1/72 Revell HH-3F Pelican

Gallery Article by Ken Middleton on June 12 2009

 

US Coast Guard Conversion

As part of the USCG Air Station Cape Cod project, the final aircraft I needed to do was the HH-3F Pelican. I used the 72nd scale Revell HH-3 Jolly Green Giant kit with home-made modifications, and Hawkeye Decals for the Pelican. Thanks to RotorheadTX for some free parts to the kit.  

When I started building this model, I was not sure which airframe to depict. I was part way through it when I read a story about the 30th anniversary of "CG1432", which was a Cape Cod based Pelican lost in Feb 1979, and 4 of the 5 crew members were killed when it crashed during a winter storm in the Atlantic while attempting a rescue. Clearly, I had to model that aircraft, and at this point, the build took on a special meaning. 

First I needed to make the large protrusion on the front, and I cut the end off one of the kit's fuel tanks which I would not be using. Here it is temporarily held on. For the round-ish end, I used the end of a ball point pen (the black piece) and cut off the stub part to make it flat.

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I then needed to make the engine-intake guard that goes on top of the fuselage. I used thin plastic stock to cut and shape one. I have an old Aurora H-3 kit on hand, and was going through it for some parts, and found this part already made after I made the engine guard - oh well.

The gear sponsons are for the USAF version, and needed to modify for the USCG version. Instead of trying to remove the stub pylons, I simply made new outer portions from plastic sheet by tracing the outline of the kit parts. Here they are attached prior to final edge-shaping. For the floatation portion, I attached a small section of paper towel, and soaked with super glue.  

I had to enlarge the forward side windows as they are larger. I simply used a sanding stick to enlarge. Here you can see bottom one done, compared to the top. I used some scrap thin, clear plastic from packaging to make new windows.

Here it is with some pieces temporarily placed, and then the base white coat. Because of the green plastic, I used Krylon white from a can, and it took 3 coats to cover it. The flightdeck received basic detailing while interior was not detailed as the windows are small and it is hard to see inside. I had thought about leaving the rear door/ramp open, but decided against it. 

I used decal stripes for the canopy framing as I am not very good as masking and painting all those frames. I used Tamiya Clear Green for the 2 top windows. 

At a local trophy shop, I had a special brass plate made with the inscription of the names of the crew members and the date.

 

I proceeded with the reddish-orange, made with my own blend until it looked right. Decals and small details were added, including the pitot tubes on top of the flight deck made from bent paper clip sections. The decals needed many, many applications of solvent to snuggle down, and eventually did. I used red decal stripes on the rear rotor.

 

I made one of my usually bases with plastic sheet tarmac applied to a wood base, and it was complete.

 

The completed model now resides in a display at the US Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod’s wardroom.

 

Thanks for looking.

Ken Middleton

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Photos and text © by Ken Middleton