Finally got around to starting. For this build I have chosen my Airfix SRN4 kit that I bought shortly after 1973. It has been with me ever since, moving from house to house and even to Canada and back. As a result the box got battered and it lost a few parts. Getting on for 20 years ago I bought another kit as it was re-release. I am using both kits for this build as some of the early parts, such as the main base and the hanger floor are warped and 'if I was going there I wouldn't start here !
When they were going to discontinue use of these hovering behemoths I took a flight on one, just to Calais and back. Mobile phones had come in, but I hated them. However, I borrowed a phone just so my first call was "Hello Mum, I am on the hovercraft". I saw this same machine, Princess Margaret, a few months later looking very sorry for itself - now just a museum piece.
My original box, released 1973 below and above it the 2002 release.
This fuzzy picture illustrates the warping of the hanger deck
Not all the old stuff is bad. The 1973 roof is the clear one on the left whereas the 2002 one has already yellowed. I will be choosing the clear roof option.
And here you see the start of my build. 'Eee lad, for forty seven years I have dreamed of painting the hanger deck floor that particular brick red'