1/72 Westland Sea King HU.5 - FINISHED 6/2/16

[doogsatx]

So I'm building Revell's 1/72 Sea King with a Whirlybird conversion set to turn it into a Royal Navy HU.5 SAR ship, and figured I'd share a bit of the progress here.

What's the HU.5 look like? Cool gray and red scheme...should be a fun one to paint and to weather up a little bit. Mr. Paint helpfully just came out with the Signal Red that this thing wears.



The Revell kit is actually pretty solid. The fit is good, surface detail is downright excellent for 1/72 scale.



One annoyance - the HU.5's window layout has a single bubble window on the port side. But the bubble windows included with the kit are too short for that opening.



Solution - trim away a bubble window to just the bubble, then make a frame out of sheet styrene. Drilling a hole this big is interesting...I had to put masking tape on either side and drill through into some scrap wood, and even then it wasn't as clean as I'd hoped.





Next, install the frame, as well as some backing pieces for the bubble window to rest against.





Then...just drop the bubble window into place. This is excellent because I can just wait until the end of the build, and won't have to fuss with the pain of masking the bubble.

[doogsatx]

I'm typically not a fan of console overlay decals...but I figured in 1/72 scale...and through the Sea King's greenhouse...why not.



My experience with Revell decals has been mixed in the past, but these responded very well to Mr. Mark Softer.

[wbill76]

Should be a fun project and you're off to a good start Doogs. Nice fix to the bubble, you always have to wonder how something like that can happen with a part like that...maybe someone was off just a hair in their CAD calculations.

[doogsatx]

Jan 7, 2016 14:47:45 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Should be a fun project and you're off to a good start Doogs. Nice fix to the bubble, you always have to wonder how something like that can happen with a part like that...maybe someone was off just a hair in their CAD calculations.

My explanation is "it's Revell"

They also have a keyed rotor shaft. Which slots into the rotor hub. Fine so far. But there's also an "underhub" and it's also keyed, but if you align the holes so they can fit the shaft, the two hubs don't align with each other. Sigh...

[deafpanzer]

Brilliant choice... really dig the color red!!!

[doogsatx]

So I think I showed this pic in my F-104 thread...but Mr. Paint just released the exact red I need - Signal Red. Got my bottle last night and it's a looker!

[doogsatx]

Setting time for the F-104, so I pushed ahead a bit more with the Sea King last night. Got the fuselage mostly closed up - I'm leaving the forward portion alone until I'm ready to add the glass - want to seal all that up in one go for the best fit.



Also got the prep work underway for the rotors - one of them is yellow, hence the white base. But looking closer I think I still have some edge cleanup to do. Stupid Revell.

[wbill76]

Big diameter on that rotor spread! The one yellow blade will make it stand out for sure.

[JimD]

Good luck. I hear yellow is really hard to paint.

[doogsatx]

Super-fun update time!

First up - yellow blade on the main rotor. The others will be Dark Sea Gray in time.



Next - tail rotor and seats. The tail rotor was a nightmare to mask (and even moreso to remove the masking) in 1/72. Very flimsy part. The seats were given a reddish-orange cushions. The Revell kit calls for something like blue, but pics of the HU.5s show this color.





Fuselage closed and greenhouse installed. Fit is pretty good here, but takes some finesse to get right (the upper fuselage aft of the greenhouse is a bit floppy, and the interior bulkhead provides zero help).

[doogsatx]

The upper glass on the Sea King is tinted green, so I masked things off and shot some Tamiya Clear Green. The starboard side went down wonderfully. The port side had some weird pullback issues - my guess is that some tiny bits of Novus polish were to blame.



Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner did a great job of removing the Tamiya clear from the port window, then I shot again. Much better this time around! I also got the sponsons assembled (the support arms up to the upper fuselage are going to be fun, and by fun I mean not fun), and got a small bit of Mr. Paint Medium Sea Gray sprayed. Mainly because the gear struts needed it, and so while I had some in the cup...

[adt70hk]

Looking good so far! That clear green is really effective!

[wbill76]

That tail rotor, in particular, looks sharp. Can't beat that greenhouse green either! Sorry...couldn't resist...

[deafpanzer]

Green tinted top looks superb!! Tail rotors is lovely too.

[doogsatx]

Finally coming back around to this one over the two nights...

First, laying down some white and then yellow for the Signal Red bits. The Mr. Paint yellow has such controllable coverage, I could have just sprayed it over black. Lessons for next time!



Tonight, some Mr. Paint Signal Red. Really good match, I must say.



Really not looking forward to masking for the medium sea gray, with all the raised rivets on this thing...

[Leon]

That looks really sharp Doogs!

[Deleted]

Awesome! Never realized all the colors, that go into this.

[adt70hk]

VERY nice!!

Andrew

[Wes]

Wonderful work Doogs

What glue did you use for the glass?

[WigWag Workshop]

Where did you order the paint from? Build is looking aces!

[midnightprowler]

Looking good!

[Rick]

Great subject Doogs. Really digging the color variations.

Rick

[doogsatx]

Paint was ordered directly from Mr. Paint - but Hobbyworld USA and Red Star Scale Models are both finally stocking it here in the US. Though it's selling out about as fast as they get their hands on it!

As for the glue used for the glass - Tamiya Extra Thin

[doogsatx]

Medium Sea Gray is down. The RN SAR Sea Kings seem to go through some pretty crazy tonal shifts, and this looks to line up with at least some of them, so I'm calling it close enough.



Next I have to mask the stupid Dark Sea Gray bits they put on the airframe for some equally stupid reason...

[adt70hk]

Coming along very nicely!

[doogsatx]

Getting the little detail work filled in - random gray patches aft of the exhausts and by the sponson supports, sponson float bags, and filter box...

[doogsatx]

These sponson supports are awful.

[Deleted]

They sure look good to me!

[midnightprowler]

Looking great. Did that kit come with the filter boxes? I need a set for a Skycrane kit.

[doogsatx]

Gloss coat is down. Used Gunze GX Super Clear this time and am pretty happy with the results.