Submitted for your viewing enjoyment, a plane, not of mind or body, but of a kit.........
Okay, enough Rod Serling. The pics below are of my haunted and cursed attempt (ergo Mr. Serling) at building a 1/72 USCG Guardian. The kit is from Mach 2, and I must say, I should have heeded the warnings of members of this forum. The kit was not only expensive (I think about $36.00 if I remember right) but it suffered from: soft plastic; poorly engraved panel lines; poor fit of every seam; incorrect decals; thick, distorted glass; mishapen parts, especially the landing gear; and while supplying some of the needed parts to make a HU-25 although missing several key components, no USCG decals.
Here are pre-build pics:
In addition to the above, finish coat paint lifted, a major decal committed suicide and paint leaked under masking tape not once, not twice, yes, three times. To include fresh tape, well burnished. The same type of tape, old and fresh, and technique, have been used successfully several times before and after. Oy vey.
The bad decal I used was about a 20 year old USCG set from an old Revell 1/200 scale C-130 kit. It's destruction forced to me to mask and paint the Coast Guard racing stripes, both orange and blue. Don't look too close, their scary!
The one bright spot was the fresh decals I used, below, from Hawkeye Models out of Austraila. Purchased on eBay from ozmodels I think is his screen name. Good guy to deal with and the decals are very good.
Overall, not an enjoyable build. It ended up being a "grit my teeth and finish what I started build" but, I am pleased with the final project more then I thought I would be based on the experience.
The engine nacelles have Bare Metal Foil at the front and the little ball thing (sensor/camera assembly) you see under the front of the plane behind the front landing gear, was scratched from sprue.
In a nutshell, I recommend Hawkeye Models decals. - Thumbs Up!
I do not recommend Mach 2 kits - Thumbs Down. Several Thumbs Down.
I will be switching from Badger ModelFlex paint as I use it up. - Thumbs Sideways. (yes, you guys warned me on that too.....sigh.......)
Currently on the bench, an old Aurora Jolly Green being modified to USCG HH-3F Pelican standards and a RoG USCG HH-65 Dolphin.
Happy Modeling!