In Ocober of 1961 trials were conducted to ascertain the suitability of the Army operating STOL ircraft from Royal Navy aircraft carriers. A DHC-2 Beaver was successfully landed on the deck of HMS Centaur during operations in Aden, and the concept was proven. It was decided that a few should be procured for the navy in order to add flexibility to operations, and some Beavers were transferred from the army. Aside from a new paint job, the only other alteration was the addition of a 3-bladed propeller, and operations were underway. It was found to be an inexpensive way of delivery and transfer of men and materials, and for the insertion and extraction of SAS and SBS personnel.
The Airfix 1/72nd offering, a bit long in the tooth but still a nice kit. The rivets seem overdone to many modelers, but after working around the real things often, I'm wondering if they might be underscale! They did cause some decal silvering problems, but too late now, the clear coat has already been applied. Paints were Tamiya XF-54 Dark Sea Grey, which in this scale is an okay replacement for Extra Dark Sea Grey, at least in my opinion. Underside was Tamiya XF-2 white. I applied many of the eye-straining stencils, but afer seeing two of them fall off and wind up as tiny specks on my bench, I decided that enough was enough. Prop came from the ancient and inaccurate Monogram PBY-5A.
If there was an after-market set to improve on it, this could be a very nice addition to one's display cabinet, rivets and all!
