1/72 Spruce Goose, Mk. II

[Lucien Harpress]

Welp, I finally did it. With my POS vac kit not going anywhere and a rather large tax return, I decided to take the plunge and buy the recently-released Amodel kit of the Hughes-Kaiser HK-1/Hughes H-4/Spruce Goose in 1/72.

Despite being a rather large (understatement) kit, there really isn't much to it. The large bits (fuselage, wings) are molded fiberglass, while the plastic parts are limited to the engines (in which case you get 8 identical sprues) and interior. I haven't done much work yet, but I did start on the flight deck.

Except for a few tables and a couple dozen chairs, this is about it. There is DEFINITELY room for improvement here- back detail, some APUs along the starboard side, full engineer station, etc. Still, it's a good a base to start with as any.

The flight deck cover is a separate fiberglass piece, and (I'm sorry to say) home to most of the kit's shape problems. Oh, where to start.... the canopy shape is wrong (front of the windscreen is too blunt), I'll need to double-check the size of the three hatches, the canopy should fair cleanly back into the top of the fuselage, and the front fuselage-to-wing joint should have a much pronounced crease.

The line on the top of the canopy should continue straight and level back to the curve of the wing, not slant upwards like it does. Fixing it is going to be an adventure.... but if I could get the seams on that vac kit smoothed out, this should be a comparative cakewalk.

I'll do my best to post up semi-regular updates, but we'll see if I'm able to live up to that promise. In any case, I AM making progress, and will hopefully stay that way (it's been too long since I've actually FINISHED something!).

Edited June 11, 2013 by Lucien Harpress

[caudleryan]

Awesome progress! If anyone can do it, it's you. I look forward to seeing this monster come together.

RYAN.