1/48 Airfix Merlin HC3

[Captoveur]

So I have been waiting to see someone start the new Airfix Merlin with no luck. So I guess I will be the pioneer.

While the in box reviews and test fits show some pretty good fit. I am having some issues as I progress in putting the thing together with the interior inside.

Initially, things went pretty well on the interior. i do not like installing the gear legs in one of the first steps. I have already pretty much broken the nose strut. I am kind of just waiting on it to come off completely the I will deal with the fix when the time comes.

The rear seats in the down position didn't fit the best. The folded ones were excellent. I have added some things on the inside as this will kind of be a flying diorama.

The view from the back. The hole will be open when I am done so I taped it in place.

This is with the sides on. It was a pretty big battle to get the sides on even after a lot of test fitting and modifying the parts. i got it fairly close, but there were still gaps.

This was the worst of the fuselage gaps.. Which is pretty massive. The sides have some little gaps and steps but nothing that a little putty won't fix. Figures are from 2 Mikes, an RAF Tornado crew that I modified most of the way and probably should have modded their arms a little better.. But hanging from the ceiling this will look passable

After almost a weekend of work i got the engine and transmission housing on. I have built whole model kits less complicated than this. there was a lot of jimmying to get it into place with minimal gaps. I will need to hit some spots with some CA

Overall, this is not a kit for beginners. I am not the worlds greatest modeler but I am having some difficulty with the fit and I am battling with a lot of warpage on the bigger parts.. There are a lot of bigger parts, because this is a huge kit.

I have found the clear parts to be very clear, yet very brittle. I am pretty sure I destroyed the small cockpit windows during installation I am letting that ride until the end but the windows were a fair bit larger than the holes.. Or I was missing some trick about installing them. The main windscreen fit well however.

As long as things don't go totally to hell in a handbasket I plan to have one of the recently released Airfix Land Rovers slung underneath it.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Captoveur

[dkobayashi]

Nice, I like the crates and bags inside. Maybe I'll do that for mine- just got it in the mail last month, but I've held off on starting until I find a good place to put the finished model..the windscreen in mine was totally shattered too.

[Captoveur]

Nice, I like the crates and bags inside. Maybe I'll do that for mine- just got it in the mail last month, but I've held off on starting until I find a good place to put the finished model..the windscreen in mine was totally shattered too.

I would say the size is on par with the Academy Super Stallion.. Which is why I am hanging mine. The tail doesn't fold and I don't think the rotors do either. Finals have kept me away, but I am hoping to get some sanding done this weekend.

I did try to hunt down some paint. Humbrol is difficult here in the US so I found some Tamiya that is supposed to be fairly close to "light olive"

I also got some Vallejo pigments for the sand blasted look.

[Captoveur]

Since this build seemed to generate positively no interest anywhere I posted it I will toss up the finished pictures and call it good. I guess helicopters really don't do it for people.

Overall, not a bad kit, not the greatest in terms of fit either. Not so sure about my color match, the closest I could get to "light olive" by my sources was Tamiya NATO Green. I gave the back end a heavy wash with Vallejo black because most of these looked to be pretty dirty. I hit the front with a Vallejo sepia wash and some tan pigment. I am going to the fabric store after I get paid this week to go pick up some narrow ribbon to act as straps for the land rover that will be under this while it hangs from the ceiling.

I really wish Airfix would stop giving just Humbrol numbers in their painting instructions.

[Wolfgun33]

Nice work! I've been wanting to get that kit.

[Hajo L.]

Really nice kit!

...and now, can we get some more "in-progress"-pictures, please? ;)

HAJO

[dustiepal]

Really nice job, love it!

Dave

[Tiger 01]

Have one in the mail. Will probably work its way up the build pile :)

[phantom]

Thanks for posting! Hope they come out with a CH-149 of this kit.

[hacker]

Thanks for posting! Hope they come out with a CH-149 of this kit.

What is the differences between the CH-149 Cormorant and the Merlin HC3?

[phantom]

No door, starboard side, less windows, totally different equipment fit. Bunch more but I do not know them off the top of my cranium.

[Captoveur]

Holy Moly.. There is everyone.. I will upload some progress shots and shoot some more pictures when I get home.

I do hope for a Cormorant as well. I built a Cormorant in 1/72 by Italeri I think and it left a lot to be desired. Also, the shape on the 1/72 kit just looks off in the front somehow.

I am no rivet counter and I didn't get out the calipers and scale but this thing looks the part. I am going to hit the fabric store on my way home and snag some ribbon so I can hang a Land Rover under this.

[pttiger]

Oh god, it's very impressive heli

[sharkey]

I'm surprised at how bad the fit is on this new kit.

