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Phil Steele
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1/72 Canadian Piasecki HUP-3

December 1, 2014 · in Aviation · · 24 · 4.2K

I've been working on this Siga// kit bash for some time, finally got it finished. Quite a bit of scratch building done as well. CanMilAir decals.

Reader reactions:
12  Awesome

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


24 responses

  1. Interesting to say the least. Don't know the proper term for them but the pieces securing the rotors could not have been easy to get lined up. I'm assuming they are part of your scratch building.
    Very nicely done & presented.

    • The support poles were tricky to make, but i had good photos of the real ones. Except for the blade clamps, they were built right on the finished model, with pre-colored plastic. They are delicate, and in actual fact the blades help support the poles !

  2. Very unique build, Phil...nice work.

  3. Phil:
    Really pretty build.
    Back when I was young, sometime during the Eisenhower admin, I had the old Aurora 1/48th. "Army Mule". Favorite of mine.
    Yours is infinetely better, brings back pleasant memories.

  4. Beautiful job Phil! Does the interior have your original work as well. CanMilAir is an interesting site.

  5. WOW ! This is very, very nice ! Great work !

  6. The interior is scratch built. About the only thing I used from the kit parts was the cyclic handles and the fire extinguisher. The rotor hubs, landing gear, crew door, rotor support poles and all of the small windows are scratch built. The exterior was extensively modified and corrected.

    If you go to the Shearwater Aviation Museum web sight, you'll find an interesting article on the use of this type of helicopter in Canadian service. Note that the static display HUP that they have is not an original Canadian machine.

  7. Phil, outstanding work. In my experience Mach2 kits were pieces of c**p that you donated to the raffle ASAP. those blade locks must have been a real pain but they superb. A fine tribute to RCN Aviation.

  8. Great build Phil, to archieve this result from a "not so easy" kit is even more impressive.
    A rarely seen type in a colorful scheme, beautiful.

  9. Very, very nice Phil. This is a most impressive model & reflects the amount of time, skill & effort. you put in to perfection.

  10. Phil, what a lovely bit of kit. Not a type I'm personally familiar with, but nonetheless a beautiful model in this scale.

  11. This Must Be a hard build im know basis.
    Im Like It!

  12. Great build Phil.
    It shows tenacity to finish a kit.
    Well done sir.

  13. Nice job on a forgotten "egg beater".

  14. very nice, and especially at that scale! well done!

  15. Phil:
    Was that padded effect on the door and the interior there or did you do it?
    I like it, and I know there's some aircraft that need it, if only to cover up bare walls. It really gives yours something, sort of gilding the ol' lily.
    The B-17 nose and Martin B-26 cockpit, as cases in point.

    • The interior walls and door were finished with the beaded backing from the sleeve my artist's curves came in. Painted chromate green, it's a good representation of the pleated insulating material that was used in these choppers. It's attached with little dabs of silicone seal. I had intended to make ribs, etc. but he plastic was to poorly cast and brittle to attempt it. The base model is the Siga kit, with just a few parts from the Amodel and Mach2. The Siga had the more accurate shape, but all three of them were junkers for sure. You wouldn't believe the polishing that wind screen had to endure. I used head light polish: first time, worked good !.

  16. Phil! I have that kit "slightly started" in my stash somewhere and I thought it was slightly better than most of the Mach 2-kits I have seen. It somehow stalled but seeing your model finished might make me bring it out to the workbench again. Some time in the future 🙂 ...

    My plans were for making it French but your Canadian one was quite a looker! Did it share deck with the Sea Furies?

    Best regards

    Magnus

    • The three HUPs that Canada had didn't see any carrier duty, as far as I know. The Shearwater Aviation Museum gives a good history on the subject.
      If you have a Siga kit, it's the best base, shape wise. I used pieces from the other hits, cutting them off or out as necessary. The French version had open foot steps which will save some work, about 18 hours worth, if I remember correctly.

  17. Really cool woork on wjhat seems to be a difficult kit. Welcome onboard iModeler!

  18. Very impressive model, Phil, it really stands out, there is so much detail to admire, and the colour scheme is very attractive.

    • Thanks George. There are no good kits of this helicopter in 1/72 scale. (a shame) The build required a lot of detail work and corrections to produce what is displayed. There are still small imperfections and inaccuracies: some things you just can't fix !

  19. Very nice Phil, I have the Amodel kit to build, have built a couple of Mach2 kits, lots of work but a starting point.

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