WildBill50 Posted September 11, 2013 Report Share Posted September 11, 2013 Hello all, Summer is over and one more model is on the shelf. I had to get the Ajax since it was re-issued. I've always liked this SAM as a kid. There was one by the VFW in my hometown growing up and I always thought it was cool to see out in front of the building. No one really took care of it though and it finally fell over one night due to it rusting away. Now there is a Hercules near where I live at the Post office. The kit overall is pretty nice, but there are ejector pin marks on a lot of pieces and also mold separation lines to clean up on all of the pieces. A couple of sink marks here and there to be filled with some putty. Once you get all of this cleaned up there is a nice little model in there. Not being a fan of working parts, everything on the missile is glued on its "no-show glue areas". This means no working fins (darn). The launcher was built in sections and painted in those same sections. I added some wiring to the machinery and klaxon horn and then put it all together and painted the resulting seam lines. A light weathering with some aluminum paint and colored pencils and the launcher was done. Decals were nice with no problems encountered. I painted the missile with flat white Krylon spray paint, overcoated with Dutch Boy Gloss White spray paint. The launcher was painted with MM Olive Drab Acryl paint with Testor's Rubber for the launcher pads feet. The Hercules was built some time ago. I wish they were the same scale. The Herc is 1/40th scale, so you can see that it would be quite a bit larger in the same scale as the Ajax. Hope you like it, and as always comments welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wenwsaew1977 Posted September 12, 2013 Report Share Posted September 12, 2013 A well built kit. I was a radar operator at a Nike-Hercules missile battery,out in California. Revell made a model of the Nike-Hercules, and I brought it, but the instructions are in italian. But I figured it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aAzZ09 Posted September 29, 2013 Report Share Posted September 29, 2013 Well done! Back in the 1950s, when I was a kid, I remember seeing these SAMS at the local Army depot in Duncanville, Texas c. 1958-62. They are long gone. Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBill50 Posted October 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Thanks guys. Fun to build, cool subject. Four colors to paint, with no crazy masking. What's not to like on this build? The local Nike site near my house is now the village civil defense office. All underground where the missile battery was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Bell Posted October 1, 2013 Report Share Posted October 1, 2013 Since we're talking Nikes.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumterIII Posted October 4, 2013 Report Share Posted October 4, 2013 (edited) Many many years ago Estes had a Nike Ajax, a two stage version. I had one successful flight and decided to try the biggest motor available at that time. She went up up and away and I never saw it again...oh well...My dad was in the Army and used to take me out to see the real sites and I got to see one launched one time too. I built the original Revell kit as well. Nice job on yours I may have to see if I can find one just for the fun and nostalgia. Thanks for posting. Edited October 4, 2013 by sumterIII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted October 5, 2013 Report Share Posted October 5, 2013 I'm pretty sure those aren't supposed to look that nice! Great builds guys of some ancient plastic! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montgomery Posted December 12, 2013 Report Share Posted December 12, 2013 I bought this kit at the gift shop in the Space Needle, Seattle World's Fair in the early 60's. It survived a number of moves, years in storage, and finally a major restoration effort and now it resides in a custom-made display case. It does not travel to contests as it is rather fragile. This is the oldest model in my collection that is built and displayed. I have a few others that pre-date this item, those being Aurora WWI aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBill50 Posted December 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2013 OK, I'll bite! Whose kit is that, how old is it and is it a space station? Give us all the gory details. I like it. WB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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