First things first: I want to thank Mr. Frank Winspur and his associate, Mr. David Metzner, for sending me a test-shot of the Moebius SEAVIEW kit. Their effort to keep me in the loop on this project is most appreciated. It is with the kind permission of these gentlemen that I give you here a blow-by-blow account of what the kit looks like.
 
And I would be remise if I did not also publicly acknowledge Steve Iverson (CultTVman) who put me onto the Moebius SEAVIEW project in time to be of some assistance with research and resources. Thank you, Steve You are a true friend of the industry.
 
OK, readers: keep in mind as you drool over the pretty pictures here, this example of the kit is a test-shot -- an initial pressing of kit parts, intended to check machine performance and parts fit. There may be things incorporated on the production kits that differ from what is presented here; so, take my observations as a general description of how the kit will look when you open your box.
 
Your kit(s) should be here next month. I have two trustworthy Internet sources for the kit for you to go to. Both offering the product at a very reasonable price. I highly recommend them both as your point of purchase:
 
Caswell Platting,   This outfit is also making available a specialized 'fittings kit' for the SEAVIEW, which will comprise the resin and metal parts needed to super-detail and convert the SEAVIEW kit into a practical r/c model submarine. Additionally, Caswell will be selling the D&E Miniatures SEAVIEW SubDriver -- a unit that will handle the propulsion, ballast, and control functions aboard the model.
 
And the CultTVman Hobby Shop,  A good place to go if you simply want a stock SEAVIEW, ready to be built into a static display piece.
 
In this chapter I'll lay out the test-shot SEAVIEW kit for you to look over while I offer some commentary. In later chapters I'll assemble the thing and convert it to r/c operation.
 
I took care to throw the lighting off to the side in order to capture shadows from the high-relieve items on the kit parts; the color disparity between shots is a consequence of using a mix of flash and incandescent lighting -- I'm interested here in presenting you the detailing of the kit components, not consistency of color from one shot to the next.
 
 
Thirty-nine frig'n inches long!!!!
 
There it is, boys and girls. The Moebius 1/128 scale, SEAVIEW injection formed model kit, in all its glory.
 
The ever critical, unsolicited advice giving, unashamed name-dropping, booger-pickers at SM have nothing ... NOTHING to bitch about here!
 
This kit is just about perfect! I've been watching the Internet reaction since the project was first announced, and the only reasonable discussions I've seen have been brief, bright, and relevant -- and exclusively at the CultTVman site. How have the other boards handled the news? Well, I'll put it this way: stupid, pointless, and vacant. Typical for a bunch of get-a-lifes who can't seam to jerk themselves away from the keyboard.
 
 
The Observation Compartment and Control Room interiors -- what you will see when you peep through those four big clear windows at the bow. The Chinese did some simply amazing things here. We have Fred Barr to thank for the accuracy of this area of the model kit -- the engineering of these parts captures the documents Fred first published in his fan magazine, Seaview Soundings, many moons ago.
 
 
The eight-foot and seventeen-foot effects miniatures differed in how their window frames looked -- the smaller miniatures had a slightly raised frame around the window seams. The big miniature did not. Moebius gives us a choice!
 
 
Attaching to the bottom of the control room deck sits the roof piece of the FLYING-SUBMARINE (FS-1) hangar bay. Though this wealth of detail never existed on the actual seventeen-foot miniature, it was suggested by some translucent back-lit semi-opaque bulkheads and masks. If I were to engineer this space, I would have been proud to have come up with the above arrangement. More of Fred Barr's work I think.