Westland Boeing Kestrel 1/48th scale

[springheel jack]

I've just managed to get around to completing a kitbash I started 6 or 7 years ago.  

[andrewj]

Oh ! , very nice indeed , great imagination there.

Andrew

[Captain Canada]

Nice one ! Very sinister looking....what is it, an Osprey and Comanche ?

[deathjester]

Fantastic!  Is that a 1/48 Stingbat, and a 1/72 Osprey?  Whatever the donors are, they fit together beautifully!!

[The Rat]

What an entrance! Welcome aboard! 

[kerick]

Very well done! I'm guessing 1/72 Osprey and 1/48 Comanche?

[Nick]

That is stunning! You could use that shape for the cover of a scifi novel, it's that futuristic and wonderful 

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice one, very sleek! I like the RAF markings. 

[tc2324]

What an excellent first post and a fantastic bit of kitbashing. 

[Army of One]

Ooh...........superb.......absolutely superb........yes.....love it.......I've wanted to do a russian/soviet style one.....but this is a work of art......love it.....

[NARSES2]

Wonderfull work and welcome aboard 

[MiB]

 

[springheel jack]

Thanks for the kind comments chaps.

Yes it's a 1/72nd Osprey mashed with a 1/48th Stingbat LHX. I  bought both kits with the intention of joining them together.

As for the build the first thing I had to get rid of was that weird "greenhouse" Stingbat canopy which I did by by reshaping the lower edge of the rear cockpit cover and then adding some Apache style framework which I emphasised by painting it black. The canopy was tinted by fixing pieces of 35mm film negative to the inside. I also raised the rear crewman's seat by 3mm. I re-profiled the rear fuselage quite a bit and did away with the redundant NOTAR  vents. The V22 tailfins were reshaped on their lower edges and then mounted at a jaunty angle (as Corporal Jones used to say).

The canards were added as somewhere to hang missiles from. I've discovered it's quite tricky finding somewhere to hang missile from on a tiltrotor.  The original Stingbat design had internal weapons bays and I've kept that concept on my model too - although any doors for the bays are firmly closed. The rotating gun is in the same place as the Stingbat's.

When I started building the model I made wheels wells, one at the nose and one in each side sponson, for retractable undercarriage. It then became apparent that the front fuselage was way too small for a wheel to retract into so I blanked the wheel wells off and stuck with the Stingbat's retractable skids. I could have had a wheel at the front of each sponson and one at the rear like an Apache but it just didn't look right for a tiltrotor. The wings and engines are V22 although I did add some exhaust deflector grilles made from the ends of cable ties.

Weathering is light and doesn't show up too well on photos.

[Sticky Fingers]

Talk about a grand entrance
Very nice piece of work that! Oh, and Welcome

[pyro-manic]

Now that's a bit good. And well done on making it GREEN and not GREY!

Welcome to the nuthouse.