September 2008

Hawker/Armstrong Whitworth Sea Hawk FGA.6, 804 Sqn HMS ALBION/RNAS Ford, 1958 - Airfix, Out the box.

One of the tricks I have picked up over the last 2 years is to mark out raised or non-existent panel lines with a 2B pencil, then give them a light oily wash, leave it to dry, then overcoat with Klear or Satin/Matt varnish. The effect, especially on Extra Dark Sea Grey is very pleasing, and really adds to the model (provided you don't overdo it).

So, flush with the success of last months Sea Hawk F.1 refurbishment, I have had another go at my Out The Box Airfix FGA.6. I built this in 2006, but always felt that it looked rather flat, especially alongside the glossy Suez-stripped I built a month or so later.

So here she is, with minimal changes; only new panel lines and a fresh layer of Humbrol Satin Cote. Looks much better to me:

FGA.6 revisited

Which brings the Sea Hawk tally to 5:

Flock of Sea Hawk

More Sea Hawk pictures on the Sea Hawk Pages

Westland Sikorsky WS-70 Black Hawk - Hasegawa, with own speculative decals.

And another quick rebuild. This one (originally built about 1988) hasn't featured on the site before, as I felt it really had a "so-what" factor. Its a typical Hasegawa kit - nicely engineered, but toy like in many respects - for example the engine exhausts are lacking any "hole" and it is intended to be an HH-60D, but where is the radar/FLIR?

However, with a slightly brighter and more contemporary colour scheme, here is a look at what might have been, had Westland been able to sell their licence built Black Hawk as a Wessex replacement for the RN.

Black Hawk

Boeing Vertol Chinook HC2, RAF, HMS OCEAN, Northern Gulf, 2003

I seem to have suffered from a peculiar form of "modeller's block" this last few months, one which only allows me to build Airfix Sea Hawks from new. But even they grow dull after a while, so I have revisited another older build, this time an Italeri Chinook HC1, scratch converted 4 years ago to an HC2. It was an E-bay opportunity buy that I knew needed to be started immediately, or it would languish in the stash for years to come. I knew that the blades were wrong, but not what was wrong with them, and there were several add-on countermeasures fits that I missed out, largely due to impatience and laziness. I also had endless problems with the Revell Enamel and Humbrol Matt Cote that I used to paint it; in the end I slapped on a layer of Humbrol Satin Cote in disgust, which never really looked right for an in-service machine. So anyway, now is the time - I have re-coated it in acrylic Matt, reprofiled the kit-supplied metal blades to look like the more common composite ones, and added simple representations of the IR flares and countermeasures fits, all scratch built from sprue:

New top coat & blades, new protruberances awaiting painting:

Chinook Update

Nearly there - List of modifications and additions:

Chinook Update

Good enough (for now):

Chinook HC2

More Black Hawk & Chinook pictures on the Helicopter Pages

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