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Lockheed P-3C Orion


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LS/Arii P-3 is a very nice little kit. Has recessed surface detail that is a little excessive (like many 1/144 kits), but looks acceptable after paint. Outline (for the most part) is very good. Biggest issue is the windscreen angle is too vertical. On my P-3 airtanker build, I sanded the windscreen to a more appropriate angle and polished it out again and it looks much better. The decals in some of the releases (especially the original LS releases) are not the best quality. There are a few aftermarket sheets, but almost all are OOP and hard to find.

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I know it might not be what you're looking for, but Revell did a "box scale" 1/115 P-3 some years ago. It's not 1/144, but it might be easier to find than the Arii/LS kit and less expensive. It's not particularly detailed, but the overall shape is OK and provides a basis for scratch-building some added details.

FWIW, I've always thought the Hasegawa 1/72 kit was the best P-3, but you need a pretty big shelf for it when it's done.

Mark

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I know it might not be what you're looking for, but Revell did a "box scale" 1/115 P-3 some years ago. It's not 1/144, but it might be easier to find than the Arii/LS kit and less expensive. It's not particularly detailed, but the overall shape is OK and provides a basis for scratch-building some added details.

FWIW, I've always thought the Hasegawa 1/72 kit was the best P-3, but you need a pretty big shelf for it when it's done.

Mark

The Revell kit is sort of a P-3A.

Here's mine, laboriously converted to sort of a P-3C.

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The big differences are there's no sonobouy tubes on an A and the MAD boom is a lot shorter and not blended into the fuselage as much. I also opened the bomb bay and scratch built some Mk-46s and Harpoons as somehow, I couldn't find any aftermarket items in 1/115th. (shocker!) and put in a basic cockpit and smash formed the clear sighting blisters, the kit just had bumps molded into the fuselage halves. Plus, I think they're in the wrong spot, too low. I didn't fix that. Oh, I had to scratch build the props, too.

If you can find the LS kit, buy that. Even if it's WAAAAY more expensive than this kit. Unless you like working on old, crappy kits like I do! :woot.gif:

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