Merlin Mania!

[SebastianP]

This month's shopping spree is over, and the score was one Merlin HC.3, one Merlin TTI, and one Merlin "Skyfall", all three from Italeri. I'm planning to build the lot of them more or less side by side, and hopefully remember to take some pictures while I'm at it...

The first kit bought, and started, is the Skyfall version. To describe it fairly simply, the real thing is a prototype/pre-production airframe (the smallest cockpit windows are blanked off) with a fixed main and tail rotor, a fuselage ramp, and five square windows to port and starboard (two on the door); plus a dome window just behind the cabin door. The starboard fuselage panel suggests an MCH-101 at some point, though the port panel would need one of the square holes replaced with a round one for that.

The fit of the fuselage panels appears slightly improved - they're a little thicker than the panels from the old HM.1 and HC.3 kits (never did try the Cormorant/Kestrel kits), so they don't sit too deeply in their recess - more like the other way around. It should be fixable if you're not completely inept (like me!). The other special features of this kit is a set of three figures - two pilots and a gunner - plus a floor mounted heavy machine gun that goes in the main cabin opening. It also has a searchlight and a speaker system, and decals suitable for replicating the movie helicopter.

The second kit I looked at was the TTI, which is an Italian Navy model which I have had some trouble finding any good photos of the real item for. It, again, has the cabin ramp, but it has the folding rotor and tail boom, and uses all the cockpit windows. Unlike the HM.1 kits, the TTI doesn't have any weapons pylons, nor a radar - what it does have is an offset FLIR ball turret under the nose (which makes the fourth? nose type available?) and some kind of frame under the fuselage that according to the boxtop artwork seems to have a cargo hook attached to it. This wasn't in the one picture I've found of an Italian Navy Merlin with the offset FLIR, but the angle was awful and it was only one image. Does anyone know what this is? The other model-specific parts for this is a bunch of flare projectors and other little bits and pieces. My main gripe about this kit is that my decals were out of register, with the red-white-and-green roundels looking kind of walleyed, the smaller ones more than the large ones. I think I may be able to salvage that using leftovers from Revell, we'll see.

The third kit is an old friend, the HC.3, which doesn't look like it's changed at all since the Revell boxing. The decal sheet is a bit smaller, but is at least in register, other than that it appears to be the same old.

Oh - one thing I forgot to mention, all three kits come with the twin-wheel main gear, and though the Skyfall instructions says to discard two of the wheels, the movie quite clearly shows the real helicopter to have the full set. IOW, ignore the instructions. :)

Cheers for now!

[niki4703]

Let's say I understand you completely!

I spent almost a year looking for an affordable* HMA.1. For whatever reason, that tail boom did it to me :D

I already had a Cormorant (nice looking colour scheme) and then, in the end, I somehow got stuck also with an US-101. The latter I imagined I could steal the HMX-1 markings from and transplant them onto a Sea King.

So, at least two, if not outright three Merlins for me as well.

Please keep us posted on your progress.

Niki

*I seemed only to find "excellent" deals from Canada or the U.S. from where on the postage costs where kind of prohibitive... In the end I found a nearer source on ebay.fr. But not until frustration had really settled in :)

[SebastianP]

I've already made my first booboo - I made the hole for one of the TTI's dome windows just a leetle too large when I was cleaning up the hole I'd drilled. Very irritating. It's just large enough that the window piece will drop right through. Hopefully I can fix it - there might be a spare rear fuselage in my spares box. Wouldn't bet on it though.

Edit: No spares, but I fixed it anyway - a little putty round the edges of the hole, let it half dry, and then squeeze the window in place. :) I'm just hoping it stays put now...

Edited February 23, 2013 by SebastianP

[SebastianP]

I've assembled the interiors and gotten the first layer of paint on them, and I've taped the fuselages together to see what the beasties will look like. The major difference between the TTI and HC.3 at this point is that the TTI has an additional window on each side, otherwise they're pretty much identical (they're even the same color - they're both molded in light gray plastic). The Skyfall version is a different animal, what with the dome window being repositioned, and the prototype features.

As it turns out, I actually have at least *some* spares for an HC.3 - nearly all the HC.3 specific parts from the Revell kit, bar the fuselage side panels and the sponsons. I also found a complete, assembled main rotor that wonder of wonders was still whole, which is nothing to sneeze at. :) Not sure if any of it will come into play, but you never know.

[Heloman]

Hi Guys. I got two Merlin kits aweek ago and have been playing around with the main rotorhead and I think I may have come up with an idea to aid transportation once built. The main rotorblades have two locating holes where the pins from the cuffs parts 59 + 60 hold the blades in place. Cut a slot from the root end connecting the two holes, this should allow the blade to be slotted into the cuffs reducing the likelyhood of dammage during transposrt.

Otherwise I think the kit is a cracker, lots of detail once you start looking at the parts and very well engineered. There are possibilities for a naval version but with a lot of work. New rear fuselage. tail forld, main rotorhead, radome etc, etc,....