Sea King HU Mk5 Search and Rescue 1/48th new Airfix kit...

[heloman1]

Well, what can I say, I'm caught up in the whirlwind! Or should that be Sea King maelstrom? I really should not be starting this build, as I have at least five other builds underway. But hey opening a new box and cutting parts off the sprue is what we do...

The newly released Westland Sea King from Airfix, is a delight. My two kits arrived form the UK on Wednesday afternoon. Yes, I did a serious 'groking' (perusal) session. I was not disappointed in fact I was astounded at the level of detail and the crispness of the moulding.

The box art and sprue shots are posted elsewhere within the WIP pages, so I will not duplicate them here.

 

As the header states, I'll be building the HU Mk5 in it's SAR guise. A good modelling friend has sent me reference of the cabin and the SAR fit. So, I'll be going to town.

The painting/decal positioning guide is very explanatory as is the instruction book. I'm told, there are a couple of colour references that are a tad inaccurate, more of that later.

 

So, this is my reference, with as mentioned supplied photos.

 

Newest of these reference sources is the Royal Navy Search and Rescue book. The other two have ben in my library for many years.

 

Below is the paint and decal application sheet...

 

 

I'm going to deviate from the decals/markings slightly as I want to build a cab from HMS Gannet in Scotland. For that, I'll need a saltire for the nose.

I am also undecided as to whether the cab will have the rotorblades folded or spread. The main rotor head (MRH), is a rats nest of piping and wiring, we'll see how far I want to go when we get to that part!

 

Over the weekend, I'll be making some progress on the cockpit and cabin interior...

 

Thanks for looking in.

 

Colin the impatient helicopter modeller!

[AliGauld]

Looking forward to this one.

Will be taking notes.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[heloman1]

Welcome to the build Ali.

 

Colin

[Keeff]

I think I'll follow along .... the scheme you're doing is my favourite as it suits the airframe so much. 

 

Keith 😁 

[perdu]

What to do?

 

Buy the damned big thing myself?

 

Or better still enjoy watching Colin do it for me?

 

 

Yes I'm going to enjoy this Colin, standing by.

[psdavidson]

Another Airfix Sea King, nice
I'll lurk quietly in the corner

 

/P

[heloman1]

16 hours ago, perdu said:

What to do?

 

Buy the damned big thing myself?

 

Or better still enjoy watching Colin do it for me?

 

 

Yes I'm going to enjoy this Colin, standing by.

Welcome aboard Bill, sorry you'll have to sit in the cabin, the cockpit is full!!! Ha, ha, ha!

You know you need one...

 

Colin

15 hours ago, psdavidson said:

Another Airfix Sea King, nice
I'll lurk quietly in the corner

 

/P

Lurkers always welcome...

[petetasker]

Nice. Think there’s going to be a lot of Airfix Navy SAR Sea Kings on Britmodeller over the next year or so - hopefully mine as well. Like you I was thinking of doing a Prestwick bird. I had hoped one might be included on the forthcoming Xtradecal sheets but it seems not.

[heloman1]

1 minute ago, petetasker said:

Nice. Think there’s going to be a lot of Airfix Navy SAR Sea Kings on Britmodeller over the next year or so - hopefully mine as well. Like you I was thinking of doing a Prestwick bird. I had hoped one might be included on the forthcoming Xtradecal sheets but it seems not.

Hi Pete. Welcome, I'm not sure Xtra-Decals could offer anything new to the kit decal sheet. All that is missing is the saltier and new serials and codes and those are already available.

 

Colin

[petetasker]

3 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Pete. Welcome, I'm not sure Xtra-Decals could offer anything new to the kit decal sheet. All that is missing is the saltier and new serials and codes and those are already available.

 

Colin

Hi Colin Can I ask where your sourcing the Saltier from?

[Steve Coombs]

I shall indulge in a good lurk here. The way things are going, it's going to be Christmas before local stockists will have any, so I will use the time to see how others build the kit.

[heloman1]

21 minutes ago, petetasker said:

Hi Colin Can I ask where your sourcing the Saltier from?

Hi, I'll make it out of spare decal sheet. Can't be that hard!

[heloman1]

11 minutes ago, Steve Coombs said:

I shall indulge in a good lurk here. The way things are going, it's going to be Christmas before local stockists will have any, so I will use the time to see how others build the kit.

Thanks Steve, I heard Airfix were having difficulty in keeping up with demand. Good news for them but not the modellers. I'm down in South Africa, I don't know when it will hit the shops here. I got my two from an importer.

Whilst I'm working on the cabin fir, I'm hoping some of the AM producers will have come to the party.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Lat week, I posted a plea in the Aircraft Modern section re the cabin interior. I received some very useful and very generous offers. A very old Helicopter SIG member came to the rescue, so, I can now proceed with info at hand. The info, I have been asked not to share, so it will be in the form of the detail I add...

 

However, I have a Wessex brooding in the 'Here cones the Fleet Air Arm GB', which needs my serious attention if I am to finish on schedule.

So all you lurkers, are going to have to sit tight, whilst I go back to that build. Apologies for that but needs must...

