Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King

Introduction

Being a real enthusiast for 'naval' subjects I had to built this one. It's the standard Hasegawa kit of the Sea King, scale 1/48. I built it almost straight form the box but added some Eduard etchings.

(Isn't it a bit strange by the way that there are almost no update kits or extra decal options? I really believe that, although the Sea King 'as is' is a great kit, but there's a lot of conversion potential, I think).

Painting and Markings

Anyway, after building the model I base coated it with Humbrol primer, preshaded the panels lines with Aeromaster gloss black and then misted on the white and grey, both gloss paints too. I have been searching for aftermarket decal sets because I felt the Hasegawa decals were a bit thick and I wasn't sure wether they would settle down nicely. But since I had no other option I used them anyway and in the end, with a fair amount of Sol&Set it turned out ok (at least: good enough for me).

After this I airbrushed the whole with Aeromaster flat finish and started weathering. I had been building tanks and stuff in 1/35 which required heavy weathering, so I was afraid of overdoing it, especially because I was looking for what is in my opinion a battered and beaten look of carrier planes and helicopters. So I tried to be subtle with thin oil washes of raw umber and sometimes black oil paint, applying them layer over layer until I felt it looked right. After that I did some chipping and detail painting.

Finishing Touches

The last thing I did was gluing all the small parts to the model, one final matt varnish coat, taking of the tape to cover all the windows and wind screen. That was it basically. I'm not the fastest of model builders (and why should I?) and I think this kit took me about 45 hours to complete.

Conclusion

Hasegawa's Sea King has been one of the first aviation models that I actually finished (others before this one ended in the trash bin), and it gave me great satisfaction building it.

I am really pleased with the end result.