Whirlwind S55/H19 Helicopter

[twinpin]

Looking for military schemes, for the  Whirlwind.  What decals are there for the type ?

 

How good is the  Italeri kit, No 1474, which is to be re-released later this year..  

[Mr T]

I cannot comment in any depth on the Italeri kit, as haven't looked axt mine for a while. It certainly has to be a step up from the Airfix kit, not least because the Airfix kit is underscale. Xtradecal do a sheet

https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/X72341 

There was also this sheet https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/RAF721.

Whirlwinds appear on various decal sheets from companies like ModelArt. A search of Scalemates will produce some subjects, although availability will be an issue. 

 

[71chally]

The Italeri/Revell S55 series of helicopter kits are quite decent, there is no comparison with the Airfix kit.  They look right and go together well, downside is that some parts are over simplified and the detail is a little bit on the heavy side for this day and age.

If you are super picky about detail, then you need to research the actual helicopter that you want to build, and put the necessary work into the kit.  One example, the windscreen is correct for some earlier versions and requires a little work to make it right for other versions.

Though the S55/Whirlwind basic airframe essentially remained the same throughout it's life, there were many minor changes across the versions, such as engine grille arrangements, windscreen pillars, aerials, and the most obvious change the cranked tail boom.

The tail boom was cranked to help alleviate the main rotor blade tips striking the tail in some conditions issue, and was introduced as a mod across Sikorsky and Westland machines, this also brought with it a new straight tailplane and tail rotor upright structure.

Italeri and Revell have released kits with both styles of tail boom.

 

The RAF Dec and Xtradecal sheets listed above are great for Royal Navy and RAF S55 & Whirlwinds, there have also been other sheets available for many of the other military operators of S.55/H-19, HRS and HO4S, including Printscale 72107 & 108 that covers US Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army, Argentinian, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Canadian, and Israel.

There are many other decals aswel, I've seen markings for Yugoslavian, Japanese, South American and North African operators.

 

 

 

 

[Graham Boak]

I'd rate them slightly higher.  Not quite up to the latest "1000 piece" kits but still above the average,

[e8n2]

When they do come back out, hopefully Eduard will bring out their etched brass set for it again.  The engine drive shaft goes through the cargo box and there is a fairing to cover over it in the cargo box.  It is the same way with the S-58/H-34 family.  The kit does not have this fairing, but the Eduard etched brass set does for both kits.

Later,

Dave

[perdu]

7 hours ago, e8n2 said:

When they do come back out, hopefully Eduard will bring out their etched brass set for it again.  The engine drive shaft goes through the cargo box and there is a fairing to cover over it in the cargo box.  It is the same way with the S-58/H-34 family.  The kit does not have this fairing, but the Eduard etched brass set does for both kits.

Later,

Dave

I sincerely hope this happens

[Orso]

Well, I didn't know about the tail boom so I had the wrong kit when I was going to build my helicopter. In the end I ended up with three: https://www.baecklund.eu/scalemodels/72/whirlwind.html

[perdu]

13 hours ago, Orso said:

Well, I didn't know about the tail boom so I had the wrong kit when I was going to build my helicopter. In the end I ended up with three: https://www.baecklund.eu/scalemodels/72/whirlwind.html

Looking good, the problem with the transfers rises because the Airfix Kit is very underscale so to have made a good job with their kit is a bonus, well done.

 

All three look 'the business'

[twinpin]

Thanks everyone, a lot of great information.