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A Lee-on-Solent Royal Navy SAR Wessex HU5 - Italeri 1/48. *******FINISHED******


mark.au

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Growing up in Fareham, Hampshire I spent most of my summers at Lee or Hill Head.  Occasionally we’d venture further east to the slightly posher Stokes Bay.  The late 70s into the first half of the 80s are filled with memories of bicycle rides to the beach; initially with mates hanging out for a the kind of dumb good times teenage boys can create at will.  Later, we were more focused on impressing girls, sometimes even conjuring up the courage to talk to them.  Hindsight and experience tells me they were as nervous as we were.  In later summers the bicycles were replaced with motorcycles, mopeds to start with (my mates on Fizzies, me on an AP50) and then real motorcycles.  Side note - I contest to this day that the greatest internal combustion engine ever conceived is the two-stroke twin, and the Yamaha RD250LC the highest evolution of the species, especially when ported, K&N filtered, Boysen Reed Valved and of course, Micron Expansion Piped.  But I digress….

 

Those days at the beach were often enhanced by the sight, hopefully near enough to shore to really get a good view, of a Lee-on-Solent based HMS Daedalus Royal Navy Wessex in its striking red and blue paint rushing out to rescue some hapless yachtsman or women.  Teenage shenanigans would pause to watch them fly overhead, and in later times even awkward attempts at chatting up girls would [usually, gratefully, while we used the time to think of something to say] pause while a Wessex thumped it’s way out to sea.  When we were at Lee we often saw them come low over the esplanade as they sped out over the usually calm waters of the Solent.  It’s an indelible memory of teenage years.

 

In memory of those summers my contribution to this GB is a Lee-on-Solent SAR Wessex.  I’m using the Italeri 1/48 kit with the Eduard exterior detail set.  I built one of these last year for the Falklands anniversary GB and at the time I decided I’d do another in the iconic red and blue.  This GB gives me the perfect reason to do it now.  The kit is likely familiar to some, I'm using the most recent boxing.  Last time I put some effort into the interior which this time I won't as the door will be closed.  What I will do this time though is some of the corrections and detailing I wasn't aware of or didn't bother with last time, for example the winch access hatch needs to be moved.  There are some other things to do too, I'll cover those as I go.

 

I'd love to show you some progress on this project but here is the current state of my bench...

 

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My bench is currently serving as an airfield for several of my completed builds awaiting a replacement display cabinet for the one which was outgrown.  The replacement will be delivered this weekend, though hopefully progress doesn't need to wait that long as there's certainly some basic assembly I can begin while sitting at the kitchen bench.  Incidentally, my first Wessex is visible at the back of that lot, here's a better shot.

 

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As I was pleased with how that one turned out, I'm hoping I get lucky enough to do it as well this time.

 

Glad to be in on this one.  If I make good progress I have a couple more builds I'd like to try and get in as well.  We'll see how that goes.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by mark.au
Thread title formatting correction. :-)
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  • mark.au changed the title to A Lee-on-Solent Royal Navy SAR Wessex HU5 - Italeri 1/48

Oooooh Mark. This is going to be interesting. As you know I worked on the Wessex 5's as a Junglie grubber. The Wessex family is close to my heart, with five built so far. Yes the kit needs tweaking, it's twenty years old now but the only game in town (discounting the Fly 1/32nd scale kit).

I'll be interested in your mixings of the RAF BG and especially the dayglo-red when you get to that stage.

If I can in anyway help, please ask.

 

Colin

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 2/9/2023 at 10:07 AM, mark.au said:

Side note - I contest to this day that the greatest internal combustion engine ever conceived is the two-stroke twin, and the Yamaha RD250LC the highest evolution of the species, especially when ported, K&N filtered, Boysen Reed Valved and of course, Micron Expansion Piped.  But I digress….

A young fellow one knew 40+ years ago had a Yamaha DT175MX similarly tweaked with the added excitement of a Stan Stevens cylinder barrel and piston,plus a bigger carburettor amongst a few other tweaks to the suspension.

The thing was an animal and(if one remembers correctly)made nearly as much horsepower as a nearly equivalent Yamaha YZ125 motocross

motorcycle.

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14 hours ago, Dave Wilko said:

A young fellow one knew 40+ years ago had a Yamaha DT175MX similarly tweaked with the added excitement of a Stan Stevens cylinder barrel and piston,plus a bigger carburettor amongst a few other tweaks to the suspension.

The thing was an animal and(if one remembers correctly)made nearly as much horsepower as a nearly equivalent Yamaha YZ125 motocross motorcycle.

 

The DT175 was a fun bike.  A mate of mine had one which we used to tool around in Browndown, sometimes running away from the Army when they wanted to use their tanks on it.  Big old single cylinder thumper that could go through a wall.

 

Lest anyone think I've abandoned this one before it even starts, there has been progress.  I have completed the interior to a good enough standard for closed windows and doors, as this one will be displayed.  It isn't turn out too badly but practically none of the detail, let alone weathering which I exaggerated somewhat to make it more visible, will ever been seen.