 

There are of course other Sea King delights in the WIP  pages, to keep you entertained.

 

See you all shortly.

 

Colin

[McG]

Colin, 

 

are you doing a late service Gannet cab? 
 

regards,

 

Mark

[eng]

Having done some research on building a Gannet cab myself, most of what you need is already in the box!

 

XV699 flew out of Gannet with fuselage code '23' so inverting the last two digits of the kit registration deals with the registration change. The nose numbers 823 are in the kit

 

Whilst at Gannet the machine flew with the large Ace of spades card on the belly, this would need to be sourced, but is on one of the newly announced Xtradecal sheets.

 

The Saltire on the battery/avionic hatch could be - a) painted, b) paint the blue rectangle and use white decal strips to get the cross, or,  c) if you've got some old Bae Hawk decals kicking about use the fuselage markings from a 151 Sqn machine

 

Finally the 'PW' tail codes could be sourced from aftermarket white numeral sheets, the spares box or left off as I've seen photo's where the chopper has no tail code, there's also a pic showing the machine still sporting its previous 'CU' codes.

 

One other observation I've noticed on a few builds is the placement of the black decal that is aft of the main sliding door. I believe that on the real thing this is part of the waterproof floor covering that protects the interior structure from dripping wet salty sailors/rescuee's, and as such the decal should be placed right up to the edge of the cut-out, not further back from the door.

 

Most of the Gannet cab's carried the sand filter as well so make sure and use the appropriate inlet parts for fit of the filter unit.

 

Looking forward to seeing some nice Gannet Mk.5's!

 

Eng

[woody37]

Popcorn ready Colin!

 

I doubt I'll get one of these, helicopters aren't my thing, but I do enjoy seeing them built.

 

Neil

[heloman1]

17 hours ago, McG said:

Colin, 

 

are you doing a late service Gannet cab? 
 

regards,

 

Mark

Hi Mark, not sure what you mean, I have a couple of images that I'm looking at.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Thanks for the heads up Eng, I was wondering about the sea tray decal for the door. I'm thinking thin foil to replace it.

I've already stuck the sand filter box together as a  test fit, very nicely detailed.

I have lots of AM white decals to source the codes etc. but had forgotten about the ace on the underside of the fus!

 

Heil, you might have to bow to not building choppers when you have a look art this kit. If this is the new Airfix standard, the Gannet release later in the year will be a stunner!

 

Colin

[McG]

7 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Hi Mark, not sure what you mean, I have a couple of images that I'm looking at.

 

Colin

Hi Colin,

if your using the air filter box, then yes it will be a later service life cab. If before the introduction of the FLIR system, they had an IR floodlight fitted on both left and right sponsons. If modelling with the FLIR system fitted, the IR floodlight is only fitted on the right hand sponson. 
 

I posted a link either in Crisp or Mike’s thread to a BBC article that had a good photo showing the radar console with the FLIR screen added. Also shows some changes to the comms and nav set up above the console compared to the kit. 
 

Mark

[heloman1]

6 minutes ago, McG said:

Hi Colin,

if your using the air filter box, then yes it will be a later service life cab. If before the introduction of the FLIR system, they had an IR floodlight fitted on both left and right sponsons. If modelling with the FLIR system fitted, the IR floodlight is only fitted on the right hand sponson. 
 

I posted a link either in Crisp or Mike’s thread to a BBC article that had a good photo showing the radar console with the FLIR screen added. Also shows some changes to the comms and nav set up above the console compared to the kit. 
 

Mark

Hi Mark, thanks for the heads-up, will have a look.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Hi all, work has been slow on the King. I went online looking for a Haynes manual but at 56 UK Pounds for postage from the US, I balked at that!

Len Newman has helped me with some cabin ref photos. Many thanks Len.

Missing from the kit is a stowage rack positioned between the radar operators station and the flare rack. I used the large cabin bulkhead from the Mk1 kit option as a guild the the shape of the stowage end panels, the remained was just strips of cut plasticard. I fashioned the cover sheet (not shown) from photocopy paper.

There are some other bits o add to the walls and roof, I'll get to them later...

 

 

I also got he seats assembled and painted. The seat belts are from the Eduard detail set 49-1397.

 

That's all folks, I'm going to concentrate on my Sea Vixen build in the Frog Squad II GB.

 

Colin

 

[perdu]

Here we are, well whetted appetites and Colin b*ggers off to play with a Sea Vixen...

 

 

 

Oh well, could be worse

 

There's a Sea Vixen

 

 

 

 

Nice rack Colin

 

 

Am I allowed to say that?

[heloman1]

37 minutes ago, perdu said:

Here we are, well whetted appetites and Colin b*ggers off to play with a Sea Vixen...

 

 

 

Oh well, could be worse

 

There's a Sea Vixen

 

 

 

 

Nice rack Colin

 

 

Am I allowed to say that?

I see, I didn't post the image of the item with the cover, I'll paint it first then show it. The Vixen build has an end date, so need to crack on with it.

I was waiting for detail sets and decals to arrive from the UK, these arrived this morning for this and my Gannet COD build. So, I will resume as soon as practicable.

 

HOLD TIGHT Bill...

 

Colin