The parts were of high quality.
That long BT-50 was old style, brown, strong with very slight seams.
The 1/8" thick wing sheet is balsa. The 1/16" thick sheet with the tail surfaces really looks like Tung wood to me. The kit was made in China, Tung wood is native to China.
The parachute is pre-assembled in a yellow and black print..
The parts of interest:
Stickers! Why? The original had water slide decals. If you are doing a reissue, make it as close to the original as possible.
From left to right -
Clay weight, black elastic for the elevator, two small rubber bands for the swing wing activation, new plastic nose pivot pieces.
Here's a closeup of the peel and stick decor. The pieces are stamp cut.
At the lower left is a recommended engine sticker.
Hi, Chris,
ReplyDeleteI will be following this build with great interest. I had a SWT in my old fleet back in the late 70s, as well as having built 3 others simultaneously when our old club participated in Estes' display model build-up program. A SWT is on my long term list of BAR builds. Like you, I am rather disappointed to see that the new version uses stick-ons. If I get around to building another, I will probably use the new kit as a parts base and clone it from the original published plans...and make home-print decals.
Hi Ed,
DeleteMaybe not "new", I was surprised to see the re-issue was from 2004. Water slide decals would have been better. I haven't decided if I'm going to draw up decals or not.
Semroc/eRockets may be doing a retro-repro of this kit?
ReplyDeletePhilip
Hi Anonymous,
DeleteSorry, I don't know if Semroc/ERockets has plans to do a this kit. If they were to make a kit, it would probably use built up plywood for the wing pivot and front wing holder like in the original Estes version.
Ditto on a childhood favorite. I look forward to watching this build in anticipation of doing my own someday. Thank you for choosing it.
ReplyDelete