 

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This was all done out of the box, simply following the instructions and painting as per various photos found on the interwebs.  There's a little artistic licence on the seatbelts being blue, I didn't find a pic of a Wessex cockpit with blue belts but I liked how it looked.

 

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I'm about ready to close up the fuselage.  The test fit shows no great issues to overcome, especially as I took care to align the interior in its proper location unlike last time when I was careless and ended up with the interior stepped forward of its proper position by about 1mm.  That caused problems later in that build which I won't have to face this time.

 

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I also remembered followed the instructions on the various cut-outs and inserts this time.  That will also save time and effort as the access steps and holes for the antenna wires and various other attachments are already drilled and in their correct locations.

 

On 09/02/2023 at 21:55, heloman1 said:

I'll be interested in your mixings of the RAF BG and especially the dayglo-red when you get to that stage.

 

Me too!  I have colour photos to go by, but I will definitely check my mixes with you too 😉

 

Cheers.

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A great start to this build.

I love your earlier all green Falklands version, if this is as good as that but with the iconic red and blue it is going to look spectacular.

I shall enjoy watching your progress.

 

I have a couple of red and blue navy rescue helicopters in the stash.....I will watch with interest.......(Otherwise known as learning from your mistakes and copying your successes) .....how you eventually mix those colours.

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Thanks for the comments, gents.

 

Progress continues, if not apace at least with some steadiness.  The fuselage is joined and seams cleaned up.  As the paint finish is going to be a semi-gloss I took a bit more care than normal to ensure the seams were cleaned up.  Paint will, of course, be the proof.  So the fuselage sits like this at the moment.

 

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As compared to my previous build this one went together a little more cleanly.  I took a little more care to be sure, but having the interior in the right place (see earlier post) made big difference, as one might expect.  The last remaining part of the airframe proper is the lower engine cowling.  This is something I used a lot of filler on last time with subsequent sanding and re-scribing required too.  This time I have taken more care in getting the fit just right - or as just right as I can.

 

I've added a spreader bar to make the width match correctly and added some shimming to eliminate the gaps.

 

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Once I have sanded everything nice and flush it'll still require a swipe of filler to blend everything in, but hopefully not too much sanding and the resultant requirement for re-scribing.  Incidentally, the photo bottom right shows there's a little work to do on the intake seam as well...

 

That's it for now, cheers.

 

 

 

 

Edited by mark.au
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Looking good so far.  Although I never qualified on type, I did get the chance in the early 80s to fly in a good few Wessex Vs and do have a soft spot for them.  Compared to the Lynx and even the Sea King, they seemed so over engineered and almost agricultural.

I do have a couple of these in the stash and I'll be really interested in seeing what modifications are needed.  Looking at the one you've already completed, the main rotor head looks to be quite high.  Does that need tweaking?

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Mark,

 

So this is where you've been! Like Chris, I thought you were off on an extraordinary bipedal adventure!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

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On 05/03/2023 at 20:17, Col. said:

This one certainly looks to be coming together well thanks to your clever preparation work Mark :) 

 

Thanks, my weakness is definitely in the assembly stage and I'm trying to focus on that.

 

On 06/03/2023 at 02:37, Chewbacca said:

Looking good so far.  Although I never qualified on type, I did get the chance in the early 80s to fly in a good few Wessex Vs and do have a soft spot for them.  Compared to the Lynx and even the Sea King, they seemed so over engineered and almost agricultural.

I do have a couple of these in the stash and I'll be really interested in seeing what modifications are needed.  Looking at the one you've already completed, the main rotor head looks to be quite high.  Does that need tweaking?

 

I didn't do a great job on the MRH on that one, but it doesn't look too bad to me.  It's possibly a little high.  On this one /I've done a better job on the MRH so this one will be a better judge.  Will take a look at it closer the time - the adjustment will/would be relatively simple.

 

On 06/03/2023 at 06:29, AliGauld said:

This is where you've been hiding out.

 

Nice work on the Wessex.

I'll be taking notes as I was planning the Culdrose box version eventually.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

 

Found me.  I haven't been hiding, but been very much focused on other stuff at the moment (my son is visiting from Canada, among other things) and while my bench time has been reduced, my BM time has taken a hit.  

 

On 06/03/2023 at 20:23, heloman1 said:

Neat progress Mark...

 

Colin

 

Thanks Col.

 

On 07/03/2023 at 06:15, bigbadbadge said:

Crikey, I thought you had gone off on an extra long bike ride!!! Great start Mark, looking good.

Chris

 

As it happens, one of the other focuses has been my riding.  Race season has been in full flow and I've been doing quite well this year.  Doing well begets more training, more training means earlier to bed...

