1959 - SR-N1 Hovercraft

[Black Knight]

In 1959, as well as me, the Austin Se7en & Morris Mini Minor arriving in the world, Christopher Cockerell introduced us to the Hovercraft

He had been working on the concept for some years but it was only in June 1959 that the SR-N1 (Saunders-Roe Nautical 1) was shown to the public

 

I was given this old kit fairly recently. 

I have no idea if it is even complete. As long as no real major parts are missing I reckon I can maybe scratch build the odd part.

It will be just about out-of-the-bag OOB, although I can already see that those decals are too far gone

If any major part is missing which I cannot make this build will be abandoned - you have been warned!

 

 

See youse later

 

[Rabbit Leader]

That's a great addition to this GB Black Knight! 

Here's hoping all the bits are intact and you can finish her off good and proper. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants one of these rare old kits so it will be a real pleasure having you onboard and building something that says a lot about 1959. 

 

Cheers and warm welcome.. Dave

[Black Knight]

I opened the bag this morning.

Very bad news. 

Many of the major parts are there but some are missing, along with almost all the small parts.

The biggest main part missing is the top part of one of the side ducts.

There are few parts to make the cabin; just the seats. 

 

This is going to be a slow burner.

I think I can make a rubber mould copy of the duct then cast a copy in resin. They appear to be the same.

The lower front of the cabin will be the real hard part.

 

There's gonna be a lot of plastic card, wire and Milliput in this one

First up, two things

1.  see about making that rubber mould, at the weekend

2.  find a kit that has all its parts as a quick build for this GB

[Rabbit Leader]

That’s a shame BK. This might not be worth all the effort and heartache unless you’re super keen to have a good crack. The GB hasn’t started as yet so no ones gonna make a fuss if you decide to tackle something else. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Mr T]

1 hour ago, Black Knight said:

I opened the bag this morning.

Very bad news. 

Many of the major parts are there but some are missing, along with almost all the small parts.

The biggest main part missing is the top part of one of the side ducts.

There are few parts to make the cabin; just the seats. 

 

This is going to be a slow burner.

I think I can make a rubber mould copy of the duct then cast a copy in resin. They appear to be the same.

The lower front of the cabin will be the real hard part.

 

There's gonna be a lot of plastic card, wire and Milliput in this one

First up, two things

1.  see about making that rubber mould, at the weekend

2.  find a kit that has all its parts as a quick build for this GB

This s a shame. Iwould like a SRN1, but the cheapest I have seen 

A couple recently were £50 and £55.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

That’s a shame BK. This might not be worth all the effort and heartache unless you’re super keen to have a good crack. . . . 

 

6 minutes ago, Mr T said:

This s a shame. Iwould like a SRN1, but the cheapest I have seen 

A couple recently were £50 and £55.

Thats why I'll see if I can build this.

As far as I can see the only parts which will stump me a bit are 4 off the same shape which attach to the inner sides of the ducts. They kinda look like 1940s/50s truck jacks

 

My instructions are 'locate and cement' with just one exploded diagram but the shapes aren't drawn very well

I've downloaded better instructions from the Airfix Tribute Forum which shows the parts better.

Between them I should get something sorted

 

I'll photo the parts later and show you what I have. I think I have just enough to be getting on.

This can be built.

 

No kit will escape!

Prepare to be assemblelated!

[Mr T]

Best of luck, the original Airfix instructions from the plastic bag era relied on the builder having some nodding acquaintance with aircraft/ship/armour/car/whatever terminology and were not always terribly precise. The instructions for the spaceship kit in 'Down With Skool' chime with that era. My favourite was for a Pyro kit of a pistol that would have you join both halves before putting the bits supposed to be on the inside. 

The SRN1 is the top of my wants list and I have suggested it for the Vintage Classics range and I think I am not alone. 

[Hockeyboy76]

Good Luck BK. Glad your having a crack, even with some missing pieces. 

[Black Knight]

Here's the parts wot I have;

 

 

 

 

The decals. As bad as they are I'm going to have to rescue them. The standard white and black letters I can produce from my decal files but the logo and and the shadow writing I cannot print up myself

 

A scan of the instructions on the inside of the header;

 

I've broken the instructions into four sections, cleaned them up a bit and circled the missing parts. The parts with a red circle or oval round them I think I can reproduce.

This is as much use to me as it is to youse to see what is missing

 

1st quarter, 

parts 13 & 14 = gate valves

part 41 = rear rudder

part 38 = roof of pilots' cabin

part 30 = pilot

 

2nd quarter,

part 7 = fan

part 6 should have a pin down from its centre but this has broken off

part 20 = lower half of petrol tank

 

3rd quarter,

part 29 = pilot

part 37 = pilots' cabin glazing

part 34 = pilots' cabin front

 

4th quarter,

(part 20 = lower half of petrol tank ~ already mentioned in 2nd quarter)

part 22 = lower half of oil tank

part 15 = upper part of main ducts

part 42 = rear rudder

parts 11 & 12 = gate valves

 

Easy peasy.

