AMP Sikorsky H-19 Chickasaw (S-55), 1/48th scale. 848 NAS , Borneo. Finished...

[heloman1]

Well, that didn't take long, did it? I made promise to finish projects that had stalled whilst I indulged in some GB's last year. The Sea King, Gannet and Green Parrot Wessex (plus maybe a couple of others).

 

Well promises are made to be broken, yes and they were made before the AMP kit arrived. My excuse and I'm sticking to it  The kit arrived in a large shipment of other goodies last Thursday.

 

The H-19 and by dint the Westland Whirlwind sharing the same basic fuselage have been long time favourites. My main sphere of interests starts with the Korean war, which celebrates it's fiftieth anniversary this year.

Just why, it has taken almost 50 years for a decent model of this subject it unbelievable. Having served with over 36 air arms, navies and armies plus numerous civilian operators baggers belief! Check out Wikipedia for a full listing.

 

The only other kit in this scale is the venerable Revell kit originally released in 1955. Released in various guises and marking up until 1994. It's still a decent kit but need a lot of TLC.

Check out the Scalemates site for all the info.

So, what is my intention? My modelling interest starts with the Korean war, which celebrates it fiftieth anniversary this year. The advent of the jet and helicopter in airborne combat.

With that in mind, I will divert slightly from the H-19. In 1952, 10 HAR Mk21 (HSR-2) airframes, along with a further 10 HAR Mk22's were purchased under the Mutual Defence Assistance Program, Contract NOa(s) 51-650. See FAA Helicopters Since 1943 for further details.

Ten airframes were diverted to 848 NAS and shipped to Borneo to assist in the Malay/Borneo confrontation. Still painted in the US Navy Gloss Sea Blue. Royal Navy serials and roundels were applied along with ROYAL NAVY lettering below the cockpit.

 

One of these WV196 H will be the subject of this build, decals will come from the spares box.

 

So let us have a look at what is in the box...

 

 

The box is rather flimsy and one of the two sustained some minor damage! However, there is a box full of parts.

The box contents...

 

 

The sprues...

 

 

The clear parts sprue...

 

 

The 3D printed main rotor head, engine. tail rotor Gear box and cockpit centre consoles.

 

 

 

 

 

Quite a lot for your money . All parts are crisply moulded, the 3d parts excellently detailed. He decals are excellent quality.

There are a couple of nods to other versions/ issues of the kit. The straight tail boom is separate and there is a tail skid for the droop boom variants! Watch out...

 

Reference. I'm using along with my own collected reference for this build the  Warpaint Series Number 106 Sikorsky S-55/H-19 Chickasaw and Westland Whirlwind. It has lots of geed reference.

 

 

Ok, a bit late in the day to start, I still want to grock the parts. I'll be back tomorrow...

 

Colin

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Great project!  I'm not sure I understand your reference to the "50th anniversary of the Korean War."  Perhaps you meant the 60th anniversary of the resolution of the Confrontation with Indonesia over Borneo and Sarawak, in which versions of this helicopter featured.

[heloman1]

15 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Great project!  I'm not sure I understand your reference to the "50th anniversary of the Korean War."  Perhaps you meant the 60th anniversary of the resolution of the Confrontation with Indonesia over Borneo and Sarawak, in which versions of this helicopter featured.

Thanks for the heads up, a Typo!!!

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Well, not a lot of work on this project this week. A trip to the dental surgeon for an X-ray on an impacted tooth and a garage that needed serious reorganisation/cleaning!

However, I did manage a couple of hours on it. I worked on cleaning up the mating surfaces , removing moulding gates and adding some plates to aid attachment of the two fuselage halves and the tail boom. There is a distinct lack of alignment pins!

So , her is where I ma with assembly...

The two halves of the tail boom were assembled, care is need at the lower edge, there the fillet is mould short on one side. This aided in getting a god sharp edge and not a bad thing.

 

The cabin seating was also attacked. I chamfered the edges of the canvas on the sea backs which looked overly thick. How much will be visible one installed is debatable! They are however very neatly moulded and probably the best representation of the seat construction to date! even if the assembly was a tad fiddly!

 

 

 

So this is where I was earlier in the week. Those who might follow my builds will not a new one added today. The MH-53E main rotorhead Reskit 3 D printed build article. It's caused a little diversion!!!

 

Untillater.

 

Colin

[hendie]

I'm getting tempted by this one Colin. 

