I was going to build the LAV-R but I prefer a no surgery build. Is the crane that bad it causes you to lose body parts or did you make a bad deal with the devil to get it to fit?
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Hey wait a minute the Appendix always comes at the END! Sorry to hear about your hospital stay Don. Iâm glad youâre better and back to building.
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Gee Don. It is usually the kit instructions that mysteriously lose parts between steps, not the builder⌠(or in Dragonâs case, magically appear).
Glad to see you are okay and back at the bench.
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It comes with two figures and a quick glance when I opened the package, I think theyâre sitting figures (?) but Iâd have to look again.
Mike
Some more work on the Aerosan. Most of the parts are merely sitting where they belong - not glued. The Squadron Green putty you see will be sanded once dry. So far everything has gone together very well. Thereâs really not a lot to the kit but itâs been âfalling together like a Tamiya.â
The PE Iâve used so far (radiator grill, windscreen frame and dash panel) IS worth the minimal effort. However, the great majority of the rest is for the suspension and I donât know that itâs worth the maximum effort. Each joint is made up of a lot of pieces, a fair amount of surgery would be necessary, and the high risk of the carpet monster eating some of the tiny pieces makes me seriously consider not going that route. A plus side to that is there are a bunch of PE parts that I could use individually on scratch projects (like my Ratte 
).
All in all this is a great little kit of something not too many display cabinets/shelves will have. I like it enough that Iâll see about getting the other one shown on the box in the background.
Mike
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Started work on the Independence LCS and so far I am pretty happy with it.
That being said I have run into some issues with the boat bay.
The part circled in red is a recessed piece that is inserted from inside the hull. One of the boats and a life raft are then added to it. The issue I have is this:
Sigh Fun and easy to clean upâŚ
Also, looking at more I think I will be building her as USS Independence (LCS-2) as opposed to the USS Gabby Giffords. Just too many decals I would have to change. I will still see how the SM-1 launchers look and if they look ok, I will mount them and call them a mission profile upgrade 
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Gross. Iâm sure youâll get it looking great, but dealing with pin marks in such confined spaces is my least favourite chore
Ouch, Rory.
Given the location of the part and the underside wonât be seen, sanding the floor off and replacing with styrene card may be faster and less painful than filling and trying to sand those.
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Thats a pain, but I like Peters idea about getting rid of the bottom floor section as that will make it a lot easier to get in and fix those pin marks, and then replace the floor⌠good luck ⌠and everyone loves a mission profile upgrade âŚ
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Thats a fair few links to assemble ⌠dont get to bored doing it 
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Thatâs crap. Trumpeter should feel really badly for that one.
Iâm also in the cut and cover camp though. Even if you only cut away the centre section to get the worst of it, the faint seam youâd be left with is way easier to stomach than that mess.
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I would never, in a hundred years, have thought of doing it that wayâŚ
This is why I love this site. You get all these amazing ideas from a great set of people.
So rather than faffing with putty and sanding etc I took literally 2 minutes andâŚ
Out with the old.
And in with the new.
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Looks great! 
Perfecto 
Wow, great solution. 
I am very much an âokay, there has to be a better wayâ lateral thinker. Glad it worked out for you Rory.
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Crane is done minus the plumbing. My plans to have it articulate were dashed because although the hinges function, the hydraulic cylinder at the top of the main arm doesnât have the depth to allow proper function. I also, despite trying very hard not to, managed to glue the turntable in place.
No matter though, Iâm just happy that I could pose it somewhere other than stowed. Itâs going to make sticking it on a shelf interesting, but Iâll think of something.
Just a few more greebles to add and then hopefully I can start painting in the next few days.
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Well Don, you may not of got it just how you wanted it in regards to it working, but with the arm out like that it is looking pretty good. It gives it some movement when you look at it. Do you get plumbing with it, or you adding your own ? Are you going to try and find something that you could add as a load for crane ?