1/48 AMP HOS-3 (S-51)

Gallery Article by Shawn "phantom" Weiler on Dec 1 2017

 

      

Yet another model built for someone else. This time a Canadian helicopter I knew next to nothing about. The RCAF bought some 7 airframes. Some crashed, one burned but they keep rebuilding them. According to research OVER 20 different squadrons ?units used these little guys for search and rescue and training purposes. One thing I heard was this underpowered helicopter could lift two persons and their lunch. But not very far.

Click on images below to see larger images

The model is a typical short run kit from a company called AMP. Very little in locating pins or good fit. The biggest issue I had was all the clear parts were shattered in several pieces. The BIG issue is the clear stuff is the entire forward half of the model. I had to sand, polish, sand, polish and do it again several times. Several coats of future later it was acceptable. One thing not so acceptable was the main rotor. No matter what I did the thing just tipped to one side or the other. Even inserting a metal rod into the rotor base and then the fuselage did not give me stability. So I had to glue the rotor in place.

The kit is not horrible, just a challenge. The masks that came with the kit are awesome. They worked great. The only real modification was switching the tail rotor from three blades to two. I have photos of the Canadian birds with both styles but it seems the late in service style was two blades. The decals are from the spare bin.

"phantom" 

Photos and text © by Shawn "phantom" Weiler