Arado Skycab

[zenrat]

When rising sea levels turned the Mornington Peninsula into an archipelago following the end of WW2 the flooding of the existing road network created a need for an alternative to the traditional transport options of trains, buses and taxis. 
Following the success of his Dreamytime Busboat service (using war surplus DUKWs, Buffalos and Landing craft) Victorian entrepreneur Sir Adrian Dangerous, seeing the potential of a faster service between the scattered island communities and the city of Batmania (formerly known as Melbourne) purchased a fleet of Arado 196 seaplanes and set up Frankston Skycabs.
In the interests of lower running costs the BMW engines were replaced with Bristol Pegasus and after mounting complaints, the canopy was extended for passenger comfort.
The aircraft shown, V-SCAB (Civilian aircraft registrations in the Peoples Democratic Republic of Victoria use the Prefix V) is the flagship of the fleet and is in it's 1958 configuration when it was piloted by long time Frankston Scabbie Eric Presley.
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 003 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 013 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 011 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 008 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 007 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
First time rigging with easy line - and it was!
Frankston Skycabs Ar 196 001 by Fred Maillardet, on Flickr
This is nearly an all Airfix affair.  It's the latest boxing of the AR 196 with the engine from the new Swordfish floatplane.  Passenger is an Airfix Belvedere crewmember (they come in uniforms rather than flight suits) with a head transplant while the pilot has had his helmet reshaped into a quiff (can't remember from what kit he came but thanks to sandiego89 for both of them).  Passenger access ladder is from a Hasegawa Kawanishi.
Paint is primrose yellow enamel (all Frankston taxis are painted yellow) with dulux quick drying chrome on the floats and cowling and the decals are home made.

[rickshaw]

Was the registration carefully chosen?

Never been to Frankson, except in passing through.

[PR19_Kit]

Magic, that looks remarkably UN-German in that yellow scheme.   

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice! 

[sandiego89]

Excellent!  The rigging turned out great- always been a fear of mine.

Glad the crew found a home- they look nothing like when they left, and even grew sideburns!

[kerick]

Awesome! Brightened up my morning with that yellow paint job!

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.
The trick with the rigging is the use of CA accelerator to get an instant bond when the end of the line enters the hole.  Thanks to whoever it was here who told me that.

[TallEng]

that looks good in its primrose yellow colour
And well done on the rigging too.
Regards
Keith

[martinbayer]

So I guess all those Elvis sightings over the decades are really just people running into his twin brother Eric?

Martin

[Weaver]

That's splendid - so evocative! 

[Go4fun]

That got my weekend  off to a great start. "Ehhh thank yew, thank yew very much"!

[comrade harps]

Is that Elvis lying Geoff Shaw to work? (Before the 5 day growth look)   

As someone who lives and works in Frankston, I  this! 

[zenrat]

I was thinking Lex Luther (or Raphael Epstein) but yes, Geoff Shaw is much better.
Thanks comrade.

My brother-in-law was a Frankston cabbie for years and used to tell me tall taxi tales when we crossed paths as he came off night shift and I was having breakfast before work.

[aston]

Fabulous. No For Hire sign? Had anyone interesting in the back seat once??

[kitbasher]

That's really pretty. And as has already been said, very un-German.

Elvis flying and - is it?  No it can't be.  Yes it is!  It's Otto the autopilot from 'Airplane!' in the back!!