Aegean Defender

[NARSES2]

The problem with the water in a great many  Scandinavian lakes is that it tends to go rock hard in winter.  .

Which is why I rejected them for now. If the kit builds well, who knows ?

A lot of Air Forces who might find a fighter flying boat useful weren't in existence during the 50's as they were still colonies, so they were excluded. So in the end I was left with quite a short list of suitable users.

Actually, the very first aircraft in the Swedish military was an Italian flying boat, so.. 😉

Oh one of those beautiful Macchi-Castoldi creations ? I didn't realise that.

[NARSES2]

Major pieces removed from sprues and cleaned up and some of the smaller internal parts have been prepared for the 3D Decals.

Had a good look at the instructions as well this morning to try and identify any obvious sub-assemblies. Not to many of them, but then the instructions are a little "busy" and may lead to some head scratching later on. However I'm probably just spoilt by the way Airfix have laid their recent instruction sheets out. Hopefully that will become an industry standard.

[NARSES2]

A little bit of work on the 3D Decals before going out and they are laying down well so, far touching wood.

Also according to the blurb on the instruction sheet for the SR A/1 two of the three aircraft built were fitted with the first two Martin Baker ejection seats. I do hope they were the two out of three airframes that crashed if only for the pilots sake.

[PR19_Kit]

Also according to the blurb on the instruction sheet for the SR A/1 two of the three aircraft built were fitted with the first two Martin Baker ejection seats. I do hope they were the two out of three airframes that crashed if only for the pilots sake.

The one that crashed with Eric Brown aboard struck a submerged 'something' in the Solent and sank, so he didn't need the seat, just stepped over the side into his dinghy. 

[kitbasher]

Please once assembly is underway do share your first impressions of this kit, Chris.  Working hard to resist a purchase of the RW boxing and your insights could decide whether I take the plunge!

[NARSES2]

Please once assembly is underway do share your first impressions of this kit, Chris.  Working hard to resist a purchase of the RW boxing and your insights could decide whether I take the plunge!

Wil do, probably next week as I have various Site and SIG bits and pieces to do, plus I'm out and about a bit.

[Rheged]

Also according to the blurb on the instruction sheet for the SR A/1 two of the three aircraft built were fitted with the first two Martin Baker ejection seats. I do hope they were the two out of three airframes that crashed if only for the pilots sake.

The one that crashed with Eric Brown aboard struck a submerged 'something' in the Solent and sank, so he didn't need the seat, just stepped over the side into his dinghy. 

I believe that Eric Brown's rescue from  the SRA/1 was a little more exciting than this.  The aircraft turned over, he had problems getting out of the cockpit and was eventually saved by Geoffrey  Tyson who dived from the support boat to drag him aboard. See chapter 14 of Brown's book Wings on my Sleeve

https://nfknowledge.org/contributions/sra1-saunders-roe-jet-flying-boat/#map=10/-1.29/50.79/0/24:0:0.6|39:1:1|40:1:1

https://designer.home.xs4all.nl/models/sra-1/sra-1.htm

[NARSES2]

Made some progress and indeed will need to get the paint out soon for the internals at least. So far it's a decent enough build, the parts take a little cleaning up, but the plastic is  reasonably hard so it cleans up reasonably easily and fit so far is positive. The 3D decals have worked very well so far, although the cockpit aperture is tiny so I doubt if much will be seen.

There's one part whose fit I'm a little concerned with, but I'll leave any comment until I actually get around to fitting it rather than now when really I've not done much more then wave it in the general direction of things. Decided I'll be fitting the air intake and jet pipes with FOD covers, a) because I think they'd have had them in the real world (the intake could have held an Albatross nest !) and b) it'll save me cleaning up and painting some tricky internal joints.

[Wardukw]

I'm not holding my breath to see this Chris ..im a smoker so not possible 
But I can't wait to see this ..it's sounding pretty interesting matey 

[kitbasher]

There's a build on Britmodeller you may be interested in, Chris - see https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235119210-saro-sr1a-xtra-kit-172/

[NARSES2]

Cheers Dave. He does hi-lite the bit I'm concerned about (one of the rear engine cowls in particular) and in all honesty I'll be happy if it fits the way his does. Can always be cleaned up and the plastics quite thick.

[NARSES2]

Right just in case anyone else has this kit or intends to get it, here's something to watch out for.

The kit instructions would have you use parts 68, the large engine fronts ?, as the jet effluxes, and then they seem to ignore completely parts 69, which appear to be the smaller engine fronts. This leaves you with a couple of very large, visible, see through holes in the front bulkhead, part 5, when viewed from the jet intake.

However if you use parts 68 as the front engine faces, fit them to the rear of the front bulkhead and parts 69 as the jet efflux and fit them in stages 8 & 9 then you have 2 perfect fits. So that's what I'm doing, whether it's right or wrong. Can you tell I know absolutely nothing about engines whatsoever ?

[Wardukw]

Nope Chris..didn't get that impression at all 
I do wonder how many times us builders have found a better way to put a model together than what the plans instruct you to do...im thinking many times .

[NARSES2]

Right I thought I'd give my first impressions about the 3D decals sheet included in the kit as this is probably the next large growth area when it comes to accessories for kits.

They are by Kits World who are producing a lot of sets - they currently have 65 1/72 scale sets available on the Big H https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=339360&code=&product_type_id=3371&scale_id=956&keyword_search=&setPerPage=25&currency_id= -

Now some of this is definitely worth using, the instrument panels etc, whilst others will be up to the individual. I'm using all of it just to check it out if I'm honest, but if I wasn't doing that, then I'd probably not use the belts and seat cushions. It's very easy to use, far easier than most etch that's for certain.  Although Yahu's brass drop in instrument panels are as easy to use and probably have sharper detail, so that will be up to the individual if both mediums are available for your subject.

I have the Eduard set for the Meteor and that is 3D for the instrument panels and etch for the seat belts etc.

Anyway it's certainly a growth area in the accessories field and it will be very interesting to see how it develops over the next few months.

[NARSES2]

Done a little tinkering with this in between other site and PG duties, but still messing around with the internals which are exceptionally fiddly (or they are for me anyway), but still progress is as they say. Mind you I'm convinced hardly any of it will be seen given how small the cockpit/canopy is, plus I've painted it black rather than the suggested interior green on the basis that mine's a production model rather than a prototype.