Howdy, all!
Last time we talked about Fujimi kits, and I promised you a rundown of the Sea King model I built not too long ago. Well. here she be...
Building Fujimi’s 1/72 scale SH-3
In the 1950’s, the Soviet Union began fielding a larger and more potent force of submarines, both to conduct offensive strikes and to deal with enemy shipping. In response, the Department of Defense—specifically, the U.S. Navy—began developing weapons to counter the threat.
Among the equipment in development, Sikorsky began investigating the use of turboshaft engines on helicopters to replace the obsolescent piston engines then in use with the fleet. The helicopter they designed, the Sea King, would serve the Navy until 2006.
Designed around a sealed amphibious hull and twin General Electric T58 turboshaft engines, the Sea King combined the missions of submarine hunting and submarine killing—previously, antisubmarine helicopters were either hunters or killers. Initially designated HSS-2 (H=Helicopter, S=Antisubmarine, S= Sikorsky, 2=second subtype), it would be re-designated SH-3 in 1961. Although the SH-3 had nothing in common with the HSS-1 Seabat—itself a variant of the S-58/H-34 family—other than the manufacturer, in the day, funding for an existing design was easier to obtain than for a clean-sheet design. If they wanted to stick to the HSS nomenclature, it would have more accurately been HS2S-1…
The design would be stretched into the U.S. Air Force’s HH-3E with a rear loading ramp, and eventually Sikorsky would take the basic SH-3 design, stretch it, widen it, and introduce the CH/HH-53 series. While not physically related, the family lineage is apparent.
Over the years, it was upgraded to the SH-3D, SH-3H, and SH-3G variants. A civilian variant, the S-61, was produced and initially used to ferry passengers from downtown Ney Your City and Los Angeles to their respecting international airports, where the passengers could catch their flights—it saved time and trouble dealing with traffic. S-61’s have also been used in aerial firefighting.
Fujimi’s 1/72 scale Sea King kits date back to 1981, and are quite nice, even now. The kit was available in several boxings, depicting U.S. Navy SH-3’s, Japanese HSS-2B’s, and British Sea Kings (HAR.3 and Sea King Mk. 41). Revell Germany also issued the kit as a Sea King Mk.41 (not to be mistaken for Revell’s own new-tool Sea King Mk.41 that appeared in 1998), and the kit also appeared in a Testors box. Currently, Italeri has it in a box commemorating the Apollo 11 recovery featuring “Old 66”. Options included in the box allow you to build it as an early or late Sea King—the short and long sponsons and stabilizers are included, along with a few different interior options. This model was built from one of the JMSDF issues of the kit, a kit I picked up second-hand. By the condition of the decals (and, as I would discover, the brittleness of the plastic), it probably lived most of its life in an unconditioned space. The decals didn’t matter, but I would face several issues relating to the condition of the plastic all throughout the project.
Fujimi’s venerable Sea King kit dates to 1981, but is still pretty good for its age.
Initially, I was going to build one of the CH-3B’s that the United States Air Force used to service the Texas Tower radar platforms, and I began the project with that in mind. I was going to delete the ASW gear in the cabin, so I installed the plugs for the SONAR well. The more I started digging, the more I realized that I had a lot more information to gather for a CH-3B, and rather than let this kit languish, I decided to reverse course.
I still wanted an early Engine Gray (aka Seaplane Gray, FS36081) aircraft. I started digging in my decal stash, and located two sheets that had that as an option: Microscale 72-391 and Cutting Edge Decals CED72008. I opted for the latter, since it had a colorful ship for HS-5 “Night Dippers” off the USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39). As it turns out, I would also use the Microscale sheet for the data—the Fujimi decals were worthless in that regard (remember, it was the JMSDF issue with appropriate Japanese data), and Cutting Edge does not provide it.
Left: CED72008, supplies main scheme Right: Microscale 72-391, supplies data
I took a look at what I had done to that point. Removing the plug from the cabin floor was easy—the SONAR enclosure would hide any ugliness. But the fuselage plug was another issue—when I attempted to remove it (I applied some Tamiya Extra Thin to weaken the earlier bond), part of the fuselage came out with it. I was fully prepared to make the required repairs, but my wife (who also happens to be the Sea King Subject Matter Expert over on the Tailhook Topics website) offered me her Sea King spares box for anything I may need. So, I selected a pair of fuselage halves that would work for me. The port side came from a Sea King Mk. 41 issue, and is molded in green. The starboard side was from one of the USN SH-3 issues, and was molded in white. Parts from the original kit are almost an ivory color. So, in the pictures you will notice that the model looks like Lou Antonio’s “Lokai” character from the “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” episode of “Star Trek”—there’s the reason why. I also would use sponson stub pylon parts and landing gear from her spares, since the originals were brittle and I managed to break them during construction.
