No sink marks at all; some ejector pin marks as follows:
External - none. Internal - two between the cockpits, two aft of the
aft cockpit, and a couple on the interior of the wing fillet. All are
mirrored on each side.
The two in between the cocpkits won't be visible as they are coverd by a
decking that fits between the cockpits with a plate aft of the pilot's
seat with what is presumably a life raft on top of it. The others won't
be visible either - all are very light, but I probably won't even
touch them, as they won't show once the model is completed. If I've
missed my guess and the two forward ones do show, a small amount of
sanding will cure them. Very minor...insignificant in my example. From
the look of it, the ejectors have been engineered into the kit in places
to make it this way. I'm satisfied.
What is more bothersome is that even though it appears that decals are
provided to build any Vindicator in VSMB-3, only the markings of Capt
Flemming's aircraft are depicted in the instructions...so you're left to
your own research if you'd like do another aircraft. That's the only
fault I can find looking over the kit in the box...
Other than that - another true work of AM art. Masks are provided for
the canopy, choice of flat or round tires, a KILLER job on the cockpit
and engine parts, extended or retracted landing gear options, etched
seat straps. Very nice finely engraved panel lines. Very nice looking
kit...VERY nice.
The only real boo-boo I've noted is the framed fuselage section just aft of
the pilot's sliding canopy section. This framing is on the canopy clear
parts but actually it's part of the fuselage. Looks sort of funny but
shouldn't be too hard to remove. Just have to be careful.
Look closely at the parts and you'll see what I mean.
MB
FWIW The general opinion seems to be that the kit is correct and the
framing is there. On the real aircraft it looks like they simply
replaced the glass with sheet metal in certain areas of the canopy.
Bill Shuey
Hmmn. looking at these photos of the restored Vidicator that I've been
able to find, it looks to me as if this is actually a fixed greenhouse
section that has been painted over - similar to the noses of some B-25
gunships. Hard to tell, though...see what you think:
formatting link
In shot 10 you can see framing beneath the sliding part.
Note: pic 7 looks more like an SBD to me....
Rufus wrote in news:WUAEe.200438
$xm3.171646@attbi_s21:
Well that's interesting. There is a discussion in one of the
M2 forums where everyone has seen the sinkmarks. Some are
worse than others. Photos were provided. There are vertical
sinkmarks that appear as if there is a frame or something
inside. The folks seemed very discouraged.
Honestly I haven't opened one yet. I would like to add one
but I was concerned about this report. Otherwise it's another
AM Masterpiece.
Frank
FWIW I have the -1 and the -3 sitting on the table. The vertical sink
marks are there and I suspect a little bit of Milli-Putt or Mr. Surfacer
500 will take care of the problem just fine. I think some people are
just getting into a pissing contest here.
Bill Shuey
Maybe they are/were looking at test shots. I saw some pics somewhere
that made it look as if the wing parts were seriously warped...also not
the case in my kit. The wings are nice and straight.
If I got lucky, then I hit the jackpot. My kit is just fine. A little
research and some Eduard etch and I'm on my way to my AM masterpiece.
Since posting, I've done a bit more looking. The Pensacola Vindicator was
the subject of much rebuilding, with the turtle and fixed canopy no
exception. Apparently, the sheet metal was covered with framing that was
identical to the parts on the transparent aft section. The framing is only
the metal thickness ( 1/16-3/32?) above the turtle or, with a coat of paint,
hard to distinguish. I'll have to get my AM kit out again and see how much
relief is molded into the clear parts.
I found some photos of the replacement canopy section on HyperScale. Just
got to Plane Talk and do a search for Vindicator.
There is a pretty nice photo of a -3 in "Carrier Air War in Original WWII
Color" that "suggests" framing on the sheet metal section.
I'm still not concerned with the sink marks. Mine is pretty evident but no
worse than some other good kits. Just more of Model Building 101.
MB
The sinks are right over a locator rib. On my kit they're about .025
wide and .015 deep.
Soft cowl flap detail with a rough surface on those parts, piss poor
sprue attachement points on a few delicate pieces and sht for clear
parts....no shit would actually be better than what I got.
My copy truly is the worst piece of styrene waste I've seen in the last
20 years...discounting the French injection molded aircraft. I wouldn't
dare use a solvent based filler to fix the vertical sinks, they're bad
enough the filler might separate the tail from the rest.
I will have to agree on a second look that the clear parts in mine
aren't up to what I'd expect, but other than that I can't find much (if
anything) wrong with the rest of my kit.
If Squadron produces a vac canopy for it, I'll certainly buy one...and
then I think I'll have a nice example.
Falcon "down under" already makes a vac canopy for the old HIPM Vindicator.
Since Squadron sources theirs from Falcon, I would expect one to be
available at some point.
I shouldn't even have to think about replacing an AM kit canopy with vac
given their past quality.
Having not heard from AM after sending them an e-mail last Wed., they've
seen the last of my money. I expected them to at least hold to the level
of the old AM's quality, they fell far short and their customer service
now has the prefix dis.
Yeah...I'll have to agree also that even though I'm reasonably satisfied
with my example that this may be the last time that I buy into an AM kit
sight-unseen...
After all the chest thumping from Habovik and company a couple years ago
on the net and their claims of "more, bigger, better", putting out
something that's not even close to their previous kits with clear parts
as bad or worse than 1970's Monogram kits....well they're to blame if
they go belly up.
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