helicopter

Italeri 1/48 Wessex HAS1

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  • Purchased: 2025
  • Built 2025
  • Enhancements
  • Interior – Eduard Wessex Cockpit set for Wessex UH5
  • Exterior – Eduard Wessex exterior set for UH5
  • Exhausts – Hendie Scale Models
  • Lobsterdeck – Hendie Scale models
  • Wheels. Armory
  • Decals Kit

Introduction

Despite my previous Wessex build feeling at times like a bit of a slog, I still felt like there was one more left in me. The green and sand scheme on the box. quite appealed to me.

But, where to find one though? Turns out these things are like rocking horse poo, Italeri no longer producing the HAS1 boxing.

However, by a great stroke of luck and planets aligning, a local club member was selling one, so it was promptly snatched up. My second Wessex build was on! Would I regret it?

Construction Notes

Construction of the Italeri Wessex has been outlined in my 31B article, although with this kit , I employed an Eduard cockpit PE set, Instead of building up complete PE seats, which would have been very fragile and would not have had seat cushions anyway, I chose instead to just add the seat PE side pieces as veneers to the kit parts 4c and 5d. This also had the added benefit of retaining the plastic seat locating pins so that a much more solid fit was achieved between the seats and the rear bulkhead. This would have been an extremely fragile fit just using the PE seats.

For the cabin, the same Seaking that had its seats raided for the 31B gave up its last remaining seats for this build. PE from the Eduard Wessex UH5 set was added to the kit interior framework, which surprisingly added some much needed depth to it.

The rest of the build proceeded fairly easily with the same fit issue around the hellhole mesh framework part 18A as the previous kit., although this time more care was taken with reinstating the detail around to make it look like a separate panel. Again, the windscreen was not the best fit, requiring filling around its base. Also in common with the other kit was the terrible pebbled plastic that required a lot of sanding and polishing to get a smooth surface, although in hindsight, I could have still put a bit more effect into this. Hendie’s 3DP parts again provided the lobster deck and exhaust pipes.

Painting and Decalling

I usually decide on the scheme before starting the build. This case was no different with the camouflaged version  being chosen..

However once the light sand had been applied, using Tamiya LP27 Light Sand, I decided an overall light sand machine would look quite different from other Wessex models that had been looked at on the various modelling fora. ( Yes, sites such as BritModeller are still visited on a weekly basis)

Over the existing sand coat another coat lightened with Tamiya buff was mottled and streaked in random patterns. To this mix, white was added and some random streaking applied, which imparted a bit of a bleached look to the colour. Things were progressing nicely. A thin wash made of Sepia oil paint was then applied to all the panel lines and rivets. Opening panels had a black wash applied. The next day a gloss coat using SMS Gloss clear was applied and this too was allowed to set overnight

The kit decals were used and these performed magnificently, sucking down into the detail using a couple of applications of Gunze Mr Setter. Again, the decals were left overnight to completely set and allow the decal solutions to work their magic. Allowing these things to set overnight is a recent new technique for me. Yes I know lacquer is dry within an hour, but this allowing these coats to set properly has rewarded me with hardier paint coats that less easily chip and scratch. These days, I also wet sand with micro mesh between coats.

The next clear to go on was a VMS satin coat to allow some key for the oils which were going to be used for further leaks and stains. Various photos of the real machines found on The Imperial War Museum website showed them surprisingly clean and free of leaks , although there was quite a lot of staining from grubby fingerprints around the nose access doors. Ammo Starship Filth was my weapon of choice in achieving these, whilst Sepia was used to add various rain streaks from window frames and the conduits on the fuselage. The exhausts were painted with steel and then very thin coats of Alclad Sepia and Violet glazed over the top with the airbrush.

Final Assembly

The wheels were painted AK Rubber Black with sand hubs, then Mr Weathering Color Sandy Grey liberally applied over everything., taking care to ensure no pooling. This imparts the tyres with a lovely dirty warm colour. The treads had a black wash run into them.

