This is the Wessex, 1/48 from Revell. I bought this helicopter about two years ago on a trade show in Germany. I was very surprised and happy to find it, because everywhere I had been asking I was told that it was out of production a long time. I had purchased already a Cutting Edge update set for the cockpit and landing gear (I was under the assumption that the helicopter was still available). And I had seen an article in Scale Aviation Modeler on the Wessex and I fell in love with this helicopter.

Coming home in Holland I opened the box and then there was a bit of a shock. The helicopter was molded in blue plastic from a unusual substance, the detail was very rough, the decals were old and just a little bit out of register. But I had seen this blue and yellow version in the magazine and I couldn't care less about all those problems. Some would be solved, others not. So I started with the interior, which I usually paint with Humbrol paints. They have a bit rougher pigment than the Xtracolor paints I normally use, and this  makes the Humbrol paint very suitable for weathering and drybrushing. I like to do this a little bit in the cockpit areas, because the transparency of the glazing tends to tone it all down a bit afterwards.

On the cover of the box was the Wessex 'in flight'; I didn't have a pair of scale plans at the time so I took the picture on the box as a lead and started scratchbuilding. extra  detail was added around the cockpit area, the nose, the landing gear and steps at the sides of the helicopter, the rear rotor and some other minor places. To be honest I was more proud of my first scratchbuilding efforts than the correctness of the detail. I know there are some inaccuracies, nut I felt I added extra value to the basic model, and that gave me great satisfaction. I primed the helicopter with Humbrol primer (no1). This was the first time all those parts got some uniformity and blended together. The toy-like blue of the plastic disappeared and my Wessex started to look like a real model.
You can imagine that adding the blue and the yellow (of course after preshading all pane lines with black) took a lot of masking and masking off. But the end result was nice. Now came the decaling. I was very curious, because this particular box was over 25 years old and I wasn't quite sure whether the decals were ok still. Their carrier film had gone yellow over the years, but I taped it in the window and with a couple of days sun on the decals the yellow disappeared (don't ask me why, it works!) I tested the decals on a piece of scrap plastic and all was ok. So I used the kit decals, even when they were a bit out of register, just because I had no other option.

After decaling came the usual approach; matt varnish base, thoroughly dry, washing with brown and black oil paints thinned with white spirit, scratching and scraping painted on, another coat of matt varnish and adding final details.

Although this kit is far from perfect (as is my building) I am happy to have it in my collection. It is very colorful and since I know how it came into existence and what I have done to it, I still like to look at it. I hope you like the pics. By the way; if anyone has a complete kit on the shelve and wants to sell it to me, please contact me on my email address; I recently saw a total maroon colored version, so my hands started itching again...... thanx in advance!

Although this kit is far from perfect (as is my building) I am happy to have it in my collection. It is very colorful and since I know how it came into existence and what I have
done to it, I still like to look at it. I hope you like the pics. By the way; if anyone has a complete kit on the shelve and wants to sell it to me, please contact me on my
email address; I recently saw a total maroon colored version, so my hands started itching again...... thanx in advance!

Photos and text © 2005 by Jeroen Veen

June 29, 2005

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