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

[stillp]

I'm sure the original Mekon had a smooth shiny head. I know my school maths teacher did, which was why we called him the Mekon.
Pete

 

[Allen Dewire]

Sorry Geoff, but I'm even later than Andrew! Did a good ketchup and can only marvel at your work in this tiny scale. The extras, including the yellow suit are most excellent Sir. paint looks tops too!!! I'll try to keep up now, to the finish line. Between naps of course.............

Prost
Allen

 

[adt70hk]

Coming on nicely Geoff!

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Ooh nice!

 

[tr1ckey66]

Looking really good Geoff. Excellent progress - a really smart looking Wessex.
Cheers
Paul

 

[Geoffers]

Looking the part now.

Andy.

Thanks Andy

Sorry Geoff, but I'm even later than Andrew! Did a good ketchup and can only marvel at your work in this tiny scale. The extras, including the yellow suit are most excellent Sir. paint looks tops too!!! I'll try to keep up now, to the finish line. Between naps of course.............

Prost
Allen

Cheers Allen, no problem better late than never

Coming on nicely Geoff!

Thank you Andrew

Ooh nice!

Cheers Neil

Looking really good Geoff. Excellent progress - a really smart looking Wessex.
Cheers
Paul

Thank you Paul

Geoff.

 

[Geoffers]

Hello chaps,

The finish line is definitely in sight now

Thought you may like to see it now all the transfers are on.

As previously mentioned some of these have been tricky and have not gone on as well as I would have liked.

It’s also had a satin clear coat to seal them ready for weathering.






Looking at reference photos the real XT471 was kept pretty clean so I’m going to keep the weathering quite light.
Once that’s completed it will be final assembly of all the smaller parts and the rotors.

Should be finished by the end of next week, fingers crossed.

Thanks for looking

Geoff.

 

[Lee Drennen]

Geoff I like that inside equipment pics and how you made them very impressive. I’m glad I dropped by before this goes across the finish line.

 

[Waspie]

I have had the privilege to have flown in 524 at Culdrose. (771 NAS). Even jumped out of it into the sea, (Falmouth Harbour actually).
Nice to see someone do a replica of the, what was then, work horse of the Royal Navy). (Not only was 771 a SAR unit it was also responsible for the training of the RN's aircrewmen).
Superb job, @Geoffers you have done the aircraft and 771 proud.

 

[Richard48]

Fantastic build.Ive got 2 to build myself.Ones half constructed and ive had the Modeldecals sets for years so im not hopeful.We had an RAF visit our school in 1983 when i was 14.Seem to remember it was grey and green one from lord knows where.
Lovely model!!!!!.
Richard

 

[Geoffers]

Geoff I like that inside equipment pics and how you made them very impressive. I’m glad I dropped by before this goes across the finish line.

Thanks Lee

I have had the privilege to have flown in 524 at Culdrose. (771 NAS). Even jumped out of it into the sea, (Falmouth Harbour actually).
Nice to see someone do a replica of the, what was then, work horse of the Royal Navy). (Not only was 771 a SAR unit it was also responsible for the training of the RN's aircrewmen).
Superb job, @Geoffers you have done the aircraft and 771 proud.

Thank you Doug. Wow I feel humbled, I’m very glad it passes muster

Fantastic build.Ive got 2 to build myself.Ones half constructed and ive had the Modeldecals sets for years so im not hopeful.We had an RAF visit our school in 1983 when i was 14.Seem to remember it was grey and green one from lord knows where.
Lovely model!!!!!.
Richard

Thank you Richard, fingers crossed your Modeldecal sheet is a better example than mine was

Geoff.

 

[Geoffers]

And we’re done



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 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

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.



Hope you like the final result, thanks for looking

Geoff.

 

[adt70hk]

Geoff,

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

ATB.

Andrew

 

[Jakko]

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

 

[Mark1]

That looks superb Geoff, excellent work

 

[The Smythe Meister]

And we’re done

View attachment 477773

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 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

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.

View attachment 477774

Hope you like the final result, thanks for looking

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

That looks very good 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

That looks superb Geoff, excellent work

Thanks Mark

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

Cheers Andy

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

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

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

Geoff.