Sea Shepherd Swordfish

[zenrat]

April 1st 2014 - The International Court of Justice throws out Australia's case against Japan's "Scientific Whaling" in the Southern Ocean.  The slaughter continues.
April 2nd 2014 - Sea Shepherd Special Circumstances committee puts operation Sorrento into effect.
The Bob Barker (below) is modified by having an aircraft crane mounted adjacent to it's Helipad.

A Swordfish boatplane (donated by Honest Fred's Used Planes) is given a dulux rebuild and retrofitted with a BMW 132 radial.
September 2014 - The stringbag is winched aboard the Bob Barker and the hunt begins...






This is the new mould Airfix kit with the addition of the engine from the (very old mould) Airfix Arado AR 196 and crew members courtesy of sandiego89 (can't remember what kits they originated from but they are jet crew - possibly Hawk or Harrier).
It's a nice kit to build (but they should provide crew) but there is no real positive location for the float struts and it's tricky to get their position correct (one of mine is slightly further forwards than the other and they don't sit flat).  They are also rather weak and wouldn't stand up to being played with too much.
This was my first go at rigging a biplane (I used Ezyline) and it nearly drove me insane.  Most important thing I learnt was to attach all the lines to the top wing before attaching it.  It would have made things a whole lot easier.

[Dizzyfugu]

Pretty - recognized the different engine cowling but could not locate it immediately... 
Just a shame that the shark mouth is "hidden" so well - great piece of work.

[Captain Canada]

Argh...I'm at work and with our 'stop the bad guy' settings I can only see the pic of the boat !

Oh well, I'll be home at noon.

[zenrat]

Argh...I'm at work and with our 'stop the bad guy' settings I can only see the pic of the boat !

Oh well, I'll be home at noon.

That'll be due to the naked porpoises draped seductively over the thing.
Sorry dude...

[sandiego89]

Really well done! The paint looks great as does the engine. Took me a bit to notice the torpedo, things have indeed escalated 

Does the kit come with both floats and regular landing gear? 

[rickshaw]

And the Japanese respond by dusting off a Rufe seaplane fighter...   

[PR19_Kit]

Does the kit come with both floats and regular landing gear?  

Yes, although you're on your own when it comes to building the wheeled version as the instructions in the float version make no mention of the wheels. It's a VERY complicated kit, with zillions of small parts to confuse the issue. The cheaper wheeled kit doesn't have the extra floats sprue of course.

[NARSES2]

Oh that's nice

[Army of One]

What a fabulous build.....!!!! No racks for big cannisters of buteric (spelling ?) acid.....?  Love the scheme ad well......

[zenrat]

Thanks folks.

Yes, as Kit says while you get the wheels (weighted) and legs you get no mention of where to put them.  Building the wheeled version probably involves drilling holes in the fuselage seeing as you need to do so for the float struts.
No rigging details are included in the instructions so I was forced to rely on the box art.
It does have lost of small parts but it all fits together well (wouldn't want to build one made from a worn mould though) and has a particularly nicely detailed cockpit most of which is invisible when built.
There are 2 very small windows on the fuselage just above the lower wing which if you glue with window cement will drop inside when you try to mask them.  Once that happens they are impossible to replace.

[PR19_Kit]

There are 2 very small windows on the fuselage just above the lower wing which if you glue with window cement will drop inside when you try to mask them.  Once that happens they are impossible to replace.

Kristal Kleer or PVA glue............

[Captain Canada]

I can see it now ! Very nice. Love the paint scheme and colours, and the rigging looks perfect !

[zenrat]

There are 2 very small windows on the fuselage just above the lower wing which if you glue with window cement will drop inside when you try to mask them.  Once that happens they are impossible to replace.

Kristal Kleer or PVA glue............

I used Krystal Kleer to originally fix them.  I didn't think of using it to form new "glass".  I just left them as holes - they are barely noticeable.

[PR19_Kit]

There are 2 very small windows on the fuselage just above the lower wing which if you glue with window cement will drop inside when you try to mask them.  Once that happens they are impossible to replace.

Kristal Kleer or PVA glue............

I used Krystal Kleer to originally fix them.  I didn't think of using it to form new "glass".  I just left them as holes - they are barely noticeable.

Using KK as 'windows' is well known amongst the model airliner fraternity, when we don't use decal windwos that is. It can fill in surprisngly large spaces too, but sometimes you need to add an extra layer as it dries concave if the hole is too big.

[zenrat]

These holes are quite smallish so it would probably have worked well if i'd thought of it.