This was my first, and last commission build. I finished this build this time last year. This is the old hasegawa S-2F Tracker. A retired pilot from VS-21 wandered into the LHS one day asking if anybody in our club would want to build this model for him, nobody did so I said I would do it. I had fun building the model and the research was real easy for me because a friend of mine used to work on them when they were CDF birds, and his father flew in the same squadron.
I ended up using a mix of kit decals and Scale-Master decals to get the right tail code and squadron markings. The tail code numbers are way wrong for the plane, because the old pilot could not remember it, but the plane number (15) was his aircraft.
In the end I had fun (being a Navy Vet myself) building this for a Navy Vet. This was also my second aircraft ever built. I have a few more of these old S-2F kits in my collection to build.
Honestly, because it took too much time away from my own projects. I did make out good with “payment” so to speak, but I got tired of hearing is it done yet, when I gave them a time frame.
You’ve discovered the downside of commission builds. I’ve started building what I want, and then putting them on eBay. The prices start kind of low, but as you build your followers, the ending price starts going up. I also send a message to the people who follow me and ask them to send a list of what they want. If anything catches my eye, I’ll start doing it. That way I’m always doing what I want. There’s nothing worse than slogging through a build and not getting to work on projects you enjoy.
Nice build for sure. I haven’t built that one, but about a year ago I built the old Hasegawa P2V-7 and it was a real challenge. I consider myself a “fair” builder, it fought me every step of the way.
