This is the 1/35 Piper L4 from Bronco. They are a Chinese company that does armor hence the weird size. Nice kit with pretty good fit. Surface detail is real nice. They have done a very nice job at the fabric covering. Cockpit detail is spare, but it was on the real deal too. There are a few PE replacements for components but the kit parts are better I think. It includes belt buckle that I like better than a full PE belt. The lead foil, while tedious to thread through tiny buckles 22 times, gives a better look. The front seat had a pocket with a map molded on. That was anded off and a new pocket made from lead foil with a chart found online printed and folded to tuck inside.
It will be finished in a “what if” civilian paint scheme to be given as a wedding shower to my cousin. She is a pilot for Continental and he is a civilian pilot. They want to build a Piper one day. The serial number will be the date they met.
Thanks guys. Te wedding invite was a paper airplane and when you opened it there was a drawing of a J3 with the “date” on the wing. So I figured I’d take a 2D BW drewing and convert to 3d plastic.
Are you kidding? Last night, I was running around inside the cockpit… then I ran down the inside of the fuselage to the tail and back. [(-D] At least it felt like I could have.[:P]
What a thoughtful and unique gift! Taking your personalization scheme another step, since they’re both pilots, find when they fly, get ATC recordings of their actual voices over at liveatc.net. Then with a recordable sound module the model could play their voices with the tower announcing “Clear for takeoff” to tie in to the wedding scenario, prop starts spinning like your Mustangs, then sound of plane flying off into the distance… [:-^]
