MY WAVE SKYDIVER BUILD

 Here are some photos I’ve taken of my completed WAVE Skydiver model skimming over the ocean’s surface.

It’s a good size, around 19”, and I believe the model first appeared around 1980. It’s made of vinyl, not the best material to use, as sections of the model arrive distorted and need to be reshaped using hot and cold water. Even after reshaping, parts will annoyingly insist on reverting back to their distorted form.

The hollow main bodies of Sky and Diver need to be filled with something to maintain the shape. Some people have use builders foam or gypsum plaster, with varying success. Overuse the builders foam and the model will expand beyond the desired shape, and using plaster means the model ends up fairly heavy.

For my photos I wanted the model to float, so plaster was out, and even though I have a builders foam gun which would give me some control over the amount of foam inserted I wasn’t sure how the foam would react against the vinyl. Eventually I plumped for tightly packed newspaper. It’s not as rigid of course, but it ticked the boxes for me.

Fitting the parts together takes a little patience as they need reshaping to fit properly. Sky’s wings needed reinforcing with pieces of thin MDF, and Diver’s rear hydroplanes needed additional fixing supports. However, In spite of my pursuit for perfection I soon came to realize that my vinyl modelling skills were limited, as was my patience, so I admit to the odd compromise when it came to putting things together.

When I tackle my next one I may decide to recast some parts in resin.

Unsurprisingly, some filling and sanding is required. I used A.K.  water based modelling putty and some light sand paper.

Vinyl doesn’t like too much sanding, and fine detailing can be easily lost. Like I said before, not the best material for this!

When it comes to painting, following priming I sprayed the model with its overall main colour of Halfords Ford Oyster Gold. Unfortunately, this colour has now been discontinued by Halfords, but luckily my local branch had one can left, plus I had some left over from painting a Skydiver Bandai kit. Any future Skydiver model I build will get a coat of Tamiya Titanium Gold as this looks to me like the closest match. The other colours used are various metallic greys, silvers, and shadow black with the finer details done by hand using different shades of Tamiya acrylic paint.

Next, I gave the model a coat of sealer ready for the application of the decals.

The kit comes with an impressive set of decals, some of which make up long strips over the curved hull, so it’s wise to use plenty of decal softening solution. I find Micro Scale is pretty good.

Finally, the whole model gets a final coat of semi-gloss sealer, and Skydiver is ready to launch!

Overall, I love it, so much so I’ve even bought another one to build thanks to my friend, Tony Freeman. It’s an excellent representation of what we see on screen. Its size is just about right for me, not too big and not too small, and the decals really help its look.

In spite of it being made from vinyl, for the reasonably competent modeller who’s done his or her homework it’s not a particularly hard build unless you’re looking for a total perfection.