1/72 Westland Whirlwind – Airfix 02064-0
I was able to sneak in another completion during an ongoing kitchen reno at my sons house and I also got to practice some more white masking with the Operation Starkey identification stripes.
The 1978 Airfix kit did prove to be a decent enough kit especially considering its age, as it shows the nice shape of the Whirlwind. The config of the Whirlwind always got my attention as the fuselage is more slender than the engines, kinda reminds me of Popeye the Sailorman with his huge forearms.
Seeing Tom Cleavers post from February 4th got me going to get this one finished, using Toms striping and colours of XF-53, XF-81 & XF-83 Toms formula for the rear band matched the decals pretty much bang on.
I had Propacteam Decals 72033 but the colours seemed a bit off so I decided to borrowed decals from the Pavla Whirlwind kit. The Pavla decals were impressive as they softened beautifully with Micro Set/Sol and were nicely opaque.
Both the Propacteam and Pavla decals and many diagrams showed aircraft P6974 with lettering 'HE-Z' but I found a photo of P6974 with lettering 'HE-M' so I sliced up the decals I had to achieve the desired lettering, I think my 'M' could have been a bit deeper, but I'm happy with the results.
The more I practice with 1/72 WWII aircraft the more I'm liking it, but I do want to get back to 1/48 WWII builds soon.
Glad to get this one done, thanks for viewing.
Excellent job on the classic Airfix kit, George!
Great result, George @georgeswork
Especially the paintwork came out perfectly.
Wow is that the same kit I built as a kid nearly 50 years ago ? that old mould has lasted well, very nice job on this George , super clean ,well done.
Seeing the pilot stood next to his aircraft really gives an impression of the size of it.
Nice job on this oldie. Like Neil I too built this in the early '60's
Steady on Dale, how old do you think I am ? LOL
Man, when you consider that kit is about 60 years old...
Excellent work on this old warhorse.
Well done, George.
I agree with Neil, the real time photo gives a great perspective of size.
Beautifully done. The little details really make the model stand out.
Nice work, George! That’s one of Airfix’s better older kits. Still stands up well.
Nothing like a good looking Whirlwind!
Nice George . 1/72 ? Great model of an old dinosaur kit
Stalemates has the kit listed as a new tool from 1978. It was Airfix’s second Whirlwind.
I was thinking that looked way too good for early-60s Airfix, when "Whirlwindish" would have been a major achievement.
Great work with this old kit!
Nice looking Whirlwind George, two thumbs up.
Looks great! That kit was one of the first I built when I returned to the hobby - I need to do it again now that my skills have notched up a bit! I really like those markings.
Very nice build George
Wow, that looks great @georgeswork! ? Superb scale modeling George! ?
Thanks for all the great comments Gents, all are greatly appreciated.
I just wanted to confirm that this kit is #02064-2 which is the Series 2 kit with molds from 1978, Airfix's 2nd release of the Whirlwind.
I have another 02064 rebox kit from 1983, same mold.
These are the same molds as the latest Airfix release from 2009 #A02064 & A50096 Starter kit.
This beautiful model proves great modelling skills can make a basic kit look fantastic. Well done George.
Nice work George! The slicing of the decals came out great and the scheme is an eye catcher. I love the way this whole build came out.