The Albatross continues
I think I was successful in splicing the Alley Cat canopy with the Trumpeter nose piece, building up the sides with milliput to get the distinctive curve below the canopy that Trumpeter missed. I also included a picture of the Alley Cat hull laid over the kit part. AC did get the curve better, but not quite right either, coupled with the poor fit I decided to go with the kit parts, they look good. A couple of notes on the build, the side windows fit poorly , trimming the edges down however will get them to fit flush, also on the starboard side aft of the hatch there is a round window that should not be there, I puttied over it and sanded it smooth. Generally the fit is excellent, but somehow I ended up with a gap between the fuselage and wheel well. I can squeeze it closed, but will wait until I get the wings on to be sure I don't create another harder to fix problem. So forging ahead!
Admirable effort, and hope you don't end up in the rubber walled room as a result.
LOL, no rubber room or straight jacket, the kit is great and only takes some basic modeling skills to bring up to snuff. I will have to angle the flats and drop tanks correctly and that will probably be the extent on my efforts. I know the "list" of errors for this kit is long, but it will look the part when done.
From what I can tell, the finished kit will look great...can't wait to see it.
Nice job so far, thanks for the detail info in regard to your progress on the Albatross. This is such a unique plane, that normally I wouldn't be interested, but seeing your WIP I will go get one, and taking notes as a reference on yours. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts as you continue your adventure.
Fly Navy
Chuck
Nice work thus far. We had the last flying HU-16 near the barracks and I had my workforce hang lights on it for Christmas. And Santa in the pilot's seat.
Glad to hear you might pick get one Chuck, it is really a pretty good kit. For me the biggest thing was the canopy area, followed by the fact that the wing tip floats should be canted slightly forward. I think that will be a simple problem to fix as will the drop tanks which I believe should be angled as well. I did not spend a large amount of time on the interior as it will mostly disappear once closed up. Here is the best build review I have found, note it points out most of, but does not fix the various problems with the kit. He did miss the port hole in the stbd aft section, and the fact the engines are not the correct type. Personally I think the engines look close enough especially in the close cowl the plane has.
http://ipmsphilippines.com/reviews/trumpeter-148-hu-16a-albatross-build-review/
that's gonna be a beauty
Rob,
Looks beautiful so far and the finished model will be gorgeous. Look forward to seeing the finished model.