I stuck pretty much to an out of the box build, but several items couldn’t be left alone: the cabin interior was flat and featureless (a quick look inside of a Sea King reveals structural members that are quite visible) other than the optional window cut lines and some ejector pin marks, the main landing gear wells opened up into the interiors of the sponsons, and I wanted to fold the main rotor to save on display space.
I revisited my earlier cabin work and added the ASW consoles and seats, as well as the “broom closet” and SONAR housing. I left the aft web seat out for now. In the cockpit, I added a second collective (the kit only has one), and assembled the rest per the instructions.
Now comes the fun. I filled the window cut lines with a mixture of CA (super glue) and microballoons and sanded them flush once cured. There are quite a few ejection pin marks and sink marks inside the cabin, too, and these also got addressed. The good thing about the CA/microballoons mixture is that it cures fast but does not get as hard as straight CA—it sands and fathers easily.
Next, I took a pencil, and using the rivet lines on the exterior of the fuselage, I drew corresponding lines inside. Using various sizes of Evergreen strip stock, I added the indications of frames and stringers inside the left half—the right side cannot be seen, so I didn’t waste the effort, time, or materials. Simply cut the strip stock to length, and cement it in place with Tamiya Extra Thin. You’ll need to hold the stock in place for a few minutes while the cement grabs.
I also fashioned a cabin overhead from Evergreen sheet. I used the overhead from one of the new Airfix kits to cut a pattern from an index card. I test fit the pattern and adjusted it until the fit was to my liking. I transferred the pattern shape to some .015” sheet, cut the pattern out, and did some final fettling to get it “just right”. I installed some .040” square stock as gluing tabs for the overhead.
Window cut lines filled and structure added—that’s the Airfix overhead I used as a template in the foreground
The widows were cleaned and installed at this time. I used CA—sparingly—and allowed it to wick into the seam. Done carefully, the windows will be installed securely and the seam between the window and fuselage should be sealed. If you want the flush look, add more CA to the outside seam and then sand and polish the windows back to clarity. Once that was done, I masked the windows and painted the interior areas FS36321 Dark Gull Gray. The seat cushions were painted orange, and I added paper seat belts to all of the seats, and used a greenish tan shade for the web seat. The interior was then added to the fuselage halves, and the fuselage was assembled (don't forget to un-mask the insides of the windows!). The fit was quite good, I only needed to add some CA into the seam on the bottom. A quick sanding, making sure to keep the keel sharp, and that was that.
The interior “pan” painted. I didn’t go into a great deal of detail, since 99% of this won’t be seen.
The insides of the fuselage—note that I only added structure where you could see it
The engine inlet face needed to be fitted carefully—there isn’t a lot to positively locate it, so work carefully. I still wound up with some gaps, and rather than use CA as filler, I used Vallejo putty. It is workable with a wet brush, so I applied the putty and smoothed it out. After it dried, a quick touch with sandpaper feathered in any errant edges.
The engine inlet face installed.
The early issues of this kit have an issue with the cockpit windows—the lower horizontal frames are far too wide. My kit had the later corrected version, but forewarned is forearmed and all that. I first cleaned up a rather large scratch with Micro Mesh pads and Novus Polish, and then gave the canopy a dip in Future. Once the Future cured (overnight), I masked and sprayed the inside of the “greenhouse” windows—in the case of early Sea Kings, they were actually blue. I used Tamiya’s Clear Blue for this. Another curing period and the canopy panes were masked with Tamiya Tape, trimmed with a brand new #11 blade. I masked my canopy before I installed it, but you can do it whenever suits your mood.
I used Pacer’s Formula 560 Canopy Glue to secure the canopy. I had to use small tacks of CA in a few spots, since the top of the fuselage tended to bow more than the top of the canopy—gentle pressure on the fuselage, a tack of CA to lock it into position, and then some Canopy Glue to fill the small gaps, and you’re done.
With most of the fuselage together, I dealt with the sponsons. The halves were cleaned up, and then I sized a bit of Evergreen sheet to form the sides of the gear wells. I installed it right over the sockets for the struts, and once the sides of the well were secure, I drilled matching holes. I cut a bit of sheet to act as the well’s roof, and secured it to one side. The sponsons were assembled—don’t forget to install the struts!--and the roof was attached to the other side wall to close it up. I then sized bits of sheet to close off the fore and aft ends of the wells. A bit of sanding to make the sides of the well flush with the bottom of the sponson, and we could check that off the list.
All you need is Evergreen and time. Tell me, which looks better?
When you install the sponsons, do a test first to make sure the support strut will fit okay. Note that there is a normal gap between the sponson’s stub wing and the fuselage on the actual aircraft, so don’t fill it. You should, however clean up the fit of the struts where they meet the fairings.
You can see the gap that needs to be filled where the strut meets the fairing.
The horizontal stabilizer was added, and the gap was filled. The basic carcass is now complete.
