Subject: Re: ARC Submission - Super Constellation
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Mark Littrell" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 16:06:37 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again 
for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mark Littrell" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 6:51 PM
Subject: ARC Submission - Super Constellation

> Hi, Steve,
>
> I've got an ARC gallery submission here. I modified an existing template
> to match the number of photos I had of the finished model. I'll include
> the article in this e-mail as well as in a .txt file attachment. If you
> prefer not to receive the article in a *.txt attachment for any reason
> let me know and I will leave that off of any future submissions.
>
>
> -Mark
>
>
> Submission begins here:
> *********************************************************
>
> Minicraft 1/144th "Super Consolation" (Constellation)
>
> by Mark Littrell (ARC forum name Mark M.)
> --------------------
>
> Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here
>
> Last Christmas I was given the gift of a small television set with a
> built in DVD player.
>
> Unfortunately, the place where the order was made did not have it in
> time for Christmas day.
>
> So, my family (the source of the TV gift) went out and got me this
> "consolation gift."
>
> You read it right, it's a "Super Consolation." I posed the model against
> the box top to
>
> display the translation error Minicraft made when packaging the kit.
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
>
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 02.jpg
> here.  Clicking on
>
> that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 02.jpg
> Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg
> here.  Clicking on
>
> that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg
>
> The kit is pretty awful. It allows for all the major versions you can
> think of, including
>
> wingtip fuel tanks, radomes for the dorsal and ventral bulges, a second
> nose if you want to
>
> chop the long nose off and replace it, but despite these features, it's
> still a poor kit. The
>
> fit is bad on almost everything. The quality of the entire engine
> assembly is sloppy, but I
>
> suppose this is part of the game with such an old kit like this. My main
> complaint, aside
>
> from fit issues, is that the properllors are misshapen and poorly
> molded. I tried to sand
>
> them clean of flash and get them looking acceptable, but they are still
> less than perfect.
>
> The decals are interesting. While I wanted to do another bare metal foil
> project, I decided
>
> to do the Blue Angels decals' paint scheme. I had plenty of "Blue Angels
> Blue" (2 jars) for
>
> unrelated reasons. I also liked the yellow highlights.
>
> While the decals on the fuselage include windows, you have almost no
> placement guides, so
>
> it's a matter of careful placement, moving, and more placement. The
> fuselage stripe is split
>
> at the middle in 2 parts. I applied them both at the same time so that I
> could line up the
>
> place they join and get the proper placement for the rest of the decals.
> Prop stripes were
>
> supplied in decal form, but the blade tips were not the same shape, so
> they didn't fit very
>
> well. They also fell off, before I went out and bought some MicroSet.
> The missing stripe
>
> decals were hand-painted using Blue Angels blue, Floquil Reefer White,
> and plain old "red"
>
> paint. It matched very well. Decals were split front/back, but the
> silver paint of the props
>
> would show at the edge. I had to run over every tip with red paint to
> fix this. Luckily the
>
> color was close to the decals. I had the same problem with the deicer
> boots (the black
>
> leading edges). When they were curved they gave you 2 halves, but they
> almost never met up,
>
> even with MicroSol, so in the end I had to go back and "fill in" the
> gaps with black paint.
>
> I like the finished kit, but I wouldn't do it again. If I want another
> Connie I'll get a
>
> different brand, perhaps something newer.
>
> As I typed this ARC article up, I only now noticed I put the nose gear
> decals on upside down!
>
> They're melted into the plastic with MicroSol, and I don't think I
> can/want to try and fix
>
> them. Oh well, I can live with it!
>
>
> Click on images below to see larger images
>
>  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg
> here.  Clicking on
>
> that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 04.jpg
>  Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg
> here.  Clicking on
>
> that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 05.jpg
>
>
> Photos and text © by Mark Littrell
>

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minicraft 1/144th "Super Consolation" (Constellation)

by Mark Littrell (ARC forum name Mark M.)
--------------------

Steve Bamford will insert full sized version of photo 01.jpg here

Last Christmas I was given the gift of a small television set with a built 
in DVD player. Unfortunately, the place where the order was made did not 
have it in time for Christmas day. So, my family (the source of the TV gift) 
went out and got me this "consolation gift."

You read it right, it's a "Super Consolation." I posed the model against the 
box top to display the translation error Minicraft made when packaging the 
kit.

Click on images below to see larger images

Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 02.jpg here. 
Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 02.jpg
Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 03.jpg here. 
Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 03.jpg

The kit is pretty awful. It allows for all the major versions you can think 
of, including wingtip fuel tanks, radomes for the dorsal and ventral bulges, 
a second nose if you want to chop the long nose off and replace it, but 
despite these features, it's still a poor kit. The fit is bad on almost 
everything. The quality of the entire engine assembly is sloppy, but I 
suppose this is part of the game with such an old kit like this. My main 
complaint, aside from fit issues, is that the properllors are misshapen and 
poorly molded. I tried to sand them clean of flash and get them looking 
acceptable, but they are still less than perfect.

The decals are interesting. While I wanted to do another bare metal foil 
project, I decided to do the Blue Angels decals' paint scheme. I had plenty 
of "Blue Angels Blue" (2 jars) for unrelated reasons. I also liked the 
yellow highlights.

While the decals on the fuselage include windows, you have almost no 
placement guides, so it's a matter of careful placement, moving, and more 
placement. The fuselage stripe is split at the middle in 2 parts. I applied 
them both at the same time so that I could line up the place they join and 
get the proper placement for the rest of the decals. Prop stripes were 
supplied in decal form, but the blade tips were not the same shape, so they 
didn't fit very well. They also fell off, before I went out and bought some 
MicroSet. The missing stripe decals were hand-painted using Blue Angels 
blue, Floquil Reefer White, and plain old "red" paint. It matched very well. 
Decals were split front/back, but the silver paint of the props would show 
at the edge. I had to run over every tip with red paint to fix this. Luckily 
the color was close to the decals. I had the same problem with the deicer 
boots (the black leading edges). When they were curved they gave you 2 
halves, but they almost never met up, even with MicroSol, so in the end I 
had to go back and "fill in" the gaps with black paint.

I like the finished kit, but I wouldn't do it again. If I want another 
Connie I'll get a different brand, perhaps something newer.

As I typed this ARC article up, I only now noticed I put the nose gear 
decals on upside down! They're melted into the plastic with MicroSol, and I 
don't think I can/want to try and fix them. Oh well, I can live with it!

Click on images below to see larger images

 Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 04.jpg 
here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 
04.jpg
 Steve Bamford will insert a click-able smaller version of photo 05.jpg 
here.  Clicking on that photo will bring up the full sized version of photo 
05.jpg

Photos and text © by Mark Littrell