Westland Wessex HAS Mk.3

[woody37]

Westland Wessex HAS Mk.3

Revell 1:48

Based on the airframe of the S-58, the Wessex was built under licence in the UK from 1958 and first entered service with the royal Navy in 1961 in the anti-submarine role. It was later used by the RAF and Royal Marines. The HAS .1 & 3 used a Napier Gazelle engine which was characterised by two smaller exhausts on each side of the nose, where as the other variants used the RR Nome engines identified by the larger single exhausts. Apart from the once common sight around coastal areas of the yellow Air-Sea rescue variants, the Wessex is probably most famed by it's presence in the Falkland Islands where 55 took part in supporting the troop landings as well as hauling supplies of ammunition and fuel. Unfortunately nine Wessex were lost in the conflict including 6 that went down on the Atlantic Conveyor. The HAS.3 was an improvement over the HAS.1 with the most noticeable feature being the radome on the dorsal spine behind the engines. The Wessex was finally withdrawn from service with the British Forces in 2003, although it flew until more recently with the Uruguayan Navy.

The kit

A re-release of the Revell Wessex has been a popular decision within the modelling community because there was no other kit around, however this has recently changed with the release of the Italeri kit. On opening the typical Revell end opening box, you're presented with 4 grey sprue's and a clear sprue wrapped separately. Now this isn't a new kit, it was first produced in 1989 I believe, so it doesn't benefit from Revells recent engineering capabilities. That said, it isn't a write off by any means. There's some nice detailing in the fuselage, if a little chunky by modern standards which bring out the character of the Wessex well.

The Wessex is far from being a clean airframe, and the kit picks these detail up well with handles and antennas appearing to be everywhere ! What I did find interesting is that the fuselage interior is of a darker plastic and the rotors have some fine detailing in comparison to the chunkiness of the main sprue's indicating that the original kit has perhaps been re-worked at some point. Included is a pair of depth charges on external pylons mounted to the lower fuselage sides. Thanks to Darius, he's pointed out that undercarriage legs are slightly wrong in that Revell have supplied the type fitted to the H-34. Some scratch building will be necessary here to correct this using suitable thickness rod bent to correct profile.

The interior is rather basic. Whilst there's some seats in there, it has no instrument panel detailing, this is dealt with by using a decal. If this bothers you, giving it some extra attention from scratch building may be required. If you choose to leave the rear access doors closed, the only place that will really need some effort will be the cockpit as this will be on show through the 'greenhouse'. There is evidence of small amounts of flash and a few sink marks in places, however nothing that's difficult to take care of.

The clear parts are crisp and nicely moulded with very little distortion. The rear windows appear to fit into the fuselage with no lip to secure them, so care will need to be taken here on two accounts; firstly gluing them without getting glue marks visible and secondly, they could easily get pushed through if not adequately glued. There's a small amount of swirly scratches on the cockpit door windows, so a little polishing may be needed, however they aren't that noticeable. A dip in Kleer may hide them.

The decals

This is a part of the kit that has benefited from Revells late quality standards. The decals are beautifully produced with crisp detailing and superb register. Two schemes are supplied:

706 Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Culdrose 1968

737 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Antrim, Falkland Islands 1982

The nose intake decal may need some decal solution to get it to bend around the double radius on the nose, so a little patience may be required here. Several stencils are included, which certainly on the Falklands scheme will help to break up the monotony of the single colour scheme. Some seatbelt decals would have been a nice touch here to add some life to the interior.

Conclusion

Although this is in many respects a dated re-issue in terms of finesse, I quite like it. As can be seen from the Revell pictures of the kit made up as well as several builds across t'internet, a great Wessex can be made straight from the box with further opportunities from some additional detailing. It's now got competition from Italeri, however that's a different version and this one is quite a bit cheaper, so it's position in the market is still there. It's good for modellers that Revell choose to re-release these older kits as second hand prices prior to the release had got quite silly.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit

[Darius at Home]

Nice review and good to see the parts moulded in grey plastic rather than blue!!!

One thing that should be mentioned, however, is that the main undercarriage supplied with the kit is completely wrong for a Wessex and so you cannot really build a Wessex straight from the box. This can be cured with some scratch building or using Heritage Aviation's improvement parts for this kit.

Darius

[heloman1]

Hi woody, many thanks for the review, the kit certainly looks better in the light grey plastic.

Congratulations t6o Revell on re-releasing the kit but it all seems to have been for naught with the release of the Italeri HU 5 kit. Give all the inaccuracies mentioned above, I think with some cross kitting the 5 could be made into a very good 3. It would do away with the small cabin window (H-34) starboard side. The Revell kit has the windowless cabin door, the fairing aft of the main rotorhead and the 'parrots beak' intake shroud/cowling.

Colin on the Africa Station

[woody37]

Thanks for the PM Darius, review duly updated.

Colin, I look forward to what ever love children can come out of these kits too

Cheers

Neil

[Jusjay]

Sorry for reviving such an old thread however I'm thinking of picking up one of these tomorrow. Anyone had any fit issues etc? Great review too, thank you.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Jusjay

[davejay]

The fit is fairly good jusjay, the seam lines do need some tidying up especially around the bottom of the rear fuselage, its flat ish there but the seams kind of flair upwards slightly, so needs flattening out slightly. Its a pretty good kit to build, just keep an eye on the alignments as you go.