The winch was added with the plumbing from 0.2mm lead wire, then the previously painted rotors were added. Lastly, the clear parts were unmasked. Everyone’s favourite part of a build although, always done with trepidation. On this build, there is a slight glue blemish on the windscreen. So close!

One day, I will be rewarded with truly clear flawless clear parts.

Conclusion

Im still surprised that after finishing one Wessex, I immediately wanted to do another, given the Italeri kit is not the best- albeit only- starting point in 48 scale. What can I say. I just love the subject. Its such a purposeful, brutish looking machine, very Cold War British

The overall light sand colour serves to emphasise those big code letters, D type roundels and Royal Navy titles. I love it, its now one of my favourite builds, but that’s it for me and the Italeri 1/48 Wessex.

Westland Wessex HAS1. 945 N.A.S Royal Navy. Borneo. 1962

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Italeri 1/48 Wessex Mk31B

/ Bruces Scale Models / 4 Comments
  • Purchased; 2015
  • Completed; 2025
  • Enhancements:
  • Dogbox – Hendies scale models Wessex Set E
  • Pilots seats. Hendies Scale Models Wessex Set D
  • Exhausts: Hendies Scale Models. Set B
  • Wheels; Armory
  • PE details. Eduard
  • Stores carrier and fuel tank. Hamilton Hobbies
  • Decals; L Decals

This build illustrates the progressive march of better aftermarket accessories that have hit the market over time for particular kits.

To make a Mk31B used by the Royal Australian Navy, you needed to combine this kit with the Italeri HAS3. That kit included the Dogbox, that sat on the rear engine deck. The HAS3 kit was also needed for some scoops and fairings present on a Mk31. These days though, there are people like Hendie from Britmodeller making available the parts needed here. One doesn’t need to have both kits for this conversion. If only using the HAS1, though, some scratch building of scoops and fairings will still be required.

Similarly, the decals, once upon a time, offered only the less than comprehensive Aussie Decals sheet. Now there is the far superior L Decals sheet. If you can still find it, the Southern Sky Models decal sheet includes all the stencilling as well.

Sadly, Italeri’s kit hasn’t improved with time. However, even using this as a base kit is progress. Prior to this, the modeller would have had to use the old and poorly detailed Revell kit. The plastic in this boxing is particularly pebbly and textured. It requires much sanding down and describing. Plus, all the shallow and inconsistent rivet detail needs redrilling. In the end, it needed more rubbing down. Some areas were still textured after the application of paint. Id love Airfix to release a new tool Wessex, but fear they would only do the HC2 version

Construction Notes

Of course, us Australians had to fiddle around and change stuff! So a Mk31 cannot accurately be made straight out of the Italeri box. There are a few additions and modifications required. The best online reference for these is Graeme Moulenoux’s Grubby Fingers site.

We start off with the interior. Scrap plastic strip and mesh were used to build up a bench seat. It sits over the auto hover gubbins, so no need to scratch build all this stuff. The Navy also had the good grace to hide all the interior wire jumble behind a drape. This was made from rolled Tamiya epoxy putty.

The bench seats came from an Airfix Seaking and the cabinet was built from plastic card. Plastic card also filled in for the plywood floor the RAN fitted over the actual floor. The electrical component box was constructed from the ever useful plastic card. The wire loom was crafted using speaker wire.

The bottom panel needs the sonar detail removed from within the hatch. Then, the opening should be faired over with a panel from plastic card.

The below image taken by myself of the Wessex in the South Australia Air Museum shows what is required of the kit nose filter to properly represent a RAN Mk31B

Basically, two spherical compressed air bottles and extra framing around the grill.

Hendie Models supplied a new nose bulkhead complete with the bottles and piping, and plastic strip formed the framework. The scoop you can see on the right side of the photo will also need to be added. I used the item from a HAS3 kit I had in the stash. The HAS3 also gave up the rectangular slanted fairing that sits on the nose. From this point, I methodically worked around the airframe. I added bits and pieces that I noticed when comparing the photos to the kit parts. These included a scratchbuilt IFF antenna to the rear of the fin. I moved and added fuel caps. Additionally, extra antennae needed to be added.

