The Gates of Hades have opened

[Ian the Kiwi Herder]

Gutsy....verrrrry gutsy.  

What he said !

Ian

[Leigh]

Well this seems to be the week for everybody's painting woes What should be one of the simpler paint schemes I've done, turned into a masking nightmare, then I couldn't getany coverage of red on the white base and ended up with tonsa build up on the tape edges from all the coats I had to put on and horrid paint bleed of Red on white on what should be super crisp demarcation lines, and remember this need to be a super smooth high gloss racing scheme. So I'm praying I can finish this by Thursday night, 'cos the competiton is Friday  

[John Howling Mouse]

Y'know that Krylon primer we both like:  their iron oxide (red) version works like hot-dam.n  for a red base!      

[B777LR]

LEIGH, WHAT KIT IS IT!!!!! I WANT ONE MYSELF!!!!

[Leigh]

THE SCHNEIDER TROPHY 1948
The Schneider Trophy for seaplanes was announced by Jacques Schneider a French industrial manager, licensed plane and balloon pilot, and, for a long time, held the balloon altitude record (10.081 m, 33,074 ft.). Deprived of flying due to a serious accident, he supported various competitions and aero clubs financially. As race referee at the Monaco meeting in 1912, he noticed that seaplane design was lagging far behind other aircraft. Since seaplanes promised to be the best solution for long-range passenger service, Mr. Schneider thought that a seaplane race would allow these aircraft to improve more quickly.
On December 5th, 1912, at the Aéro-Club de France, he offered a trophy for a seaplane race and proposed a course of at least 150 nautical miles.
This competition was known under various names: Schneider Trophy, Schneider Cup, and Flying Flirt. The official name, in French, was "Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider". The trophy was a work of art costing 25,000 francs. The aero club winning 3 races in 5 years would retain the cup and the winning pilot would receive 75,000 francs. Each edition of the race was to be hosted by the previous winning country. The races were to be supervised by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale and the Aero Club in the hosting country.
Each club would be permitted to enter up to three competitors with an equal number of alternates. In 1921 the course was increased to 212 nautical miles, with only one authorized take off, after a 2,5 nautical mile water navigation contest.
After 1921, an additional new requirement was added: the seaplane had to remain moored to a buoy for six hours without crew aid. Crowds in excess of 250,000 spectators gathered to watch the Schneider Cup races, proving a keen public interest in this type of competition.
In 1931 the British government withdrew support but a private donation of £100,000 from Lady Lucy Houston allowed Supermarine to compete and win on September 13 against only British opposition with reportedly half a million spectators lining the beachfronts. The Italian, French, and German entrants failed to ready their aircraft in time for the competition. When Flight Lieutenant John Boothman achieved an average speed of 340.08 mph (547.305 km/h) over the triangular Schneider Trophy course in the Supermarine S6B seaplane on 13 September 1931, he made Great Britain the outright winner with three successive victories .
In late 1946 high on a wave of victory and proud nationalism the Royal Aero Club with support from Lord Beaverbrook and Lady Houston announced a return of the Schneider Cup to be held in 1948.
With the war time advancement of technologies the British aircraft industry saw this as an opportunity to show off their wares and persuaded the British Government for official support.
Fierce interservice rivalries flared up and The Royal Navy demanded that as it was a Seaplane race the senior service should field a team, this was countered by the Royal Air Force arguing that their High Speed Flight had been responsible for the previous victories, the decision was made that both services could field official entries on the condition that they used existing albeit heavily modified airframes that were either currently in service or being developed for that branch of the forces.
The Fleet Air Arm immediately began modifying a Seafire 47 the last of Spitfire pedigree and the ultimate offspring of the winning Supermarine S6B.
The Royal Air Force knew the limitations of trying to adapt a land based aircraft for sea duties from their wartime experiences of the Spitfire floatplane which resulted in loss of both maneuverability and airspeed.
What was needed was a plane specifically designed for operations from water, unfortunately the war had stunted both seaplane and civil aviation development and all that seemed to be available were the current piston engined land based fighters. The new Gloster Meteor jet fighter was too heavy and too valuable to the Royal Air Force to be experimented with for racing purposes. Fortunately like many great moments in history there was to be a happy marriage of seemingly unconnected events.
Saunders-Roe had been developing during World War II the SR.A/1 an example of one of the rarest categories of aircraft - a jet fighter flying-boat. The initial concept had been for the Royal Air Force to hide in Pacific island coves and pounce on unsuspecting Japanese aircraft.  The three aircraft built were used for experimental purposes for several years.Flight tests of all three prototypes proceeded with the manufacturers and with the Marine Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Felixstowe until the second and third aircraft were lost in accidents, one sinking after hitting a floating object while landing on the Solent and the other after loss of control during an aerobatic display practice. Around this time the war was coming to a close and the Air Ministry lost interest in the project, and also effectively cancelled development of the Beryl engine but Saunders-Roe brought the first prototype out of storage for trials of their own and the possibility of civil uses.
The SR.A/1 is also noteworthy in that it was the first British aircraft to be fitted with a production ejection-seat, made by Martin-Baker, and was the only aircraft designed to fly with the Metrovick Beryl axial flow jet engine, probably the most advanced aero engine in the world at the time. With a maximum speed of 512 mph it perfectly suited the Royal Air Force's needs and easily outclassed the piston engine fighters of the time.
The Sanders-Roe SRA/1 gave the Royal Air Force the edge to win what was to be the true Schneider Cup competition of 1948, that  which existed between the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force!

