Model Forum / General / Models / July 2009

The website explains that it is intended for people to buy each set as and
when they need it.  It seems that the model is usually a *long* tern
project.

Musicman59 <cwestbrooke@gmail.com> wrote in news:4dbda042-3c9a-4717-9c31-
77ceec16d717@l5g2000pra.googlegroups.com:

First you have to remember when the Flower was made and by who. The site says
that they replace virtually everything except the hull. Thier logic being it
is cheaper to buy the Flower kit for the hull than to try and find a proper
fiberglass hull at a comparable price, which is probably why they don't make
a fiberglass hull. I suspect you could do one in resin and that it would
easier to make the hullplates from a mold, than in building up a fiberglass
hull. Cost and weight would still be issues and I'm not informed enough to
speak directly to them.

Mot everyone "meeds" to go completely batshit. It is still a hobby, meaning a
pleasureable pastime. You could build it out of the box and still produce a
creditable model of a Flower, and virtually anyone who sees it is going to
know what's right and wrong. My leaning is to scratch or replace some parts,
depending on the level of detail I want and if I ever intend to complete it.
I did a Revell PT-109 once used the Hasegawa 37mm gun and drilled out the
protective bar that is supposed to protect the aimer from the recoil of the
gun, it's supposed to be perfed and it's not in the kit. I scratchbuilt a few
items including replacing the hand rail on the deckhouse with model railroad
stanchions and plastic rod (shoulda used brass) and made the depth charges
and racks completely from scratch after looking at some pictures. I replaced
the 20mm barrel and the fifty cal barrels with some appropriate sized tubing
and bought PE 50 cal ammo belts. Oh and replaced the silencer linkages with
wire. Simple, pretty cheap and I won a 1st and a third place with it.

It all depends on what you want to do. I recently saw an ad for a Dragon 1/35
halftrack in a Cyber Hobby upgrade that had a retail of $180! Probably makes
up into an actual halftrack that drives, has a radio and heater and tickles
your balls at that special moment. Fine for a museum piece or for really
onsessed people. Of course it has about 10,000 parts including miniscule PE
that you are likely to lose your mind trying to bend. Me I have the Tamiya
kits, some replacement bogies and tracks and the 75mm conversion that's out
od productiona nd looks pretty good. I also have some decent references lots
of platic stock and leftover goodies and when I start i would like to finish
in the same month that I started, if at all possible.

IOW you can do a credible Flower with references, patience and a minimal
outlay of cash and time. It all depends on what you want. I didn't bother to
add everything up the prices were in British pounds and looked depressing
enough as it is. I've got my Flower, a Revell 1/72 U-boat and a couple of
1/72 WWII ASW aircraft. Plus various Revell and Airfix 1/72 scale ships. If I
get them all done good on me, if I get a few done, wlle I'm still happy. If I
spend another $800USD on all the aftermarket I'm not sure it would really
make me any happier.

Don't get sucked in... It's a hobby.

Frank