The Seaview from Moebius review by George Belknap part 2

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Several pieces make up the FS bay (photo 10).The neat thing here is that they made it so you could lock the FS into it by inserting the top hatch area of the FS into a peg that comes out of the bay’s ceiling. With a simple twist you can lock the FS in and unlock it with another twist. Nice touch.

The manta ray bottom and flying sub bay doors (photo 11) are molded seperately. I will probably rig up something with magnets to allow the bay doors to be removed. The manta fins hve light cavities molded into them to allow for lighting if you so desire. In fact the kit has been molded to allow for lighting. The channels molded into the fins (photo 12) allow for either wiring or fiber optics to recreate the lights at the end of the fins. There are included several clear pieces for the various light lenses around the ship.

This sprue (photo 13) contains the parts for the Flying Sub, the mini sub and the Nelson Institute diving bell. If you’re going to produce the Seaview it should be a law that you must include the Flying Sub. This vehicle became an important part of the show’s 2nd thru 4th seasons. Moebius has fashioned up a fine little model of the FS (photos 14,15 and 16). They even thought to include a little Aurora style base to mount the FS on. Like the Seaview’s hull pieces the Flying sub goes together very nicely. A good glue seam and a little sanding and you’ll never see the seams between FS’s top and bottom halves. The FS is alittle jewel of a kit all by itself. Rumor has it that the FS, mini sub and diving bell maybe available in their own little kit in the near future. I know I’ll buy one if that happens.

There has been some grumbling about the instructions for this kit. The truth is they’re fine. If you can read you can assemble this kit with no problem. In fact anybody that has been building for awhile and knows the Seaview can probably assemble this kit without instructions. For all it’s size there really isn’t all that many parts. A kit this big you would think would have at least twice as many parts. Moebius was able to keep the parts number down yet still provide a nicely detailed kit.

Along with the instructions there is also a painting guide. Don’t miss it, it’s on the back of an ad for more Moebius models. The little surprize is an eight page booklet that gives the history of the Seaview models along with photographs of David Merriman’s restoration of the 17 foot studio model. Nice bonus, indeed!

In conclusion, this is the model we’ve been waiting over 40 years to be produced. The molding and fit are excellent. The little details are amazing in my opinion. While it may not be a 100% perfect reproduction of the 17 foot model it’s close enough for me. I seriously doubt that we’ll ever see a mass produced kit of this subject that come closer than this.

Moebius did their homework and produced a winner. Well worth every penny you pay for a copy. Thanks to Frank Winspur and everyone involved in producing this kit for the rabid fans.

Now, I don’t know about you but I’ve waited 40 years for this kit!

To the workbench!!!

George Belknap