His
Royal Highness, Prince William, conducted some unique helicopter training while
on his Canadian tour in the summer of 2011. While in Charlottetown PEI, he
practiced landing and taxiing on water in a Sea King operated by my unit, 423
Squadron, from Shearwater Nova Scotia.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The
model is the 1/32ish Skypilots Sea King. As usual I modified it by
removing some incorrect detail, and adding several scratchbuilt details.
Basic decals were made for me by Belcher Bits. The "special"
Navy Centennial marks were printed on a Gerber vinyl machine as well as some
hand painting for the blue squiggles.
The
yellow tape is the real vinyl stuff used on the real aircraft. It's used to tape
up vents and access panels, to prevent water ingress. The aircraft may
float, but NO, it is not totally waterproof. By the way, Prince William
found the unique experience quite valuable, as the Royal Canadian Air Force are
the only military still training in water landings with the Sea King. With
the CH-148 Cyclone on the horizon (eventually) the practice will soon be
history.
Harv
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