The pylon, stores carrier and fuel tank were resin items from a local Australian cottage producer, Hamilton Hobbies. The tank required several rounds of filling and sanding to reduce all the pinholes. A Hawker Hunter drop tank could also be used if you have a spare one floating around. Cabling was added from the flotation bag compressed air canisters to the fuselage. Brake lines from the wheels also need to be added , although I didn’t . An eagle eyed mate spotted I had glued a length of the kit ducting on at an angle. It broke into three bits when I tried to remove it. I had to use plastic rod to make up new ducting. An Eduard PE set provided various enhancements around the airframe as well.

Sun blinds were made from paper and added to the upper panes of the windscreen. The windscreen was not the best fit, requiring a lot of fairing in around its base.

The side kit aerial masts were modified with sections of brass tubing. This allowed EZ line to be run through them to represent the aerial wires. Rather than rely on glue, these masts were all drilled and pinned with brass wire for some additional strength.

A final look was made to check for seams. The airframe then received a coat of Mr Surfacer primer. This revealed a few seams that still needed addressing. Always the case with my models. No matter how smooth and blemish free I think I have the model, the first primer coat still always reveals flaws.

Painting and Decalling

Common sense would dictate starting with the white, but on this occasion I thought masking the model would be easier starting with the blue. Initially the model was painted with Gunze Mr Color C328. I returned to the model the next day and realised it looked too “blue.” As a result, the blue was darkened with a few drops of black and resprayed. Now it looked a much better match to photos of the actual aircraft. The white was GSI Mr Color Character White. Some touchups were needed where I had not applied the tape tightly enough around protrusions. The front curved demarcation was achieved with Tamiya flexible tape. The rear one over the tail boom was created using a circle cutter to cut a tape mask.

To say I was stoked when L Decals released their sheet containing 36 is putting it mildly! This particular helicopter is now preserved in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Nowra NSW. I first came upon it whilst it was operating as an Air Ambulance at The Australian Grand Prix Adelaide 1987. The crew even allowed me to clamber up and stick my head in the cockpit. The memory of how basic the cockpit looked staying with me.And of course there is the Ambulance connection reflecting my 40 years as a Paramedic.

The L decals are beautifully printed, although some of the yellow items were slightly out of register on the sheet. No matter as I used these items from the superlative Southern Sky Models Wessex decal sheet. Unlike the L decals sheet, this contained all the stencilling for the aircraft. The kit sheet stencilling is a bit oversized in my opinion.

Decalling was carried out over 2 nights. Applying all the stencilling was finicky. However, it really does add to the busyness of the airframe. All the decals were excellent to use. They required just a couple of applications of Microsol. This allowed the decals to conform to all the raised and recessed detail. A toothpick also being employed to push the decals into all the recessed rivets where required. Stencil date from an Airfix Hunter sheet was used on the fuel tank. The writing on the white panel should have red lettering, but on the decal was black unfortunately. I will keep looking for an appropriate decal.

Final Assembly

The rotors had already been assembled and painted , just needing a matt coat. It was decided to use a semi sheen to dull down the very glossy paint used on the model., although I did brush matt clear over all the walkway areas. No weathering was added. All examples I had seen in contemporary photos looked reasonably clean. However, people who worked on the machine tell me the underside was filthy with oil leaks and stains.

Probably one of the trickiest parts of the build was rigging the cargo hook underneath. This was eventually accomplished with brass wire and EZ line. The aerial wires were then added using the same material, and with that she was done. Well, done is a relative term! But where do you stop? There were plenty of details, the modeller could still add like tie down rings and other cabling. There should also be aerial wires that wrap around under the tail. By this stage though I was ready to move on. All my models are compromises in this way, but I am happy to accept that. It is what allows me to complete 5-7 models a year. These models are reasonable in detail rather than one super detailed model that is accurate to every last detail.

