The decades-old smell of an attic, garage or closet environment was potent—coupled with the now weeks-old odor of perfume from more recent handling and shipping let my nose know this was an older estate piece. Man, this thing was ripe in so many ways—six ways from Sunday as the saying goes. Therefore I banished the box and contents to my freshly painted patio. I added some charcoal air freshening bags —and let each piece on each sprue enjoy three days of California smog and sunshine.
The provenance of this particular old kit comes from somebody somewhere on the east coast who loved buying more than building. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. However, there was one major issue, which I will cover in part one of this missive. The rub, as it were. The fly in the ointment.
Here we have sprues of 1966-era Pyro tooled plastic in the same choc-o-late brown as King Kong, and sprues in off-white, which probably once were white, but the years have not been very kind to them, alas. Does anyone care for a photo or will you take my word for it?
These sprues are some of the hardest plastic I have ever used! Charles Atlas could bend the sprues with his bare hands, but I had to use a razor saw, thank you very much. But, but, but, but, so what? That wasn’t the issue. I just built mighty Kong. I was feeling frisky. I was feeling like I could take on anything.
1. The Rub
There were no instructions.
None.
Nada.
Zip.
Zilch.
Zero.
Now, I pride myself as I’m sure many of you do on putting these kits together with or without a good set of instructions. However it certainly is a major help to at least know where the parts are going to go—at least that gives a baseline for fitting the kit together.
No instructions, really?
Yes, really.
Really, really?
I asked Stickpusher Carlos and Lyle Lyle if they had any ideas and they sent me to Scalemates and Model Ship World and that did provide me with page one, so at least that was something. And my heartfelt thanks to you both. You are aces in my book. True aces. Thank you, gents!
2. One page is better than none.
Armed with that one page of knowledge I was quickly able to assemble and carve when the plastic refused to join everywhere the two hull sides with the stern piece. Like Aurora, the Pyro fit was atrocious and resolutely refused to join. Does anyone really build these kits without gaps or is that a talent from days gone by? I think it’s a previous generation’s talent that too much easy fitting has largely made into a scarcity. To digress: I think it’s important for everyone to build an old kit. Old Kits (TM) sharpen the senses and prime the noggin in a very good way. Anyway, it was Gap City here; and I own industrial adhesives, so what could go wrong? Insert evil laughter.
Ultimately, I used the “Aurora Kong” assembly and gluing methodology:
First roughen both sides with 150 grit paper, then brush one side with odorless thin CA and clamp for ten minutes; grind interior and fill with a thin seam of “rope” made from Milliput. Smash the Milliput to fill seams as deeply as necessary with all gaps being addressed as thoroughly throughout; then using old 150 grit again, wet paper and smooth down the putty until it is closer to the surface. Much closer. Smashing and spreading and making a wider seam makes a stronger bond.
Let the whole mess set rock-hard; if there are any gaps or flexing seams then repeat the above filler steps as necessary.
3. Time for a quiz:
Why am I building this kit?
A) I am a glutton for punishment.
B) Old kits rule.
C) I wanted to build a carrack in 1/144.
D) This is a commission.
E) All of the above.
Yes, of course it’s all of the above. I made that easy for you. You’re all my buddies.
