Splash's Whirlwind HAS9

[MarkyM607]

Looking good so far. There was a yellow Whirlwind HAR 10 at Waddy yesterday.

[splash]

How did you make such a good job of removing the window frames? cut and sand or just sand? I would be afraid of making a massive mess!

A bit of both, I picked up a set of chisels made by Dragon and used these to gently cut out the bulk of the raised detail then used the chisel as a scraper, removed the remainder and used a sanding stick to finish it off.

Here is a link to the type of chisel I use, they are like steel rods with the square chisel machined on one end, they come in several different sizes and shapes and are excellent at removing detail you don't need.

[splash]

Looking good so far. There was a yellow Whirlwind HAR 10 at Waddy yesterday.

They do look good in yellow but I'm Navy through and through so this one will be orange and dark blue

Regards Splash

[MarkyM607]

Looking good so far. There was a yellow Whirlwind HAR 10 at Waddy yesterday.

They do look good in yellow but I'm Navy through and through so this one will be orange and dark blue

Regards Splash

I was trying to convert you to the dark side of the Air Force!!

[gengriz]

I have just order a copy of Scale Aircraft Modelling oct 1987 edition that has plans for the Whirlwind, with luck it will show me details of the underside.

Looking good!

If it helps this is the Weston HAS.7's underside:




And a suitable set of torpedoes to stick in it (Mk.30 and Mk.44 I believe):





Plus the rather tired looking example at Doncaster Aeroventure:


FredT

[splash]

Thanks Fred that's perfect just what I was after, tomorrow I have to visit the museum at Yeovilton where as you know they have lots of a/c on display but no Whirlwind

If I get time I will try and get a set of walk around photos of the Seaking, Lynx and Wessex.

Seeing your Bomb bay images takes me back to 1969 when as a young Junior Naval Air Mechanic under training, I remember walking into the training hanger at HMS Condor at Arbroath Scotland and seeing a line up of Whirlwinds in different colours and black Seahawks. I remember being told the Whirlwind had a bomb bay and as an impressionable 16 year old crawling under the a/c to see what a bomb bay looked like and feeling totally deflated when all I saw was a box shaped hole.

Cheers again for the images.

Regards Splash

[splash]

I have just come back from the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton and was surprised to see they have had a move around and changed the helicopters on display, now all you can see is two Dragonfly's (one up high and one you can get up and close with) a Whirlwind HAS3 and a Seaking Mk5 but no sign of the Wessex 3 or 5 or the Lynx, wasp or Augusta 109

Regards Splash

[jssel]

Wow.... nice shots Fred. Right click save.

Back in the day I rode in a Michigan National Guard UH19 on a hot day with field elevation at about 1100 feet. Not impressed with the performance and wondered how a troop insertion would be possible as compared to the Huey. The ol' gal really strained.

Sorry to hijack the thread Splash but it just came to mind.

[splash]

The UH19 at hight must have been working right at the top of its flight envelope, I recall when we winched people out of the sea in a Wessex or wasp we had to give the command "up ten feet" this was to allow the survivor to clear any obstructions quickly, but the procedure goes back to the Dragonfly and Whirlwind days when it was done to see if the a/c had enough power to lift the extra weight as there was a risk that the aircrewman could winch the a/c into the sea, if the wet survivor was to heavy.

Regards Splash

[splash]

Thanks to Fred's brilliant photos I can now hack off the underside.



As you can see I have started by sawing off the bulge this will be followed by cutting out the bomb bay.

Regards Splash

[splash]

Work on the bomb bay is progressing, it will not be accurate as Westland's had to raise the cabin floor to allow room to move the fuel tanks and give enough space for a mk30 torpedo.

[Stuart]

That's coming along really nicely Splash. What are you going to do for the Torpedo?

I must admit, I do like the Whirlwind, it's a really smart looking helicopter.

[splash]

That's coming along really nicely Splash. What are you going to do for the Torpedo?

I must admit, I do like the Whirlwind, it's a really smart looking helicopter.

By the time they had modified the HAS9's the Seaking was in service and had the capability to be a hunter killer on its own, so the HAS9's were used on the Endurance Arctic Survey ship and SAR flights.

When I started flying most of the SAR flights had Wessex Mk1's apart from Lee-on-Solent that carried on with the Whirlwind into the 80's I think, the crews liked it as it had a very fast scramble reaction time but only day capable and short range where as the Wessex Mk1 had night hover capability over water and better range (both still only had single engines) eventually the Wessex 5's with their twin engines took over and they were replaced by the Seakings.

So as its SAR no need for a Torpedo on this one

Regards Splash

[AndrewR]

Unless it's "Sink And Rescue"

[splash]

I'm normally a Tamiya paint man, but as we had a New Hobby store shop open this week I thought I would give Humbrol acrylics a go, as Day-Glo Orange is a dog of a colour to paint I thought I would try a base coat of Humbrol 18 followed by a top coat of Humbrol 209

What do you think?