The tail rotor was cleaned up of flash, and the hub detail added. I also cleaned up the main rotor parts, assembled and cleaned up the dipping SONAR unit, rescue hoist, pitot masts, main wheels, and the fuel dump. Early Sea Kings didn’t have the ice shield or rotor cap, so those went to the spares box. I ascertained that this helicopter had the split pitot probes—earlier aircraft had them both located on the right side in a vertically staggered arrangement. I left them off for painting; however, since there would be some tight work needed around the engine doghouse, they would have been in the way had I installed them now. I should have left the fuel dump off, too—I wound up breaking it several times.
Everything got a coat of Vallejo’s Panzer Gray Surface Primer. It gives a uniform base of subsequent colors, and acts as a very nice scale black. I masked the lower canopy frames that would remain black (the chin windows and lower windscreen frames) and the flame pads near the engine exhausts. Next, I used Vallejo White Surface Primer on the nose and tail band area—fluorescent and Day-Glo paints don’t do well unless there is a white backing for them. The areas were masked off in preparation for the main color. I looked and looked, and swore I had a bottle of 36081—but all I had was the Testor Acryl modern Engine Gray. I also needed the red-orange paint, so I placed a supplies order. As usual, Sprue Brothers Models was quick to ship…
Primed and ready.
The Seaplane Gray went on without a hitch. I unmasked the white areas and back-masked them for the red-orange. Yes, I could have shot the red-orange on before the gray, but as it was I had two layers of paint—I wasn’t going to chance that the tape would lift any of the paint. The red-orange is from Lifecolour, and I gotta say this—that was some really nice paint! It only needed minimal thinning and it laid down very nicely.
We now have a gray and white model.
Red on the fuselage, Gull Gray on the blades.
The tail rotor tips were masked, and the white was sprayed on the tips. When dry, the white areas were masked and the red added. It was unmasked and set aside for later.
The main rotors’ undersides were masked, and the tops given a coat of FS36440 Light Gull Gray (I used some of the last of my Acryl paint on this). The yellow bands and tips were masked and painted. Once they were dry, I assembled the blades to the rotor head.
The main rotor assembled in the unstowed position.
“But wait a minute—you were going to fold the rotor, right?” Patience pays here. It is easier to assemble the main rotor, and then cut four of the five blades off. Using my JLC razor saw, I cut the blades from the hub just outside the main rotor head collars—this is a wee bit longer than the lap joint on the blades reaches, so I trued everything up with a sanding block. Keep track of which blade goes where, too—I merely set them on my bench in the order they were removed around the head.
Four of the five blades cut from the head.
To replace the material lost in the cutting, I added pads of .010” Evergreen sheet stock to both the blades and the rotor head. Now, comes the fun. The rigid blade is #1, therefore I needed to fold the #2 and #5 blades aft. I added a small section of Evergreen angle stock, sanded it until it was thinner and matched the angles I needed—I didn’t measure the angles, I merely eyeballed things until they looked like the reference photos I was using. I used CA here, since it grabs fast and I can lock it if I need to with some accelerator. Once they were secure, I filled the angle a bit with more CA, and sanded everything smooth.
Added the styrene pad, angle stock, and…done. Now, one more of these…
For the #3 and #4 blades, they not only fold back, but also down and lie almost flat to the fuselage. Again, I added angle stock and placed it to orient the blades where they needed to be. Again, I assembled everything with CA to get a solid bond. If you look closely, it won’t make sense, but it is the appearance that counts here. I was satisfied with the look of the rotor, and that’s what matters.
Now, were folded.
I took care of the rotor while the decals went on the rest of the model. As I said earlier, I used the Cutting Edge markings and the Microscale data. Everything went on easily, although I did make a goof—I’ll let you guys and gals have a look and see if you can tell. I’m not sayin’ a word…I can live with it. Good thing, too—fixing it would require a ton of work (and another set of decals!) that I’d rather not do…
I apply decals over a model that’s had a clear gloss applied. I use Future, thinned 50-50 with Isopropyl Alcohol, for this task. You can apply it straight if you wish, I find that the alcohol yields a thinner coat and a smooth but not too shiny finish.
Decal time. I do one side at a time, and let gravity help pull them tight.
By the bye, there is a small (but very vocal) faction of modelers online who claim you don’t need it, that as long as the paint is smooth, you’re good to go. And largely, this is true—decals only need a smooth surface to adhere to without silvering. But if you weather with washes, you will find that the untreated paint will stain differently than the paint protected by the decal film—the work-around(s): Remove all the clear film from your decals OR paint on all your markings OR apply a clear gloss. I’ve been doing the Microscale System for so long that it is ingrained in the way I build models, and it works, so I’ll stick to it. If your mileage varies, that’s cool—far be it to me to tell you how to build your models. The decals settled down nicely, for the most part, but around some of the rivets they needed some help—a bit of Solvaset did the trick. Once dry, the model was wiped down with a moist (with distilled water--I use distilled water for all phases of the decal application) microfiber towel—this removes the excess decal glue and solvent residue and prevents these areas from turning brown months or years later.
