SRN4 Hovercraft British Rail

Bigfoot57

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After my disastrous attempt at a Tamiya MkIX Spitfire I still don't know what went wrong there I thought I would try something completely different this time a kit that’s been in my stash for years namely SRN4 Hovercraft and seeing as I used to be a British Rail employee I thought why not do it in British Rail colours instead of the more normal Hoverlloyd as is normally depicted
So as usual there are the sprue shots which in all fairness most of the parts have fell off not surprising given the time factor and about 9 house moves over that time period
Next I have laid out the car deck and the skirt the car deck has been washed in soapy water and left to air dry as will all the parts as we profess through this build
Colour wise inside I have to rely on airfix for the colour scheme as interior shots of the inside are virtually non existent especially the car deck where they claim it is red but on some models I have seen it has been painted silver
As this is an old kit flash and injector marks are prevalent so a through clean up is needed before construction can begin
So let’s see if I can actually finish this one this time here’s hoping

Regards

Colin2ED577C0-179F-48A9-BE51-E97F8EF4E7F1.jpeg79B77927-4889-44FF-8D7F-75EF88185191.jpegC77B5B96-370B-4C85-954A-72C26160DC91.jpeg3197E5E0-5D94-4FE4-AF9A-85B7046A946F.jpeg1F7F0E7D-C4BB-444C-9B88-9035F68AE215.jpeg
 

Tim Marlow

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Could be interesting Colin. By the way, do you know they have one of these at the hovercraft museum? They might have some interior shots available to give some colour information if you need it.
 

Jim R

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Hi Colin
Interesting and unusual. If you could source a couple of 1/144 scale period vehicles you could make a dio similar to the box art.
Jim
In fact are they little cars on the clear sprue?
 

papa 695

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I’ve wanted one of these for ages, but at the price there going for, I’ll just pull up my chair and watch this build Colin.
 

Jakko

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Having crossed the Channel in one of these a couple of times in the 1990s, this is an interesting build for me :smiling3: Unfortunately I can’t help you with the colours of the car deck, other than that I think it had asphalt on the floor. The passenger areas were, in my memory, a sort of light cream/off-white colour.
 

Bigfoot57

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So paint arrived this morning enabling me to make a start on the colour scheme for this model after which construction can begin
It is now mid afternoon 1st coat has been applied to relevant pieces now waiting for few hours before applying 2nd coat
Ok now early evening 2nd coat applied should be able to assemble section 1 by around 1900 today if the paint drying is the same as previous

1925 and have assembled stage 1 considering the age of the kit once the flash has been cleaned off the fit of pieces is remarkably good so far no gaps and no filler the red mark on the rear is an ejector pin depression will have to clean that up and not sure about the front sections colour some of the buff will need to be removed once the outer walls are on and I can see where it should end similarly the are other areas on the white that look like they require buff added to them again once the outer walls are assembled it should guide me as to where the paint is needed

So here’s the latest batch of pictures

Regards

Colin
748AC244-33A7-4483-A230-2AC348C80D5A.jpeg13FC3FA2-0B7C-4F41-9174-DD780CCF15B4.jpegAB5E5348-E710-4DB9-B5B3-7C34C7E30367.jpeg0DF947E1-F598-454D-A7DD-9E9053471266.jpeg6D4957FE-FE28-4645-A963-BD4211A5023C.jpeg4A1B68F9-9306-42E8-A844-35B9B45B31D4.jpegA68C05F6-5C71-4D05-B44D-F74D58410A5B.jpeg
 
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Bigfoot57

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Stage 3 complete
The initial perfect fit has somewhat disappeared at the moment the walls were each custom shaped and adjusted to fit where they should not perfect but will be adequate for this build
And after a lot of research from the internet I found a video made by British Rail called project Seaspeed or something similar anyway it would appear Airfix were spot on with their colouring this time as the original Princess Margaret which I’m building did indeed have orange passenger walls a red car deck and two tone car deck walls
The only thing I can see they got wrong is the passenger seats had white headrest covers fitted and the air conditioner units and cupboards were blue panelled other than that I can see no reason not use the painting guide as an accurate rendition anyway here’s where I got to so far

3D70972E-DDEA-4077-973A-3497FA326517.jpeg80E75932-3348-40B2-9818-775447A55F2D.jpeg
 

Bigfoot57

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Funny enough the skirts fitted perfectly it was the cabin walls where I had the issues
 

adt70hk

I know its a bit sad but I like quickbuild kits!!!
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Coming on very nicely - and quickly - Colin.

ATB

Andrew
 

boatman

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YES it is an im following this biuld Colin keep it goin as this is something different
chris
 

Jim R

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Hi Colin
Coming together well. Looks like you have sorted the fit issue with the walls. Good that Airfix got the colour scheme right.
Jim
 

Bigfoot57

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Stage 4 complete
I’ve added all internal details with exception of the cars but all seats and tables have been done along with various cupboards and ac units
Also made a start on the outer side panels and life rafts and the control cabin

Regards

Colin41139921-E14B-4EE9-B4BE-C203CCED52F9.jpegE8252A66-FD13-423D-8971-FFD8A038CF6D.jpegC861DEC4-4EA6-4390-BABE-F148F5CDDE55.jpeg
 

Bigfoot57

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Stage 5 nearly complete
Added touch ups to main hull along with some detail painting started on the roof with the 1st stage of painting and laying out the walkways
Also painted the main doors outside and added the BR blue stripe to all areas including the control cabin also started on the engines which if done correctly the pylons should be able to rotate along with the propellers we will see anyway that’s all for now

Regards

Colin8FB01404-C79E-4FE1-9E0D-15255529C5EA.jpeg8582F3DF-243F-4410-8966-E94D804F7952.jpegBB82E895-AC4F-4065-9EDA-7FFA3BF28F07.jpeg3F263EA4-60FF-4AA7-9ED9-3AAC5EE0936A.jpeg6BF8E428-7841-45F6-BF5A-8D48EEC74B25.jpeg0C1059EA-17DB-4AFE-B751-7AB78489E3A5.jpeg739317B3-D8A1-4EF4-9F15-EBC938B9F060.jpeg
 

adt70hk

I know its a bit sad but I like quickbuild kits!!!
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Coming on nicely Colin.

ATB Andrew
 

Bigfoot57

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Stage 5 complete
So I have finally finished the interior and the roof of the SRN4 with exception of the propeller pylons and the propellers
Last to be done will be the lifeboats and various bits to be mounted on the outer hull I’d like to add more detail to the lifeboats ie the fastening rings but I don’t think my skill is up to painting thin rings around them as I struggled with the walkways on the roof and while we are on the subject of the roof let’s just say it fits where it touches I’m not going to force it into place it can just sit on top this model always suffered from a lousy fitting roof anyway and I’ve built 4 previous to this one in my years and none of them had roofs that fitted you either had a gap at the top of the cabin sidewalls or you glued the cabins sidewalls to the roof and had a gap at the bottom where the cabins didn’t line up with the hull and required masses of filler not going down this route as it will screw up the model completely
Despite using pin striping tape to lay the walkways they still needed touching up in places by hand and I seem to have a tremble in my hands when trying to hold things really still and concentrate part of getting old I suspect anyway I’ve done to the best of my ability so hope you like it

Regards

ColinEFDF11A2-3FFA-46BF-A859-C399C47285A1.jpeg4092D9B1-2EB1-4B63-873D-B3437C2E4746.jpegDD3C09D7-EFCC-4731-8CAD-28F8A69A3B6E.jpeg
 
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