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New Westland Whirlwind conversions


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Hi,

I saw these new products on sale from the A2zee site:

http://www.a2zeemodels.co.uk/westland-whir...rade-4773-p.asp

http://www.a2zeemodels.co.uk/westland-whir...rade-4774-p.asp

I was wondering if someone on the forum has already bought them and can write any comments.

I'm quite puzzled by the need to include so many parts that are already in the Italeri kit (undercarriage, tail skid...) especially the resin crancked tail which is readily available in the current re-release: since the price is not cheap i wonder if I really need all this stuff to make an accurate model...

Fabio

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You can get a Whirlwind conversion from Heritage too, he sells the parts individually (nose, floor, tail etc) depending on what you are building and which kit you are using.

I'm not sure why you would need all those parts either, I've built several H-19s and have never really had a problem with the landing gear to make me look for white metal parts. The tail would be useful for someone using a straight tailed kit, but since there are both versions out there it seems like that would be better as an option.

It does look like a nicely done set though and includes decals. With Heritage you will have to come up with decals on your own.

I do have some bits from Heritage and have no complaints with the parts or service.

http://www.heritageaviationmodelsltd.com/

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You can get a Whirlwind conversion from Heritage too, he sells the parts individually (nose, floor, tail etc) depending on what you are building and which kit you are using.

Oh yes, I bought sometime ago their tropical nose for the HAR10, very adequate and at a bargain price.

If I remember well some previous comments of the man behind ROTORCRAFT, every HAS9 conversion done before didn't take into consideration the higher floor of the torpedo equipped Whirlwinds (HAS7 & HAS9). This would justify the all new products, though I still think that many parts are superfluous and have driven up the price without reason... :(

By the way, looking at the photos, the photoetched grilles seem to have a very coarse mesh making them quite useless.

Still I'd like to read the opinion of somebody who has exhamined this product in person before dismissing them, undoubtedly the choice of colour schemes is very interesting.

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I saw these sets very briefly at Scale Model World in Telford recently. Alasdair McLean (Mr a2zee) explained that the raised strakes running along the length of the tail boom are not accurate for a British machine, hence his replacement part.

I think he has provided white metal undercarriage legs, not because there anything wrong with the kit parts but they are quite delicate and they might not take the weight of the added resin parts.

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I saw these sets very briefly at Scale Model World in Telford recently. Alasdair McLean (Mr a2zee) explained that the raised strakes running along the length of the tail boom are not accurate for a British machine, hence his replacement part.

I think he has provided white metal undercarriage legs, not because there anything wrong with the kit parts but they are quite delicate and they might not take the weight of the added resin parts.

As for the gear legs, you're dead on there! I Dremeled out a huge amount of resin from the inside of the Heritage nose on my Mk.10 conversion, but the kit maingear legs have slowly splayed out over time. Wish I'd had white-metal gear legs then!

P5270090.jpg

Edited by RotorheadTX
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As for the gear legs, you're dead on there! I Dremeled out a huge amount of resin from the inside of the Heritage nose on my Mk.10 conversion, but the kit maingear legs have slowly splayed out over time. Wish I'd had white-metal gear legs then!

P5270090.jpg

Nice job on the HAR10, that is pretty much what I plan to do with the nose I bought.

I'm surprised it caused so much trouble for the landing gear, I built an S-58T from the Cobra Company conversion. It has a similar size chunk of resin and hasn't had any trouble with the landing gear, I would have thought having the wheels directly below the weight it would have stood up to the weight better. I guess I better find a discrete way to support the nose when I build mine, maybe a piece of clear sprue.

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  • 2 months later...
I saw these sets very briefly at Scale Model World in Telford recently. Alasdair McLean (Mr a2zee) explained that the raised strakes running along the length of the tail boom are not accurate for a British machine, hence his replacement part.

I think he has provided white metal undercarriage legs, not because there anything wrong with the kit parts but they are quite delicate and they might not take the weight of the added resin parts.

Ok, here is an explanation from the owner of ROTORcraft, see Heloman's post down the page:

http://www.scale-rotors.com/forum/topic/wh...ar910-tail-boom

By the way I finally purchased the HAS7 set and the quality is excellent, though I keep my opinion regarding the photoetched grilles.

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