SIKORSKY SH-3H SEA KING - Hasegawa 1/48

Hi all, while I wait for the paint to dry on the ventral doors of my current Mosquito (WIP in the WW2 section), I thought I’d share some photos I have, taken while I was finishing the model which here represents my avatar, of my Sea King. This build has an interesting story, probably very similar to many others by other “aged” modelers like me.
It’s always the same story: you are a young modeler in the 70s/80s, full of enthusiasm, little money and very limited skills. Then you grow up, the first money starts to arrive in your pockets but…
But adult life knocks on your door. Family arrives, children and an increasingly demanding job. So it happens that you started a model in 1995, you are more or less 1/4 of the way through, and your model ends up in the closet, where it sleeps for about 25 years. But the passion has not passed, it also sleeps, and when retirement is almost here you start to hear a bell in your head and one day you open that closet and say “let’s see what we have here!” In its box your Sea King resurfaces and then you try to get back to work. You order again a quantity of materials that you no longer have, colors of all kinds unknown in 1995 and off you go! You try again.
You start to decal your build and you realize that they are almost dust. So you start to paint yourself what you can (the red arrows on the sides, in my case), but the kit is still on the market and then you try with the importer to get a new sheet of decals from Japan. Yes, there is, they send it to me! How happy, I will be able to recover the model!
But, looking at it carefully, the quality of the kit is not cutting edge! What do I do? I add some details from Eduard, but still I’m not satisfied! So I decide, I cut the fuselage on the left side, I make the crew access door, I put in its specific ladder from an Eduard afternarket, but there is a problem! There are no handrails, so I build them myself with a rigging thread for ship models, I paint it and then, with the scanning microscope I attach it to the uprights of the ladder that measure as a hair. It’s Done!! 1995/2021. The longest and most laborious construction in history!
Greetings to all.
Dan





















As usual, any comments and/or criticisms are highly appreciated

17 Likes

The kit is a blank canvas for going crazy with little interior detail. One can fold the rotors and/or tail for a different look and space savings.

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Very nice build indeed! Thanks for sharing. It’s on my bucket list.

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Great looking build. Super finish on it as well.

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Excellent! I genuinely thought the first finished model picture was the real thing, by the third photo I realized “wait a minute, that’s the model!”. Thank you for sharing your story.

Cajun :crocodile:

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Very nice. It came out great.

Terry, what more can I say? Let’s face it, we all tend, when we model, to reproduce as faithfully as possible a given plane/helicopter/armor or even a figurine. Isn’t that so? And hearing an enthusiast like you say that he was convinced he was seeing the real thing when he saw your photos means to me that the goal has been achieved and can only fill me with satisfaction and gratitude.
Thank you so much
Dan

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Thanks Ryan. Fortunately I have enough room but yes, folded rotors and/or tail are a good option to display the model
Dan

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Thanks Gino. Your full name sounds like you can hang a double flag next to your nickname… :wink:

Hi John, thanks as always!
Dan

Thank you Bravo!

Oh man, this is amazing. You can’t help but love the Legendary Sea Hawk and you have captured her faithfully. It might have been the longest build in your modeling history but the end results show the passion and dedication. Thanks again Dan for sharing your work. Very inspiring!!

Hi Mike, very kind words from you . I thank you very much

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Very nice finish, Dan. I’ve got a similar story on one in 1/72 that’s been languishing in the cabinet for a couple of decades, I think. I’m trying to find new decals, also.

Another fantastic model… wow… superb work.
Congrats on such a terrific build.

Hi Frank,
thanks for the appreciation. As for the decals, I think you will find a way.
In my case I was forced to find those decals because I had started painting some friezes (the big red arrows) and I was not in the mood to paint everything again from the beginning. Of course you can find any different livery on the market that you like, even different from those proposed by the kit.
Dan

Hi NIto, once again thank you for your kind words. Your compliments are becoming a pleasant habit for me! :smiling_face: