A catch up on a build that has been happening over the last week. Just not posted here.

The second part of the Takom 1/35 Sea Dart kit is the Sea Wolf System.
Again a very neat kit of a nice subject, this is it out of the box.


Given the ongoing retirement of the Sea Wolf system, what about re-using them to value add an alternative Land Based Short Range AA system.
I have read that shipboard they have a pretty complex radar and tracking system, this setup would need a second vehicle as a target acquisition and tracking system, say one per battery.

So the first platform I had in mind was on the M578 Load Carrier.
Got a kit in the stash but tried on an existing Chaparral vehicle for sizing. just by dropping the unmodified Launcher on, so some height that can be removed... hmmm not sure.
With an Armoured Cab like the Tracked Rapier platform it would chunky up a bit though. Perhaps a bit more research on weights. But cool outweighs facts here 

But perhaps more practically, what about the M107/110 Series Hulls.

I am leaning towards the M110 hull just on size and aesthetics.

So into it, full on.
Going with the build of the stash kit and Score !!!  all this after market, which I must have picked up with the kit at the swap meet 
None of which will be used.


Some dwelling and model turning led to the obvious first mod, remove 2 racks and make it a Quad launcher, which also lowers the height a bit.
Added a second crew station, where some air cleaner gubbins are, so sort of tried to make it look like all that has been modded to work.


More bits added, removed the rear sides as I think with a rocket exhaust plume, pretty much useless anyway.


All in all, pretty much that is it, on tracks and most of the bits on


While I was in the mood, also whipped up the 8" gun, easier to store as a  module than yet another sprue of unmade bits. Drop in to the kit anyway and instant Whiffer because of the Extra Crew station

Part 2 is the painting and finishing bit

Greywolf SHORAD. Using redundant Sea Wolf Launchers as they are replaced by CAMMS in the Royal Navy, this demonstrator using redundant SP Artillery chassis could be offered as a cost effective Short Range AA missile system.




For the interested, the paint is SMS British Khaki Green G3 on the chassis and Forest Green for the Missile array, to use something a bit different. Tried for subdued weathering and wear and tear.

To circle around to the beginning, back on the TLC chassis.. and all in all, I could double dip on this missile setup 


it could perhaps do with some rear stabilizers, the full on 8" gun spade would be overkill, but meh. Maybe next time.

Nice idea and well-executed.

The last 6-round conventional Seawolf launchers went with the last Type 22 Batch 3 frigate in 2011. The Seawolf that's been replaced by Sea Ceptor/CAMMS is the vertical launch version. I dare say that VLS Seawolf missiles could be taken off their boosters and reworked into something that could fire from the 6-rounder though. The main thing would be adding the side-mounted rail interface.

There were serious proposals for land-based Seawolf in both conventional and VLS launchers.

The original ship-based system needed an entire room full of 1960s computers to achieve it's automatic missile intercept capability, however you could probably get the same computing power from the average smart phone these days, so it might just be simpler, and certainly smaller, to write some software for a modern general purpose computer and use that. The fire control radar and command guidance aerial array is unavoidably big, but not to the point where you couldn't put it on a vehicle. The upgraded Type 911 actually used a modified version of the land-based Rapier Blindfire system for one of it's two aerials. Above decks equipmnet weighs 1,725 kg, between decks equipment weights 2,155 kg. You could probably reduce that quite a bit by removing some of the extreme weatherproofing and shockproofing features needed on a ship.

The main objection to spending a lot of money on a conversion programme would be that you wouldn't get many systems. Tthere were only ever about 30-40 6-barrelled launchers built, some of them were sold to other navies along with the ships that carried them and some were LONG gone by the time Seawolf was withdrawn from UK service (I've seen at least one up for auction as a collectable!). Having said that, you're reducing the launchers from six rounds to four, so that might enable you to increase the number of launchers by a third if you can make new pedestals to put the spare launch boxes on (shouldn't be too difficult).

That means the end user should either be a special use case, an emergency we-need-anything-now situation, or a small nation that wouldn't buy many units of any air defence system. How about Chile? They have a long history of taking all the stock of end-of-line British weapons and wringing the last drop of value out of them. They also converted their 2nd hand Type 22 frigates to use the Israeli Barak missile, so they might have some extra 6-barrel launchers lying about.

Reminds me of the Wolverine from GI Joe.    Just needs a 1/35 Cover Girl to go along with it.

Quote from: scooter on January 15, 2026, 07:43:07 PMJust needs a 1/35 Cover Girl to go along with it.

That could apply to almost anything...   

Nice job, Brian! 

Quote from: buzzbomb on January 15, 2026, 04:13:30 PMBut cool outweighs facts here

It always does.   

Cool, I like it! 

I also like that. It has a certain rightness about it.

Nice.  I like that.

But surely if you're firing missiles then no recoil and no need for a gunspade?  Or is that not what its for?

That's very nice   

Quote from: zenrat on January 16, 2026, 03:35:24 AMBut surely if you're firing missiles then no recoil and no need for a gunspade?  Or is that not what its for?

The spades were also used so the guns could self-dig their own firing pits, for a bit of extra protection from return fire - could do the same for the AA version.

Besides which, I don't think it's on the completed build.

Very nice concept and build. 

I can see the system on the flatbed Stormer, or the proposed flatbed Warrior.

I like this 

Excellent whiffery!

Very very cool build ..thats really neat    .
You really wouldn't need spades on that Buzzy mate ..you can lock the suspension on that chassis which stop it from any leaning when fired which it really wouldn't do anyway ..missiles that size don't have that much recoil ..not enough to warrant spades .