Another coat of Future, again cut 50-50 with Isopropyl Alcohol, was applied. I allowed it to dry, and then stripped off the masking from the clear parts. A few licks of paint to color details—the antennas (Panzer Gray primer), the tips of the pitot tubes and landing lights (Molotov chrome marker—next time, I’ll use MV lenses for the landing lights), the engine inlet bullets (Vallejo Mediterranean Blue and White mixed to match the blue of the checkerboard decals), and the inlet rings (Panzer Gray primer) were brush painted in the relevant colors. As the last paint operations, I masked off the wheel wells and painted them white, made a mask for the two oval antennas on the forward belly and painted them with Desert Tan Surface Primer, and masked the stainless panels around the exhausts and painted them Vallejo Metal Color Dark Aluminum.
Ready for final assembly.
A close shot of the front end. You can see a lot in the photo—the exhausts and inlets are painted, the pitot masts are installed, the engine spinners are painted, and the position light on the sponson is complete.
I had sanded the tail beacon off during construction. I made a new one from a drop of Canopy Glue. I also removed the lower beacon (I sanded off of the chin fairing), and replaced it in the same manner. I cut the molded position lights on the sponsons off, and small dabs of Canopy Glue replaced them. When the glue drops were dry, the lights were painted in the relevant colors using Tamiya Clear Red and Clear Green. A clear position light was added to the aft end of the tail.
The remaining parts were installed with Canopy Glue. The benefit of using Canopy Glue is that the bond breaks before the part does, so if the model gets bumped, you can easily repair anything that pops loose. Any shiny glue spots were addressed with either Future or Matt Varnish, as the situation warranted.
The main rotor still needed work. As it was, the tips of the blades stuck straight out. I used a small section of .040” square stock to raise the forward edge of the rotor head—this dropped the blades to where they looked like the reference photos I used. As a final detail, I made the rotor tie-downs from paper and thread. I slid the bags over the ends of the rotors and secured the “ropes” to the tail wheel as shown in photos. This will put some tension on the blades and get them to curve down a bit. There was no “one” way these were secured—look at your photos and build what you see.
A little stock to get the right “sit” on the rotor head, then some paper and thread will tie down the main rotor.
All models need a base—it is literally a frame for your model. Simple bases for aircraft models are easy—they are usually a flat base covered with either turf, pavement, or, in the case of ships, a deck (either wood or steel). I had a craft-store plaque lying around that I inherited from someone who simply left them at the hobby shop as freebies. It wasn’t in the greatest shape—it had scratches and dings on it. I sanded it as smooth as I could, filled the dings and divots, and gave it a few coats of Matt Black using a craft acrylic. Once the paint was dry, I shot on a few coats of Future—I have an older bottle that was turning yellow, and I had added some food coloring to create a tint.
I created the deck using a piece of mat board I bought as part of a package of off-cuts from the crafts store. I measured the base, cut the mat board to size, and then used a pencil and a straightedge to simulate the deck planks. I had a good photo of the Champ’s deck, and I followed it as closely as I could—Essex-class carrier decks were planks set side to side. About every eight planks, there was a steel frame with tie-down cleats. In the case of my base, I didn’t bother with the cleats, since the deck was so dark. Once the planks were embossed, I painted the mat board with Vallejo Tire Black. Once dry, I masked and painted the stripes and helipad location. A coat of matt clear finished the job.
A simple base sets your model off. This took about an hour and used common materials found in craft shops.
I glued small squares of felt to the corners of the bottom of the plaque, and attached the deck to the top side, all with Tacky Glue. I whipped up a quick placard in PowerPoint and printed it on card stock, trimmed it to size, and attached it to the deck with Spray Mount.
The final step was to attach the helicopter to the deck with a few dabs of Canopy Glue. With that, another model is ready for the display cabinet.
A dab or two of glue, a placard, and we’re done.
From the top. The folded rotor adds some visual interest and saves on display space.
So there you have it. All told, this took maybe 10 nights of work, about three hours per night--give or take. You can plow a lot more work into one of these kits--detailing the cockpit, detailing the rotor heads, adding small details to the exterior--but I only added what I considered the bare minimum required to make it look good on the shelf.
I'm happy with the end result, but not satisfied--the model is quite attractive, sure, but as the "father" of the finished model, I cannot help cringe when I see my boo-boos. In the end, it gives me an excuse to build another...and another. By doing, you learn. By practicing, you become a master. Isn't that what it is all about?
Thanks for stopping by. Be good to one another, and, as always, I bid you Peace.
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