Hi guys, I’m not sure if I have posted this in the correct section, if I have not please inform me and I will try to move it. I was fortunate enough to receive several of the new Airfix Operation Herrick kits for Christmas, and they look amazing. I would like to take this chance to praise Hornby and Airfix for the massive turnaround they have made in recent years and their new toolings have (in my eyes) put them up there with Dragon and co as far as quality is concerned.

This is going to be long WIP (and photo-heavy) ‘adventure’ as I plan to get these models produced correctly and make sure they are the best I have (Everyone says that before every build I know; but I think these kits look smashing and I think I have a chance of turning out something professional for once!) This is one of my rare forays into the weird and wonderful realm of scales larger than 1/72; where everything is slightly confusingly larger than normal.

This first became apparent with the British Soldiers when the instructions asked for the painter to re-create a perfect desert DPM Camo scheme, which was near impossible for me. However my Housemate has a far steadier hand than I and did a rather good job on helping me with them, so credit to him for these- thanks mate.


Next on the ‘to do list’ is the Westland Lynx and here are some sprue shots.


I also plan to turn these into a diorama at some point, but that will be in another thread at a later date. As a result on this my hands are tied in how far I can take the completion of these models because I would like to include the crew and drivers for the vehicles; but Airfix have not released this set yet. Would anyone know where I could pick up a Lynx crew because Airfix don’t appear to have a set of these on the board just yet and I can’t think of where else I can pick them up.
All feedback welcome.
Cheers, C

It's great to see you starting your project here Chris, been looking forward to this! 1/48 is an excellent all-around scale and I'm sure you will like it. It's become my favorite scale overall. The armor kits coming out in quarter scale have been fun and well thought out. I'm looking forward to picking up some of the Landies and definitely the Coyote. I think I'm going to hold off on the Lynx helicopters in favor of the upcoming Merlin for now.

Nice collection there Chris...all you're missing is the Jackal. Have to wait to October for the Quad bike....

Will follow you build with interest: I'm currently working on a Coyote over in the 48th scale campaign.

Hey Jeremy, Yeah the Merlin looks awesome. Airifx look set to produce a lot more in this range, the Quad bikes and the Warrior MCV are also on my 'to do' list. I wonder what else is going to crop up!
Hey Sean I will have look over at your Coyote build, might prove useful for my Coyote because then I won't be running in blindly!

Started the interior of the Lynx, and its very nice in there.

Hey guys an update on the Lynx, I need to scrounge up some crewmen (Pilot, co-pilot and door gunners) from somewhere before too much more can happen to the cabin area. As a result of this I have moved onto the tail unit...

Hi Chris,

Looking forward to watching your build.I've been considering buying some of these kits,they all look like great vehicles and good to see they have figures.Maybe an afterthought that the crews weren't made for any by Airfix.They seem to continue to add to the series,so maybe they'll do some sets soon.

Tom

Hey Tom, yeah who knows, maybe they will; I certainly hope so! I certainly recommend these models to anyone wanting to try 1/48 modern vehicles etc. Also to anyone wanting to try out 1/48 for the first time. They fit together like a charm (the rotors on the Lynx were a tad fiddly and were desperate to fall apart) the free paints in the large box seem to be of unusually good quality and I have not minded using them seeing as I do not normally stock desert camo. Several of the boxes come with the figures and they come on their own as well, however I think that there is only one sprue of 8 troopers available. I.E. if you buy the different packs which include troopers you will have duplicated ones-which may make a diorama looks slightly 'iffy'...But seeing as these are the only Herrick troops on the market, I think we can be forgiven
Having got to the stage now where work on the Lynx has finished as far as sub-assemblies and things are concerned while I am on the hunt for crews.

The Supacat Coyote is next on the to-do list! I tend to build kits quite quickly, I know, I will be endeavoring to make updates more regular and step by step. If people want to ask questions about the kits or what I may be planning for them by all means go ahead, and If people want specific pictures of components/details just ask I am all ears!
C

Wheels and axles done for the Coyote. I say axles because I don't quite know if these are gearboxes or even individual engine units!

I have built several 1/72 vehicles in the past and I must admit I was having nightmares about flimsy suspensions and bits snapping while on the sprues...but none of that materialised here; everything appears to be nice, chunky and robust!

The Coyote Chassis is now together. The kit consists for four sprues,one of which covers the rear section as the Airfix Jackal (Coyote's little brother) shares the majority of the parts, but is a 4x4 not a 6x6. This means that at this stage the kit appears to have a strange tractor/trailer setup, but it is unadvised to build them separately as the rear chassis section needs to clip onto the front section at two different points.