Conclusion

The build was not enjoyable at times, but ultimately satisfying once complete. The Italeri kit is typical of their products, inconsistent detail, poor fit of some parts and soft mouldings. However, it is leaps and bounds over the old Revell kit. The kit has shortcomings. Despite this, I am still eager to tackle another to finish as a 945 SQN RN machine from the Borneo conflict. The aftermarket items I used are not absolutely necessary to build a RAN Mk31. You only need them if you don’t have a HAS3 to use, although , there will still need to be some scratchbuilding required. . The fuel tank and carrier can be easily converted from other components. They can also be scratch built. The Hamilton Hobbies items are still available. Naturally you will need decals for a RAN aircraft, again, the L decals are still available. The rest of the Hendie stuff is just a very nice refinement over the kit parts.

Westland Wessex Mk31B. 723 SQN R.A.N Adelaide South Australia 1987

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RedRoo Models 1/48 Sikorsky S-51

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  • Purchased ; 2023
  • Completed; 2024
  • Enhancements; None, built completely OOB
  • Decals; Kit

Introduction

Another kit that was an impulse purchase, the reasons behind which are lost to the sands of time (despite being only last year!). A vague memory is it was possibly linked to a purchase of the AMP Sycamore around the same time, and the reason behind the Sycamore purchase? Another impulse after watching a YouTube show on it! Anyway, I digress.

This particular boxing is the A.M.P product, reboxed by Red Roo Models with new resin parts so the builder can build an example of a machine in Australian service from a variety of SQNS that used them.

The resin parts consist of a new 2 bladed tail rotor which the later RAAF machines used and wooden rotor blades as used by the earlier ones and the two USN examples that were embarked on the Sydney during the Korean War. The plastic, is as usual from some of these limited run Ukrainian companies, light grey with soft detail on the smaller parts. Clear parts are acceptable , although certainly not the clearest I have seen. The nose halves are moulded in clear plastic .

All parts will require extensive clean up to remove heavy mould seams. Redroo also include lengths of brass wire of varying diameter to build extra details and a printed rear seat on acetate to represent the web type rear seat. A very comprehensive set of instructions is included detailing exactly what needs to be added to the kit, even so , they have not done the best job of redrawing the AMP instructions, missing out a few things. For instance , there should a small instrument cluster mounted on the rear wall behind the pilots seat. The parts are included on the fret if some, but not called out in the instructions. Some of the suggested techniques are quite quaint and reminescent of Airfix Magazine back in the 70s . Pin heads to represent landing light lenses !!

Construction Notes

The interior builds up reasonably well, once the heavy mould seams are removed. PE seat belts are provided as are sides to the instrument console. The collective is overscale and will need replacing from small diameter wire or rod to give a better scale appearance. All locating holes will need to be enlarged to accept the opposite parts. Nothing too hard, just tedious. I used the rear seat on mine although I was worried about the glossy reflection off the acetate. You needn’t worry about this though as it really can’t be seen once the fuselage is closed up. To bend the acetate, lines were scored on the reverse side with a scalpel

Don’t forget to add some weight underneath the floor so the completed model sits on its tricycle gear. As there were no masks in my kit, tape was placed over the windows, burnished into the corners with a toothpick and then cut with a new blade. The windows all have prominent seals around their circumference, so this is quite easy to do. The inside and outside were masked and the interior halves of the nose painted Interior Green. with the lower half of the rear cabin walls and also the rear bulkhead painted a dark green rot represent the quilting. Brown vertical lines were then drawn on with a pencil to represent the stitching. Seat cushions were painted the same dark green.

The overhead window outlines are very faint so, the PE frames were added to each fuselage half and then these were used as guides to cut the masks. The interior of these windows were painted Tamiya Clear Green.

