The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Quick update the kit goes together no problem and will need very lttle filler, my only gripe is, why did Italeri do the Wessex 5 in dark blue plastic when it will be Green or yellow and the Wessex 3 in light grey when it will be dark blue?



Regards
Splash

The Wessex 3 could be yellow, yellow and blue, or Dark Sea Grey.
The 'blue' plastic of the 5 isn't that far from the grey/green camo, surely?

Regards,
Bruce

MerlinJones wrote:The Wessex 3 could be yellow, yellow and blue, or Dark Sea Grey.
The 'blue' plastic of the 5 isn't that far from the grey/green camo, surely?

Regards,
Bruce

A Wessex 5 in Green Grey, wash your mouth out with salty water, thats RAF colours,

I didn't spend 25 Years in the Fleet Air Arm to paint my Wessex 5 in RAF colours.


The Royal Navy did do a nice selection of colours over the years, everything from experimental Red to the Admirals Barge in gloss light green and white.

I was thinking maybe have a go at the hairspray technique and do a winter white distemper over green, like 845 & 846 Squadrons used to do every year on Exercise Clockwork out in Norway.

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.

If you intend to model an RAF wessex HC2 they were not normally fitted with flotation gear, unless it was an ex Royal Naval a/c

The RAF wessex HC2 also had smaller rear cabin windows on the port side.

Tonight I gave the wessex 5 a coat of white primer and it has shown up a couple of seams that will need slight attention.

The Mk 5 has Just had it’s base coat of green so I will give it a gloss coat and add the decals before I spray it with hair spray and then over spray it with white that will then be rubbed off.

No point pre-shading as the white will cover it all up.

I have now given it a coat of gloss and sprayed the non slip black on the spine, decal next.

Warning the decals on this kit are very thin and do not like handling.

The good news is, the do react well to Micro Sol and settle down well.

Most of the decals are now on, because of the handling problem I have had to do every decal individually and wait for the Micro Sol to dry before I added the next, I have a few more to go on then a coat of gloss that will be left for a day or two, before I start to experiment with the hair spray technique.

I might have to make a mask for the call sign letters on the nose and side, as I cant find any in my spares box.

Very sharp

Very nice work .

Looking very sharp, great stuff.

Looking good.

Splash, wow looking nice, looking forward to the hair spray.

Cheers
Jim

Ladies and gentleman, I will now without the aid of a safety net attempt to try out a new technique.

Be warned, do not attempt this without your wives permission.

I have now sprayed the Wessex 5 with my wife's hair spray and let it set for 10 minutes, then using diluted acrylic white paint and a hairy stick painted the very rough Arctic distemper cam.

I’m now letting it dry whilst typing this thread (who said men can’t multitask)

When it is dry I will attempt to wet it with water and rub some of the white off using a cutdown hairy stick.

If you do not hear from me, you will know it was a failure and as a gentleman I will have no option apart for looking for the Mess Revolver and signing off.



Regards
Splash