1/48 AMT S-3B Viking

Gallery Article by David “drhornii” Horn on Jan 10 2011

 

S-3B Viking VS-22 “Checkmates”

On November 8th, 1998, there was a fatal aircraft accident involving an EA-6B Prowler and an S-3B Viking aboard the US aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. During practice night landings, a Viking landed then started to taxi clear the landing area however it was unable to fully clear the landing area. This situation caused a condition called a “fouled deck” however the LSO (landing signal officer) did not notice this condition at that time. Next to land was an EA-6B and approaching fast, the LSO finally called foul deck but it was too late. The Prowler collided with the back end of the Viking then continued off the end of the carrier. The Viking crew, anticipating the collision, ejected through a fireball just after impact. The Prowler crew did eject but unfortunately none of the four person crew survived. The Viking crew did survive the accident.

This Viking represents the S-3B lost that evening. A friend was onboard the Enterprise when the collision occurred and was one of the first fire hoses on the crash scene. Chris also went inside the aircraft to shut down the starboard engine which was still running (same side as the entry door!). This model was built to honor the aviators involved in the crash and the crew of the USS Enterprise.

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There are a lot of aftermarket sets used as well as some scratch building for this build. I started gathering the AMT kit and goodies about 15 years ago and finally decided to build this kit just after I purchased the Goffy Model cockpit and wheel bay/weapons bay set at the 2009 IPMS nationals.

Starting with the interior parts, I had to make provisions for the aft crew station. The Goffy set made the blow out panels as one piece per side so surgery was required to represent the panels as real maintenance is being performed. The blow out panels are part of a frame work and that section is removed from the aircraft during maintenance. The opening is much larger than during ejection. I had to add structural details to represent this and I found only one picture on the web showing this.

Next I had to get the cockpit and wheel bay to fit together. Both being from Goffy, you would think they would easily fit but a large amount of material had to be removed from both areas with many parts so thin, they broke through then grinding away. For some reason, I decided to add the fold down steps on the right side of the fuselage behind the wing, I just kept adding more details. Next on the cut list was openings for the avionics bays that are included on the Goffy sets. The final fuselage mod was to add an opened APU exhaust and a small mesh screen below the APU.

For the wings & tail, I used the classic Paragon wing fold set that was the first aftermarket item I purchased about 15 years ago. This little resin set is a real piece of art and IMHO, the finest resin set ever made. One word of warning, protect the little hinge sections, I broke a few and lost a couple. Also, follow the directions carefully when cutting the wings, measure twice and cut once. I was worried about the wing folds being able to support the weight so I made the wing braces but they were not really needed. For the wing tip pods, I scratch built the details and made resin copies. For control surfaces, I cut the ailerons and elevators repositioning them. 

The undercarriage was next on the to do list. The kit nose gear strut is poorly detailed and is not included in the Goffy set. The launch bar was a solid chunk of plastic and needed to be thinned out and detail added. The main gear struts were provided in the Goffy set however the finely detailed wheels came from Royale Resin. The engines were cleaned up a little and the intake is a fine product by “Eric Mark”. The real “icing on the cake is the carrier deck display base with VS-22 logo produced at 3 wire design.

David “drhornii” Horn

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Photos and text © by David “drhornii” Horn