Hasegawa 48th Sea King Aew2

[Col.]

Spotted a couple of these in my LMS and wondered if it was any good? Not seen any online reviews after a search but know they are a limited release and don't want to leave it too long, even at £50.

A quick look in the box suggested the cabin is a bit sparse and the prominent dome head rivets would need scratch-building on the fuselage skin but didn't have much time to investigate further on a subject I'm not too knowledgeable on anyway.

[AnonymousFO98]

Noticed the kit was No1 in the Hannant's Hit Parade Col

surprised there are no on line reviews

[Col.]

Seems to be precious few reviews of even the basic initial SH3-H US Navy boxing release online Walrus.

Only other thing I recall noticing was the radar bag is moulded inflated whereas most of the parked machines show it deflated and alas there is no crew figures supplied to build it in a powered-up state. I'll likely still get one as it would look nice beside a couple SHARs I'm tinkering with.

[Greg B]

Just done a review, expect it on the main page soon.

Greg

[Col.]

Cheers for the heads-up Greg, seldom look at the main page so may have missed it otherwise.

[iain.. ipms north somerset]

hi all

for £25 yes

for £50 no

feel ripped off

iain

Edited February 8, 2010 by iain.. ipms north somerset

[GrahamS]

Just done a review, expect it on the main page soon.

Greg

There's a main page?

Graham

[AnonymousFO98]

afaik the timpani is always provided inflated by the kit makers

Airwaves do a deflated one but i think that is in 1/72

someone scratched a radar bag in the Alan Hall GB with Milliput if memory serves

like the sound of the Sea King with the Shars Col!

Edit: it was Jeff S but his sack was inflated and the pics are gone any road

Milliput in 1/48 sounds a tad weighty

Edited February 8, 2010 by walrus

[Don McIntyre]

This may be helpful:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10098638

It does look like the radome is molded as "inflated."

Edited February 8, 2010 by Don McIntyre

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

Edit: it was Jeff S but his sack was inflated

Elephantiasis?

Obi-Jiff

[Col.]

Guess who just paid the best part of £50 for a wee plastic helicopter? It had to be done as it'll provide a 3-dimensional reference for a painting I have planned.

Does that sound like a plausible excuse for when the wife catches me trying to sneak it into the house?

[pigsty]

Does that sound like a plausible excuse for when the wife catches me trying to sneak it into the house?

Only if you sell the painting ...

[Col.]

Only if you sell the painting ...

Fair point Sean

[eng]

Flightpath do a couple of conversion sets for various marks of the RAF/RN Seaking and these although quite expensive may provide some of the additonal detail required to build the AEW.2 (I ain't no expert on exactly whats reqd though!). I'm sure they do a HAR.3 conversion, a HAS.6 and an HC.4 Commando.

Cabin is empty on the SH-3H which this "new" release is derived from.

Nice to have a 48th scale Seaking though!

Eng

[Smiffy]

Yep, very nice to have a 48th Sea King.

I've already got one SH-3H in the stash, so I knew what to expect when I ordered this version (got it a bit cheaper too, by ordering from Graham at Relish).

I remember when Hasegawa first issued this kit all them years ago. It was expensive for a 48th Helicopter, even back then.

[Jennings Heilig]

The reason there hasn't been a lot published on the Hasegawa Sea King is that it's been one of the worst selling 1/48 kits Hasegawa has ever done. They told me so in so many words when I visited there in 1997, four years after the kit came out. I saw drawings (this was pre-CAD days) for the Westland parts back then, and it's taken them this long to get around to issuing it. The price of the kit has always been outrageous, even by comparison to other Hasegawa 1/48 stuff. And these days it's down right silly how much they're charging for it.

Still, it's not a bad kit at all. Its biggest failing is the total lack of an interior aft of the cockpit and the molded-shut sliding door. I'm amazed that nobody has ever done an aftermarket interior set for it, although perhaps given its size it would be prohibitively expensive to produce (I'm thinking about the 1/32 Vulcan kit here though...). I have harbored ambitions of converting mine to an HU.5 in the loverly grey & red scheme with a Scottish flag on the nose, but the thought of all those bits and bobs needed to convert the Sikorski SH-3 into a proper Westland Sea King has daunted me. I'm in the midst of a decal/resin project at the moment to (finally, at long, long last) do complete and accurate markings for the famous #66 of Apollo fame, so I will probably end up doing her as that one. A much easier conversion back to an SH-3D than forward to a Westland HU.5.

J

[Greg B]

My review is here Linky

I'm not suprised its Hasegawa's worst selling 48 scale kit, the price has always been steep for what you actually get (although it does actually build into a nice kit) and as always its been released in the uninspiring Hasegawa way of the odd different decal scheme now and again.

I've looked at making an interior for it, it would be a lot of resin to get in there and with the many variants it would have to be very specific!

[Jens]

Still, it's not a bad kit at all. Its biggest failing is the total lack of an interior aft of the cockpit and the molded-shut sliding door. I'm amazed that nobody has ever done an aftermarket interior set for it, although perhaps given its size it would be prohibitively expensive to produce (I'm thinking about the 1/32 Vulcan kit here though...). I have harbored ambitions of converting mine to an HU.5 in the loverly grey & red scheme with a Scottish flag on the nose, but the thought of all those bits and bobs needed to convert the Sikorski SH-3 into a proper Westland Sea King has daunted me. I'm in the midst of a decal/resin project at the moment to (finally, at long, long last) do complete and accurate markings for the famous #66 of Apollo fame, so I will probably end up doing her as that one. A much easier conversion back to an SH-3D than forward to a Westland HU.5.

J

I once had plans to produce a conversion/detail set for Danish S-61As, but the amount of resin involved - and not least the market for it - unfortunately shot down this project.

Regards,

Jens

[bentwaters81tfw]

If they asked a sensible price it would sell. Often thought of one, but not prepared to shell out that much, then double on the resin to make it right.