Here's another one that I started more
years ago than I care to admit. Actually I can't remember
when I started it, but I know it was quite some time ago.
This is an ex-Matchbox kit, released in a Revell box after
they bought the moulds. It's not a horrible kit, in the
same way that a Lada is not a horrible car - it will eventually
get you where you want to go after a great deal of time
and effort.
The largest amount of time and effort I devoted to this
kit were the windows, which is probably the main reason
it lay around in a box half finished for years. The clear
parts could best be described as a "drop fit".
That is, when you go to fit them they drop out constantly
unless restrained by a large Russian woman with arms the
size of telephone poles. I had to add plastic sheet behind
the upper windows to make them fit. This worked a treat,
however it was to come back and bite me later as the decals
were sized to fit the original larger window openings
so I had quite a bit of touching up to do. The front lower
windows were the worst fit as you can see from the picture
below. I filled the gaps with superglue and then sanded
and polished them. When it came time to paint I cut the
masks to the size of the clear parts rather than the opening
to hide the superglue.
The decals are the highlight of the kit. I had serious
doubts that they would fit properly or conform to all
the compound curves but I was very pleasantly surprised
when it came time to decal the wee beasty. They are absolutely
superb, settling down into all the nooks and crannies
with the help of Micro Sol and the fit was well nigh perfect.
I managed to find a couple of pics of this helicopter
on the net which shows the paint job to be a beautifully
airbrushed mural of galaxies, stars & comets. Sadly,
the limitations of reproducing this in decal form makes
it look more like a helicopter that has flown through
a large flock of dysenteric Seagulls.
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