I like big kits. In fact, a lot of people like big kits. We all buy them. Some of us build them. Few of us have big models.  Hasegawa's P-3C Orion fits into the big kits but not many big models category. I have built one over the last 30 years and did it in the white and orange VXN-8 scheme. It looked great, won contests, and was utterly destroyed during moves. The carcass is still hanging about somewhere.

This particular sheet is from the early 1980s and was one of several P-3 sheets that Microscale/Superscale produced. I can only guess that they were not sterling sellers as they hung around for a long time and now are nearly impossible to find.

It has markings for three aircraft, all in the white over light gull grey livery. For those of you who pay attention to things, you'll notice that the non-tactical aircraft like the P-3, S-3, and H-3  wore white on the top while the tactical aircraft like the F-14, F-4, A-7 and so on wore the white on the bottom. Just a bit of trivia. The sheet includes enough common markings for what seems to be two aircraft. You'll also notice that these are all P-3B aircraft. easy enough to make as they had no FLIR...oops....IRDS and probably had the LLTV pod. The super B's were retrofitted, but that is another story. Radome is black.

There are markings for three planes. One is the blue sharks of VP-6 a 'western' Orion based at Barbers Point, Hawaii. You can tell by the rainbow on the fin fillet. I saw these guys when I was stationed at Barbers and again in Diego Garcia and again in Guam. Next in line is LS/10 from VP-60, a reserve squadron and I don't know where it was based but I'll guess Memphis or Chicago, and the final one is from VP-8 based in Maine. I saw these guys when I was stationed in Iceland, though without their colorful tails as they were removed in 1986 and didn't return until the early 1990s.

Anyway, a colorful sheet and if you are planning a P-3 model, it may be worth searching out.

Sheet courtesy of me.

May 2005