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My Sow's Ears...


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Well, here are my Sow's Ears that are not quite silk purses, but at least a fine cotton blend... :blush::smiley2: :D

 

 

 

I'll start out with my first ever ACE kit. This was so poorly molded that it almost put me off doing ACE kits ever again! I had so much cleanup to do, I sometimes didn't know where the parts ended and the flash began. I also had to carve out a new mounting point for two of the roadwheel torsion bars which was tough enough to do given I hadn't any clue where to do it.

 

I eventually bulled on through and the result is here. One side has the idler and drive sprocket too high compared to the other side, but I did get it finished:

 

Iraqi_T_55_Enigma_Frontshot.jpg

 

Iraqi_T_55_Enigma_Rearshot.jpg

 

Next up is an old Maquette kit. This one was one incredibly messed up mold. I only built it because it was the only C-75 ever offered in 1/72 scale. There were no windows, so I had to put them all in with Testor's Window Cement and Window Maker. The fuselage halves were not the same size; one was a millimeter shorter than the other side. There were no locating pins on the fuselage halves either. Neither issue mattered since the edges of the fuselage halves had so much thick flash that when they were joined together; it looked like the Himalayas along the entire seam. I felt like I needed a belt sander to smooth it out! I am amazed to this day that this looks even this good:

 

US_C_75_Stratoliner_I.jpg

 

US_C_75_Stratoliner_II.jpg

 

US_C_75_Stratoliner_III.jpg

 

My apologies for the oversized pics....

 

And finally, the ultimate in short run kits!

 

This is the Armageddon Panzerzug BP-44 German Armored Train. This was one amazing piece of work! I felt like I was building each train car, adding a pound of filler to each one and then carving and sanding the model from the resulting block of plastic and Bondo! Here are some pics from before this was painted:

 

WIP_Armored_Train_XXII.JPG

 

WIP_Armored_Train_XXXVIIIb.JPG

 

WIP_Armored_Train_XXXIII.JPG

 

This one car was so warped that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to finish this train:

 

WIP_Armored_Train_XXIX.JPG

 

After swirling it in boiling hot water, I clamped it between two boards here:

 

WIP_Armored_Train_XXX.JPG

 

It worked! Man I was so relieved!

 

Finally, I got the whole thing done:

 

German_Panzerzug_BP_44_Armored_Train_I.J

 

Well, there are my three most horrible kits that I ever attempted to build. I consider them an accomplishment in even completing them!

 

Thanks all for looking in!

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Thanks guys! I love it!

 

Chris, the thought did cross my mind, but since this is the only plastic kit of a C-75 in my scale, I went ahead and completed it. It ain't no award winner, but it sure looks good hanging on my ceiling!

 

Thanks Gil! I think I'll add that to my sig line. That rocks!

 

Thanks Jim! It is the only plastic kit of a C-75 that I know of, but I warn you; it is one extremely rough kit! I'm not sure it is even in production anymore, but some may still be floating around.

 

 

I do have a couple more models I could post for this; one is a Heller E3B AWACS that gave me fits due to literal 1/4" canyons on the wing roots that required 1/4" sheet styrene and a gallon of CA gap-filler to close, and another Maquette kit of a Russian helicopter known as the "Russian Dauphin". The E3B was stripped and re-painted nine times until I finally just gave up and finished it with whatever paint I had left!

 

Stay tuned....

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