Westland Whirlwind HAS7 - 1/72

[Pat C]

Another eggbeater from me. This is the Italeri Chickasaw kit combined with the Rotorcraft mixed media set to build a Whirlwind HAS7. First up a big thumbs up to Colin from Rotorcraft and Ali from A2Zee who are both fine gents and helped at various stages of this build.

The Rotorcraft set comprises resin cranked tailboom, bottom fuselage, oil cooler, flare dispenser and tail fins, white metal undercarriage, winch and tail bumper, decals for lots of HAS7s and some spawn of Satan - lots of etched brass thingies.



The bottom of the Italeri fuselage needs to be hacked away, and the fit of the kit part on to the new bottom fuselage is very nice. I used Araldite to fix the two together as I regard superglue as being second only to etched brass in terms of its mind altering properties. If you are using the resin tail (some Italeri Chickasaws have the cranked tail already) don't forget to weight the nose. I did and so the front of the cabin is stuffed with lead and hence the door is closed!!



If you are using the resin tail you will cerrtainly want to use the white metal landing gear to give extra support. The Rotorcraft gear have the cover over the main gear oleo that is a feature of many Whirlwinds. Ironically this aircraft XN384 did not have the oleo sock at the time it was pictured but never mind. A bit of fiddling is needed at the front end to get the font landing gear in the right place as the Italeri positioning is not quite right (they should be further back - ie you will need to drill new holes). There are a number of small modifications needed, particularly deleting various lumps and bumps that are not on the HAS7.



Painting was overall Light Stone for which I used the appropriate Xtracrylic. This is sold as an armour paint but I think is the same shade as used on these commando helos in the 60s. I did some very light weathering with dark brown pastels and a little watered down black paint.



The pic of XN384 given to me by Colin showed it had the simplified winch so I used the one provided in the kit and will save the Rotorcraft one for another Whirlwind. Decals were nicely printed although I thought the size of the "Royal Navy" lettering on the tail was a little big and used some alternative decals for this (with plenty of Mr Mark Softer to settle it over the ribs). The kit could further be improved through use of the etched brass fret although I chose not to have twisted bits of metal superglued to my fingers and did not use it. OK I did use the step, but thats all. Hope You like!!

EDIT - I forgot to say that I understand A2Zee sell the component sets separately (ie just the resin, or just the white metal) which I think is an excellent idea.





Pat

Edited December 22, 2013 by Pat C

[Duncan B]

Helicopters are not usually my thing but this is nicely done. A fine looking Whirlybird.

[Martian]

Nice one!

Martin

[ExRAF]

Nice helicopter, and a very useful description of the journey!

[Mike H]

Superb build.

Really like this one.

Mike

[richellis]

mmmmmmmm

I like this.

mental note.... beat family into visiting Helicopter museum while on holiday!

[Paul A H]

Very nice work!

[smuts]

very nice work.

Andy

[Alan Hooker]

Bloody marvelous!!

[cngaero]

A cracking build and really smart finish. Just the spur I need to finish mine. Thank you Pat.

[tinleeds]

Very nice hely!!

[jimbuna]

Nice one.

[ChancerUK]

Lovely looking Whirlwind, was that scheme and cofig used during one of the small conflicts?

[Pat C]

was that scheme and cofig used during one of the small conflicts?

Thanks for the comments folks. Although this aircraft was Culdrose based I have seen pics of Whirlwinds used in the commando role in this scheme in Malaya. I think they were somewhat underpowered in that theatre and the Wessex was probably greatly welcomed when it arrived.

Pat

[daz greenwood]

Very nice I like the colour scheme.