Model Airplane International - June 2018

Issue 155 - http://www.modelairplaneinternational.com 13

One, this is the designated code the SH-3 is

given once the President of the United States

is using the aircraft.

The Sea King has also served many years

with various other armed forces around the

world and is still in service with many nations

today. The Sea King was also licence-built by

other manufacturers outside the US including

Agusta in Italy, Mitsubishi in Japan and

Westland in the UK. Civil variants are still in

use globally to in the guise of the of S61L and

S-61N variants.

In Miniature

In February 2018 the kit went on sale and

I ordered mine on day one of it hitting the

shelves. The boxing offers two complete kits.

You can build either an SH-3A or an SH-3D

Sea King. AFV Club does not indicate which

aircraft are SH-3A or SH-3D so I suggest doing

your homework if you want to get one of each

both from the kit. I initially wanted a US Navy

example as one of my builds, this was easy as

two US Navy examples are offered in the kit.

The second kit I wanted to build as a

Westland built example, but I discovered there

are too many cosmetic differences. I would

have to stay with the SH-3A/D variants. In the

end I decided to opt for another in-box livery

and build a Canadian Naval variant too.

Looking at the sprues I was initially blown

away by the detail. Especially where the

surface detail was concerned. It’s incredibly

crisp and fi ne. There was no fl ash or any

discrepancies throughout the kit.

Launching myself with anticipation into both

builds at the same time I decided to follow the

instruction guide and build the interior. The

internal walls of the two fuselage halves are

quite detailed for the scale. They replicate the

ribbing effect throughout the interior. If one

wished you could really put some time and

effort in to upgrade these yourself. However, I

decided to keep things simple and build both

out of the box.

Starting with the fl oor section I added

the two seats and the cockpit display. The

wall behind the cockpit and the rearmost

interior wall were next. The detail is simple

but effective. I painted everything with Mig’s

Primer Grey and added XF-24 to the fl oor

section. After adding black to the cockpit

instrument panel and cover, I decided to

brighten things up a little and add coloured

seats. For The US Navy example I used red

seats and for the Canadian Navy example I

used orange. I added seatbelts and harnesses

to the seats using Tamiya masking tape cut

to size. Next, I joined the two fuselage halves

together, carefully attaching the clear window

sections and the main rotor hub strut internally

as work progressed. The fi t was superb. Once

together, I added the Port side front door and

masked all the clear sections.

Flipping the fuselage upside down, I added

the underside section. This is a one-piece

large rectangular section, which includes the

hole underneath moulded in place where the

sonar would be deployed. Next I added the

front clear section, this clear part completes

the underside of the nose and is meant to

run fl ush with the fuselage halves. However,

I had problems on both builds getting this

clear section to fi t correctly with the underside

panel and the two fuselage halves. I think it

would have been better had AFV Club used a

standard grey plastic part instead of the clear

plastic section. I had to tackle the fi t here by

sanding and fi lling everything a number of

times before I was adequately happy.

Moving on, I dry-fi tted the remaining section

of the front canopy section. This is one large

clear part and ordinarily is beautiful on it own

and appears straightforward. However, on

fi tting this clear section to the main fuselage

I quickly discovered this was another ill-fi tting

piece, which would not sit fl ush with the rest

of the grey plastic fuselage. The sides were

perfect, but the canopy ceiling sat higher

over the main fuselage section leading to

the engine intakes. There was no easy way

to remedy this; to lower the profi le of this

clear section it would likely have distorted the

confi guration of the canopy position when

looking at it from the front or side view. More

work would be needed later on to sort this

all out...

The next step of the build process was to

attach the engine intake inlets. These are

one-piece and fi t really nicely. A roof panel

behind the main rotor head completes this

section of the build. It fi ts fl ush with the main

engine hosing body. The main sliding door at

the starboard side is shown in the instruction

guide as closed, but later experience with this

suggested it probably should be assembled

closed. I had some tight fi t issues later when I

tried to leave this door completely open on one

of the builds. If built in the closed position as

instructed the fi t is superb. Assembly is

easy too.

The sponson assembly is next. Each side

comes in two halves, the fi t being snug before

the sponson support strut is attached. I wasn’t

One, this is the designated code the SH-3 is

given once the President of the United States

is using the aircraft.

The Sea King has also served many years

with various other armed forces around the

world and is still in service with many nations

internal walls of the two fuselage halves are

quite detailed for the scale. They replicate the

ribbing effect throughout the interior. If one

wished you could really put some time and

effort in to upgrade these yourself. However, I

decided to keep things simple and build both

standard grey plastic part instead of the clear

plastic section. I had to tackle the fi t here by

sanding and fi lling everything a number of

times before I was adequately happy.

Moving on, I dry-fi tted the remaining section

of the front canopy section. This is one large

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