1/72 - Westland Wasp HAS.1 by LF Models - released

[Dennis_C]

Looks like this tiny helicopter was carrying WE.177 weapon among other things? 

[Mr T]

Now listed at Hannants. 

[Homebee]

51 minutes ago, Mr T said:

Now listed at Hannants. 

Always better with a link... 

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LF-PE7271

 

V.P.

[KRK4m]

On 3/29/2024 at 1:14 PM, Dennis_C said:

Looks like the same plastic in both Wasp and Scout. Very nice. Gives flexibility in choosing the specific markings.

It's hard for LF to develop the same elements twice, once for the Wasp and separately for the Scout, if it's basically the same helicopter - almost like the army and naval Lynx.

BTW this will probably sound strange to most of you, but the designer of both the Scout/Wasp and the Lynx was a Polish engineer, F/Lt Tadeusz Ciastula, OBE, inherited by Westland from SARO (where he created Skeeter), and previously Cierva.

Cheers

Michael

[Dennis_C]

21 minutes ago, KRK4m said:

BTW this will probably sound strange to most of you, but the designer of both the Scout/Wasp and the Lynx was a Polish engineer, F/Lt Tadeusz Ciastula, OBE, inherited by Westland from SARO (where he created Skeeter), and previously Cierva.

Cheers

Hmmm. That is strange but there is even no English language wiki page about him. However Polish language page explicitly says he was the principal engineer (główny konstruktor) of Sanders-Roe and then of Westland helicopter division. 

[KRK4m]

4 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

Hmmm. That is strange but there is even no English language wiki page about him. However Polish language page explicitly says he was the principal engineer (główny konstruktor) of Sanders-Roe and then of Westland helicopter division. 

Yes, exactly. Unfortunately, I don't feel up to creating an English Wiki page about Ciastula, but then again, not every F/Lt got an OBE.

Before WW2, Poland had many talented aircraft engineers and most of them fortunately managed to avoid German or Soviet captivity. And those who stayed in the West after the war worked on many leading aeronautics and even space projects.

Jerzy Dabrowski, author of the PZL-37 Los bomber, worked on JetProvost, Gnat, B-58 and Space Shuttle. Wsiewolod Jakimiuk (of P.11, P.24 and P.50 fighters fame) was the author of Chipmunk and Beaver, and later worked on Sea Venom, Caravelle and Concorde. BTW @Dennis_C Jakimiuk - although a Polish citizen - was of Belarusian nationality.

Stanislaw Prauss (author of the PZL-23 Karas bomber) worked at Westland on the Welkin, and then at DH on the Venom, Comet, Sea Vixen, Trident, A300 and BAe146. Henryk Millicer (of PZL-46 Sum) settled in the antipodes, where he created the Jindvik target drone, and then - the family of popular Victa Airtourer/Aircruiser/Airtrainer aircraft.

And Dr. Stanislaw Rogalski (together with Jerzy Wedrychowski - i.e. R and W from the RWD acronym) became chief engineer and director respectively of Turk Hava Kurumu Ucak Fabrikasi, where they created the THK-1 glider and the THK-2, THK-5 and THK-11 aircraft. After the war, Dr. Rogalski worked in the USA on C-123, E-2 and F-111.

This is how the history of the world works

Cheers

Michael

 

[Dennis_C]

33 minutes ago, KRK4m said:

Jakimiuk - although a Polish citizen - was of Belarusian nationality.

Also no English wiki page... but there is a very good Belarusian page

In fact engineers born across our lands worked a lot on both sides of the world. A very big number of Soviet engineers were of Ukrainian origin. I probably should not recall that Pavel Sukhoi was Belarusian from a small town of Hlybokaje.

On the other hand Seversky, Sikorsky and Kartveli came to the US from Russian Empire. 

Unfortunately seems the history is making another circle and these lands will give the world another wave of talented people leaving too few for ourselves...

[perdu]

Sadly this has been the way of things since man learned to walk and wonder about the other side of the horizon Dennis.

 

The great big melting pot, often driven by tyranny it's sad to say.

 

Good news about these models, I feel an urge to explore them.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

18 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

On the other hand Seversky, Sikorsky and Kartveli came to the US from Russian Empire. 

Don't forget Kaman and Piasecki!  There's a reason why Boeing had a "Vertol" aircraft division, though Piasecki's name suggests he was ethnically Polish.  Sikorski was especially talented, and a theologian, too!

[Dennis_C]

35 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Don't forget Kaman and Piasecki!  There's a reason why Boeing had a "Vertol" aircraft division, though Piasecki's name suggests he was ethnically Polish.  Sikorski was especially talented, and a theologian, too!

