The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Just a couple of pics of the box art and where production stands so far...



Not the easiest of kits to build (or paint) so far but I shall persevere. I have purchased some 1/160 scale figures to enhance the population of the disembarkation scene and may think about getting some additional vehicles as well.



The skirt of the hovercraft would be deflated for offloading but comes inflated in the kit so I may have to consider taking a soldering iron to it to try and lower the profile by bending out the bottom of the skirt - or not, I just can't decide at the moment!

I will do a simple baseboard and painted backdrop as near to the box art as I am able, but I am no Van Gogh so don't hold your breath!

Cheers
Al.

Paul Bradley wrote:Looks good so far, Al.

MerlinJones wrote:Alternatively, Al, could you cheat a little by placing the craft in a suitably-shaped hole?

Regards,
Bruce

James Perrin wrote:Great start Al.

Brews wrote:If the soldering iron doesn't work, then an old bike inner tube might work.

Brews wrote:If the soldering iron doesn't work, then an old bike inner tube might work.

Oh yeah - I'm loving that idea Brews, I'm off to make a start on that straight away (although the kid next door may get a nasty surprise when he gets up to do his paper-round tomorrow... )

Cheers
Al.

Here's a photo from Wikimedia Commons Al. It's got the hovercraft ramp in it, so you might be able to use it as a backdrop.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... g_Ryde.JPG;

Cheers

Andrew

Thanks for that picture Andrew - it will come in useful. Here are some progress pictures - mostly work that has been done on the baseboard rather than the craft itself.



The base is just an old off-cut of MDF, the ramp is a piece of corrugated cardboard (with the corrugations flattened out).



The - yet to be painted white - fence posts are Hornby track pins - I will use rigging thread or stretched sprue for the railings.



I've used Squadron white putty to fill the gap between the ramp and the baseboard - it still needs to be profiled and then painted.



The "water" is just Wickes Bathroom Silicone sealant, laid out in long strips and then immediately scuffed up with a serrated plastic tile adhesive tool. The baseboard was roughly painted with those large kiddies acrylic tube from The Works - a wet mix of black, white and violet. The same type of paints were used for the rest of the baseboard to give an impression of the concrete surface rather than an accurate representation - largely because I don't know how to do that and couldn't be arsed even if I did.



The baseboard is 515mm deep by 450mmm wide.
Cheers for now.

Al.
Al.

Al you've made me very happy! The base looks brilliant!!

Have you found any suitable scale vehicles?

Wow.. Al that looks the dogs doodads.

Cheers Shane.

James: the kit comes with four vehicles supplied; I'm cr@p with cars but I think it might be 2 x VW Beetles and 2 x Austin 1300s?? (I'm more than happy to be corrected on these).



I had a look on eBay for some passenger figures and got these. At N-Gauge they are 1:160 as opposed to the kits 1:144, but hey, people were shorter back in the 60's weren't they. I'll pose them queueing to embark (while a few stragglers and the vehicles are still disembarking) to keep with the spirit of the box art.



Not sure if I will bother with the small building in the foreground or not - what are your thoughts on this guys?

Cheers
Al.

You could do the building as a cut out, just scan and print the artwork. If it doesn't look good don't bother.

I vote for the building as it it right there in the foreground and kinda hard to miss...

This is looking really good Al.

The Water effect is a brilliant idea, I must try this.

A great looking project.

This is a great looking project. You did an amazing job on the base. Can't wait to see more of this one.

Thank you for all of the encouragement guys.

Now, after looking at some pics of the SRN4s on Google Images I realised the kit is supplied with the skirts "inflated" for want of a better word, so I decided some drastic surgery was needed. It was neither an easy or a pretty job, but suffice to say, after filler is applied to the gaps that are now apparent, the hovercraft will sit a lot lower to the ground (so the departing cars will not have to come down the ramp at 45 degrees!!)





Cheers
Al.