But when the 'trailer' is pinned via the inside lug and then clipped via the top pins (it makes more sense when you have one in front of you, just be sure to follow the instructions and do not put the deck on the trailer before you glue the sections together) you get something that should that looks like this:

Looks mean doesn't it

good progress there

one question - are those figures in multi part styrene plastic or soft plastic?

Thanks,
The figures are multipart styrene (hard right? lol). Which is a good thing because if they were like the 1/72 soft ones the paint would flake off left right and centre! The figures are very nicely moulded actually.

Hi. Great looking army you have going there. I hope they do the Americans too It's nice to hear the good quality of these kits. I think we're all a little jealous of you right now. Keep us informed on the builds

Hi Greg,
They have introduced resin houses to go with these sets, so I think (or would like to think) that the may bring out a series of other kits, such as Americans and maybe some insurgents as well. The insurgents will be extremely popular as they are rare in any scale.
Yeah, at this time I cannot fault them. As soon as anything surprising or negative pops up I will post it up on here. As far as jealousy is concerned...I feel lucky to have these kits; they are also phasing in and out of stock in shops and stuff. I understand that more of them are getting across to you chaps in the States, but if stuff has been just released (such as the Merlin helicopter)it may be faster to get it on Evilbay than wait for it to arrive in your local shop.

Hi Chris,
I think you've got me hooked on getting some of these.Did you purchase these online and if so from whom?Hobby Easy doesn't carry Airfix and I usually go through them.A site here in Canada has them,but the price is a little too steep for me.No offence Scott .

Tom

Hey Tom,
Haha, I'm sorry for that! I am also sorry for my poor close-up photography skills! They were given to me as presents so I would know where these specific ones were bought. I would also only be able to give you a list of British websites such as Hannants Antics and Modelzone but the shipping costs may be high. Other than that you may want to have a stab at ebay and amazon.

That's coming along nicely Chris. The engineering on the Coyote is so fine it's actually possible to build with the doors and storage racks movable! Pity there's no storage included. My suggestion is leave the front off until after you've painted and decaled. There are quite a few very small decal go on the dash etc... unfortunatly I didn't do it that way. Also leae off the sand-channel until after painting & decaling. There's a number plate under it which should be visable through the holes....again, not what I did. But as I keep saying to my kids "do as I say, not as I do" ;-)

Just suggestions: my build log is here if it's any use.

your builds are looking so far i will follow your buildsto the finish,great work.

Sweet thanks Sean, I was pottering through the 48th group build trying to find all your posts, which was getting to be a bit of a challenge! I was wondering how mobile these items were going to be, and I shall endeavour to keep them swingable as it will help with the diorama later. Stowage would be a big bonus but it will not be too hard to get that separately later. Thanks for the other tips, they will be heeded! Especially the one about the sand channel, that's a bit of big issue!
a question for the room at large: are the armoured panels on the WMIK Landrover body optional? I quite like the scaffolding arrangement, even if they leave my poor gunner woefully exposed.
Haha, Cheers Roy, I can't wait to get them all sorted and get the patrol going! But there's a long journey to get there first!

Luckymodel has them in-stock now for a pretty good price.

http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?department=MAIN%20%20%20%20%20%20&catalog_no=AIRFIX

Hisham

Looks like you're coming along nicely Chris. I'm definitely going to pick up a Coyote next time I get a chance. That looks like a fun build!

Regarding your WMIK

This is how your Airfix kits are set up:



These are what I'm used to:

Sean, your build log is looking good as well. Thanks for sharing. These Coyote kits look like they are much more detailed than I expected them to be OOB.

Thanks for sharing the link Hisham, as said I don't know much about international modelling sites!
Wow Jeremy, thanks for those pictures, I hadn't done too much research on the Landies yet, I used several picture collections to help with the interior of the Lynx and I have several pics of the Coyote that I am working with.

Thanks Hisham,
I'll check it out.

Tom

Throwing paint about in the house today and I managed to get some to go on the model for once:

The instructions do not have black centre hubs, but the majority of Coyotes and Jackals have black centres, including those on tour, so I decided to take the liberty of including this on mine. Likewise I have chosen not to paint the inside of the rear cargo hold as i thought, personally, it did not look as good as having it uniform desert.

The control panels have been painted, and the front section will be left off until the crewmen are installed.

That's coming along nicely!