Italeri
Westland Wessex UH5 1:48
Kit No. 2720, Approx £25 in the UK
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When it comes to building Helicopters I’m the new guy ! I have done three in 35 years so I guess I have a way to go till I’m classed as a rotor head.
I did look a little while ago at options in 1:48 for building some British service helicopters but there were some gaping holes in the line-up, not least the Aérospatiale Gazelle , a small utility helicopter used by the British army for observation and the Westland Wessex, a British turbine-powered version of the Sikorsky S-58 Choctaw.
Initially the Wessex was introduced to the Royal Navy as a anti-submarine aircraft in 1961, it was soon adopted by the RAF and the British army as a general purpose machine primarily used for troop carrying and by this time the original configuration of a Napier Gazelle turbo shaft engine had been uprated to a twin Rolls-Royce Gnome engine set up, these later models being identified by the trade mark large exhausts either side of the nose. The Wessex went through many configurations during its service life but the basic airframe remained the same and the RAF retired its last model HC-2 in 2003.
The Wessex had seen active service through its service life from Borneo in the early 60s to to the Falklands campaign in the early 80s where 55 examples were sent, their prime role was the landing, and moving forward, of Rapier missile systems, fuel, artillery and ammunition from the beach head.
Approximately 360 Wessex of all marks were built in Yeovil UK, today the Uruguayan Naval Aviation has a single Westland Wessex HC2 still in service. It is the last of the type flying with any air arm in the world 50 years after its first introduction.
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For Many years the only option for a Wessex in 1:48 scale was the Revell HAS (helicopter anti-sub) Mk.3 and a variation of this kit , the HCC VIP produced as a Queens royal flight helicopter of which just two were produced by Westland for Royal duties.
Both these kits ( the HCC has been out of production for many years and commanded sky high ebay prices) could be converted with the distinctive inlet air filter nose and other mods with various resin upgrade kits to an Army/Marines/RAF configuration but the basic kit was lacking in accuracy and detail so any chop and change effort was always a compromise by die hard rotor heads.
Fast forward to 2012 and Italeri introduce a brand new tooling Westland Wessex UH5 !! I’m guessing they were meaning the Royal marine transport version which was actually the HU5 which could carry up to 16 fully equipped marines but let’s not nit-pick here ?. This was the version used by the Royal marines in the Falklands and fittingly it is launched here on the 30th anniversary of the campaign.
The colour scheme choice for the Navy HU5 are pretty wide ranging from the 1960s “sand and spinach” (Which is the finish i have chosen) camo through various shades of puke green to a depressing dark drab in the 70s/80s with camo variations along the way. Adventurous builders might like to look at some very nice “admirals barge” schemes in brighter colours along with the Air/Sea rescue versions.
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So what's in the box you ask ?
Well firstly, what about the box itself ? its much better than the Revell/Italeri end opening jobs of old. This new box is of the more conventional tray and lid design which i think is is a great improvement as the tray/lid configuration is useful for storing parts during painting and assembly.
Inside we find four grey spru's and one clear as well as a small photo etch sheet and some cloth mesh for the air filter by the rotor assembly. Parts count is approximately 115 plastic + 12 PE. Instructions are a good clear double A4 booklet and decals are supplied for the four models shown above.
As i said before this is an all new tooling so as you would expect the detail is sharp with recessed panel lines and rivets and i could not find any sink marks. There is some light flash/burs round some edges but its very thin and should clean up very easily. The external surface has a very fine texture while most of the interior parts are smooth. The clear parts are very clear although by design the side windows are bulged so the image through then is a little distorted.
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How does it compare with the old Revell kit ?
I'm told that this is a much better rendition in terms of accuracy and shape. I have seen the fuselage laid over scale plans and it looks pretty good to me. Personally i am not a rivet counter and have no desire to be one either, The idea of being continually disappointed by so many new kits does not appeal and i take the attitude that what i don't know will not hurt me so If it looks right its probably good enough for me.
A good example of the improvement here over the Revell kit is the tail fold area.
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You can see clearly the difference with the Italeri kit on the right with its reassessed rivets and much finer panel lines and greater detail. The Revell kit also shows its age on the underside where nearly all the detail was left off the fuselage as can be seen when compared to this HAS.3 and HU.5 .