I reckon a good bit can be built to the stage where that main duct piece needs added.

The pilot's cabin can be built up easier with the ducts not in place

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jinxman]

Good  luck with scratching those missing bits up - I'd love it if Airfix saw fit to put this one out again.

 

Looking forward to seeing it come together.

[Rabbit Leader]

35 minutes ago, Jinxman said:

I'd love it if Airfix saw fit to put this one out again

Your not alone Jinxman and I reckon a little reissue like this could make them a motza of short term money! 

Anyway, let's hope you can hone your scratch building skills to make up what's missing there BK. It'll be a great effort when you get there. 

 

Cheers and all the best.. Dave 

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Jinxman said:

Good  luck with scratching those missing bits up - I'd love it if Airfix saw fit to put this one out again.

yeah, and they'll do that about a week after I've finished this one  

 

Past story; a friend spent months scratch building a Shorts Skyvan in 1/72, using plans supplied by Shorts. One month after he finished it Airfix issued their kit of it.

[Colin W]

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

 

The decals. As bad as they are I'm going to have to rescue them. The standard white and black letters I can produce from my decal files but the logo and and the shadow writing I cannot print up myself

Just a suggestion I've used before. 

Make up the lettering in MS word then apply word art to create a blue shadow. Print onto white decal paper. You can then cut away the white outside of the shadow and be left with the white letters and the shadow merges into the background colour. The closer you can match the blue ink and the blue paint the better it will be. 

Colin 

[Black Knight]

Thats an idea Colin.

I use a DTP for my decals. I may have to down-load a font to do it though. I don't think I have the right one in among the several thousand fonts I have

There'll be time enough for experimenting

[PeterB]

Airfix decals from that period are usually pretty robust - have you considered putting them in a plastic bag in your window and bleaching out the yellowing. Might take a while depending on the weather but worked with my Firefly decs. Alternatively, scanning them into a "paint program" such as Paint Shop Pro would allow you to clean them up pixel by pixel - laborious but not difficult, and then print them on white decal paper. I have done that a few times and it worked well enough though you then have to blend them in with a paint brush to get rid of the white outline.

 

Good luck.

 

Pete

Edited August 3, 2019 by PeterB

[Black Knight]

I do have a uv light box thingy I use for de-yellowing old decals. I will put them in that first and then put some LDF on them and see where that takes us

[noelh]

Just found this thread. 1959 as it happens is my birthday too. The other connection is that I had several dozen SRN1 kits at one stage. I came across them in a Dublin model shop being sold for peanuts. Clearly they had surfaced in some warehouse somewhere along with lots of other old Airfix kits. I bought the lot and sold them on for a tidy profit to a shop in London. I kept some back but I've no idea if I still have them. They might be in storage but most likely gone. 

[Rabbit Leader]

12 hours ago, noelh said:

I kept some back but I've no idea if I still have them

Now that would be a virtual goldmine should they ever re-surface. No chance you could fling one my way is there?? 

Cheers.. Dave  

[noelh]

Ha ha the gold mine comparison is apt. Because I'd have do a lot of digging to find one of those nuggets. With no guarantee of a return. A lot of my stuff is in storage at the moment because of a potential house move. There may be a survivor lurking somewhere. 

 

I wonder what happened to all the others I sold to shop in Lavender Hill? 

[Black Knight]

I'll get back on this soon-ish. 

I've been getting some builds meant for SMW finished up or nearly so

[Rabbit Leader]

On 10/4/2019 at 5:04 PM, Black Knight said:

I'll get back on this soon-ish. 

I've been getting some builds meant for SMW finished up or nearly so

All good BK. With a few household projects taking priority, I'm struggling to get back onto my build as well. 

Cheers and thanks for the update. 

[Black Knight]

I'm still busy getting models finished for display at Telford.

However

Today I 'won' something on ebay. The seller listed the items including one certain one thing as per a label stuck on it, which is wrong. I got the lot for not very much. I'll give away the boat maybe and sell the diecast aeroplanes at a model car fair in November

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/matchbox-hawk-mk-1-tonka-spitfire-hurricane-airfix-westland-scout-narrow-boat-/323946614096?nma=true&si=I4%2BOydqceIwM9GxZq7TFYd%2BseDU%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

[Rabbit Leader]

Nice win BK, that'll certainly help out with a few of your missing parts.. bargain! 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Black Knight]

My ebay 'win' arrived this morning.

Here it is before it goes into the paint stripper and after that the freezer for prep for dismantling. I can get several of the items I need off this scrap one. The starboard side ducting has all its rudder mounts. I think the ducts are exactly the same on both sides so this strbrd side will become my port side one

 

. . . . and before anyone suggests it ; NO, I will not be attempting to make 2 good SR-N1s!

[Jinxman]

That's a great find. Looking forward to seeing the salvage operation.

 

Of course it can only be a matter of time before Airfix re-release it now. 😀 That might make a few of us very happy.