The SOC-3 Seagull was a Scout/Observer carrier based airplane. It was launched by a catapult, and then it could scout for enemy battleships and aid the artillery on hitting its target. Built and used in the early thirties, was retired early in the WW2. However, as its sucessor was a failure, it had to be re-introduced in a hurry, and saw service accross many ships until the end of the war.
Hasegawa is well known as a quality model maker, even from the early days. In fact, most of its detail is adequate, with recessed panel lines. Cockpit has low detail level, but lets not forget that this is a model from early seventies.
But it is a solid work base, its easy to add some extra details, like the seatbelts, small levers. Its not empty. The "landing gear" is nice.
However, you should not criticise the model quality just for the pics I'm showing. This model is old, and I've started building it when it was almost new... And like every kid that starts, attaching "thingys" that are supported by struts, it is a nightmare...
In fact, it was only finished recently, and had to scratch build all of the struts... The original ones have a nice quality, but they were so broken and incomplete, that hey had to be replaced.
And so was the prop.
But this was one of my early models, and most of it survived and could be fixed, which shows that despite its age, it was state of the art at its time.
And there still are a couple of models being sold, and I've used its original decals, which were still surprisingly good! So, if you do find one of these, and are fond of the shinny metal airplanes, get it. Only the cockpit may require some upgrade, but its not that hard.
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