by Louis Carabott
1/350 HMS Invincible, 1982 (Airfix Kitbash)
On release of the Airfix Illustrious kit I decided to convert HMS Illustrious, at present, to HMS Invincible during the Falkland Conflict in 1982 which is completely different in all aspects to the Airfix offering. A different ship and a different era.
The bow of the ship had to be completely changed so everything was taken off including the ski jump, and rebuilt from scratch using 20 thou plastic card. The ski jump had to be scratchbuilt using only the slope-y part of the take off run of the kit. The blast shield and the Sea Dart missile launcher was also scratchbuilt. Detail on the bow was added using the odd parts of a motherboard, plastic bits and pill capsules!
Alterations were also made to the hull, especially on the port side. The sponson in the boat area had to be taken off and the opening altered to accommodate a launch instead of a dinghy.
The island also had to be radically changed to accommodate the bulbous radomes which, incidentley, were fashioned from the rubber squeezing part of pipettes. The main mast was also altered. Detail was added to the bridge and the island side walls mainly consisting of extra lighting and CC units, new piping and trunking and fire prevention systems. Extra boating equipment, one sloop and a small launch on the starboard side had to be scratchbuilt as Invincible carried 3 on starboard and two on the port side.
The sponson on the port stern side of the ship was taken off and the stern was reshaped completely.
The hangar was also detailed creating a busy atmosphere.
The Seakings 7 has 5’s and 2HC4’s from HMS Hermes were all modified from the Tamija SH3H American version as well as the Harriers which were originally AV8’s which came from Commander Models.
The model was painted in a mixture of acrylics enamels and oils. Contrary to what may seem RN Vessels are always in a clean freshly painted finish. But after consulting a myriad of pictures of the Invincible it showed that the vessel was quite weathered ….the top sections of the masts which were originally black were overpainted in grey en route in the Atlantic…so were the undersides of the Harriers…I tried to create an impression of soot from number one funnel on the main mast as shown in various pictures.
White Ensign Photoetching was used to detail the ship.
Reference
From the Bridge HMS Invincible by Leo Marriott.
Harrier Carriers Vol1 HMS Invincible by Neil McCart.
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