The only other complex assembly is the rotor head, again careful clean up and patience are your friends here. The PE parts adding to the delicacy of the completed assembly. I probably should have spent a bit more time cleaning up seams on my rotorhead though. I had no faith in the rotor blades remaining attached securely the way the instructions would have you build the kit, so each blade root and blade clutch was drilled and pinned with fine wire. The “knuckles” on each of these parts were also thinned with a microfile to enable the blades to fit onto the arms. Have I mentioned every part of this kit needed careful clean up or thinning or drilling out.

The join of the clear parts to the grey parts needed a bit of filling and I managed to sand a bit of a flat spot in, which I tried to smooth out with filler. The transparent nose is also not the best fit, and this gap was hidden by the simple expedient of a thin strip of tape covering it.

Finishing

The plastic , having a bit of texture took a bit of effort to get polished smooth for the primer coat . I had made the mistake of constructing all the details called out by Red Roo, such as the winch guard and steps out of thin wire and adding them prior to painting. The result of this was areas around these parts were hard to access for polishing, resulting in gritty paint around these areas. Silver was Tamiya’s superlative LP11. Simply the best paint out there for simulating silver painted finished , in my opinion anyway!

The red and yellow striped tail skid was first painted yellow then masked with strips of tape cut on my infini cutting mat. If you haven’t got one of these…..you need one!. Ensuring you leave a piece of uncut tape at one end allows you to use this as a handle to position the tape. It is just then a matter of removing every alternate strip of tape before painting the red.

Decals, although needing to be neatly cut out as the carrier film is continuous across the whole sheet performed brilliantly. The roundel was sourced from an Xtradecals sheet .

A coat of gloss to seal them in and then a wash using Tamiya Panel Line Accent. Dark grey completed the finishing process. A black marker was used to outline all the windows to represent the rubber seals.

Final assembly

The winch was assembled after cleaning it up. The whole winch should really be re built using plastic or brass rod as this would produce a much nicer item, mine has only the top rail replaced as this broke during the clean up. Now is also a good time to add the aerials, on mine, these were added earlier, thereby inflicting several puncture wounds to my thumb when handling the model.. Finally the rotors can be glued on. A.M.P have moulded a square peg on the bottom that fits into a square hole, meaning the rotorhead pretty much needs to be glued in. Id suggest replacing this with either thick plastic rod or brass wire so that the rotor can be removed at will for transport etc.

Conclusion

So that’s it. Naturally there’s things I could and should have done better, but it’s a lovely little model you don’t see built too often, . It looks great in the display case amongst all the other drab military aircraft. I wouldn’t mind having a go at a USN example one day either. An interesting postscript to my chosen subject is its last flight was aiding in flood rescue duties during The Hunter Valley floods in 1962 close to where I now live.

These are a limited run boxing from RedRoo, and Id say, once they are gone they are gone. So get one now from the Redroo website if you need a RAAF S-51 -The RAAF never referred to them as Dragonfly – in your collection

