Scale: 1/48th
Kits: ESCI/AMT S3B Viking, Eduard photo etched parts (interior details), ejection seat Aires in resin, Superscale decals.
The model has been deeply fine detailed and many parts have been adjusted or rebuilt in order to match the original shape of the aircraft.
Entirely rebuilt the landing gear bays; entirely rebuilt pilot/co-pilot and radar operators cockpits and ejection seats (32 peaces each!), rebuilt the engine pods including fans and engine exhaust ducts, antennas, smaller vent/air intakes.
Wings have been cut and repositioned, rebuilding the interior details in the junctions; surface finishing adjusted correcting the original engraved panel and rivets lines.
Entirely built all the inspection bays and panels to show the interior details (such as avionics bays and APU on both the sides); all the details used at least twice on the model have been built and then doubled in resin (ejection seat details, engines exhausts, fan cones, landing gear actuators, smaller antennas...).
The model have been detailed using a wide amount of brass foil (0.025mm) in order to reproduce the right thickness of avionic panels and metal surfaces; some metal surfaces have been punched to create the rivets thickness (mainly on the landing gear bays and tail rudder surface).
The model has been painted paying a deep attention to the real surface wear and color repainting due to the deployment of the S3 on supercarriers environment; so that the model has been painted laying many layers of very thinned acrylic color and using paper/plastic masks to simulate the repainting effect.
All the personnel walking signs and oil/grease residuals have been painted by oil colors (blue-grays, black, tan/brown).
Click on the thumbnail pictures to enlarge them and... have a good modelling!!!