[Leigh]

So the nightmare is done and boy what a learning curve this was. That which I thought was going to be a simple geometric design turned out to be one of the most difficult masking jobs I've done, I kid you not. Tons of paint bleed and the white stripes still have a pink tinge in places. I also rushed the paint to get it done for my december IPMS meeting, the spray order was white, red then blue, a guy I know who does the most amazing smooth glossy paint jobs on models says he leaves a minimum of three weeks between coats to allow it to cure properly, I didn't even leave three days. The lesson is just because it feels dry doesn't mean it is, result being after all the colour and gloss coats were on I start getting big old thumbrints on it 'cos the white base coat is still soft. Amazing what the camera will hide  

[Leigh]

Other lessons learned, Tamiya rattle cans are freakin brilliant! That's wot I used for the blue, as is their gloss coat.
Rubbing with a soft cotton t-shirt buffs up lovely shiny.
And Vac-forms are a pain in the arse but I already knew that.  

[Brian da Basher]

Leigh that is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!
       
There aren't words for me to explain how truly impressed I am. This build is a work of art. You've managed to come out on top against some tough challenges. Bravo!

Brian da Basher

[retro_seventies]

sooooo....not just an sra-1, but a tractor, a scratch built trailer, and that great looking base too eh?

wonderfully creative stuff leigh, and one of my favourite planes to boot!

[Maverick]

Leigh,

If i'd seen the end result first, I would have though Sierra Hotel on the Planet bird for all of it's failings such as JMNs love to note.   To note it's a Vac....?

Holy cr#p Batman!

I do styrene, resin, bits of left of sprue and vac canopies, but the one vac kit i looked at and bought (Yak-23 before Amodel etc had surfaced) killed my enthusiasm at an early age.  I can't belive it's a Vac!

Too nice...

Mav

[Jschmus]

Unbelievable!  Or as Zac might say, "Brilliant!!!!

[Mike Wren]

abso-bloody-lutely gorgeous!    

[Mossie]

Inspired backstory & fantastic scheme Leigh!  Well, you got there in the end, & I'm glad you did!

B777LR, it's a Saunders Roe SRA/1.  If you want an easier build Planet do a resin kit, not cheap, but it's supposed to be very simple to put together.  Don't hurt me Leigh!!!
Review on Modelling Madness

Can't wait for the 1954 Trophy with the RN Saro P.121 versus the USN Convair Sea Dart.....

[GTX]

Stunning!!!!

Regards,

Greg

[Leigh]

Thanks guys, really was a labour of love/hate it does show though how a simple but bright paint job can be really effective, and thanks to Zac and Brian for suckering me into the Vac-Form build