Sikorsky S-51 No. 81 Wing. RAAF Williamtown Australia 1958

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Revell 1/48 UH-1B

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  • Built: 2010
  • Aftermarket Used: Hamilton Hobbies UH-1B conversion
  • Decals: Custom made
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The short bodied Hueys have been woefully represented in 48 scale, with still no decent kit available.  The best of a bad bunch being the Monogram boxing, in its various boxings, which is the basis of this model.  As a young Air Training Corps cadet, this helicopter gave me my first ride in a military aircraft, and what a ride it was.  Based at RAAF Base Pearce as part of their SAR flight, in the mid seventies they were crewed by pilots and crewmen who had seen service in the recently ended Vietnam war, and boy, did they give us rides to remember.  I loved every minute of it and it started a love affair with helicopters, even though I don’t model a lot of them.
Out of the box, the monogram (although it is now boxed by revell) Huey C is a mix of B and C features, which need correcting.  As I was not building this as a gunship, I started off by cutting off the integrally moulded ammo box from the floor and filling the gap with plastic card.  The rear bulkhead is detailed with a curtain, that also got shaved off before the sound proof quilting was restored with embossed tin foil.  New scratchbuilt unarmoured pilot seats replaced the armoured kit seats.
Sealing the fuselage halves up –  not a great fit-  attention turned to the roof. where a bit of rectangular stock was used for the hoist arm.  The motor housing came from Hamilton Hobbies. A local producer of home made resin conversions for ADF aircraft. Although a bit rudimentary at times they were a godsend for modellers of ADF aircraft. The roof also had the airvents repositioned to their proper locations.  The kit pylons were used to hang the Kellett tanks from.  Ryan Hamilton again doing the hard work for me by providing the tanks in his detail set. Copper wire was used for the fuel lines that run from the tanks to the airframe
 The rotor head and blades came ftom an ESCI Huey 1D, the blades having been cut down to the shorter B length.  This assembly replacing the kits C type rotor head and wide chord blades, which were not used on the B model.  Finally, the model could be painted using Xtracolour olive drab and white with yellow trim on the tanks.  Speaking of yellow, I must have bought every sheet of yellow lettering available trying to source correct font and size for the RESCUE titles, without success, same with the AIR FORCE titles on the boom.  There was no other option, but to get custom decals made.  These cost me a small fortune, thanks to the manufacturer not using paypal or CC, so I had to transfer the money using Western Union.  This aside the finished items semed to match my photos of the real machine exactly, however they were translucent when applied, probably having been ALPS printed.  The Air Force titles have been built up with two layers to produce opaque lettering which still looks light grey rather than white.  White underlays were supplied for the tanks yellow titles, but for some strange reason, were differently sized from the yellow lettering.  In the end Ryan Hamilton came to my rescue (pun intended) with some decent yellow RESCUE titles.  All that was left to do was add the rear aerial from brass wire and EZ line and she was done.  Looking at the photos, you can make out it is well below my best work, but I just cannot bring myself to retire it yet.  Perhaps because of the memories it brings back to me.  It is definitely a model I will revisit once someone releases a decent B model in 35th scale.  Ronin Decals of Australia hopefully will release his long promised Huey history sheet in 35 scale as well EDIT, still has not been released as of 2021.

Bell UH-1B SAR Flight 2 Flying Training School. Royal Australian Air Force. Pearce. West Australia 1977

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Italeri 1/48 Bell 47G Sioux

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  • Built: 2009
  • Aftermarket Used: Dedicated Eduard PE set
  • Decals: Hawkeye Australia decals
 

This is from a time when I was looking to build all post war Australian Defense Force aircraft, starting with helicopters.  A theme that kind of petered out despite me owning at one time all available kits of aircraft that fit this theme. 

Anyway, I had an excellent set of walk-around photos I took of the Sioux at the now closed, greatly missed Air World Air Museum in Wangaratta. Victoria.

Using these as reference, I decided the kit boom was overscale and proceeded to cut out all the cross members rebuilding them  from brass rod.  I kept the plastic main horizontal beams for ease of working.  If I was to do it now, I would rebuild the whole boom, soldering all the joins.  PE was used from the set to enhance the engine, swash plates and cockpit. Additional radios were scratchbuilt and added to the instrument panel as per my photographs.  EZ line was used for the control cables, whilst wire was used for the fuel lines.
   Its a spindly little thing and I’m surprised its survived the house moves it has, and it still resides in my cabinet. It is starting to look a little sad as you can see by the drooping rotor.
  Paint was Xtracolour and decals by hawkeye.  I was not impressed with the decals at all, but they were the only game in town, and still are, although far better roo roundels are available from Ronin Aviation Graphics here in Australia and Xtradecal from the U.K. At the time I was quite impressed with it, although its certainly not up to my current standards.  I wouldn’t mind repeating the build at some stage with the 1/35 scale kit as I’ve always liked the little Bell.

Bell 47G Sioux 161 Recce SQN Australian Army. Oakey. Queensland 1973

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