I think you did a nice job on it.

[racerman]

Since this build seemed to generate positively no interest anywhere I posted it I will toss up the finished pictures and call it good. I guess helicopters really don't do it for people.

Overall, not a bad kit, not the greatest in terms of fit either. Not so sure about my color match, the closest I could get to "light olive" by my sources was Tamiya NATO Green. I gave the back end a heavy wash with Vallejo black because most of these looked to be pretty dirty. I hit the front with a Vallejo sepia wash and some tan pigment. I am going to the fabric store after I get paid this week to go pick up some narrow ribbon to act as straps for the land rover that will be under this while it hangs from the ceiling.

I really wish Airfix would stop giving just Humbrol numbers in their painting instructions.

Great Build! Just cause you don't get feedback doesn't mean no one is following it! What other problems did you come across?

[Captoveur]

Thanks for the heads up about feedback, it seems a lot of boards people at least throw something up there to show interest. I will keep that in mind in the future.

The biggest thing nagging at me after the fact is the paint color. Typically, I only refer to the colors in the instructions when I cannot find a reference. There are not a lot of pictures of these out on the internet. Airwhiners has a few, and there are a few here and there. Airfix only giving a Humbrol number and not something like a color name on some miniscule part inside is kind of annoying.

I had a lot of fit issues around the front end. I don't know if that is just where every fault i made decided to show itself or what, but the fuselage flat out didn't fit. This compounded itself into the front glass not fitting properly. It may be visible in this

Also, I had problems with brittleness of the the clear parts. I broke some of the side windows up front completely and I heard a few of the bigger ones crack a few times.

Warpage. There are a lot of big parts. I know Airfix isn't using nearly as nice of molding as someone like Tamiya uses. However, almost every big part needed some coaxing.

The Cockpit. I know this thing is modern and the cockpit is pretty plain. However, someone needs to come out with a photoetch set for this thing. I don't normally buy such things but I would if one was out there and I was going to build this again. It needs the dressing up. I know the front panel is just a few CRTs but something can be done for the center console, overhead, and fuse panels.

Photoetch yaw pedals would be nice. The ones Airfix made are beautiful and tiny, but my Model Master cement pretty well melted them and it took a lot of attention to keep them looking decent.

The decals are excellent. Airfix probably found every stencil on this thing inside and out and included it. The decal sheet is massive for something that has virtually no markings. I only put on the more visible stencils and I still probably have 200 decals left over. The down side... The decals need a little love to keep from silvering. DO NOT USE SOLVASET!! I used some on the walkways up top and they cracked in a few places. I didn't really worry about it because I was planning on weathering it to death and the cracking walkway probably added to it.

The small parts on the main door needed a little bit of clarification. the lower rear hinge (for lack of a better word) seemed like it needed to go right where the giant bulge on the side mounts. There were a few other spots like this that I could not figure out so I ended up just taking a stab at.

Overall, it's not a bad kit, it just takes some work. And if someone mainstream were to make seated crew figures for modern helicopters they would sell hundreds of them. A sling load kit would be a nice extra if someone aftermarket wanted to make all the buckles and hooks and such.

PS.. Did someone say Cormorant?

Edited June 2, 2013 by Captoveur

[Hero Ma]

I have great interest in this subject. Pity of the poor fit, as Airfix is really stepping up their effort in releasing more models of the modern era. They really should have improve on this area as I can possibly recall only a few of their kits have a decent fit, hence reducing the "fun" of the build.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Hero Ma

[Captoveur]

I have great interest in this subject. Pity of the poor fit, as Airfix is really stepping up their effort in releasing more models of the modern era. They really should have improve on this area as I can possibly recall only a few of their kits have a decent fit, hence reducing the "fun" of the build.

I am working through a pair of Airfix's new Spitfires at the moment and I think I prefer their kit over the new Eduard IXc that came out. The Airfix plastic isn't as nice, but I think the kit is better engineered. It seems like Eduard used 5 parts where 1 would do in most cases.

I don't think anyone has yet made a wing root I didn't have to sand.

[lesthegringo]

I have one of these and had to get some replacement parts as they were broken and warped due to poor packaging by the OEM. Thankfully LuckyModel (whom I bought it from) were fantastic and supplied replacements.

however, now I have the replacement parts, I can see that the two external fuselage halves are massively different in shape around the nose and tail area. The left hand (viewed from rear) half nose curves in far too much, which looks like it shouldn't be too difficult to remedy. My biggest problem is that the tail fin is significantly canted over to the left on the left hand half, which I think is correct, but the right hand half is completely vertical. Test fitting the parts has the tops of the fin halves about half an inch away from each other!

Did you encounter this, and if so was it difficult to correct?

Les