Hmmm. Piasecki was of Polish ancestry but born in the US. What about Charles Kaman? I do not see if he is somehow associated with Eastern European roots. But just learn he was also musical instruments designer and owner of Kaman Music Corporation!!! Talented persons all have many talents.

[Terry1954]

17 hours ago, perdu said:

Good news about these models, I feel an urge to explore them.

 

I agree Bill, and I thought you might want a bit of an explore!

 

T

[Phil Gollin]

On 29/03/2024 at 19:22, Dennis_C said:

Looks like this tiny helicopter was carrying WE.177 weapon among other things? 

.

 

According to a some posts on Navy Net some time ago, a Wasp could carry carry a WE.177, but only carrying the pilot and with all excess weight (including the doors) removed  -  guidance and dropping point was by radar from the host ship.  Escape was problematic,

 

Whether that is all "true" who knows (the ones who do won't say)

 

.

[k5054nz]

The kit looks superb, well done to all involved! I predict a few will be making their way to New Zealand! We loved our Wasps.

[Hook]

On 4/3/2024 at 10:25 PM, k5054nz said:

The kit looks superb, well done to all involved! I predict a few will be making their way to New Zealand! We loved our Wasps.

As did we Dutch!, ordered one too.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Trenton guy]

Ordered direct from LF on Mar 29. Arrived today in Pennsylvania USA, Apr 9. That’s really good service. Initial examination of parts suggests that the pictures don’t lie. A beautiful kit on the sprues, by far LF’s best. Can’t wait to get started. Sadly, three Bf-109E, a Bf-109G-10, a Ju-88A-1, a Gee Bee, an AMX, a M-346, an F-84F and four 1/700 ships are clogging up the pipeline. Really do need to control my urge to start kits while others are underway. At lest they are all to the decal stage so there is hope for my long dreamed of Wasp.

[Dennis_C]

It seems like the Wasp kit arrived to big H but was sold out immediately. A small number of Scouts is still in stock

I hope LF has more in stock.

Edited April 22 by Dennis_C

[Johnson]

I guess I was lucky and got my Hannants backorder in early. The new LF Models Wasp HAS.1 arrived last week. Here are a few sprue shots;

 

 

 

 

I'm guessing that this is what's called a short run injection moulding? Seems similar to others (ie Sword) that fall in that category. Quality looks good. A bit of flash but the detail and panel lines all look crisp. I've no 1/72 plans to compare it to and obviously we won't know how it fits together until someone builds one. But first impressions are good.

 

 

With all those canopy transparencies I purchased the masking set. It's vinyl by the looks, not my favourite. The clear parts themselves look good. Very clear. Some may find them a bit thick, the view through them does suffer distortion.

 

 

The decals look OK. Registration good and crisply printed. But I can't see any carrier film - one piece?

 

 

I also bought the 3D printed Mk.44 torpedo. Hard to judge with all the scaffolding. No decals, no instructions, no colour guide.

 

 

Looking forward to building it. We've been waiting years for this.

 

Charlie

 

 

[Dennis_C]

1 hour ago, Johnson said:

 

The decals look OK. Registration good and crisply printed. But I can't see any carrier film - one piece?

Yes, one piece. I used their decal for Hiller H-23. A little fragile. I did have some problems with a long "United States army" lettering. On the other side I cut it into three words and it worked okay. Also I think they tend to print mixed colours such as orange with just red and yellow dots. Basic colours like black, white or insignia red are okay.

 

1 hour ago, Johnson said:

With all those canopy transparencies I purchased the masking set. It's vinyl by the looks, not my favourite.

Yeah not best. Tend to raise on curved surfaces. I'd be suspicious about those ceiling panels. And I think some elements even did not really fit in case of my Hiller. 

 

As I'm looking on the sprues - they look better than those of Hiller or Bell 47J. Really interesting to know what the fit would be like. If this comes from original S&M project - fit should probably be very good. 

Edited Sunday at 12:23 by Dennis_C

[Uncle Dick]

Thanks for posting Johnson, looks alright, may be mistaken but you may be able to build a scout from same box as I see skids or at least some of the parts...

 

Some errors on decals, spelling of the HMNZS Canterbury which appears as "Cartenbury" on decals, thankfully all the letters are still there so all you have to do is cut and rearrange them, and NT3901 should be NZ3901, may be more errors on decal sheet as well, as that is just a quick glance from me nothing aftermarket cannot fix...

 

I'll be buying a few.

[Aeronut22]

On 31/03/2024 at 08:25, Dennis_C said:

Hmmm. That is strange but there is even no English language wiki page about him. However Polish language page explicitly says he was the principal engineer (główny konstruktor) of Sanders-Roe and then of Westland helicopter division. 

Westlands must have quite a cosmopolitan design team in the 60s and 70s as they also retained the services of Bristol Helicopter's Chief Designer, the Austrian born Raoul Hafner.