Italeri Westland Wessex HU5 1:48

Price: around £29.00 GBP
Reference: 2720
Review by Geoff Coughlin (Aug 2012)

Useful reference for you – check these out…

Your Photo Reference Library…

There’s a good walkaround in here covering the internal and external features of the Wessex HC2 – not dissimilar to the HU5 so well worth checking out!

Intro comments

I don’t know what it is, but I’ve always had a real soft spot for the Westland Wessex – especially ones painted in that deep ‘Marine’ green – just love ‘em and so you will see this kit built before too long in SMN and I’m going to have to do it (sorry team!).

Interesting too to see the differences between this offering and that recently released by Revell – a kit originally released in the 1960s! There is as you’d expect no competition in an area, this is a class act from initial inspection and one that I think you are going to just love to build.

Box

Ooh, it’s that green again and an impressive painting of an HU5 dropping troops in theatre that is just typical of the type. Markings that are included are illustrated on the box side, along with enticing images of the great decal sheet options and photo-etched brass fret. The box is the preferable lid and tray type.

Contents

Well, I was immediately struck by so much stuff:

• 4 sprues light grey sprues with some very finely tooled parts
• A high quality decal sheet depicting the 4 aircraft options, one for the Royal Air Force, the remainder Royal Navy machines in different liveries
• A clear sprue with a very finely tooled canopy and windows – the latter can be posed open and that’s a nice touch
• An excellent instruction book with exploded assembly views and FS paint references and names making it easy to match your preferred paint range
• An etched brass fret with seat harness, instrument panel, mesh grilles and other small parts

Quality

Simply of the highest order and a 100% new tool; the recessed panel lines are stunning, so fine and restrained but precise and accurate as far as I can tell. Levels of detail, especially inside the cockpit and cabin are excellent.

Cockpit

It all seems to be here – seats, instrument consoles with sharp raised detail, all excellent. The main instrument panel is etched brass as I mentioned and this is designed to sit over the dials that are on the decal sheet and this system works very well in most scales so should great in 1:48.

Further touches

Bulged tyres are nice and the Wessex always seems to sit well on slightly bulged tyres and the detailed hubs will make painting a breeze. Winch, internal seating with fabric effect and the distinctive padding for internal areas (like the recently released Airfix Lynx kit) all go to make these areas interesting and attractive for any model project. Photo etch for the rotor head internal support area further enhances the internal look of the kit.

Etched brass and plastic mesh

Simple and practical sums up what’s provided – the simple seat harness, rotor head internal mesh as described above, handles and that main instrument panel. The detail is very good for the scale leaving nothing else to add. The plastic mesh provided seems to give you an option to use this with the plastic parts or replace both with a PE part.

Decals

The glossy finish only bodes well to me as the carrier film is very limited and almost invisible on the roundels. They markings feel thin enough and in my experience Italeri decals usually go down well using decal solvents, so I’m not anticipating any problems there. The colour is good, as is the registration with all colours lining up well.

You can see from the images included with this Here Now review which aircraft and squadrons are featured, so I won’t repeat them again now.

Instruction booklet

Not the full colour affair like we have had in the Hurricane and S-Boot but a simple black and white instruction booklet. FS numbers and colours are given that will help you finish your model using your own preferred paints.

What’s the verdict?

I think that you’ve pretty much guessed what I think. I’ve tried to be very objective here and I am not prone to get too carried away when it comes to assessment, but this new Italeri Westland Wessex HU5 is stunning – I just can’t fault it in any way! How bizarre is that? In a very pleasing way of course. Interestingly at our model club meet last night Ian C had already purchased one of these and begun work on it and looking at the dry fit of the separate front fuselage section this looked to be flawless – impressive.
Geoff C.

SMN Quick summary Star rating out of 5