The 3D Printed rotor head is a bit concerning though - when I did my HAR10 I had serious concerns about the strength of the head taking the weight of the rotor blades and added brass pins to compensate. I wonder if they've used a "tough" resin, or just the standard offerings? Of course, there's no way to know unless you try to break it... and if they haven't, you're gubbed.

 

 

[heloman1]

16 hours ago, hendie said:

I'm getting tempted by this one Colin. 

The 3D Printed rotor head is a bit concerning though - when I did my HAR10 I had serious concerns about the strength of the head taking the weight of the rotor blades and added brass pins to compensate. I wonder if they've used a "tough" resin, or just the standard offerings? Of course, there's no way to know unless you try to break it... and if they haven't, you're gubbed.

 

 

Good day Alan, Fair point, which I hadn't considered. I'll check the resin. The way, it's been printed, there is a half blade root to make a half lap joint with the rotor blade. There may be enough pudding to get a fine piece of stiff wire in there!

We shall see...

 

Have you seen the MH-53 MRH thread in the WIP section, It's the new Reskit offering. Fantastic detail!!! Couldn't resist putting it together.

 

Colin

[perdu]

I was tempted by the Blackdog resin engine and gearbox for my S61 but as I didnt expect to need the engines I didnt waste a lot of money on it

 

 

The CH53 gearbox and rotor gear looks awesome though and this Chickasaw/Whirlwind really gets my interests flowing, Borneo is an interest of mine with a Belvedere and a Whirlwind in my built models team already and contemplating the Royal Navy's Wessex coming along soon.                                                                              

[heloman1]

17 hours ago, perdu said:

I was tempted by the Blackdog resin engine and gearbox for my S61 but as I didnt expect to need the engines I didnt waste a lot of money on it

 

 

The CH53 gearbox and rotor gear looks awesome though and this Chickasaw/Whirlwind really gets my interests flowing, Borneo is an interest of mine with a Belvedere and a Whirlwind in my built models team already and contemplating the Royal Navy's Wessex coming along soon.                                                                              

Hi Bill. Having served on a Wessex Commando  Junglie squadron, I have a great interest in the Borneo period. I just missed out on the end of it and getting the medal!

So, having built a Scout, (Airfix), and a Wessex the Whirlwind was a natural choice. AMP produce a Hiller 12E too, so that's a must. The crab cabs don't really interest me, although, a 48th Belvedere would be interesting!

 

Colin

[heloman1]

I got some more time on this build over the past couple of days. Yesterday I was supposed to go into the dental clinic for a rear tooth removal. That didn't happen!

So it was time to get some paint on the bird.

I've used a mix of Tamiya LP, Humbrol and Vallejo paints. Whatever was closest to the call out on the instructions.

I have a look on Prime Portal Airstrip pages and found some good Walkround images. Especially of the MRH.

I forgot to take images of the cabin interior before I buttoned it up! The front firewall/bulkhead is very well detailed if a little fiddly to assemble. specially if you don't read the illustrations/instructions correctly! All came out OK in the end.

 

 

 

The tail boom and cabin seating...

The tail boom fuselage/cabin joint is a little vague (no locating tabs), I may use a piece of styrene tube to reinforce the joint along the tube cement.

 

That's all for now, thinks for looking in. Remember, if you looked please q comment. A Like is well!!!

 

Colin

[Reini78]

Nice progress so far!

Recently suggested this kit to my dad, adding a French Indochina or Algerian War scheme to our theme from 2022.

The 3D printed parts scare him off a bit, especially cleaning them up 😄 well, let´s see if he will try an attempt on this klt...

 

Cheers, Reinhard

[heloman1]

15 hours ago, Reini78 said:

Nice progress so far!

Recently suggested this kit to my dad, adding a French Indochina or Algerian War scheme to our theme from 2022.

The 3D printed parts scare him off a bit, especially cleaning them up 😄 well, let´s see if he will try an attempt on this klt...

 

Cheers, Reinhard

Hello Reinhard. The 3D printed parts are quite clean, no worse than injection moulded parts. I'm sure your father will enjoy building the kit.

Indo- China scheme sound s good too.

 

Colin

[woody37]

to be honest, I've had a few builds that were comparable to getting a tooth removed, the FM Hamden comes to mind 🤣

 

Great start Colin

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Great work so far.  On this aircraft, were the pilots able to move between the main cabin below, and the cockpit?  It looks like there are cutouts in the rear cockpit bulkhead that theoretically would allow them to squeeze through.

