thorfinn Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Some years ago, Vintage Wings of Canada did a wonderfully-conceived---and beautifully-illustrated---April Fool's Day piece on their website, celebrating the Canadian Air Force's 'Icons of Canadian Culture' Tail-Art project. That project featured, not the usual range of boring tributes to respected political figures, humanitarians and innovators in the Arts and Sciences---in capital letters---but to the even-more admired and revered scions of the more 'high-profile' aspects of the nation's wide-ranging and über-influential cultural heritage. Think a little more 'lowbrow': sports...television...and popular music. As a life-long admirer of most things Canadian---and an enthusiastic consumer of much of that 'popular culture,' ranging from Molson (and Tim Hortons)...to SCTV (and Corner Gas)...'Hockey Night" (and much of the National Hockey League)...and what occasionally seems like about 3/4 of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, to boot---the piece was a good-natured hoot from beginning to end. It was also a highly-inspiring map of possible projects for the ambitious modeler, with a host of great photos of CAF aircraft in unique tribute schemes, along with informative (leg-pulling) captions describing the details of the units and machines depicted. That still-accessible April Fool's Day masterpiece is here. I've got a whole list of 'someday' projects from the piece...including the hard-rocking Geddy Lee CF-18 and the 'Count Floyd' Twin Otter...but I thought I'd finally get the great-white-northern-ball rolling with the CH-124 Seaking in the markings celebrating the toque-wearing Bob and Doug McKenzie of SCTV fame. The kit is the beloved Sweet 1/144 offering, the decals home-made. And the results: The Sweet kit is tiny and fairly simple, a 'snap-together' offering meant originally for the popular 1/144 pre-decorated toy market in Japan, which Sweet licensed as kits for their various sheets of suberb (Cartograf-printed) decals. Despite that simplicity, it is really a treat, with mostly-excellent fit and fine detail, and several options that make it an excellent base for nearly any of the dizzying variety of Seaking configurations in service (at least at one time) throughout the world. For those who haven't seen the kit, check Sweet's website: the decal sheets alone are worth the price of the kits, offering some really appealing (and unusual) options for a wide range of birds of various military and civil services. [My earlier build of the kit in Los Angeles County Sheriff Dept. markings---one of Sweet's decal options---can be found here.] My build began as any Seaking build with any kit begins: figuring out what to leave and what to add. The Sweet kit is basic to start with...but I did have to remove a few lumps and bumps to approximate the largely-uncluttered fuselage form of the Canadian CH-124s. (It's also a good idea to at least 'round off' some of the square-corner molding of the tail boom and flying surfaces.) The kit did supply both the 'thimble' radar and the correct FOD guard for the intakes as optional parts. (It also included a pre-attached rescue hoist, in the form of a vinyl blob, which I did away with, preferring to replace it with something a bit more delicate.) In addition to the hoist, I scratchbuilt a basic cockpit interior, and then the features common to the Canadian flavor of the bird: the sonobuoy chute arrays and assorted antennae for the underside; fuselage bits, including unoccupied ECM mounts and the distinctive CPI or crash position indicator (the 'red button' on the stbd. tail); and the equaly-distinctive FLIR mount on the nose. The tail-boom strake---common to so many configurations world-wide---is the seemingly-odd omission from the kit; but it was easily fitted out from a bit of styrene strip. The main rotor blades are probably the weakest part of the kit, being thick, 'segmented' along their entire length, and not very straight, ; I cut the blades away from the arms and replaced them with thinner (and easier to 'droop') ones made from more styrene strip. Last were the mounts for the 'clothesline' aerial strung along the port side, the aerial itself from my thinnest-gauge invisible nylon thread. [A final note for those wishing to make their own decals for these projects: a quick 'toddle' around the Internet seems to show that the exact images used by the article's creators to 'decorate' their aircraft are still as relatively easy to find as they were when the article's photos were mashed up. I haven't checked every single one...but I was able to find a handful quickly and with very little extensive searching required.] Hope you enjoy it! 35 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 (edited) Great Tribute ... Great movie ... Great TV show ... I loved “Strange brew” as a teenager. Edited March 1, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Well done! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby061 Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Not something I’m familiar with this side of the pond but that’s a lovely result. 1/144, amazing. Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hacker Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 bob and doug from the great white north....got to love it Hacker....hosers lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 A great build and a lovely finish. Thanks for the link too, it made me chuckle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missile-monkey Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Simply wounderful......Nice Sea King MM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowlevelraf Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Nice Sea King indeed! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moaning dolphin Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Brilliant idea! Love to see a Bubbles CP140! Beautiful Seaking, Well Done! Bob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 Thanks to all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Can't help but think the RCAF missed a trick there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wm Blecky Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Too funny! That's great. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Very nice build and result considering the small scale. I did actually see the April Fool photos when they first came out, really laughed at the one with Pamela Anderson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 On 2018-03-02 at 9:17 AM, moaning dolphin said: Brilliant idea! Love to see a Bubbles CP140! Beautiful Seaking, Well Done! Bob We took Bubbles for a Hornet ride, he was hilarious. Later he took us out for beers. That was even more fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 18 hours ago, Killingholme said: Can't help but think the RCAF missed a trick there. Well it is our Airforce’s birthday, we had cake every April 1 in celebration. 3 hours ago, Knight_Flyer said: Very nice build and result considering the small scale. I did actually see the April Fool photos when they first came out, really laughed at the one with Pamela Anderson It wasn’t fake. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorfinn Posted March 3, 2018 Author Share Posted March 3, 2018 44 minutes ago, Scooby said: 4 hours ago, Knight_Flyer said: Very nice build and result considering the small scale. I did actually see the April Fool photos when they first came out, really laughed at the one with Pamela Anderson It wasn’t fake. What about Shatner on the Polaris?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted March 3, 2018 Share Posted March 3, 2018 Fabulous! really like the story too. Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby Posted March 4, 2018 Share Posted March 4, 2018 21 hours ago, thorfinn said: What about Shatner on the Polaris?? Real too 🤫, I’ve Been lucky enough to meet him twice. The last time I told him I haven’t seen him in 30 years, he replied that we sure have changed in those 30 years. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted March 5, 2018 Share Posted March 5, 2018 What a wonderful little kit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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