heloman1 Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 (edited) I came late to volunteering/joining this GB but, here I am. I served in the FAA on Wessex HU Mk5's a s a 'Junglie' but by the time of the Falklands war I had long departed the Navy and had emigrated to South Africa. I followed the war long distance, via the TV news and newspapers. Humphrey played a big part in the early days of the war but I'll get to his history just now. I'm trying to build all the Wessex types utilizing the various Italeri kits. So far, I have an early HU Mk5, the first prototype and a HAS Mk 1 Early, so a HAS Mk3 fits in well. Yes the kits all have problems or should I rather say, shortcomings, I'll get to those as I start the build! Anyway, I had wanted to build a HAS 3 with full cabin SONAR gear but I think to err on the practical side is wiser! This will be a straight build with added detail/corrections. I'm away from home at present so box art and contents, ref pics to follow. As an aside, and whilst I was looking at other project here. I remember it was the 20th Anniversary that Italeri took the opportunity to release their Wessex UH 5 Sic (HU Mk5) kit. A longish line of Wessex and HU-34 kits. The initial idea as I have heard it is Italeri were going to release the Sikorsky H-34, the basic airframes being similar. It had amongst other air arms and armies served with the Italian Navy. Well after some tool re-engineering, the HU Mk5 came along first. At first, it seemed like a nice kit. Enough parts to keep one interested with what seemed like a good level of detail. Well, having worked on Wessex 5's as a Junglie on 845 NAS, you could say I know my way around them. I do and at times it has been a curse as maybe I know too much! Soft and incomplete details are the start... Suffice it to say, I'll go into greater detail when I get to my build. Colin Edited April 3, 2022 by heloman1 Extra text added and spelling corrected! 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Posted April 3, 2022 Share Posted April 3, 2022 Looking forward to see this one come together, I will get around to building a Wessex at some point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 4, 2022 Author Share Posted April 4, 2022 (edited) Hello again... Here is the box art and sprue shots of the Italeri Wessex HAS Mk3 kit Issue number 2732 and the box art states the kit was released in 2013. The box art, which depicts Humphrey in a o/a gloss finish, which was actually matt or had a sheen at best. Two identical sprues which contain the main rotorblades, which have the characteristic droop. Sadly the main rotorhead is one of the areas where descent detail is missing. I'll try to replicate this. The glazing is acceptable! The instruction booklet and decal sheet... My preferred reference source, although over the years I have collected an extensive reference library. As mentioned above, I worked on the Wessex 5's for a number of years. So If anyone has a any Wessex related questions. I would be happy to answer them. More to follow... Edited April 4, 2022 by heloman1 Images added 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitewolf Posted April 4, 2022 Share Posted April 4, 2022 I believe there might be an online walkaround of 'Humphrey', the FAA museum had a few pics online Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 12 hours ago, Whitewolf said: I believe there might be an online walkaround of 'Humphrey', the FAA museum had a few pics online Thanks, I'll have a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark.au Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 I shall follow along with great interest Colin. I’m also going to put a Wessex into this GB (not till May though) and your trailblazing will be most appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 2 minutes ago, mark.au said: I shall follow along with great interest Colin. I’m also going to put a Wessex into this GB (not till May though) and your trailblazing will be most appreciated. Thanks Mark, looking forward to your joining in. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitewolf Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 2 hours ago, heloman1 said: Thanks, I'll have a look. There is a set of 19 images here on Britmodeller in the rotary wing aircraft walkarounds posted by Julian in 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted April 5, 2022 Share Posted April 5, 2022 His name is Julien, not Julian. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 If I can be of any help just ask. I was the Airframe / Engines leading hand on Antrim Flight Wessex 3 (Humphrey) during the Falklands. This may be of use if you have not already found it www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason3/has_3_xp142/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/7/2022 at 11:07 PM, Tony G said: If I can be of any help just ask. I was the Airframe / Engines leading hand on Antrim Flight Wessex 3 (Humphrey) during the Falklands. This may be of use if you have not already found it www.primeportal.net/hangar/howard_mason3/has_3_xp142/ Hi Tony, good to have a fellow Wessi grubber on board. Out of all my reference collecting since the 1970's the HAS 3 is the least. So your reminder of Prime Portal was timely. I found the walkround here on BM and have been using that so far. As mentioned above, this will be a quick-ish build. I intend at a later date to do the SONAR gear justice. I have an illustration from a tech manual Plus Mike The Bootneck on here said he would measure the one at Yeovil Museum for me. I had a mate on Hermes, with 899. He said it wasn't the best of times! Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 4 hours ago, heloman1 said: Hi Tony, good to have a fellow Wessi grubber on board. Out of all my reference collecting since the 1970's the HAS 3 is the least. So your reminder of Prime Portal was timely. I found the walkround here on BM and have been using that so far. As mentioned above, this will be a quick-ish build. I intend at a later date to do the SONAR gear justice. I have an illustration from a tech manual Plus Mike The Bootneck on here said he would measure the one at Yeovil Museum for me. I had a mate on Hermes, with 899. He said it wasn't the best of times! Colin There is no need to fit the sonar gear if you do not want to as it was removed for a while during the conflict. The one thing that I have seen missing from every model I have seen is the tail wheel brake/lock which was fitted to all ships flight Wessex 3's. You know you are getting old ex grubber when the FAA museum is displaying three of your old aircraft that you personally worked on 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 23 hours ago, Tony G said: There is no need to fit the sonar gear if you do not want to as it was removed for a while during the conflict. The one thing that I have seen missing from every model I have seen is the tail wheel brake/lock which was fitted to all ships flight Wessex 3's. You know you are getting old ex grubber when the FAA museum is displaying three of your old aircraft that you personally worked on Thanks for the heads up re the tail wheel break lock, I wasn't aware of it. A question, were the weapons /stores pods fitted to both side or just the port side? Lots of detail missing form the kit!!! Some feat that three cabs at the museum, wow! Something I must have worked on during my 845 Junglie days (65/67), must have gone south. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 I'll be taking a back seat on this build until after Easter. I'm in an H-34/Wessex Challenge Build on IPMS Cape Peninsula FB page. I have to finish one of my two builds. I have a US Navy H-34 base/comms, hack in o/a Light Gull Grey The H-34's are the last in the line of Wessex and H-34's from Italeri. There are slight differences in the quality of the tooling. If anyone is interested, I'll post some pics in the RFI pages. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 4 hours ago, heloman1 said: Thanks for the heads up re the tail wheel break lock, I wasn't aware of it. A question, were the weapons /stores pods fitted to both side or just the port side? Lots of detail missing form the kit!!! Some feat that three cabs at the museum, wow! Something I must have worked on during my 845 Junglie days (65/67), must have gone south. Colin The choice is yours. Both pylons were fitted for the double depth charges for attack on the Argy sub Santa Fe apart from that they were on and off a lot. There were periods when both fitted and other periods clean. The sonar and pylons were removed for the SAS Fortuna Glacier rescue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 11, 2022 Author Share Posted April 11, 2022 On 4/10/2022 at 4:45 PM, Tony G said: The choice is yours. Both pylons were fitted for the double depth charges for attack on the Argy sub Santa Fe apart from that they were on and off a lot. There were periods when both fitted and other periods clean. The sonar and pylons were removed for the SAS Fortuna Glacier rescue. Hi Tony. Many thanks for your reply. Will see what I fancy. The old Revell (H-34) kit in it's HAS 3 incarnation has the the stores carriers. Not totally accurate, so I may only use one unless I go for the glacier rescue mission. I can't seethe tail wheel break you mentioned, only the castoring lock. The tailwheel yolk must be the worst part of the kit! I will persevere... Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 14, 2022 Share Posted April 14, 2022 On 11/04/2022 at 16:20, heloman1 said: Hi Tony. Many thanks for your reply. Will see what I fancy. The old Revell (H-34) kit in it's HAS 3 incarnation has the the stores carriers. Not totally accurate, so I may only use one unless I go for the glacier rescue mission. I can't seethe tail wheel break you mentioned, only the castoring lock. The tailwheel yolk must be the worst part of the kit! I will persevere... Colin not the best image of the tail wheel brake but might give you the jist of it. Had to enlarge it so it lost quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 Hi Tony. Many thanks for your efforts. I too found an image but as with you, poor quality. I also tried an auto enhance on your image with little success. I've just done a trawl of images on Google and found only one image of a 3 with the tailwheel break. I think I can see how it would work, was it manually operated or au\to ion the tailwheel touching the deck. I'll leave a post on Westland Helicopters, see if I get any joy. I'll give it a whirl! Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 16, 2022 Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) 13 minutes ago, heloman1 said: Hi Tony. Many thanks for your efforts. I too found an image but as with you, poor quality. I also tried an auto enhance on your image with little success. I've just done a trawl of images on Google and found only one image of a 3 with the tailwheel break. I think I can see how it would work, was it manually operated or au\to ion the tailwheel touching the deck. I'll leave a post on Westland Helicopters, see if I get any joy. I'll give it a whirl! Colin It normally was used in conjunction with the sterring arm. Lowering the steering arm would engage the brake pad, raising the arm would release it. Essential for getting the cab in and out of the side entry hanger without losing the tail over the ships side. Edited April 16, 2022 by Tony G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 16, 2022 Author Share Posted April 16, 2022 (edited) Thanks mate. After Tony's comment and photo above, I went onto Westland Helicopters FB page and left a message re the tailwheel break. Lots of comments re it not being fitted and didn't I mean that! castoring lock. Mike 'The Bootneck', who lurks around these pages came to my rescue with a page from the Wessex servicing manual. It's only a parts illustration but gives enough info for me to build the device. Colin Edited April 17, 2022 by heloman1 Extra text added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 Ok folks, normal service is resumed, if you can call my build normal! The Challenge Build on IPMS Cape Peninsula has all but fizzled out, so I'll continue that build in the background and post images in the RFI section. We've been hit by a wet/cold spell of weather the past couple of days, so my hands may not work tot e best of their ability. We shall see, they certainly aren't working well on the keyboard! I'll knock up a drawing (in between watching the MotoGP Free Practice) of the tail wheel break (mentioned above) and see where that takes me. Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony G Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 On 16/04/2022 at 10:58, heloman1 said: Thanks mate. After Tony's comment and photo above, I went onto Westland Helicopters FB page and left a message re the tailwheel break. Lots of comments re it not being fitted and didn't I mean that! castoring lock. Mike 'The Bootneck', who lurks around these pages came to my rescue with a page from the Wessex servicing manual. It's only a parts illustration but gives enough info for me to build the device. Colin As the person who was on the steering arm for on deck movements during the conflict, I can assure you it was fitted and used when embarked on both county class ships 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pappy Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 On 4/23/2022 at 6:29 PM, Tony G said: As the person who was on the steering arm for on deck movements during the conflict, I can assure you it was fitted and used when embarked on both county class ships Can't really argue with that... Pappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 On 4/25/2022 at 10:42 PM, Pappy said: Can't really argue with that... Pappy Thanks Pappy. I got some great info from Mike the Bootneck he has access to manual info. So, I'm sorted. Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted May 8, 2022 Author Share Posted May 8, 2022 Sorry for the lack f posts of late, I've been pre-occupied the past two weeks. I was able to sit down yesterday and todat and get some work in. I need to take new photos of where I'm at. So please be patient, Colin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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