1/48 Airfix/Belcher Bits CH-149 Cormorant

Gallery Article by Shawn phantom Weiler on Feb 23 2015

 

      

I don't go into much detail about the real airframes. The CH-149 Cormorant faced so many political delays in entering service it bordered on stupid. One political party decided way back in around 1990 that we needed to replace our 40 year old CH-113 Labradors in search and rescue duties and our even older CH-124 Sea Kings. That party made errors in the purchase. A different party that took over Canada a couple years later scrapped the whole deal and cost tax payers over $300 million in penalties. We still had no new helicopters.

Some years later a new competition was had to just replace the Labs. This was a better deal but we only got 15 helicopters to cover ALL of Canada. Needless to say flight hours over the past ten years of use are rather high.

 

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Also surprisingly there has never been a 1/48 scale model of the Cormorant. There is a 1/72 scale one however but I do not build 1/72.  Airfix came out with a 1/48 EH-101 in British service. Its HUGE. But needs a LOT of mods to make Canadian. Fortunately A Canadian company Belcher Bits makes a near complete set of resin. It's great stuff but not for the faint of heart or someone without a LOT of building experience.

The kit itself is not easy either. Even without the Belcher conversion its a putty hog which requires a great deal of sanding, putty and vice grips to hold it together while it dries. I added a couple of build photos to give an idea of the amount of surgery required. This is no easy build, but with time it makes an impressive model on the shelf.

Shawn phantom Weiler

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Photos and text © by Shawn phantom Weiler