Grumman
(turbine) Tracker of the Republic of
China (Taiwan) Navy
I
started this model after my last (turbine) Otter submission. This
project (like that one) also stalled for a while (more than once) as
I contemplated ditching it at sea, throwing it in the garbage, or feeding
it to the cat...etc. With encouragement from modeler friends, I
got back to work on it after a six month break. I made
the rough shape of (one) engine by laminating slices of roughly
pre-cut .080 evergreen sheet together, I shaped the piece with files then
refined it with sand paper, using gradually finer grades. Once I had the
shape I could call an engine I made a mold and cast it for the opposite
side. I then attached and faired them into the wings. ( a lot of
boring work here that will remain unsaid) I made my own spinners and
propellers using the same basic methods. The remainder of the kit was
built pretty much out of the box. I should mention the kit does go
together quite nicely. Although, as you may note in one picture, the
model does take quite a loadout of Pb to sit on it's nose wheel.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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The
model was painted using Tamiya acrylics and, Tamiya masking tape for the
grunt work (all the sharp lines) I had good pictures of the shark mouth but no
decals so, I painted the mouth and eyes on. I tried but failed to paint
the serials, they beat me. I had one set of Caracal decals I had
bought from Uncle Bills Models in Calgary Alberta, but I needed to put in an
order to Caracal decals and ordered another set of "Trackers
around the world" (I needed two number 2's for the serials, there is only
one number 2 on each sheet). The Caracal decals worked wonderfully, as did the
Kinetic stencil markings I used. I cut up a ST-F serial to change the F to
a T. I now have enough left over Tracker decals to build a small fleet.
The model may
not be strictly accurate but, to my eye...looks like a Taiwan navy turbine
engine powered Tracker.
I hope you
would agree.
Chris Parsons
Click on
images below to see larger images
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