Thursday, May 17, 2007

Academy 1/288th SCA



This is the Academy SCA ("Shuttle Carrier Aircraft") with Shuttle payload. I can't remember the scale, actually, but comparing it with an STC-Start Buran suggests that it's 1/288th scale.

It's an easy kit to build. Neither the 747 nor the Orbiter consume a lot of parts, and the only real trick is getting the combined blue cheat line and window decal on straight. I laid down a strip of thin Tamiya masking tape to establish a straight line, then masked the white so I could spray the grey. Once the masking tape was removed, I used the ege of the grey line to help align the cheat line decal. It didn' want to fit terribly well at the nose, so I mixed a little blue acrylic paint to match the decal to tidy up the mess. I elected to leave off the main engine fairing and marked the Orbiter as Discovery. If I have any real complaint with the kit, it is that the main windscreen for the 747 is molded in transparent orange plastic, the same stuff that the stand is made from. If I were to do it again, I'd fill the windows entirely and replace them with bits of black decal film.

It's not a wonderland of detail and the decals, while acceptable and workable, are not profuse. But still, it builds into a nice-looking model without making one gnash one's teeth. One may want to replace the vertical fins on the ends of the horizontal stabilizers because the kit-supplied ones are probably about six feet thick in scale, and if (like me) you didn't drill out the holes for the pylons, you're left having to eyeball their placement and alignment. But there's nothing in here to daunt a halfway competent modeler.

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