[Flyingdutchman]

I just found your topic! Very nice subject. I really wondered how the kit would be, thank you for your photos on this. I'm looking to build this is in Dutch service (for which decals are supplies obviously). Looking forward to this build! Will definitely follow.

 

Cheers Evert

[heloman1]

19 hours ago, woody37 said:

to be honest, I've had a few builds that were comparable to getting a tooth removed, the FM Hamden comes to mind 🤣

 

Great start Colin

I can imagine...

[heloman1]

4 hours ago, Flyingdutchman said:

I just found your topic! Very nice subject. I really wondered how the kit would be, thank you for your photos on this. I'm looking to build this is in Dutch service (for which decals are supplies obviously). Looking forward to this build! Will definitely follow.

 

Cheers Evert

Hi Evert, welcome. Indeed the Dutch decals are included and they look rather good.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

On 2/16/2025 at 7:26 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Great work so far.  On this aircraft, were the pilots able to move between the main cabin below, and the cockpit?  It looks like there are cutouts in the rear cockpit bulkhead that theoretically would allow them to squeeze through.

Correct, the two crew seats bases would tip up, allowing access from the cabin. This was carried over to the H-34 and Wessex.

 

Colin

[heloman1]

Some small movement, since my last post. I've assembled and painted the cabin seating. They are quite well detailed but without lap straps, so, I'll cut some thin strips of masking tape and add those.

 

Before I attached the tail cone/boom to the forward fuselage assembly, I added a piece of curled plasticard to form a location.

 

That's all for now, Sevens and Six Nations rugby getting in the way this weekend. Along with our local model club meeting and horsebox repairs!

I'll be back...

 

Colin

 

Colin

[heloman1]

So, the low rain clouds have descended and then our government threw another power outage (load shedding) at us. So two hours without power again!

 

I attached the tail cone/boom to the cabin assembly. There was a small gap to fill, not completely as it a panel line. The line marked by the  arrow is an incorrect panel line, so I filled this with a Typ-ex pen.

On the transmission tunnel is a raised cover. It would be the cover for the drive shaft coupling , where the shaft dips on the drooped boon types, This is not fitted evident on the early straight boomed types. So it was carefully removed. I'll restore the rivet detail with my trusty RivetR.

 

I'm not deeply into computers and their inner workings, so a couple of yellow card arrows were made to indicate the points of interest. Far quicker...

 

Ah, the power came back on so juice to the laptop...

 

Until later, that's all folks. Please feel free to add comments.

 

Colin

[Ad-4N]

I will watch your trailblazing efforts since this kit is near the top of the stash.

[Ad-4N]

9 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Correct, the two crew seats bases would tip up, allowing access from the cabin. This was carried over to the H-34 and Wessex.

 

Colin

 

 

I learn something new everyday,

[TheyJammedKenny!]

1 hour ago, Ad-4N said:

learn something new everyday

On this site, me too!

 

Nice work on this!

[Paul J]

Looks nice. The breakdown of the big parts looks ,to me, that there could be a drooped boom version and even a HAR/HC10  could be on the cards

 

[heloman1]

9 hours ago, Paul J said:

Looks nice. The breakdown of the big parts looks ,to me, that there could be a drooped boom version and even a HAR/HC10  could be on the cards

 

Hi Paul, I wrote to AMP, they confirmed there will be a droop boom version. The kit has a lot of milage in it not just with decal options. I'm expecting a flood of AM decal sheets in the coming months.

The parts breakdown is well thought out, the finesse of the detail is excellent far above their Bristol Sycamore which I built about five years ago. For instance, Part K 1 the alternate later roof section with the four small glazed panels as two aft facing vents aft of them. Not only are they replicated on the underside, the soundproofing quilting is there too.

 

Colin

[Whofan]

On 23/02/2025 at 09:57, heloman1 said:

and Six Nations rugby getting in the way this weekend.

Funny thing is I had the same excuse this weekend!

 

The whirlwind (helo) is interesting to me because it was used by the Austrian Air Force, the connection being my half Austrian wife.

 

I’ve done the Airfix whirlwind in Austrian livery, so a better model in 1/72 would be good - AMP seem like they’ve done a good job here so perhaps a 1/72 might come soon.