1/48 Italeri S-3B Viking

Gallery Article by Omar Quintero on May 30 2016

 

      

Itīs been a long time since I submitted an article to ARC, but itīs time to come back, and this time with the old but still great kit of the 1/48 S-3 Viking by Esci, re-boxed by Italeri as an S-3B.

Originally crafted by Esci, this kit first appeared on the market in 1983, and its delicate panel lines and surface details still look nice by todayīs standards. In 1994 and 1995, this kit was re-boxed and issued again by AMT, and Italeri did the same in 2010 and 2014. This is still the only S-3 Viking in 1/48 scale available.

The kit has its issues specially regarding the details (or lack of any.!) of the cockpit, landing gear bay and torpedo bay, which means you need to do some work in those areas. I used as a main reference the magnificent Verlindenīs Lock On magazine, that shows plenty of photographs and close ups.

Before I started, I had already decided to replace the cockpit with the Wolfpack resin cockpit set, and to open up an electronic bay in the right rear of the plane, according to pictures showing it. So thatīs how it started...

First I focused on building from scratch the electronic bay, with the help of some Evergreen 1 mm plastic sheet and some wires and resin boxes from leftovers. The kit comes in the usual grey soft plastic used by Italeri, so cutting it was very easy. Once satisfied with the looks and similarity to the pics I was looking at, bay was painted and installed on the left fuselage. Then I turned my attention to the resin cockpit following reference pictures from the web and the reference magazine. This resin makes a big difference in the model, even though the canopy is tinted and as we all know, little can be seen inside once installed in place. Nevertheless, itīs a nice addition and it truly makes a difference. All this set needs is care and careful painting to bring all the details to life. Once painted the cockpit was installed and glued in place, not without some difficulties, and some sanding was required for it to fit properly.

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Once the cockpit and the electronic bay were on place, I started to assemble the fuselage and wings which were left unglued as I wanted to turn my attention the the empty wheel bay and torpedo bay. Even though this is a kit from the 80īs, very little filler was needed. At this stage, I realized that all antennas on the fuselage needed to be removed in order to sand properly, and so it was done. Once the fuselage was closed I started to work first on the landing gear bay, which I tried my best to reproduce. I think I could have done a better job on this area, but at the end, not much of it can be seen as most of it is hidden by the landing gear doors.

Next, assembly of the intakes was done and as I expected, alot of difficult work is required in order to eliminate the seam on the inside of them. Just patience and minutes of sanding, filling and priming until I was satisfied with the result. Not an easy task.!

Finally the rest of parts were attached and again, very little or no filler was needed. Surface primer was applied looking for any seams, and after a few corrections here and there, model was ready for paint.

There are lots of beautiful decorations for the Viking, but I finally opted for AeroMaster decals "Vikings of the Fleet Part 5", that includes markings for a VS-21 aircraft, USS Independence in Atsugi, Japan in 1994. Model was painted with a mix of Model Master paints, as the color called by the instructions didnīt seem quite right according to all the reference pictures that I had in hand, so I tried to match it accordingly the closest I could. Decals attached perfectly to the painted surface, showing no signs of silvering.

Now, time to start the fun... Most of the photos that can be found of Vikings, show aircraft very weathered and worn. I like to weather my models, and though I couldnīt find a picture of the specific aircraft I was building, I decided to take some "artistic license" and go for a weathered look according to the pictures I had in hand. Weathering was done applying very diluted different variations of the base color, in specific areas. This was done with darker and lighter shades, until I found the look was somehow what I was looking for. Finally, some touch ups and highlights were done with oil paints and all accessories and armament were glued in place.

I had wanted to have a Viking on my shelf for a long time, and as most modellers, I had relegated this kit to my stash for some time until I realized I may never build all the kits waiting in their boxes and took out a couple right away to my bench. At the end, I am happy with the final outcome. I hope you all like it as well.

Regards,

Omar R. Quintero

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Photos and text Đ by Omar R. Quintero