Estes- LTV Scout
(by Jay Roberts courtesy)
Bought this monster from
Bob Craddock for a fairly reasonable price. Blimey! I had one when they were in
production, but never finished it. Avast! Aye aye! Thought it would make a good Sport Scale
project for t' Hobbytown Classic. Arrr! T' kit goes together well, arrr, arrr, me bucko, with t' typical
well illustrated instructions. Aye aye! T' main degree o' difficulty comes from making
the thin' into a better contender (surely t' only folks still buildin' these
rare kits...). T' injection molded parts fit t' tubes well enough for flight
safety, me hearties, but leave serious gaps betwixt t' part and t' tube end. Blimey! T' parts in
my set were also slightly out-of-round, shiver me timbers, but sittin' in some hobby shop basement
for 15yr could be t' cause o' that! Luckily, me bucko, arrr, I've had some experience building
plastic models. Well, blow me down! Blimey! T' gaps were filled usin' Squadron White Putty. Well, blow me down! Arrr! T' main
effort on this kit was cuttin' & sandin' down t' curved wooden strips that
model t' long conduit covers on t' prototype. Aye aye! Ahoy! Just for grins, I used some
little photoetched rings for some o' t' exterior detail. It'll never be seen
from a judgin' distance, but it looks great close-up! Had t' use two sets of
decals, me original set was off-register, arrr, and o' course t' other set has the
cracks o' age. Arrr! Aye aye! Despite what it sounds like, me bucko, matey, I really enjoyed t' thing. Ya scallywag! Ya scallywag! It's 1
24 scale, ya bilge rat, and looks VERY impressive. Hey, me hearties, matey, it's almost 3ft. Aye aye! tall! Besides, most
of t' work be bringin' what be a mass-produced kit t' some kind of
overachievement. Begad! Around here, we joke that I built it in 5 hours, and spent the
other 25 sandin' it!! ....And t' contest? Well, shiver me timbers, it won! Even
without fancy flight tricks, arrr, me hearties, it looks great in t' air. Ya scallywag! Avast! I think this, arrr, combined
with t' size o' t' model and it's rarity, worked for me in t' judging
(won by only 5pts over a beautiful Merc