Manufacturer: Belcher Bits, 33 Spruce St., Stittsville, ON K2S 1P3, Canada, 613-836-6575 belcherbits.mondenet.com
Kit: No. BK-05
Scale: 1/48
Price: $99.99
Comments: Cast resin, 159 parts (2 vacuum-formed canopies), decals
Pros: Well-cast resin parts, excellent decal sheet, alternate parts, good weapons
Cons: Panel lines a bit heavy, location of small details not clearly shown in instructions, some minor fit problems

The Westland Lynx helicopter has been in service since the 1970s and has flown with the British Royal Navy in the Falklands and the Gulf War.

Belcher Bits’ 1/48 scale resin kit allows you to build practically any Naval Lynx variant made, so there are several parts that are not necessarily used. The well-printed decal sheet includes markings for 17 machines, with the possibility of modeling almost any Lynx built for the Royal Navy. Also included are markings for Danish, Dutch, French, German, Norwegian, and Portuguese helicopters.

The instructions lack some detail information, so you’ll have to read up on the helicopter. My primary reference was World Air Power Journal Volume 40.

The large resin castings feature somewhat heavy recessed panel lines. Options include open or closed cabin doors, a folding or non-folding tailboom, early or late tail rotors and main rotor blades, various noses, alternate main landing gear sponsons, and a variety of weapons.

The cockpit seats are excellent – the belts, survival kit, and cushions are nicely represented. The cabin’s interior details feature the quilted sound insulation. Alternate troop-seat configurations are included, as is a dipping sonar set.

Overall and detail painting information is included. The instructions are not clear on where some small parts go, and the correct angle to mount the main landing gear is not mentioned.

Building the kit is straightforward. I used five-minute epoxy on most parts as it doubles as seam filler. A cotton swab dipped in lacquer thinner smoothed the epoxy before it cured, without damaging the resin parts.

The vacuum-formed canopy fit well, but I still needed to use some filler around it to fair it in. Belcher Bits includes two sets of precut EZ Masks for the canopy, and they were a breeze to use! I had to add sheet plastic to close gaps at the rear of the cabin door.

I saved the antennas and rotors until all painting and decaling were complete. Some scratchbuilding was required to make the antennas for the machine, the wipers on the windscreen, and the main- and tail-rotor pitch control links. Ever-green strip and rod came in handy for this, as did some blade antennas from my spares box.

I used Model Master neutral gray for the overall scheme. The decals were opaque and reacted well to Micro Sol.

Belcher Bits’ Lynx measures close to dimensions found on the Royal Navy’s web site (www.royal-navy.mod.uk). It’s a fine representation of an important piece of modern military hardware. I spent about 30 hours on the model. It’s not a difficult kit for an experienced modeler, but the parts count and scratchbuilding requirements, coupled with the need for additional reference material, would make this one a challenge for a casual builder.