1/48 Hasegawa Westland

Sea King HAS 5

by Andrew Ayling

Second in my series of Royal Navy helicopters following on from the Westland Lynx also on the ARC. 

This is the Hasegawa Sikorsky Sea King SH-3H with the Flightpath Royal Navy Westland Sea King HAS 5/6  Conversion and Cutting Edge Decals, along with some scratch building, lots of research and and some guessing.

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The Hasegawa kit is their typical standard, and surprisingly large in this scale, however it only includes parts for USN versions, the Flightpath conversion is hugely detailed, complex and accurate and is the only way to get an accurate RN Machine.  The Flightpath set includes: 

Short u/c sponsons

• Larger radome

•  Six Bladed Tail Rotor

• Etched Brass interior

• White Metal Lumps and Bumps

• Etched Brass details, Aerials and ESM boxes.

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In addition, the scratch building included:

• Cockpit Detail,

• Additional Cabin details (thet flightpath set focuses on the crew door)

• Super detailed rotorhead

• Bump for APU? on the side of the gearbox housing

• Additional Aerials etc.

• rotor tiedowns

• Static discharge aerials

• Short style  stabiliser

• Removing a Cabin Window

• Additional lumps and bumps on the underside.

• Various wires and cables and the Cargo Hook

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As far as I know these markings are still the only ones available in 1/48th Scale and are for a Royal Navy Air Sea Rescue machine based at RNAS Culdrose. Paints used were Aeromaster MSG and Tamiya Red with a touch of Orange. Weathering was mostly with oils. 

Andrew