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