Thread started by Hardosaur
Maksim Kurmazadded a new photoalbum.
61 3 November, 19:48
Maksim Kurmaz AuthorI'm starting my usual helicopter project in 1:72 scale - WS-51 Dragonfly from the Ukranian vendor AMP (aka Microscale).
First of all - about the kit. It is a scaled down version of their 1:48 kits (BTW they have very interesting 1:48 models but it's not my scale for now). It is much more detailed than the kit from LF Models. Most of its small parts are from plastic but not PE or resin, and the glazed canopy is made entirely from transparent plastic, so painting it will not be a problem at all.
This is a short-run kit, a mediocre one. The quality of plastic is the worst - it is soft and pliable, the edges are not crisp and stable, so putty will be required for literally every seam. Fortunately, there are not many parts in general, so - manageable.
I started from making the cabin - that's a helicopter, right? I'm not very knowledgeable in regards to Royal Navy, so I suppose my early variant will be painted more or less like post-WWII aircraft. From the museum photos I can see that the seats and the floor is black, and bulkheads and cabin doors are Interior Green.
1 3 November, 20:00
Maksim Kurmaz AuthorWell, after several days spent with the kit, I can say most of the time I'm cutting, drilling, and filing. All tiny parts require very delicate work, all edges need to be straighten and filed until the part can fit. The fuselage is assembled but the seams require covering with putty. The I've masked and painted the cabin from the inside, and now need to sand the seams trying not to destroy masks. This is not my first time with short-run models but this one is very fragile and demanding.
2 11 November, 10:45
Maksim Kurmaz AuthorQuick summary of the project dedicated to building a 1:72 scale model of the Westland-Sikorsky WS-51 Dragonfly, early camo.
The model kit is a short-run made by AMP (Mikromir). In general, making this model took 1 month of work. It is quite fresh but made from low-quality styrene: the surface details, geometry, and fit are fine but part edges are rough and require a lot of filing and sanding. It is very challenging and require patience, but the engineering is fine:
1. There are some PE but not so much.
2. With a little bit of drilling and sanding, all small parts can fit without glue.
3. The rotor hub is the most complex you can get in 1:72, but I did it in one go without much pain.
All in all, building the model is not so painful as with other short-run vendors.
The model is quite correct except some obvious deviations, like too wide blades, incorrect wheel hubs, questionable geometry of the hoist frame. Perhaps designer didn't have reliable measurements and used just common sense.
All canopy glazing is made from transparent plastic which is good - the frames look quite thin and clean which is required for such a helicopter. All required masks for exterior are included in the kit; they are made from film but stick perfectly; interior masks need some effort because they are strictly required. Another complexity here is that the transparent parts do not perfectly fit in the front area but fortunately it is not quite visible.
Interior is fine for 1:72 scale and can be perfectly exposed when helicopter doors are open. I found out that I incorrectly painted some panels - all but the floor must be Interior Green because I chose the earliest painting scheme which follows WWII standards. For exterior, I probably made mistakes with rotor blades and wheels, but from the historical photos, it is not so easy to understand how they were painted.
The decals have perfect quality but the apparently miss security signs (must be red) and technical stensils.There is only one early variant available, and it's markings are not typical for the Royal Navy - I guess it was painted differently for the show. But I admit, it looks very nice and worth making.
2 24 November, 19:56
Michael KohlVery clean and precise build. Beautiful model of this ugly chopper.
1 25 November, 01:07
Łukasz GlińskiHighly impressive job 👍 Thanks for sharing your review of the kit too 👍
1 25 November, 12:02
Maksim Kurmaz AuthorThank you everyone! Didn't expect such reactions. Indeed, this helo looks... a bit strange, maybe ugly for some of you, but it was time when engineers just experimented with possible shapes.
I agree that the model looks better than I usually do but I don't know how it happened. I'm very much distressed with my job currently, and having no professional progress, I maybe took some extra care to build this model.
25 November, 21:56
Nik WatsonChin up Bro, work is always a pain but keep your focus on building because you produce the stuff that we like and appreciate and your really good at it !
Keep up the good work 👍
Watto 🍻
1 25 November, 22:58