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I should maybe point out that this is not normal landing procedure for British military Wesssex and these are in fact both on the dump !! It does however show rather well the Wessex installation of the twin Rolls Royce Gnome engines
The aircraft on the left is a HAS.3 like the Revell, on the right is a HU5 like the Italeri. the obvious difference being the aperture for the sonar on the HAS.3
Now look at the underside of the two kits
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So now i think you have a good idea why "rotor heads" are a happy bunch this year especially when we take into account the two new 1:48 Westland Lynx versions from Airfix, also new tooling and very nice kits.
Assembly
Assembly follows a conventional pattern of an interior sub assembly sandwiched between fuselage halves. While there are location tabs and marks on all necessary parts they do not exactly position these parts so great care is needed to get sub assemblies like the interior square. The rail that runs along the back of the passenger seats should act as a distance spacer between bulkheads but its too short so if you use this as intended the bulkheads will be leaning in.
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What is not obvious from this picture is the bulkhead behind the pilots seat does not extend to the roof by about 2mm, hopefully this will not show when the cockpit roof is fitted.
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The sides join together quite well with only a little sanding needed on the seams. No filler. Register of panel lines is not perfect but quite passable.
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Fitting the nose presented a problem for me. Its made up of three pieces and like the interior sub assembly the parts locate but do not position themselves so you dont really know quite what shape/width etd, the assembly should be. I didnt find the fit that good either.
Here you can see the Grey parts of the nose, left right and chin, and the problem i had.
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Eventually i gave up with this and removed the "chin section at the front and just attached the two sides
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Looking at the chin section i think the locating tabs are wrong ?
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The thickness of the nose section is twice that of the thickness outside the tab on the chin section. You can either thin the nose section thickness down or remove the tabs. I chose to remove the tabs but first i inserted a spare piece of spru to act as a stretcher to get the overall chin section width to exactly that of the nose section width so they lined up without the need for the tab.
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Finally I ended up with a fit. there is no filler here just a good amount of glue on the join ,some trimming of the parts and the work detailed above. Dry fit a few times and the answer becomes pretty clear for getting your chin to fit your nose
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PE is basic but very effective and easy to use. Also included is a Instrument panel with a decal option as well. Canopy fit is good but not perfect. you may need to use a temporary spreader between the left and right side window frames while the canopy sets in place. I used a cocktail stick cut to length.
This is my initial paintwork with a coat of future applied. I think this is as far as you can go without applying decals as once the aerial mounts and wires are attached as well as rotors and wheel spats , access will be less easy.
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Rotor blades are very nicely moulded with a realistic droop already set , wheels have flats moulded in, both nice touches but a problem if you want to pose your model airborne.
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Decals are thin but manageable. they settle down nicely with just warm water but i did find Micro Sol helped them sink into panel lines.
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My feeling is Italeri have taken a chance on this model and should be congratulated for a good effort on a new tooling. Helicopters will never sell as well as a Spitfire, P-51 or ME109 to mention but a few so an investment in a model like this is great to see. Couple that with the British only markings option and the limited export orders for the Wessex and they really have aimed this at a niche market. I'm sure further versions will follow ! Maybe even an Australian fleet air arm version as they were the only other notable operators. I notice Hannants have after market PE listed as "coming soon" in their catalogue which will appeal to super detailers but what you get in the box will prove more than adequate for the majority i think given that this kit comes with PE belts and instrument panel as well as a few other detail parts.
I thoroughly recommend this kit, its a great fun build, has endless scope to detail should you want but builds nicely from the box, It looks great on the shelf and its an interesting subject. what more do you want from a model ?
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Wessex at RAF Brawdy in Aug 1968
NOTES
As with all my reviews this model is built completely out of the box. No aftermarket decals, PE or resin, no scratch. What you see here is entirely possible from your £25 and the kit parts supplied.
The pilots foot peddles are marked as "D26" on the instructions and "D12" on the spru's. There are two different "D12" items on each of the two "D" spru's.
There are some spelling mistakes on the decal sheet. several decals have " No and hold" (hand?)
The "Sand and Spinach" scheme i have chosen was a scheme from the middle 1960s. the instructions date it as 1982. its possible that a few did last 20 years in these colours but as a standard service Camo i would put it about 1964.
Paddy