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