the Airfix and Heller boxings, with plans for a Gulf War desert pink RAF one. Cheers, Andre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 4 minutes ago, Hook said: Following with interest!, I have both the Airfix and Heller boxings, with plans for a Gulf War desert pink RAF one. Cheers, Andre 👍. I did see a Gulf pink build on here a while ago (can’t remember whose it was) but it was a really impressive final result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wez Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 You'll need the composite blades for your Puma, the Heller kit is the old Airfix kit and feature the original metal blades, these are a different shape and chord. IIRC, Whirlybirds do some of the right shape. Good luck with your build. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 42 minutes ago, Wez said: You'll need the composite blades for your Puma, the Heller kit is the old Airfix kit and feature the original metal blades, these are a different shape and chord. IIRC, Whirlybirds do some of the right shape. Good luck with your build. Thanks, I’ve already picked a set of the Whirlybird ones 👍👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard E Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 54 minutes ago, The Shearwater said: 👍. I did see a Gulf pink build on here a while ago (can’t remember whose it was) but it was a really impressive final result. Was it @CliffB's build for the Gulf War GB ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 28, 2021 Author Share Posted March 28, 2021 5 minutes ago, Richard E said: Was it @CliffB's build for the Gulf War GB ? No, although that’s also a pretty tidy build! Especially at 1/100. I’ve just found the one I’d googled (from before I was a member on here). Stunning work by @Pat C 👏👏 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 The worst bit of many older helicopter kits seems to be the huge, non-scale door rails, from what I read at least. Handy for allowing the doors to be moved but not a great look. Dilemma time (purists look away now)... I'd like the option to reposition the doors, but the real Puma has very slim frames and near-invisible fittings. A true scale solution is beyond me, hence a compromise: having bought some plasticard recently (another modelling first) I've made a set of extremely slim, close-fitting rails which will do the job. Viewed from the side, the upper ones are still quite a bit deeper than truly scale ones would be, but I'm hoping they'll blend in to the final livery. You can see how much smaller than the kit ones they are in these shots, and they hardly extend out from the fuselage at all: (brown original rails resting on the fuselage, custom-made white ones attached) Primer coat now added - the final livery won't be black, although I'm thinking now how smart it looks in that colour! Instrument panel with a bit of Eduard etch added [Super Puma - not 100% accurate but I guarantee the difference won't be visible through the canopy] 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted March 29, 2021 Share Posted March 29, 2021 Nicely done, especially on the door rails! I'm definitely not a purist. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 29, 2021 Author Share Posted March 29, 2021 15 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said: Nicely done, especially on the door rails! I'm definitely not a purist. Thank you, it’s not perfect but definitely an improvement on the kit parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 The door rails do look a lot better. Will you add something to represent the foot pedals? Though the canopy may be too thick to show up detail down there anyway. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted March 30, 2021 Author Share Posted March 30, 2021 31 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said: The door rails do look a lot better. Will you add something to represent the foot pedals? Though the canopy may be too thick to show up detail down there anyway. Yes, I was going to try using some sections of very thin tube. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 Slow progress with this one, more and more head scratching as I see the amount of modifications and additions which would be needed for a perfect replica. (Which it's unlikely to be, btw). Seems they added plenty of lumps, bumps and pipes to the airframes over the years since the kit was produced...good job I bought that batch of plasticard! Most of the major assemblies are built and primed. Original exhausts cut back to allow for the modern extended ones to be scratchbuilt and added in later. Rotor assembly mostly done - main shaft is way too thick - not sure if I can fashion an adequate replacement that won't look worse. Rotor blades are the Whirlybird resin replacements which definitely look better. Biggest headache so far: definitely those undercarriage legs. All shortened by 2mm to represent the aircraft sitting on the ground. Problem is the brittle plastic which doesn't seem to take superglue as well as newer styrene [it's been many years since I studied materials engineering!]. I've lost count of the number of times they've broken along the join line - it seems that even a stern look is enough to fracture them! New suspension link arms made from tiny plasticard strip - they look ok from this distance. At last - some masking ready for the paint. This gives a pretty strong clue as to which particular Puma it's going to be! Quite a striking full-size one, and I've yet to see a version which has been modelled. If only someone did these stripe decals for it... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted April 5, 2021 Author Share Posted April 5, 2021 And one side unmasked... looking good! Medium sea grey (Hataka red line acrylic) was a guess at the right colour, but it looks pretty close to me. The airframe is of course XW224 which was painted up in these colours to celebrate the 100th anniversary of both the RAF, and 230 Sqn. I had the decal set already (Model Art RAF Centenary). Plenty of touching-up required from bleed-through under the masking, but that'll be straightforward. Now to unmask the other side, fit the side windows, and start joining the who thing together.... 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted April 29, 2021 Author Share Posted April 29, 2021 Blimey. Lost heart with this one as the fit/finish problems piled up! Stopped recording progress, as it seemed like I was just bodging the whole thing together. Nearly finished, and with final decals & masses of scratchbuilt antennae / sensors etc, it’s actually looking adequate now. Still not the finish standard I’d like, but after a coat of matt varnish, it’ll be appearing in an RFI thread very shortly... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lunarhighway Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 It will be great to see it come together. I have one in my stash but i'm waiting for the right mood to tackle it. With her natural presence and you choice of paint scheme i'm sure she will make a good impression. good luck with the struggle! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Shearwater Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 11 hours ago, lunarhighway said: It will be great to see it come together. I have one in my stash but i'm waiting for the right mood to tackle it. With her natural presence and you choice of paint scheme i'm sure she will make a good impression. good luck with the struggle! Thanks! Looks ok in the flesh but as ever, close-up photography is so cruel 🤣. Just about to post in RFI! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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