CliffB Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 Hi all For the recent 40 years commemorative Falkland War GB, I built a 1/200 Vulcan and really enjoyed it. It's set me on a self-imposed mission to built all of the British Falkland War aircraft types in 1/200 scale. All I've achieved so far is to splash varying amounts of cash on obscure white metal or 3D-printed kits, which hopefully can form the basis of what I'm after. Really, it's time for me to get some of them on to my workbench and what better excuse than this Salty Sea Dog. I'm going to start with this pair of 3D-printed Sea Kings, which I bought via the Shapeways marketplace. At first sight these may appear identical, but in fact they're not. The one on the left (which is advertised as a Westland WS-61), features a dorsal radome but lacks an engine intake screen and a winch. The one on the right however (apparently a Sikorsky SH-3), has the screen and winch, but no radome. I'll be converting these to an HAS.2 and HC.4 respectively, possibly with one having folded rotors. Strangely, both models lack their starboard mainwheels, possibly as the results of a printing error. Slightly annoying, but easy to fix. Before anyone shouts, I should add that Sea King HAS.5s were also used in the Falklands War, so at some point I may need to buy another one of these tiddlers Merry Christmas. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 They are such a tiny scale. What a challenge painting them will be! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 13, 2023 Author Share Posted January 13, 2023 19 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said: They are such a tiny scale. What a challenge painting them will be! Thankfully Bertie they're both single colours, so I'll just open some pots of Humbrol and dunk the helos in! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 Apologies if I'm teaching Granny etc but don't forget that the HC 4 had a 6 bladed tail rotor. I'm not sure when the conversion of the ASW aircraft to 6 blades started as I am sure have seen photos of HAS 2s with 6 blades and the smaller radome. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 13 hours ago, Chewbacca said: Apologies if I'm teaching Granny etc but don't forget that the HC 4 had a 6 bladed tail rotor. I'm not sure when the conversion of the ASW aircraft to 6 blades started as I am sure have seen photos of HAS 2s with 6 blades and the smaller radome. Thanks so much for this @Chewbacca, there's definitely no egg sucking going on here, as my knowledge of Sea Kings is close to zero. Any help is much appreciated . My general approach is to find a particular subject that features in a couple of good photos and then attempt to replicate what I see. This generally works OK, but I have made a couple of howlers in the past where significant features have been out of shot! By coincidence I'm just about to start building these two. As a precursor I've been testing out the plastic for 'buildability'. When buying 3D printed items you are often given a choice of material. With these two, I pushed the boat out (no pun intended ), and specified the most expensive 'fine detail plastic'. It's the first time that I've used this material and, when the Sea Kings arrived, I was slightly concerned by the plastic's waxy feel and appearance. I've therefore been doing a few tests to check that the plastic: sands OK (to remove the inevitable surface striations) sticks OK (using CA) paints OK using my usual primer (strong enough to resist masking tape). I'm please to say that the answer to all three questions is 'yes' . 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 Those printing contour lines are awful things. Are we really expected to sand them off every surface of every component? They put me off using 3D, especially on figures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 17, 2023 Author Share Posted January 17, 2023 3 hours ago, Bertie McBoatface said: Those printing contour lines are awful things. Are we really expected to sand them off every surface of every component? They put me off using 3D, especially on figures. Hi Bertie, yes they are a bit of pain. But I view 3D much as I viewed early vac-forms and resin kits - more work than Tamigawa kits, but a lot less work than scratch building (which was often the only alternative). That's very much the case here. Respect for tackling your wooden boat kits, with all that they entail! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 17, 2023 Share Posted January 17, 2023 8 hours ago, CliffB said: Respect for tackling your wooden boat kits, with all that they entail! Oh it's only semi-scratch building with a different material. 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 20, 2023 Author Share Posted January 20, 2023 Honestly, there's not much to see yet, but I just wanted to show that I've finally made a start. I've sawn off the HC's inappropriate u/c parts and robbed its one pair of wheels to give to the HAS so that it now has two (you may recall that both kits were missing a pair of main wheels). In due course I'll need to find/make some new wheels for the HC. Out with the sanding sticks next, to get rid of the surface textures... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted January 20, 2023 Share Posted January 20, 2023 Good to see you getting started on these Cliff. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 Morning all. I'm still inching forward with the Salty Sea Kings. Most significantly, I've now finished sanding the surfaces smooth (at least until a coat of primer tells me differently). I've also been looking at the cabin windows, which are printed slightly recessed on the kit. Unfortunately their number, size and placement don't really work for my two, so I've filled them. I'll paint the windows in later. I also noticed that the HC has a domed rear cabin window on its port side, so I've added this using the nose of a bomb from my spares box. The HC also now has a rectangular pimple on its nose - I've no idea what it is, but the HAS doesn't appear to have one. As you can, see I've also added crew doors to both aircraft and if your eyesight is really good, you might notice that I've drilled out some holes to represent the exhaust outlets. It wasn't easy to do given their angle, plus the difficulty of seeing what's happening with the translucent plastic. A coat of primer will reveal all in due course. Finally, I've sawn off and refixed the HAS's rotor head so that the positions of its sockets (in to which the blades locate), are aligned correctly for the folded rotor configuration. Primer next and then, when I'm sure that there's no more sanding required, it will be on with the more delicate additions (like the HC's undercarriage). Cheers 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Hopefully the primer won't reveal any nasty surprises . Awesome work Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 I'm looking forward to actually being able to see these things properly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 1 hour ago, Grandboof said: Hopefully the primer won't reveal any nasty surprises . Awesome work Martin H 53 minutes ago, Bertie McBoatface said: I'm looking forward to actually being able to see these things properly. Thanks guys. Here's the result of the first shot of primer - no nasty surprises! Cheers 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 They are tons better than I expected. Nice one, or two! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadog Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 Look rather sharper than the old Wight Ensign jobs - of which I have two and am wondering where you're going to get decals from? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 27, 2023 Author Share Posted January 27, 2023 28 minutes ago, seadog said: Look rather sharper than the old Wight Ensign jobs - of which I have two and am wondering where you're going to get decals from? Hi seadog. I guess mine have the advantage of being roughly twice the the size of your WEMs (1/350?). I haven't started to think about decals yet, but generally speaking I can source roundels and larger letter/numbers from my spares box, which I've accrued over many years. The results are not always 100% accurate in terms of size and/or font, but close enough not to ruin the look of the model. Beyond this, I'm able to print off my own decals using PowerPoint and an ink-jet printer. Needless to say, I won't be trying to replicate the multitude of stencils etc. in this scale! Cheers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seadog Posted January 27, 2023 Share Posted January 27, 2023 42 minutes ago, CliffB said: Hi seadog. I guess mine have the advantage of being roughly twice the the size of your WEMs (1/350?). I haven't started to think about decals yet, but generally speaking I can source roundels and larger letter/numbers from my spares box, which I've accrued over many years. The results are not always 100% accurate in terms of size and/or font, but close enough not to ruin the look of the model. Beyond this, I'm able to print off my own decals using PowerPoint and an ink-jet printer. Needless to say, I won't be trying to replicate the multitude of stencils etc. in this scale! Cheers Yep, 1/350th 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 Looking great with the primer on Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted January 28, 2023 Share Posted January 28, 2023 IIRC, that small block just the left of centreline on the nosecone was for an additional landing lamp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 22 hours ago, Chewbacca said: IIRC, that small block just the left of centreline on the nosecone was for an additional landing lamp. Thanks for this. It makes sense, as the one I'm looking at does seem to have a lens 👍. Here, things have reached a bit of a landmark as all the conversion work is now finished (if you ignore what still needs to be done to the rotors ). Since last time, I've added a winch and engine intake screen to the HAS, plus a cabin step and new u/c to the HC. Things currently look a bit tatty around the additions, because I had to scrape the primer to help the glue. Cheers 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Looking good, Cliff. I'm reading a series of Falklands books at the moment and the Sea King guys get some good mentions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted January 30, 2023 Author Share Posted January 30, 2023 12 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said: Looking good, Cliff. I'm reading a series of Falklands books at the moment and the Sea King guys get some good mentions. Thanks Pete and I hope you're enjoying your Falklands research. I really must read more books, rather than just relying on the sound bites of Wiki and YouTube! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Cliff, next time you take a picture, pop a Humbrol paint tinlet behind them. I know they are tiny but I don't quite know how tiny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandboof Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Looks like they sit on the paint tin . Great work Cliff Martin H 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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