I was thrilled when I heard that PL was going to release the old Aurora Seaview kit. Sure, it's got more than it's share of inaccuracies but I don't care. This is one of those kits I remember fondly from my childhood.

This started out as a straight out of the box kit. Somewhere I had a change of heart and decided on some modifications. I had bought the Skyhook conversion kit and decided I was going to use it. This was after I had already completed most of the construction on the model. That meant cracking the hull open, removing the clear nose and removing the bottom of the kit to fit in the resin cast piece. Planning things out in advance can sure save you a heck of a lot of work. I suppose there's something to be said for spur of the moment decisions.

Once I had accomplished all that I then decided to flatten the top of the conning tower. I ground that down until it was reasonably flat and then sanded it smooth. I then replaced the radar/periscope stack from the kit with some turned brass rods and a photoetched radar antenna.

I went ahead and sanded off the molded hatches on the conning tower. Those were replaced with photoetched hatches. The sonar hump on the bow was cut off and replaced with the two side humps in the Skyhook kit. My last bit of modification was to cut off the lower rear fins and place them in the correct positions. Removing them from the propulsion tubes will leave you with a flat spot on the said tubes. I filled that with epoxy putty and sanded them to their correct shape. With the engines in place I tacked the fins on with some 5 minute epoxy. While the epoxy dried I had time to get them in alignment. Once they were securley on I began filling with putty. Some filling and sanding sessions later she was ready for paint.

I sprayed the model first with Craftint white. Once dry I masked the bottom and spray with Craftint Slate Gray. The missile hatches were painted with a blue/gray mixture of Model Master paint. The bow windows were given a coat of Testors flat black. Once they were dry I put a thin coat of Micro Scales Crystal Clear to smooth out imperfections. This was then covered with a coat of Future.

For the light lenses on the fins I clamped the model in a vise tail side down. I then applied a small glob of Crystal Clear to each fin and let it dry. Keeping the tail down lets the Crystal Clear dry in a drop shape. These also got a coat of Future.

There you have it. Not exactly as I remember her but I bought a few of these so I can still build one staright from the box.

Note: The Skyhook conversion kit (no longer available} does come with a very neat little Flying Sub. Originally intended for this model. While I was painting the FS I dropped it and broke one of the fins of the rear. It's fixable but just haven't found the time to sit down and fix her. Someday soon.

George Belknap