Geoffers - Italeri 1/72 Wessex UH.5 - Royal Navy Rescue helicopter

[The Smythe Meister]

And we’re done :smiling4:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1197449[/ATTACH]

So as you can see it’s finally completed.

The rotors turned out to be a bit tricky, being very fragile. Three of them snapped at the join to the rotor head while I was assembling it. I had to pin them with a bit of brass rod after some careful drilling :fearful: otherwise it all went together well.

I think it was kept pretty clean looking at pictures of the real 524. I’ve kept the weathering light with this in mind just giving it a wash/filter of highly diluted Abteilung 502 oil Abt510 Starship Filth followed by a coat of Vallejo satin varnish to seal it all in.

The windows were all unmasked, always a worry cause you never know what you will find underneath :cold-sweat:

Fortunately the masking had done it’s job for the most part with just a tiny bit of bleed through which was carefully removed with a cocktail stick.

Then it was just a case of adding all the ancillary parts. The only hitch was the instructions showed the ? Ariel masts in the wrong location compared to the reference photos of the real machine so I put these in the correct place (hopefully).

I’ll take a full set of photos and post up a final reveal thread next week as I haven’t got a lot of spare time this weekend and don’t want to rush and spoil them.

I might add some Ariel wires depending if I have the correct gauge rigging thread.

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Hope you like the final result, thanks for looking :thumb2:

Geoff.

Wow! Excellent stuff Geoff.
.... Especially in that scale

[Jim R]

That is a great result Geoff. You've done an excellent job. You are right to keep the weathering light as I'm sure these were very well maintained.

[Waspie]

That is a great result Geoff. You've done an excellent job. You are right to keep the weathering light as I'm sure these were very well maintained.

And also heavily used!! Wessex were renowned for throwing grease off the rotor head onto the upper cockpit perspex and down the tail cone!!! Not so much exhaust marking but definitely off the head!!! (It was a pig of a job greasing it - 56 grease nipples all requiring masses of XG284 which had to be purged i.e. totally replace the old grease). There lies the tale of someone wo has done plenty of rotor head greases over the years!!!

[tr1ckey66]

Superb Geoff, that is a spectacular result. A stunning looking Wessex and one to be proud of.
Cheers
Paul

[Geoffers]

Geoff,

That's brilliant! An exceptional finish. Very well done indeed!

ATB.

Andrew

Thank you Andrew :thumb2:

That looks very good :smiling3: I wouldn’t have guessed the rotor blades had broken, so the fix clearly went well.

Cheers Jakko, it turned out ok but it was a bit worrying at the time :cold-sweat:

That looks superb Geoff, excellent work :thumb2:

Thanks Mark :thumb2:

Wow! Excellent stuff Geoff. :smiling3:
.... Especially in that scale

Cheers Andy :smiling4:

That is a great result Geoff. You've done an excellent job. You are right to keep the weathering light as I'm sure these were very well maintained.

Thanks Jim they it certainly looks so from the photos I’ve seen :thumb2:

And also heavily used!! Wessex were renowned for throwing grease off the rotor head onto the upper cockpit perspex and down the tail cone!!! Not so much exhaust marking but definitely off the head!!! (It was a pig of a job greasing it - 56 grease nipples all requiring masses of XG284 which had to be purged i.e. totally replace the old grease). There lies the tale of someone wo has done plenty of rotor head greases over the years!!!

Cheers Doug, that’s interesting to know, I might add a little bit more weathering to that area before the final photos :thumb2:

Superb Geoff, that is a spectacular result. A stunning looking Wessex and one to be proud of.
Cheers
Paul

Thanks Paul, yes I’m pleased with how it’s turned out :smiling4:

Geoff.

[Waspie]

Cheers Doug, that’s interesting to know, I might add a little bit more weathering to that area before the final photos :thumb2:

If it was my Wessex, (as in full size Wx), it wouldn't need too much weathering. I used to 'cheat' in an attempt to keep clean. A rag soaked in hydraulic oil would remove the grease very efficiently, then a quick buff with a clean rag and the perspex shone. (Downside - the Hyd Fluid crazed the perspex).
Because of naval aircrafts proximity to the sea, 771 Wessex were often 10 to 20 feet off the sea and its corrosive effects on the alloys used in the frames and skin. They were frequently washed with fresh water then coated with poor mans WD40 after. This occurred daily.
In the early days, 60's and 70's WD40 was used to protect the skin, it also gave the skin a nice shiny coat. The cheaper substitute MoD named PX24 didn't leave such a high shine! in fact it smeared terribly.
Another 'fact'. Not all SAR helicopters in the RN were of the Blue and DayGlo orange variety. 706 Squadron at Culdrose who did the night and long range SAR in their Sea Kings were all dark sea blue. As were 819 Squadron at Prestwick Ayrshire. (Thats the unit I did SAR duties on). In the early 90's 819 SAR Sea kings were replaced by a detachment of 771's Sea King 6's in the standard RN SAR livery of blue and dayglo!

[scottie3158]

Geoff,
Just had a good catch up, that is a great result mate very nicely done.

[Geoffers]

Thanks Scottie :thumb2:

Geoff.