(Photo above from Wikipedia)
The world of aviation presents us with a great variety of designs, spread out through time as the field evolved and also of course further diversifying according to function. I guess that each modeler has its predilections and favorites, but some designs seem to attract more consensus, like in the case of the De Havilland D.H.88 Comet, the Northrop Gamma or the Caudron C.561. But there are those stranger ones that have some staunch following (me included) not because they are beautiful in the common sense of the word, but one would say oddly beautiful. I will submit the Farman Jabiru as an extreme example. In general, it is easier for a racer or a jet design to be admired, but no so much for a cargo plane. And yet there are exceptions. The Shorts Skyvan is one. Stocky, stumpy, boxy, and yet somehow harmonious -besides widely successful- with many still flying and being modeled thanks to an outdated and close to obsolete Airfix kit from 1963 (there are other releases in 1/144 by other manufacturers -Welsh Models and Eastern Express-). To present a contrast in order to clarify my point regarding airplane aesthetics (and bearing in mind that beauty is to a point subjective), I acquired after this Skyvan what I would like to be my next project, a spawn called Bristol 170 Freighter MK31 by Fly Models. It is almost as ungainly and uncouth as the Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta, also (inexplicably given how many beautiful planes that country created) British creations. But back to the Skyvan, I had the “riveting” pleasure of building one OOB two decades ago (2005):
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2017/07/airfix-shorts-skyvan.html
Seemingly not having suffered enough with outdated kits I decided to build yet another Skyvan when I saw by chance online an aftermarket set -issued more than 10 years ago by IPMS Austria- of photoetched parts plus masks and pre-cut windows. Friend and fellow modeler C. Psarras (a Greek Werewolf that transforms when hearing the word “master”) helped me contact the source and Rainer Selisko very kindly and patiently guided me thorough the process of acquiring it. I believe the masks are now OOP, but they may still have the other components. Still, bear in mind that the tariffs of president stupid prevent the shipment from going through the Austrian mail. So, now we can perhaps build a better and more detailed model. Furthermore, the Internet nowadays provides a cornucopia of images, so many different schemes, and such beautiful ones! I decanted for a Finish Skyvan used as a flying laboratory by the Aalto University, and the decal set is being created by Arctic Decals (also from Finland).
We all take potshots at the arch-known fondness for rivets of old Airfix (and very justly so), but in this case the real plane had plenty of those visible, prominently showing especially under certain light angles. But even if they are a bit overscale (but not nearly as much as in earlier Airfix creations) just a light sanding is needed, or for the very brave (surely not me) a deep sanding, re-scribing and riveting again with a proper tool.
This plane, registered OH-SBA, is used as stated as a flying laboratory, thus modified for the function.
Most prominent changes are:
- - a little thimble nose radome
- - a suit of antennas
- - a higher window count (two additional windows added aft of the current ones and one in the middle, but one of kit’s windows coinciding with the -to be added- left cabin door needs deletion)
- - two cabin doors one on each side of the fuselage that open in different ways (down on the left fuselage side and to the front on the other)
- - a modification of the back loading ramp
- ---- a different interior configuration
- - and diverse onboard instruments and external probes that vary depending on the experiment being carried
So, it’s essential to gather photos (that fortunately abound on the Net).
Opening the box brought back memories of struggle and suffering, ill fit, sink holes, stubborn flash, sanding "exercise", warped parts, thick and distorting transparencies and tail-sitting. That is: old Airfix. And yet I suppose you and me should be grateful for their existence. The Skyvan is not really among their worst kits (it was released in 1974 according to Scalemates), but recently I built (again too, I don’t learn) their Fairey Rotodyne, which is a truly despicable and utterly inaccurate kit that they insist on re-issuing without bothering to correct even its most flagrant faults (even in the instructions) for the sake of nostalgia (nostalgia for $$ seemingly).
All that said, the kit I have now seems newer and has fewer sink holes and less flash than the previous one.
There is a pleasure in taking an old or so-so kit and making it into something better, honing those skills, problem-solving, humming (and bitching) along as we recall those golden days of our youth at the Shaolin Modeling Monastery.
This kit has vast representation online, you can see scores of it built, no doubt a preferred design amongst modelers. Some of the builds are outstanding and little master jewels of what you can do with time and skill.
As the Skyvan had though time different powerplants and adds-on (like radomes) and it's such a popular kit, I am surprised that no aftermarket company came up with resin engines, props (four and five blades), spinners and the like.
The box contents. Airfix is famous for their "Maraca Box", with the sprues -and plenty of loose parts- rattling around, scratching the decal sheet and transparencies. Eventually Airfix discovered the plastic sleeve for their newer kits:
Scratchy-scratchy. Thanks Airfix!
The cabin doors and the new windows are opened. Doors will be fabricated from styrene sheet and posed open, so no rivets would be visible. I am mulling over opening the cockpit doors too, or at least one of them, but that will weaken the structure perhaps too much. Food for thought:
I went for one cockpit door open on the left fuselage, as I have a photo of its interior:
To be continued...
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