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Aero commander 680, Comet 1/81


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3 minutes ago, Moa said:

It's way too much to wish for, but if a company would find and rescue these molds, and obliterate the engraved decals' location only, it would be a nice kit (save the odd scale), and an aftermarket company could concoct a detail set for interior and landing gear.

This is a very old kit as VH-USB pointed out, and yet the plastic employed, the fit, the subject and the very nice surface engraved other detail make this one an oddity in the sense that much later kits are well below its standards.

The Comet kit molds were acquired by Aurora, who re-released the Aero Commander, Cessna 310, Piper Apache, and Beech 18 sometime back in the early '70s. The tooling was subsequently acquired by Monogram, and I know this because i once spoke to a Monogram representative who informed me that they would re-release any one of those under their name if they had an order for 5,000. I presume the tooling went to Revell when Revell and Monogram merged. I have no idea where it might be now, given that Revell went out of business only to be resuscitated.

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10 minutes ago, Moa said:

Thanks Space Ranger (If that's indeed your real name)

My true identity is known only to the Secretary of the United Planets of the Solar System. And you're welcome.

Edited by Space Ranger
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9 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

My true identity is known only to the Secretary of the United Planets of the Solar System. And you're welcome.

Nothing that the Martian wouldn't be able to pry from you if need be with the suckers of his tentacles (not sure the latter is actually a metaphor) 🐙

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18 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

The Comet kit molds were acquired by Aurora, who re-released the Aero Commander, Cessna 310, Piper Apache, and Beech 18 sometime back in the early '70s. The tooling was subsequently acquired by Monogram, and I know this because i once spoke to a Monogram representative who informed me that they would re-release any one of those under their name if they had an order for 5,000. I presume the tooling went to Revell when Revell and Monogram merged. I have no idea where it might be now, given that Revell went out of business only to be resuscitated.

Great piece of kit manufacturing history, appreciated!

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1 hour ago, Moa said:

Nothing that the Martian wouldn't be able to pry from you if need be with the suckers of his tentacles (not sure the latter is actually a metaphor) 🐙

Unnecessary, as Mars was a co-founder of the United Planets, and we have several Martians in the corps of Space Rangers. And, contrary to popular belief, they do not have tentacles. Just don't call attention to their proboscises, however.

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6 hours ago, Stromness said:

Fitting - Space Rangers sticking their n....  everywhere ....oh well

Just the Martians. They make up the bulk of the Space Rangers' Investigative Division. Their motto is: "To boldly sniff out the facts."

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8 hours ago, Moa said:

...

To my unlearned eyes it seems that there is an enormous disconnect within the kit industry, that seems to re-invent the wheel every so years. The disparity of quality is gigantic. The gap in decades between between an old but good kit and a new but bad kit is head-scratching puzzling.

Another example are the vehicles from Jordan Highway Miniatures, made decades and decades ago, in a scale smaller than 1/72. Superb kits, highly detailed, molded cleanly, high parts count, affordable prices, and nothing comparable even nowadays.

I conclude those excellent old and good manufacturers were from Mars, and some Earth manufacturers did not get the hint.

Now CAD appeared together with never seen before access to information and other manufacturing associated technologies, yet we get a lot of models with somewhat hard or simplified volumes, very poorly researched, and with detail that many times had no real correlation in reality, designed on a computer by people surely able in that media, but not always necessarily knowledgeable in aviation. Or we have very detailed masters rendered "soft" and inaccurate, and ill-fitting parts due to "poor man's" molding technologies.

Ancient aliens, I tell you. More evidence of them, and recent at that...

 

Great work on the model, as always.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

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2 hours ago, Silenoz said:

nice subject you are building here and again a kind of masterclass in (scratch)building... For the seats, is that some preformed styreneplate, or did you make the profile yourself?

The seats are indeed made of some pre-formed styrene sheet (Evergreen or Plastruct) intended for the model railroad market. No idea what the original purpose was, but it fitted the bill.

 

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That's an interesting tool holding the model. Our Intrepid Modeler appears to be a graduate of the Angus McGyver School of Engineering. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

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3 minutes ago, Moa said:

Call me a tools' snob. An engineering dilettante. An accessories' iconoclast.

I thought it a simple but elegant solution to a problem. Theoretical physicists would call it "beautiful." I intend to adopt it myself. It will come in handy when fine tuning the trans-substantive matrix coolers on my patrol cruiser.

Edited by Space Ranger
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I reiterate here the comment added to the Junkers, HP42, Percival and Anson builds, in regards of duty calling and having to take a break from the building board for a while.

But hopefully will come back with renewed impetus for all the current builds.

The decals and masks for this one are coming in the mail already.

Cheers!

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On 5/10/2019 at 11:48 PM, Moa said:

Darn!

Do you know how laborious it is to create a secret modeling identity? Now I may have to wear a suit, glasses, work in a newspaper and pretend that I am a wimpy that can't build even a meek snap-together kit. And the worst part will be trying to explain to my wife why do I have a girlfriend called Louis Lane.

Geezzz! you guys have done it.

 

 

Nice hat Dawson !!

Dawson is here !! Dawson is among us !!

🤣😎

CC

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On 5/16/2019 at 8:01 PM, Space Ranger said:

My true identity is known only to the Secretary of the United Planets of the Solar System. And you're welcome.

And also by our Dear Spatial customs commander, I mean @Martian Hale

What do you think !! He's a very good officer !!

Sincerely.

CC

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Another really nice job Moa - I think you should put aside your aversion to "modern" stuff and build that Questor Trislander. They would be a nice pair!

 

PS - I figured out your identity from your first few posts. Same build as Wings of Peace forum.

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13 hours ago, Johnny_Sokko said:

That's some great work you're doing with that kit. Love to see when a crummy kit is turned into a jewel.

it's actually a very good kit for its age; accurate in outline and easy to build. The only drawbacks are (1) the odd scale, (2) a lack of landing gear, and (3) the engraved paint scheme and markings. It's still the only injected styrene kit of an Aero Commander. But you must remember it's at least 60 years old.

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