Nuri S-61N of the Royal Malaysian Air Force 

Background:
RMAF or TUDM ( Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia ) received their first batch of S-61A Sea King in 1968. The remainder of the helicopters received in stages with a total of 42.TUDM called it Nuri (parrot). The Nuri used two turboshaft engine type T58-GE-8B produced by General Electric which is capable of producing 1250 horse power. This helicopter can achieve a maximum speed of 276km/hr with a maximum range of 1005km. It consist of three crews :- one pilot, one co-pilot and one quartermaster and capable of carrying up to 21 passengers. This Nuri is fixed with winch for rescue operation. Upgrade in avionics altermeter radar and small pulsating Doppler radar which meant for night vision and bad weather been installed. 

Kit:
Obviously the kit is from Hasegawa which the only company so far that produced in 1/48 scale. This so called Sea King (Nuri) where the plastic is quite nicely mould in light grey colour with crisp recessed panel lines. The canopy and windows are crystal clear.

Click on images below to see larger images

Construction:
The model I built here depicted sometime in the early 80’s just before the radar/radome wasg installed on the nose. With a lot of photos taken and research been done, I noticed that this helicopter’s doors are always in the open position. For this reason I made the doors in the opened position. Since the doors are in the opened position, I had to scratch build the doors and add details to the interior cabin. The door is made from plastic sheets with variable thickness and glued together with ‘extra thin cement’ by Tamiya. No interior detail in the cabin area provided except the floor. The construction started with the canopy, cabin and engine bay. The conned shape intake covers are made from wire mesh and plastic strips. All the rest of the details and scratch build work are made from plastic sheets, spruces, wires and wire mesh. 

The scratched building works include:

• Cockpit details with the entirely new armour plated seats.

• Cabin details

• Additional aerials

• Shorter stabilizer ( cut to shape )

• Additional cabin windows

• Cabin’s seats

• External wires and cables

• Reshaped sponsoons 

• Add engine details

• Rotor details
  

Painting and Decal:
Most of helicopters have rivets but unfortunately the rivets for this model are recessed, in order to simulate it where the rivets should be raised so I washed it with humbrol light grey. The effect looks okay from far, when you see it closer you will notice that the rivets are flat without shadow and dots of lighter colour! The entire body was painted with olive green of Gunze’s lacquer paint. 

Conclusion:
It took me three months to build this model and this model won first price in its category for the Minicon 2000 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The competition was organized and sponsored by one of the local model shop in Kuala Lumpur.

Happy Merdeka Day 2012

Raja Jamil Ariffin

Click on images below to see larger images