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Alan-the-leopard — Customized at will.

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Published: 2021-01-30 20:35:31 +0000 UTC; Views: 404; Favourites: 6; Downloads: 0
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Description When it comes to scale models, I have spent the whole month of January working JUST on this kit  Very rarely do I "eternize myself" this way, since I often combine the build of two models, so when I get bored with one I move to the other.

And in spite the hard work (specially on the engine set), as usual I am NOT fully happy with the outcome.

What really infuriated me was that the degree of detail on the engine block became useless in the end, because its fit into its compartment was so bad that I had no alternative but glueing all engine covers; not without refilling the engine compartment with rounded bullets first. This way the kit became stable enough, needless to use the pylon under the tail provided by the kit. 

In fact, these kits on these aircraft, with short nose and detailed engine compartment are tricky to keep balanced needless to rely on the pylon under the tail.

After my experience with this kit, for the remaining two kits on this kind of aircraft (another Bonanza, yet in a conventional tail, and a Cessna 150) I will skip or omit the engine set and just refill its compartment with my usual "home balance recipe" (a mixture of modeling paste with rounded bullets), unprofessional as it may sound.

Some problems with the paint and with some crappy thing masking tapes that did not stick as well as they should somehow ruined a kit that otherwise could have been wonderful.

By the way- since I never liked the only paint option provided by the kit, I browsed for images to real Bonanzas for inspiration. In doing so I notices that some of them have wing tip fuel tanks, which I found a cool detail.

Of all the spare fuel tanks that I had in store, those belonging to Airfix´s 1/72nd Douglas A-26B/C Invader were the ones nearest to what I wanted. With those tanks on, the wingspan of the model has grown exactly the same as a Curtiss P-40 (probably in real life it is not that much, though).

In my search for a lighter scheme, I took as reference a real Socata Tampico that some times flies over here; at least on the fuselage markings; including that black "mask" around the cockpit windows. An addition that improved the look of the kit a great deal, in my opinion.

Finally, the last question was on the registration number. My mind was split between Spanish or from some South African country. Since I didn't have all the letters required for the former, in the end I provided it with a fictional registration number from Namibia, after having browsed for codes for civilian aircraft all over the world. I even browsed for some combinations that I had on mind, and since this one (with some of the consonants from Kwabena´s name) didn't seem to actually exist on any aircraft (and if it does, who cares?), I went for it. "KWN" comes after my beloved Kwabena, of course   (KWabeNa).
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