Mark I Westland Wessex HAS.3/31B
By Matt Bittner
Introduction
The Westland Wessex was a licensed-built "copy" of the Sikorksy S-58 with one major difference: it changed out the piston-engine power plant with a turboshaft engine, first the Napier Gazelle then the Rolls-Royce Gnome. It entered service in 1961 and was retired in the 1990s. It not only flew with the Royal Navy, but also with the Royal Air Force and some civilian entities as well.
The Kit
The Mark I Westland Wessex HAS.3/31B consists of 47 pieces of gray injected plastic and a clear sprue of nine pieces. Parts are really nicely done and the excellent thing is the rotor blades have built-in "droop" so you won't have to work it in yourself. There are decals for four schemes:
- Wessex HAS.3, White XP153/143-E, No.826 NAS, Royal Navy, HMS Eagle, late 1960s
- Wessex HAS.3, White XP143/650-PO, No.737 NAS, Royal Navy, RNAS Portland (HMS Osprey), Dorset, 1973
- Wessex HAS.3, Black XP142 'Humphrey', No.737 NAS, Royal Navy, HMS Antrim, the Falklands War, South Atlantic, April - June 1982
- Wessex HAS.31B, White N7-220/830, No.816 Sq. Royal Australian Navy, RANAS Nowra (HMAS Albatross), New South Wales, Australia, 1985
Construction starts with building up the fuselage. This includes adding the one-piece cockpit, and instrument panel and coaming into the fuselage halves before gluing them together. Once they're together then add the exterior windows prior to continuing with other steps on the instruction sheet.
The rest of the instructions have you finish up the fuselage. First is by adding the underside piece and you'll need to pay close attention to the instructions. There are different underside pieces dependent on the version being modeled. Finally, add the rest of the exterior pieces to the fuselage, such as the exhausts, stabilizer, etc. One area you'll need to decide is if you want to add the landing gear at this time and risk breaking them off during painting. If you're building the single-color scheme, it should be no problem, but think about it if building any of the other three.
Once painting is finished add the main and tail rotors and you have yourself an excellent rendition of a Westland Wessex in 1/144.
Conclusion
Mark I should be proud of its first foray into the world of injected 1/144 kits. Previously they re-released all the Attack kits but now have ventured into a whole new realm of self-made kits. Their Westland Wessex kits (and there are now four different versions) are some of the nicer kits on the market today. Plus, if you couple it with the RetroWings resin cockpit it will be an excellent model on your shelf.
Maybe they'll come out with the Sikorsky S-58 at some point.
Many, many thanks to Kits-Shop for sending the Wessex for review.
