Splash's Gazelle ****finished****

[splash]

Having cleared this build with Martin I plan to build a Heller 1/50 scale Westland Gazelle as flown by the Royal Marines as part of 3 Brigade Air Squadron (3BAS)

3BAS operated a mixed bag of Westland a/c including the Scout, Lynx and Gazelle and regularly operated off the flight decks of the RN's Commando Carries Bulwark and Albion, and the assault ships Fearless & Intrepid Plus all of the LST's and RFA's

I was given the kit by a work colleague as part of a build project I'm doing for him, unfortunately having just checked the parts I discovered he had been sold a pup as the wrong a/c canopy was included in the loose parts, so I have just ordered a new kit and will try and get replacement transparencies at a later date.

So my cunning plan is to start with the current kit and get as far as I can untill the new kit turns up then rob the transparencies to complete the build.

[OllieSmith]

I Look forward to this one splash

Ollie

[splash]

The new kit has turned up so work can commence, as you can see Heller make big boxes for small kits

[splash]

It's a simple kit, part fit is good and the plastic is that easy to work with soft type plastic.

[splash]

Past experience shows the gazelle will be a big tail sitter, so to try and avoid it I have added Liquid Gravity to all the spare space I can find.

[TobyC]

I've got this in 1/72 (Airfix)so will be following with interest. Good point about it being a tail sitter. Tbh it wouldn't have occurred to me.

[splash]

I've got this in 1/72 (Airfix)so will be following with interest. Good point about it being a tail sitter. Tbh it wouldn't have occurred to me.

Toby the Airfix Gazelle is a known tail sitter and is a hard kit to get balanced due to the lack of space to hide weights in the nose.

My weights of choice normally are squashed air gun pellets or Liquid Gravity as I have used here.

Regards Splash

[splash]

The front seats as supplied with the kit are the wrong shape (square) and to low, to correct this I have added two chair backs with a more pointy shape to correct the height and shape.

And have added some filler that will needed shaping once set over night.

Regards Splash

[PaulBradley]

Good start, Alan. I have a couple of these in the stash, so I'm looking to pick up some useful tips!

[Purplethistle]

Past experience shows the gazelle will be a big tail sitter, so to try and avoid it I have added Liquid Gravity to all the spare space I can find.

Probably best not to have caviar as a workbench snack when you're using that stuff!

[splash]

its very filling but has a metallic taste and it cost about the same as caviar

[splash]

This photo shows how short the pilots seats are out of the box.

[splash]

I think I have added enough nose weight to stop it tail sitting.

But I might just add another layer of liquid gravity before closing up the canopy.

[JamesPerrin]

For my Airfix Gazelle I also added a few weights inside the instrument console. You could even add them behind the cockpit bulks head as it is still forward of the rear of the skids.

[splash]

For my Airfix Gazelle I also added a few weights inside the instrument console. You could even add them behind the cockpit bulks head as it is still forward of the rear of the skids.

I have poured some PVA glue followed by Liquid Gravity down the hole the rotor head assembly fits into, so with luck it will be enough to keep the nose down and not enough to make the skids fail.