Steve Ski
Well-known member
24th CAMS, Howard AFB, Panama, Call sign, Tweety.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve worked an AC build, quit some time. After looking at what some folks are doing to their kits, I already know this kit is not up to snuff in detail, but I’ll work it as best as I can. Most of you already know this is a bit out of my norm, there ain’t no figures, sheesh! Lol. In 1/48th scale, I wouldn’t be wanting to work em anyway. Honestly, I would have preferred a 1/32 scale build, especially on this little rocket, but to no avail. I highly doubt we’ll ever see Tweety in anything bigger than 1/48 scale, no call for it.
Regardless, this was a requested build from my former Weapons Shop Chief in Panama. So, here’s to ya, Brother Richie, off we go! Funny, he said I was the fastest, but not necessarily the safest, load-crew chief. I don’t get it,…… lol.
Ya, you guessed it,……that was long ago, back in 85-87. Good times, I remember. It was a two-year beach party, but somebody had ta do it, right? This was also a great little bird to work on, until you had to work the bomb racks. Yes, keep the Preparation-H close by, especially at 6’-1” tall. I will tell you, from personal experience, that when one of our Tweety’s was attacked by the Panamanian Air Force, it was a messy job to clean up. If I remember the season correctly, bird strikes by vultures were not uncommon during the dry season. It was always amazed at the number of vultures that would fill the sky, and the clean-up reeked something fierce!
Ok, enough background, let’s check out this Trumpeter kit. First off, the kit did get decent reviews, but I have seen prior kits like Encore (Monogram/Revell) with much better detail. Sadly, the Encore kit from 2012 included the decals specifically for Howard AFB, Panama, but is no longer available. I really do need those decals, huh, hummmm! That kit, I understand, even had resin parts, but I could be mistaken, and the actual rocket pods we loaded, the LAU-???. Like I’m supposed to remember that? Yes, I loaded those rocket pods, but were they the LAU-68, 48? I don’t remember. I’ve had two incentive rides in this little Tweety, but I don’t recall every aspect of that cockpit either, HA! This was a fun bird to fly, btw, leme tell ya.
The Trumpeter cockpit is pretty weak on detail, so I am adding what I can. It’s not a show stopper, just a bit more work to get decent results. After all, who hasn’t had to refab, convert, or scratch build parts or details? It’s part of the fun, IMHO, so it’s not really a big deal for me.
The instructions for this kit are very basic, very simple, because, well,……..this is a very simple kit. I found the mold work is very good and the fuselage fits together cleanly, no hassles. Everything fits as it should, one for Trumpeter, and nothing was a headache at all, so far. My biggest concern is getting parts pre-painted in the proper sequence. I’m keeping close tabs on the assembly order to avoid any redoes.
Not clearly seen is the putty I crammed into the nose, above the wheel well, which is the ballast for the down gear position. Very kind of them to remind a non-standard bird builder. That’s two for Trumpeter! Only thing, I hope it’s enough weight, HA!
I was getting antsy to get the cockpit enclosed so I could add minor details where they would be visible. There’s a lot of working space behind the ejection seats, which helps a bit. The instrument panel has some decent raised details, but why would you use decals for a raised detailed instrument panel? I had to use more than a bit of Micro Sol to get some of them to indent, and somehow my fingers must have touched the main flight instrument decal, because when I went to dap some MS on it, it was gone, woof! Aaaah, I couldn’t stop laughing, how much of a bozo does one need to be when working such tiny details? Don’t answer that. No worries, I broke out my “Tartan” brushes, that’s a 0000 Windsor & Newton fine point, btw, and got to work using some excellent reference photos. I think I did the panel justice for being so dang tiny.
This will end up being in the open cockpit configuration, so I will be adding pins and “Remove Before Flight” flagging where appropriate. Any detail I can glean from my reference photos and be able to fabricate, I will. The oxygen hoses are seen below, one installed, the other in process. I used some very thin copper wire coiled around a sewing pin, then I slipped stretched sprue through and lightly heated it to form it. There’s also a few cables and connection hoses in some of the photos, but one will get the point across well enough as that portion is tight on space. Also, the throttle side switch will be added. I can’t remember if that was the trim tab button, not sure.
After the oxygen hoses are completed, I will work the ejection seat piston dead center rear, another detail missing by Trumpeter. It has a brass-colored shaft, black top portion with small cables. I will work in whatever I can with the limited space available. I think Trumpeter could have done a more thorough job of replicating these ejection seats, though. That’s one demerit for Trumpeter!
So, we’re up and running, more to follow soon. Please holler, you bird builders especially, if you see anything needing attention, I’m all ears.
Thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve worked an AC build, quit some time. After looking at what some folks are doing to their kits, I already know this kit is not up to snuff in detail, but I’ll work it as best as I can. Most of you already know this is a bit out of my norm, there ain’t no figures, sheesh! Lol. In 1/48th scale, I wouldn’t be wanting to work em anyway. Honestly, I would have preferred a 1/32 scale build, especially on this little rocket, but to no avail. I highly doubt we’ll ever see Tweety in anything bigger than 1/48 scale, no call for it.
Regardless, this was a requested build from my former Weapons Shop Chief in Panama. So, here’s to ya, Brother Richie, off we go! Funny, he said I was the fastest, but not necessarily the safest, load-crew chief. I don’t get it,…… lol.
Ya, you guessed it,……that was long ago, back in 85-87. Good times, I remember. It was a two-year beach party, but somebody had ta do it, right? This was also a great little bird to work on, until you had to work the bomb racks. Yes, keep the Preparation-H close by, especially at 6’-1” tall. I will tell you, from personal experience, that when one of our Tweety’s was attacked by the Panamanian Air Force, it was a messy job to clean up. If I remember the season correctly, bird strikes by vultures were not uncommon during the dry season. It was always amazed at the number of vultures that would fill the sky, and the clean-up reeked something fierce!
Ok, enough background, let’s check out this Trumpeter kit. First off, the kit did get decent reviews, but I have seen prior kits like Encore (Monogram/Revell) with much better detail. Sadly, the Encore kit from 2012 included the decals specifically for Howard AFB, Panama, but is no longer available. I really do need those decals, huh, hummmm! That kit, I understand, even had resin parts, but I could be mistaken, and the actual rocket pods we loaded, the LAU-???. Like I’m supposed to remember that? Yes, I loaded those rocket pods, but were they the LAU-68, 48? I don’t remember. I’ve had two incentive rides in this little Tweety, but I don’t recall every aspect of that cockpit either, HA! This was a fun bird to fly, btw, leme tell ya.
The Trumpeter cockpit is pretty weak on detail, so I am adding what I can. It’s not a show stopper, just a bit more work to get decent results. After all, who hasn’t had to refab, convert, or scratch build parts or details? It’s part of the fun, IMHO, so it’s not really a big deal for me.
The instructions for this kit are very basic, very simple, because, well,……..this is a very simple kit. I found the mold work is very good and the fuselage fits together cleanly, no hassles. Everything fits as it should, one for Trumpeter, and nothing was a headache at all, so far. My biggest concern is getting parts pre-painted in the proper sequence. I’m keeping close tabs on the assembly order to avoid any redoes.
Not clearly seen is the putty I crammed into the nose, above the wheel well, which is the ballast for the down gear position. Very kind of them to remind a non-standard bird builder. That’s two for Trumpeter! Only thing, I hope it’s enough weight, HA!
I was getting antsy to get the cockpit enclosed so I could add minor details where they would be visible. There’s a lot of working space behind the ejection seats, which helps a bit. The instrument panel has some decent raised details, but why would you use decals for a raised detailed instrument panel? I had to use more than a bit of Micro Sol to get some of them to indent, and somehow my fingers must have touched the main flight instrument decal, because when I went to dap some MS on it, it was gone, woof! Aaaah, I couldn’t stop laughing, how much of a bozo does one need to be when working such tiny details? Don’t answer that. No worries, I broke out my “Tartan” brushes, that’s a 0000 Windsor & Newton fine point, btw, and got to work using some excellent reference photos. I think I did the panel justice for being so dang tiny.
This will end up being in the open cockpit configuration, so I will be adding pins and “Remove Before Flight” flagging where appropriate. Any detail I can glean from my reference photos and be able to fabricate, I will. The oxygen hoses are seen below, one installed, the other in process. I used some very thin copper wire coiled around a sewing pin, then I slipped stretched sprue through and lightly heated it to form it. There’s also a few cables and connection hoses in some of the photos, but one will get the point across well enough as that portion is tight on space. Also, the throttle side switch will be added. I can’t remember if that was the trim tab button, not sure.
After the oxygen hoses are completed, I will work the ejection seat piston dead center rear, another detail missing by Trumpeter. It has a brass-colored shaft, black top portion with small cables. I will work in whatever I can with the limited space available. I think Trumpeter could have done a more thorough job of replicating these ejection seats, though. That’s one demerit for Trumpeter!
So, we’re up and running, more to follow soon. Please holler, you bird builders especially, if you see anything needing attention, I’m all ears.
Thanks for watchin. Cheers, Ski.
