1/72 Sea King

Bossman · February 12, 2004, 11:55am

I built the Airfix 1/72 Sea King about a year ago. It was a great project and I was pleased with the results - just a little dissappointed in the clear parts and with the fact that the interior was full of a whole lot of nuthin.

I saw the Revell of Germany kit the other day and I was wondering if anyone has built this kit - would you recommend it ? Is it an improvement over the Airfix kit ?

Thanks !

RotorheadTX · February 13, 2004, 9:13am

The Revell of Germany kit is an absolutely superior model. It is in fact the best 1/72nd scale Sea King yet produced. It has two important issues though:

it is a WESTLAND Sea King - there is a bulge on the port side of the transmission cover ‘doghouse’ that is particular to the APU installed on Westland-build birds. If you want to convert it to a Sikorsky Sea King, this bulge should be shaved off for accuracy’s sake. The risk is destruction of the surrounding detail - you have to decide if it’s worth it or not.
the main undercarriage sponsons are significantly undersized. Best to replace these with sponsons from either the Airfix or Fujimi kits, or the resin parts from Whirlybits (available from Linden Hill Imports). Personally, I haven’t yet seen the Whirlybits parts, so I cannot pass comment on those.

Good luck!
Tony

Bossman · February 13, 2004, 11:13am

Thanks Tony - Appreciate the feedback !

garys · March 15, 2004, 4:10pm

Tony,
Also thought about using the Revell kit to make a USN version so you info helps a lot. My guess is that it would come out as a SH-3H, is that correct?

Anonymous · March 15, 2004, 7:52pm

Tony

What modifications would I need to do to convert it to a VH-3 (Marine One) type bird?

Anonymous · March 17, 2004, 8:09am

QUOTE: Originally posted by RotorheadTX

The Revell of Germany kit is an absolutely superior model. It is in fact the best 1/72nd scale Sea King yet produced. It has two important issues though:

it is a WESTLAND Sea King - there is a bulge on the port side of the transmission cover ‘doghouse’ that is particular to the APU installed on Westland-build birds. If you want to convert it to a Sikorsky Sea King, this bulge should be shaved off for accuracy’s sake. The risk is destruction of the surrounding detail - you have to decide if it’s worth it or not.

the main undercarriage sponsons are significantly undersized. Best to replace these with sponsons from either the Airfix or Fujimi kits, or the resin parts from Whirlybits (available from Linden Hill Imports). Personally, I haven’t yet seen the Whirlybits parts, so I cannot pass comment on those.

Good luck!
Tony

And the tail rotor is also different, besides some other details, like antennas and stuff…

By the way, i’ve got a Fujimi one, and as far i can tell from the box, and knowing what i know from the Revell and Airfix one’s, it’s the best one 1/72 US Seaking i’ve ever seen around…

Fom me, the Airfix one’s are just like toy’s, starting with the one from the Apollo missions, and ending up in the “new” one, in fact, a rebox of the early one!!!