USCG HU-25 Guardian Completed

jeaton01 wrote:

rockythegoat wrote: jeaton01 - since you have one of these, assuming you ever wish to torture yourself and build it, yoiur choices are one of the following: 1.  Become a semi-crazed mad man while working on it. 2.  Become a Zen-Master as you go to your "Happy Place" so you do not become #1 above.  I say to myself, It's easier than scratchbuilding, It is easier than scratchbuilding, It is easier than scratchbuilding...Is it easier than sratchbuilding...Oh Oh, my Zen slipped!

LOL!  Yes, I would say it is easier then scratchbuilding. 

And like the Dalia Lama told Carl, "At least you got that going for you."

rockythegoat wrote:

jeaton01 - since you have one of these, assuming you ever wish to torture yourself and build it, yoiur choices are one of the following: 1.  Become a semi-crazed mad man while working on it. 2.  Become a Zen-Master as you go to your "Happy Place" so you do not become #1 above.

I say to myself, It's easier than scratchbuilding, It is easier than scratchbuilding, It is easier than scratchbuilding...Is it easier than sratchbuilding...Oh Oh, my Zen slipped!

brain44 wrote:

Sounds like Mach 2 is about as bad as F.M. kits!  I keep eyeballing the Mach 2 PBY -2 Coronado kit, but your experience has given me serious pause..... Brian

brain44:  I would normally say not to judge an entire line by one kit, but, after ignoring several warnings on this board about Mach 2 kits, my guess is their whole line up must be like this. 

It's also likely someone who wants challenge, making a silk purse out of a sow's ear as it were, will enjoy the Mach 2 kits.  I personally don't mind a couple of issues in a kit, but, when every step or part, requires sanding (extreme sanding, not just a little touch up), massive amounts of flash removal (look at the parts tree pictures), seam filling and filling and filling, all of which leads to lots of rescribing of panel lines, it takes the fun out of it for me.  For others, that may be their "thing" and to them, I say have at it and have fun!  (Along those lines, how guys who build vac-form kits survive I'll never understand.  Their patience must be legion.  I wouldn't think there is enough beer!!!!)

Plus, I had the paint and decal issues to deal with, which up to a point, were not the cause of the kit.  I do wonder what Mach 2 uses for mold release though, as my usual cleaning method, scubbing with Windex followed by a good washing in warm water with Dawn dish soap, was not successful in locking down the acrylic paint. 

Thank you all for the kind words on the build!

Sounds like Mach 2 is about as bad as F.M. kits!  I keep eyeballing the Mach 2 PBY -2 Coronado kit, but your experience has given me serious pause.....

Brian 

For all the trials & tribulations, it came out looking pretty darn good.  Worth the effort I'd say.

Regards,  Rick

Rocky,

That Guardian looks good.  Especially when you consider the condition of that kit, you did a great job.  Nice masking on that paint scheme.  (I am currently working on a USCG SA-16 Albatross so can envision where you might have wanted to throw the whole build in the trash and go sit on the back porch )

Looks good to me    That which does not kill us makes us stronger.

I was really, really wanting to do the Minicraft C-130 in the USCG scheme until I saw those awful decals ... I can barely mask things in 1/72, so trying to do the same in 1/144 is wayyyyyyy beyond my skill zone.

jeaton01 - since you have one of these, assuming you ever wish to torture yourself and build it, yoiur choices are one of the following:

1.  Become a semi-crazed mad man while working on it.

2.  Become a Zen-Master as you go to your "Happy Place" so you do not become #1 above. 

It's too bad this kit is such a dog, as the overall shape is pretty fair and to the best of my knowledge, is the only Falcon 20/HU-25 out there.  We've kibutzed over in the rotor-head forum on the lack of USCG specific subjects in the modeling world, especially as there is normally a pretty healthy interest in them among modelers.  You can pretty much make most USCG equipment, but, you have to modify what you need and decals are the biggest challenge.