Splash's Wessex HAS 3 ***Finished***

[splash]

My wife has gone out for the day so I should be able to get on with some work.

I have thought long and hard, as to what colours this Mk 3 should be and as I have fond memories of operating out of HMS Osprey (RNAS Portland), where all the Mk 3’s were based, I have decided to paint it in the old pre-Falklands War Yellow and blue.

I white primed the wessex two nights ago and have just given it a coat of Yellow, I have deliberately sprayed a larger area than I need, as I’m working on the principle that it is easier to spray Dark Blue over yellow than yellow over dark blue. To my surprise the yellow has gone on OK, I did think about pre-shading, but from past experience it always looks overdone on yellow, so I will probably use oils for the weathering.

Although the Mk 3’s had a hard life at sea they were maintained by a dedicated ships flight who always took pride in their a/c, so they tended to keep them as clean as they could, having said that they did spend most of their time in a 50ft hover over the sea.

[JamesPerrin]

I would have thought that pre-shading would be appropriate as it has a gloss finish IIRC. Somehow the two don't really go together. Just add some oil stains or the like. These are all shaping up lovely.

[splash]

I would have thought that pre-shading would be appropriate as it has a gloss finish IIRC. Somehow the two don't really go together. Just add some oil stains or the like. These are all shaping up lovely.

I fully agree, I just think yellow is a sod of a colour and tends to over enphasise the pre-shading so I will try post shading with oil paints.

There was only one reason a Wessex would stop dripping oil and that was if it ran dry.

I have just had a couple of good hours with the airbrush and completed most of the blue with only a small amount of bleed through.

[splash]

I think Italeti have got the colour plan for the Wessex 3 in blue/yellow slightly wrong, I initially masked and sprayed it as per the instructions but after looking at several reference photos came to the conclusion that the yellow does not extend down the side of the spine as much as Italeri have indicated.

I have re masked and sprayed the blue further up towards the top of the spine, but I’m still not sure what colour the top of the tail is, should it be blue and yellow or just yellow?

[TimJ]

I've had a look on the Air-Britain site and it looks like the top of the tail is yellow and blue.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1097641/;

Hope this helps.

[splash]

I've had a look on the Air-Britain site and it looks like the top of the tail is yellow and blue.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1097641/;

Hope this helps.

Thank TimJ that's a good link, blue and yellow it is then.

Regards Splash

[splash]

I have made a major blast up, whilst adding the decals I thought something did not quite look right, so on checking some reference photos I realised I have put the hump on the back to far back it needs to be moved forward almost up to the rotor head.

The question is, can I live with it or how much damage will it take to correct?

I personally don’t think I can live with it and will have to attempt corrective surgery, so I will leave it a night or two so the decals set hard and then look ways to hack it off.

[jssel]

Can the camelback be removed without to much damage to the louvers? I think you could do it but it would be over my head. Just looked at my HAS.5 and that does not have the camelback.

[JamesPerrin]

I don't think it quite needs to move so far, the rear aligns to the second lourve. The part doesn't look live it will fit the contours of moved all the way up. I'll PM pictures of the 4+ drawings. Which shows that the hump just covers the rear 2 feet of the rotor hub grill.

This is the clearest shot I've found online:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/UK---Air ... 0779593/L/;

Not found any with a clear birds eye view of where the hump finishes.

[MerlinJones]

Here be clues;

http://uamf.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=181&t=1297;

Regards,
Bruce

[splash]

Hi James & Bruce

Thanks that was most helpful.

Regards
Splash

[splash]

I think I have come up with a cunning plan, if I can’t move the hump I will scratch build a blade fold rig for the tail and just fold the blades this should cover up my error and take up less space.

The blade fold rig only consists of a cradle that fits like a horse saddle over the tail, each blade is attached to the cradle by two rods and a blade cradle, with the blades running down the side of the airframe it should hide the error.

The Navel a/c maintainers and Aircrew all used to call the blade rig “The Forth Bridge” as it looked like part of the famous Forth Rail Bridge in Scotland.

The only down side is, I will have to straighten all the blades, that Italeri have so kindly made with a droop built in.

[splash]

Missing part of the flotation gear.

I notice that the wessex 5 & 3 kits are both missing the flotation air bottles from the back of the wheels, this was a large white spherical bottle about the size of an English football.

If the a/c ditched in the sea the gas in the bottle was discharged through the wheel hub into the flotation bag that was housed in a canister on the wheel hub, this inflated a large balloon that in theory would keep the a/c a float long enough for the aircrew to get out, there was also a large balloon in the tail cone that was permanently inflated.

The flotation canisters (flot cans) were normally removed when the a/c shut down and were put in the rear cabin and only put back on the a/c just before the aircrew manned the a/c.

If you are modeling a Naval Wessex 3 or 5 they would all have the flotation system fitted but only the flot cans fitted immediately prior to flight.

As I will be modeling mine with all the intake and exhaust blanks fitted, I will add the air bottle but miss off the flot cans.

My mistake I should have read the instructions, I have now found the flotation bottles in both the Wessex 3 & 5 kits.

[splash]

I have successfully removed the hump and repositioned it slightly further forward.



All three a/c are coming along at about the same rate, now I have fixed the hump I will not have to fold the blades to cover my error, but I might at a later date once the GB has finished.

[TimJ]

Good to hear that you've sorted the hump out, they're all looking great.