Simian Stuff, 1/48 Saunders Roe SR-53 Jocket Jet experimental Aircraft

[Colin W]

This a model of the Saunders Roe SR-53 mixed jet and rocket aircraft from the recent cast resin 1/48 kit. Something many of us thought was in RAF service in the 1960's thanks to Airfix releasing their kit  in the 1950's. Well that was in 1/72 but we had to wait another 60 years for a kit in 1/48. The real aircraft survives at RAF Cosford.

So here it is, my model of the SR-53, a key British Aircraft of the 1950's. I have never heard of the manufacturer before, 'Simian Stuff', but first impressions are good.

The kit comes in a stout box with the resin parts sealed in plastic. The main parts are individually sealed with the smaller parts in groups. A good, strong looking undercarriage and nose weight are cast in white metal. Detail in the cockpit and wheel wells is excellent and the nose probe is fine and beautiful. I replaced mine with a needle set in Milliput though as I cannot trust myself not to knock the resin one off. There are 2 vacformed canopies and a set of decals for both planned aircraft. These have no white printed, which is fine on a white plane but will be problematic if building an in service scheme!

The kit has what appears to be the best set of instructions for a resin / limited run kit so far Thanks to @BritJet.

Heres whats in the box

 

 

There are some good alignment tabs on this kit but a jig is still a good idea to get everything square

 

 

Some filler required as well as a bit of fettling but less than most resin kits.

 

 

Heres the finished model

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who wouldn?t want red missiles with blue fins? Yes, well maybe as it was in the 1950's!

 

This was a great little kit and cudos to Simian Stuff/ Herritage Aviation for making it. A few minor improvements could be made but right now its already very good.

 

This was built in the Group build section of Britmodeller under the 'Experimental, Prototypes and Special Schemes Mega Group Build'

 

Build Thread here

 

Colin

[Horatio Gruntfuttock]

That's a very nice result from resin kit. Great finish and construction. Such a pretty little jet.

[stevej60]

Look's superb.

[BritJet]

Very well done, this is the first one I've seen built.

 

Steve

[roginoz]

I built one of these in the 50's.......didn't look like that !!

 

Very nice indeed, and added to my 'wants' list. Wonder if I've been good enough to score one for Crimbo..........

Rog

[russ c]

Great looking SR there Colin, really nice work