Heya, Folks,

Just picked up the Roden Pilatus Porter, Air America version, which has been a Holy Grail subject of mine for years!

Both Aaron Skinner at FSM and Scott Van Aken make mention of the less than stellar qualities of the decals (difficult to snug down, prone to silvering) and other snags in their helpful reviews...

Does anyone know of any AM companies planning better-behaving aftermarket decals for this aircraft???

And off that, is there any aftermarket planned at all (wheels, PE, etc.) --- I'd guess not given that the subject matter is somewhat obscure...

I think it was Aaron's review which made note of the styrene's pebbly texture... I'm wondering if it worth it lightly sanding the kit with high-grit polishing cloths, enough to smooth out the pebbles, but not take out the scribed and raised detail.

The clear styrene windshield looks okay --- will probably trying cleaning it up a little bit with Novus #1 polish and a dip in some Future.

There is a fair amount of flash on the kit parts as well, which will add to the build time.

Lastly, been going over Terry Loves fantastic book, "Wings of Air America" and it looks to me if the wings and upper fuselage are painted white and not a light grey as noted in the kit instructions... That's just my take, anyway!

Bear in mind, I am an armor guy, so please take any of my comments with a grain of salt (and a quart of avgas)...

Now I need to figure out an Air America pilot (thinking Tamiya's Afrika Corps figures), Lao villagers (any ideas on this??), rice bags, chickens, pigs, etc for a ground scene.

It would also be great to see a Dornier DO-28B in 48th in Air America livery as well!

Pitfalls or not, I am thrilled to finally have a kit of this aircraft! Be interesting to see if they release any other variants since they now have two out...

Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B.

Hi Johnny

have a look here IIRC we have discussed most of the problems there...

my BLog

It will take a while until I resume that project, as I have some other modelling to do now ...

all the best

Steffen

Wow! Great work, Steffen!!

Thank you for the link and for sharing with us...

Looking forward to seeing the aircraft painted and decal-ed! I hope those decals behave for you, my friend!

Thanks for the tips --- can't wait to see the finished product, Steffen!

Regards and Aloha,

Johnny B.