LF: 1/144 Airfix SRN4 Hovercraft

[GTX_Admin]

I.e. this kit:

[PR19_Kit]

I just may have a spare one of them Greg, but

a) it's BIG despite being 1/144 and

b) it'll cost a fortune to ship to Oz I expect.

[GTX_Admin]

Problem solved!  Thanks Kit. :)

[PR19_Kit]

It hasn't got to you yet Greg, and it has at least two Post Offices to fight its way through before it does!

Best of luck with it but I bet you curse me at least once when you build it, there are ZILLIONS of parts in there. Quite why Airfix made it so darn complex I have no idea, but they look good when they're done.

Of course you're going to do something 'different' with it I bet....

[GTX_Admin]

Of course you're going to do something 'different' with it I bet....

Who me??

[elmayerle]

A DDAC perhaps (Destroyer, Air-Cushioned)?  A big brother to the PGAC's of The Sea Fighters.

[Chris]

One of the traders at the London Model show had 4 for sale. Can't remember who it was though

[PR19_Kit]

That's how many I had too :)

But I've only got three now, which is enough for my hovercraft plans at the moment, but they are all RW though.

[Dr. YoKai]

That's how many I had too :)

But I've only got three now, which is enough for my hovercraft plans at the moment, but they are all RW though.

 I am imagining a hovercraft with longer wings...

[PR19_Kit]

That's how many I had too :)

But I've only got three now, which is enough for my hovercraft plans at the moment, but they are all RW though.

 I am imagining a hovercraft with longer wings...

The mind BOGGLES! :)

Seriously I want to build a Mk 2 and a Mk 3, which is confusingly named a Super 4. 

But to build a Mk 3 I first have to make most of a Mk 2 as well, not simple as the upper cabin area is wider and with the way Airfix made the kit it's not an easy job.

[Dr. YoKai]

The mind BOGGLES!

wrote young Kit

 My work is never-ending.

 I'll probably try and pick up the SRN4 one of these days - proabaly the next time Airfix re-issues it. I've had the old SRN1 for
 several years now, and still haven't quite decided what to do with it...

[PR19_Kit]

YOUNG Kit?

That SRN1 kit must be worth cubic money by now, not seen one for sale anywhere for AGES! The big SRN4s seem to be readily available for some reason, there's always a bunch of them on ebay, albeit at silly 'Buy Now' prices.

[Dr. YoKai]

 The big fellow got re-issued less than ten years ago, but to the best of my knowledge, the little fellow never has - I really want to do
some castings of some of the major parts before I glue anything together on it.

 And depending on how you count it, I'll be either 56, 143, or 392 on my next birthday, so, yes 'young'. 

[PR19_Kit]

The big fellow got re-issued less than ten years ago, but to the best of my knowledge, the little fellow never has - I really want to do
some castings of some of the major parts before I glue anything together on it.

 And depending on how you count it, I'll be either 56, 143, or 392 on my next birthday, so, yes 'young'. 

You could make a killing with a set of parts to re-build an SRN1. I bought one from a car boot sale about 5 yrs ago as an 'already started' kit, but whoever 'started' it seems to have welded the bits together, and all of them in the wrong place! Sadly it's so much junk now. I'd like to build one with the larger skirts and the big bow that they added in later years.

I've been looking at the Trumpeter LCAC with a view to making it into a BH7, but I don't think the skirts on the LCAC could be cut and re-glued so the plan view would be a trifle out. But then who'd know when it's done apart from me, and you of course?  :)

As to 'young' or 'old' I'll be 71 next week.  :)

[Jeffry Fontaine]

I've been looking at the Trumpeter LCAC with a view to making it into a BH7, but I don't think the skirts on the LCAC could be cut and re-glued so the plan view would be a trifle out. But then who'd know when it's done apart from me, and you of course?  :)

Kit,

I have a 1:144th scale Trumpeter LCAC kit in custody and it has a soft flexible and very rubbery material for the air cushion skirt.  It is not a not hard plastic so cutting and modifying it would be an interesting challenge. 

[PR19_Kit]

I've been looking at the Trumpeter LCAC with a view to making it into a BH7, but I don't think the skirts on the LCAC could be cut and re-glued so the plan view would be a trifle out. But then who'd know when it's done apart from me, and you of course?  :)

Kit,

I have a 1:144th scale Trumpeter LCAC kit in custody and it has a soft flexible and very rubbery material for the air cushion skirt.  It is not a not hard plastic so cutting and modifying it would be an interesting challenge.

Indeed so, I have the 1/144 and the 1/72 scale LCAC and they both have similar skirts. It's not the cutting that's the problem, it's the joining back together again! 

Maybe just butting the ends together would work as the umpteen fingers on the skirts would tend to take the eye off any joints?

[Rickshaw]

Would it be possible so as to make the "fingers" hide the joins?

[PR19_Kit]

Dunno, the skirt is all moulded in one piece, with the fingers moulded in as well, so if you cut some fingers out of the spare bits they'd stand proud if you used them to cover the joins I reckon. The material doesn't lend itself to PSR work either.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Would it be possible so as to make the "fingers" hide the joins?

Check these product reviews for images of the skirts:

CyberModeler - Trumpeter 1/72 Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) Kit First Look

CyberModeler - Trumpeter 1/144 Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) Kit First Look

[Dr. YoKai]

 I've got the 1/144 LCAC ( picked it up cheap on clearance ) and I wouldn't try modifying that skirt material. Rubber is chancey stuff to
 work with in the best of circumstances*, and trying to graft it back together sounds like an exercise in frustration just waiting to
 happen.


 Indeed, it will be interesting to see if the skirt material in these kits causes the styrene to melt over time, as I have seen happen
 with some SF robot kits ( the Patlabor series from Bandai ) that used rubber covers for some of their joints.

[PR19_Kit]

Indeed, it will be interesting to see if the skirt material in these kits causes the styrene to melt over time, as I have seen happen
 with some SF robot kits ( the Patlabor series from Bandai ) that used rubber covers for some of their joints.

That's a similar thing to what vinyl tyres do to styrene wheels for car models.

I've managed to defeat it by dunking the wheels in some Klear and letting it dry off before fitting the tyres, so I wonder if the same thing would work here?

[GTX_Admin]

Kit received safely. :)

Thank you very much!

[PR19_Kit]

HOORAY! I was wondering.....  :)

You see what I mean about the ZILLIONS of parts now?

[kitnut617]

I was rumaging through one of my stash boxes and came across a kit of this ----  I have no recollection of every buying it  ---    or why I bought it ---    Back before I emigrated to Canada I did have one built but that was many moons ago and I didn't bring any of my "'first"" stash with me.

[Alvis 3.1]

One idea I had for making skirts was to take Blue Insulation foam and sand it to shape, then paint it the appropriate colour. You can  make pretty much any shape you want, and it's not as obnoxious to deal with as rubber would be. never got around to trying it however...

Alvis 3.1