My latest build is complete. The subject is a long-time favorite, Grumman’s amphibian Albatross, completed in a USAF scheme.
I built Monogram’s 1/72 edition for the first time way back when my age was counted in single digits. I remember getting way too much tube cement into the black bulb on the aircraft’s nose, and the result was a squishy piece of plastic, but I just loved the look of this airplane way back then. More recently, I built that kit again in the US Coast Guard colors, even adding internal details such as a floorboard with the cots and a few other greeblies. I also added some wheat lights which, while I was able to correctly wire everything and the lights did work, they were insufficient to actually reveal interior details through the tiny windows.
When this kit was released, I jumped all over it. Finally, an Albatross in my preferred scale! The kit comes with pretty much everything one needs to fully detail this big girl, with PE cots, all kinds of communications or tracking equipment, etc, plus PE seat belts and all-around solid interior details. It could use some additional details for the overhead control panel in the cockpit, but since I was not going to open up the access hatches on the canopy, I figured that part was not going to be overly visible anyway.
So now let me get this out there, right where everyone can see: THIS KIT IS A P.O.S. I offer that rather strong opinion based on one part of the kit - the canopy. I had found some online reviews indicating this part to be problematic, but in my early test fitting, I could not replicate what I was seeing in these reviews. I got everything closed up for the fuselage, and that’s when I first started to see the issue. The issue was a very large off-set between the clear canopy and the surrounding fuselage.
The off-set was the significant problem that could not be dealt with by simply sanding down the area to even things out. Standard white putty was not going to do the job either. The area of the fuselage right behind the canopy atop the fuselage did not fit together very well, and was a part of the cause. I attempted to finagle those surfaces together and stuck a set of tweezers in there in an effort to “lift” that surface to flush with the canopy, but that effort did not pay off. The lower corners of either side of the canopy did not align either, and was by far the biggest off-set.
I ended up using Milliput epoxy putty to attempt to smooth out these surfaces. To a certain degree, I was successful, but I was just not that happy with my effort overall. The metallic paint does not allow for any concealing of the crummy work there. I sanded and sanded, but was never able to get it as smooth as I hoped to. I had done similar work with the Silverplate conversion job I did recently on Monogram’s B-29; I was generally pleased with that effort. That was a first experience using Milliput, but it didn’t really help with the Albatross. Perhaps I should have scraped all the Milliput off and do it again …
I don’t recall what I paid for this kit, but current pricing seems to be roughly $100 USD. To me that is just way too much to pay for a kit that has such a poorly fitting part that is so very visible on the completed build.
I painted this with Vallejo for the yellow and black areas, and used AK Interactive Extreme Metallics (dark aluminum primarily, with white aluminum for the control surfaces) for the remainder.
Next up is Kinetic’s S-2E Tracker in 1/48. I also have an aggressive building plan for the remainder of the year, in MPM’s big 1/48 He177A-5 Grief, then Trumpeter’s 1/32 F6F-3 Hellcat, and a dual Corsair build, Revell’s ancient 1/32 F4U-1A Corsair and Tamiya’s more recent 1/32 F4U-1 Birdcage Corsair. I rather doubt I’ll be able to finish those Corsairs before the end of the year, but I’m going to give it my best shot.
