1/350th scale le arsenal tracker assembly advice

[parsifal]

I have purchased Le Arsenals 1/350th scale tracker kit, along with their A4 and Trumpeter Sea King. These small kits are intended to go with a 1/400 scale Heller CVL ARROMANCHRS which Ive seen converted to Light Carrier Melbourne. This will be one helluva a challenge

In the meantime I have to deal with some problems with the a.c kits. none of the kits come with decals, which I am currently working on (RAN decals). Worse, neither of the Le Arsenal products have any assembly instructions!

The A4 a/c are relatively intuitive though I may still need help there as well. For the moment I will put that aside....

The Tracker kit is well made, but its a nightmare. no instruction, but worse, the PE sheet is just not at all clear how I am supposed to put things together or what each part is for



The following are a couple of images from a kit review;

The pictures are the extent of the kit instructions. It beats me how they are supposed to go together.


The following is a link to a review of this kit by steel navy:

LArsenalTrackerTracer350FBustelo


does anyone have any words of wisdom to try and help me a long with this, apart from "what the hell were you thinking!"

 

[Wurger]

How many of models does one kit contain? 5?

 

[parsifal]

no two, but there are a few extra pieces of each item,to cover for wastage

 

[Wurger]

Is the PE set included for all of them or just for one model?

OK. Here you are ... IMHO I have identified all of the parts properly.

A - the wheel bays with their doors.
B - the prop blades.
C - the man landing grear legs.
D - the hooks for landing.
E - the nose wheel bay with its doors.
F - the folding wing system for the plane with the dorsal radar antenna disc.
G -the aerofoils for wing roots of the plane with folded wings but without the radar antenna disc.
H - the main strut ( cable ) of the radar antenna disc.
I - the nose landing gear legs
J - the side and rear struts of the radar antenna disc.

 

[parsifal]

this are my initial thoughts,

what Ive labelled tailwheel should in fact be nosewheel I think, but there are some parts that just defy identification.

 

[parsifal]

thanks so much wotchek. I think you are right.

 

[vikingBerserker]

G almost looks like the ends of the wings when folded

 

[Wurger]

G almost looks like the ends of the wings when folded

Yes it was my initail thought. But I have to confirm that yet. Here how the real area looks like .. judging by the appearance of that seen in the pic below I agree that the G parts are the ending aerofoils of the wings. The shape of their rear area looks like the one with the flap and its chink.

 

[parsifal]

getting the props to be pointing at the right angle will be difficult

 

[parsifal]

I will post my home made decals tomorrow. I left them in my laptop at work, but I have to call in tomorrow, even though its the weekend here in oz

 

[Wurger]

Here you are a couple of better pics of the ones used in the kit instruction... these can come in handy too.

 

[Wurger]

Michael .. just got it I know what for the G and F parts are. actually. I have edited my first post with the part ID. The difference of the plane is the way the wings are folded for the plane with the dorsal radar disc and without. The one with the radar at the fuselage top has the wings folded back amost parallel to it. Therefore the F parts have to be used. The plane without the radar at the top has them folded over the fuselage one behind the another. As a result the wing roots are seen. Now the ID of parts is whole.

 

[parsifal]

Bl**dy excellent. many thanks. It will be a while before I can start this project. There is a lot of prep work to do, of which tjis is just one aspect.

The heller kit will require considerable modification to even achieve a basic similarity to Melbourne. I'm intending to alter her radar fit to roughly equate to her post 1970 configuration. that will mean changes to the Bridge, but most prominently she needs a US pattern radar fit. Ive seen a general PE conversion for this at 1/350 scale in either arsenal or white ensign. I also need to acquire the 40mm twin bofors and work out a way to make or modify the gun platforms. Melbourne's bridge profile changed after her final main refit, and the hull side openings were altered. ive yet to research all of this, but ive seen that it can be done . I'm keen to have a go, though I don't really yet have the modelling skills nor do I have the research complete. i'd like to try at least.

The heller kit is old, but its detail and finish is pretty goodd

 

[parsifal]

If anyone is interested, here is a link from where I got this crazy idea. unfortunately thanks to photobucket the step by step photographic record of how to do it is lost. From the look of where the builder got up to, I don't think he finished either, which is a bit ominous


The Ship Model Forum • View topic - Majestic Class light aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne


This article is more general, and shows the kitbash conversions that have been or are thought possible with the heller kit.

Conversions for Heller's 1/400 Arromanches/HMS Colossus Class Carrier

 

[Wurger]

Bl**dy excellent. many thanks.

My pleasure Michael. Here two shots from above I used to show where these parts should be glued.

 

[Crimea_River]

Wow, can't imagine building those. Good luck and let us know when the twitching stops!

 

[Airframes]

And let us know how many languages you managed to use to say "Where the **** did that go !"

 

[parsifal]

Ive already tackled 1/700 scale aircraft, and am some way into building a 1/700 scale resin kit of the HMAS Sydney. I have to dinish building that kit first before tackling this one

building 1/350th scale will be challenging, but I feel I can do that. I am far less confident tackling the modifications that will be needed to convert the heller kit. It looks difficult.

Anyway thought I would attach what my scratch built decals for the trackers are looking like

 

[Wayne Little]

Nice challenge there Michael.....

 

[Wurger]

Agreed.

Mention the HMAS Sydney , Michael reminded me about my idea of building of the HMAS Perth.