Supermarine S-4 Schneideer Cup 1925 completed - Airframe vacuformed kit, 1/72

 (this is the completed model post, if you would like to see the step-by-step building article, please go here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/07/supermarine-s-4-schneider-cup-baltimore.html

This little kit from the late Canadian John Tarvin -progenitor of a number of interesting subjects some years ago- was a well-deserved incarnation of one of the most pleasant Schneider Cup designs.

Airframe kits are simple and lack accessories, but many can be built into fair replicas with some patience and skill. In general their plastic is molded rather thin and there is almost no detail, but again, they issued types shunned by the giants. Since all kits are the work of love by someone, it's hard to criticize them, but some have limitations, and needless to say time doesn't help most. Given the configuration of the plane and the limitations of this kit, you are set for a bumpy ride, as with the original plane.

I have seen several of these S-4 completed with skill, so it is not an impossible model, but surely requires some modeling steam.
The marks are from Arctic Decals.

And since we are talking about kits, there is a lesser known kit of the S-4, but its mere name and sight produces kit-building nightmares and conjures visions of modeling horror: the Merlin Models release in 1/72.

Now, I have seen my fair share of Frankenkits, and built many of them, but this Merlin one is absolutely beyond redemption, and the dust bin is too high a fate for it.

I think it is high time that some manufacturer releases a modern kit of this beauty, as it has been done with other racers.

So lets hope that in the future we can build an S-4 kit without having to recruit the help of Fëanor or some other highly skilled elf.