1/48 AMT/ERTL S-3A Viking

Gallery Article by Jim Ward on July 4 2003

  US Independence Day  

 

S-3A Viking Sub Hunter/Killer

I've always been a big fan of the S-3 and when I saw Ted Taylor's S-3 entries in the ARC gallery, I knew I wanted to build one. I found one in a local hobby shop and bought it immediately. Upon opening the box, I was immediately impressed with the size! This is one big model! I was also quite pleased with the level of detail. I have not compared this kit to the new Italeri S-3, but I don't think there are too many areas that could be improved upon! The kit contains beautiful recessed panel lines, tinted canopy, large easy to read instructions, nicely detailed weapons, etc.

While I have heard complaints about the cockpit - which is pretty sparse - the tinted canopy prevents anyone from seeing inside. The overall fit was excellent, the only tricky spot being the engine pods. There are several nasty ejector-pin marks at some very visible places on the inside of the pods, where they are nearly impossible to fill and sand flush. I learned this the hard way! After sanding, scraping, filling, re-sanding, and painting the inside of the pods about 10 times, the kit originals were beyond repair. However, thanks to the kindness and generosity of Patrick Spitaels, another set of engines were received and I managed to finish the kit. The only other trouble spot was the landing gear - very fragile and easily broken (again, learned this the hard way despite warnings from others!!)

 

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Having read that the early S-3A didn't have the capacity to carry harpoons, I chose to leave them off and instead put large fuel tanks on the outer pylons. These particular tanks came from an old Tornado kit and may be slightly too large, but I like the effect. 

The decals came from Superscale. As a sidenote, I intended to do this Viking in the markings of VS-21. However, as soon as the large vertical stab markings for VS-21 were put in water, they disintegrated into about 20 small slivers. I contacted Superscale, sent them what remained of the defective decals and they kindly replaced the sheet at no cost. But, as I was trying to finish this kit in time for a local contest, the replacement decals didn't come in time. So, I used the stencils from the kit decals and the VS-32 markings from the first sheet. Now that its done, I think I prefer the VS-32 markings. Gotta' love the blue checkertail!! 

Hope you enjoy!

Jim Ward

      

Photos and text © by Jim Ward