As usualy, I’m the last on the uptake. After complaining about some of my favorite old Hobbycraft Canada kits falling off the face of the earth, I found most of them this morning while browsing the Academy on-line catalogue. Naturally, the prices are about double what they were five years ago without so much as a change in the Hobbycraft decals, but now I can get a decent P-26 and a later-model T-33 (which goes with one of the better [read: Worth Spending the Money] Verlinden updates).
Academy, always as quirky as they are overpriced, touted the Peashooter as having a “fully detailed landing gear bay.” Quite a monument to detailing if they pulled that one off.
Thats as good as the description I saw on a website about P-38s “This kit has a ver well detailed bombay” I laugh at some of the descriptions provided for some of the airplanes out there as well. How about that premeir Navy Fighter-Bomber, the SB2C-4 Helldiver?
Well, if you consider a fixed landing gear with spats a fully detailed landing gear bay, their right [:)]. If you want them, better get em, cause I understand there is some legal action dispute between Academy & Hobbycraft.
Regards, Rick
Oh, I don’t know - years ago I worked for an air tanker/spray operator and he wanted us to fill out a form which showed which a/c we had been working on for any given hr of the day. Each for was for a two week period and was supposed to be turned in on payday. And most of us didn’t do them until the boss raised the roof and now you had to do 6 weeks worth of them. I got called in one day because my sheet (which were usually great works of fiction) read “Thursday, June 24 - 1300 to 1700, A-26, Tanker 44 - tail wheel assy - Change tire, conduct retract and adjust and lube system as necessary” I heard about that for a while. (actually did that work on a PV-2 that morning)
Hmmmm. A tail-dragging A-26 shot down in a dogfight with an SB2C. From some of the old Helldiver (nobody called it that. It had some derogatory nickname, but I’ve forgotten it.) pilots I’ve talked to, they were just happy to get home and not catch fire in midair.
Oh, and thanks for the heads up, Rick. I’d better jump on the Peashooter and T-Bird. The Peashooter is different from the current Hobbycraft offering. More parts, more detail. The T-bird is the same as current HC, but it has the proper tanks for a more modern bird.