 

On 11/03/2023 at 14:53, Dunny said:

Mark,

 

So this is where you've been! Like Chris, I thought you were off on an extraordinary bipedal adventure!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

 

Hi Roger, see above, I've had a tonne on and what's had to give is my time on BM.  Congrats on the new gig, by the way.

 

I'm slowly inching this helicopter towards painting.  The pics will do most of the talking for me I think.  The airframe is more or less complete, and I've made a good start on the PE details.

 

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I didn't add all of the PE as some of it doesn't, I feel, add any value.  Some of the moulded detail is almost as good and it wasn't worth the work required to remove the plastic and then replace it with PE of the same or only marginally better detail.  I may revisit the fit of the engine intake grill but otherwise I'm happy with how it's going.

 

The bike racing season has a few more weeks to run, and my son is here until May so my BM time will continue to be sporadic.  Things move so fast here, and in particular when speed builders like @AliGauld and @Dunny are involved, doesn't mean I'm not reading...  🙂

 

Cheers.

 

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Nice progress Mark and agree with you on the extra work to fit some PE parts being wasted if they don't add much to the overall effect in comparison with the molded plastic.

Hope you're getting some decent results at the races. The time trial season is due to begin in a fortnight here in north east Scotland but there's still plenty snow on the ground and that's led to the first road races being cancelled.

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Hi Mark, looking good but I know you will want to kick me if I don't tell you now. The aerial on the trailing edge of the TR pylon is far too fat. I takes the line of the skin, standing off a tad, coming to a point aft of the trailing edge. Slice it off and sand it down, please!

Enjoy the cycling, we are starting to get he European events on satellite here is SA. Watched the last two days of the Paris-Nice over the weekend.

 

Colin

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On 13/03/2023 at 17:26, heloman1 said:

looking good but I know you will want to kick me if I don't tell you now. The aerial on the trailing edge of the TR pylon is far too fat. I takes the line of the skin, standing off a tad, coming to a point aft of the trailing edge. Slice it off and sand it down, please!

 

I always get nervous - in a good way - when @heloman1 comments on one of my Wessex builds...  🙂   Based on Colin's comments I removed the antenna and made the adjustments.  I hope I made it thin enough...

 

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Still just a little clean up required and I think it's good to go.  Next, I added the lines that come off the coaming to the rear of the engine.  I'm not sure what they are, but they looked like pipes or conduits so I used some thin wire to represent them. I still need to wick some filler in the holes the reenter the fuselage to finish them off.  It's funny in a non-humourous way how these close up shots show all the work still to do on jobs that one thought were finished.

 

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I fitted the windscreen as best it would go.  Rather than it being a somewhat ordinary fit all round I fitted it such that there was one really bad area, the lower port side.  I fashion a piece of plastic card to make up most of the required filler and then masked the area I needed to apply the rest putty.  I used Tamiya putty for this as it's malleable once it begins to set enabling me to use my finger to mould it into shape.  Before it cured too much I removed the tape leaving me with some sanding to complete the job.  The sanding on't be easy, but I think I've got the putty to a point where no too much sanding is required.

 

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In other work I've added the remainder of the PE that will be attached prior to painting except perhaps the pilots' access steps.  I'll check the fit for those before deciding.  I think I'm practically there now, just a little clean up required before I can start painting.  This is more or less where we are now, though since this pic I added the filler caps and some other tidy up.

 

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In other correspondence...

 

On 12/03/2023 at 23:22, AliGauld said:

Enjoy your visit. Family is much more important than plastic stuff.

 

On 13/03/2023 at 04:01, bigbadbadge said:

hope you're all having some great family time with you Son visiting

 

Thanks gents.  We're having a great visit!  And, to add another layer of icing to my cake, our daughter has just announced that our granddaughter is going to have a little sister in September.  Our cups runneth over...

 

On 13/03/2023 at 01:05, Col. said:

Hope you're getting some decent results at the races. The time trial season is due to begin in a fortnight here in north east Scotland but there's still plenty snow on the ground and that's led to the first road races being cancelled.

 

I hope you're getting some decent weather in now.  Time trialing is my favourite discipline of all, though there isn't too much of it here in Canberra.

 

On 13/03/2023 at 04:01, bigbadbadge said:

enjoy the racing season

 

The racing is going very well, I'm having a lot of fun.  I moved up to B Grade a month or so ago and have managed a podium and some respectable bunch finishes, plus we had the State championships this last weekend and I managed a second in my age group (strangely, the State races are AG, not graded).  I haven't raced Crits in a long time, preferring road races over the last few years but the crit facilities in Canberra make for safe and fun racing.  Too bad the season only has a other couple of weeks to go.

 

Thanks for following along, I'm reasonably confident the next update will include some paint.

 

Cheers.

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Looking much better on the pylon aerial Mark it's an odd shape. Re the two 'pipes' at the rear of the lobster back, they are in fact braces added once the extra engine powers started creeping in. Straighten then up, under a coat of paint...

It's not an easy kit to build!

 

Colin

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