Best kit for an HC2 Wessex

[bigfoot]

I’m not much of an aircraft modeller so my knowledge of these things is prey limited. My dad turns 70 next year and I want to build him a Wessex in the markings of ‘his’ aircraft from the start of his career as a pilot in the RAF. I know the RAF used HC2 Wessex but kits of these variants seem to be short on the ground other than the Fly 1/32 kit.

 

So my question to the BM hive mind, bearing In mind I know little about the different Wessex variants, is there a kit, either 1/72 or 1/48 I could use that is similar to the HC2? I’m not fussed about all the tiny little differences but broadly obvious shapes or feature.

 

Thanks!

 

Greg

[perdu]

Greg the HC2 has a small windowed fuselage.

This is like the fuselage in the Frog Wessex although it lacks the Gnome engined version's nose.

 

And a massive amount of mould sophistication as it first appeared in the early/mid sixties I remember.

 

Its wheels are too big too.

 

A often quoted method of obtaining small window Wessexes is to mix Italeri

UH-34 Sea Horse fuselage with the nose from a Italeri Wessex HU-5 Royal Navy variant.

 

Our friend Colin will no doubt correctly join in the mention that the length of the rear fuselage is incorrect but it sounds to me as if that wont be in the build criterion

 

Here are the two kit parts in relative positions so you could see for yourself

A thing your dad is almost certain to pick up on is the fact that Italeri would have the tail rotor turning anti clockwise from the side

 

I advise attention to that.

 

Other kits available include Matchbox's version which builds up into two different Naval Wessexes but has the wider windows, if dad is that Wessie savvy he'll spot the windows at once

 

I built a HC2 variant from the Matchbox kit, it took lots of effort to get the windows and the badly shaped nose looking 'like'

 

This was  the Matchbox corrected a bit.

 

This was the Frog one

 

Practically everything on this one was scratch built as it was made from a Frog fuselage that had lain in the drawer in my garage for thirty plus years and begged me to save it from the bin.

 

Oddly enough I dont have any decent pictures of the port sides which have the clearest images of  the smaller windows in service

 

This HAS3 shows the larger windows on most RN kits and usually available on Wessex kits

 

 

Matchbox, whose kit this was gave us two noses so the RN Walters were well served

[tempestfan]

What about the Revell kit from the late 80s? I don't think accuracy was high on their list, and as the "main" kit was for H-34s, it may well have had the small windows. What may otherwise rule it out (apart from it looking like being tooled by Heljan, which translates to an euphemistic "rather crude") is the nose, but the HCC 4 boxing may be suitable. 

[hendie]

Bills method of kitbashing is by far the easiest way to go.

I've still got the scars from the Fly 1/32 kit and the bruises from the italeri 1/48 kit which requires a lot of modification/scratchbuilding. -and being the fool that I am, just picked up another kit a few weeks back.

Stick with kitbashing the two italeri 1/72's - your psychiatrist will thank you

[bigfoot]

@perdu @tempestfan @hendie Thank you all for the input, I am going to go with the italeri kit bashing method that perdu suggested, I’ve just acquired the HU5, on the hunt for a reasonable price UH-34 now.

 

Perdu, very nice builds there, something to aspire to for me!

 

Hendie, I’ve been all the way through both your build logs, really inspirational stuff and great detailing. You may have overlapped with my Dad, he was there on 28 squadron between 81 and 83/4, then went on to 72 sqn.