Aurora #83 1/62 scale Beechcraft Super 18By Al Superczynski |  |
The Comet Super 18 is one of my earliest plastic modeling memories and because of that I've been trying to find one of those kits for a few years now. I finally picked up a 1963 Aurora reissue (close enough!) on eBay last week so thought I'd share my good fortune and make it the subject of this month's column.
The stand is a dead giveaway that this is another reissue of a Comet original. The kit appears to be identical otherwise except for the passenger windows, which were each an individual part and much thinner in the Comet release, and of course the box, decals, and instructions.
I recall watching an older friend build one of the originals and wondering how he would get the windows in without slopping glue all over them; I was soon to learn one of my first "advanced" modeling tips. He stuck a piece of Scotch tape over the outside of the window openings, added the windows to their openings on the inside of the fuselage halves, then gently removed the tape strips with the windows firmly attached. I watched as he used a straight pin to carefully apply a thin bead of Revell Type "S" tube cement around the perimeter of each window opening and install the windows while still attached to their tape 'guide' strips. Magic! I'll never forget the smell of that Revell cement or the sight of those windows stuck on to strips of Scotch tape. Ah, sweet nostalgia indeed.....
The kit consists of 22 parts cleanly molded in a cream-colored plastic, including two for the swivel-style stand, and five more in clear for the passenger windows, windshield, and landing light cover. Strangely there are no clear parts for the eyebrow windows, these being indicated by recessed lines on the fuselage moldings, and even though a clear cover is provided for the landing light in the nose there is no light detail included. The parts themselves are remarkably free of flash and there are no ejector pin marks in any visible areas. All panel line detail is nicely recessed but unfortunately includes handy guides for properly locating the decals. Control surface outlines are also recessed but no more so than the panel line details. The only really poorly-done parts are the passenger windows which are overly thick and marred by ugly sink marks - Aurora should have left well enough alone and retained the individual windows of the Comet kit.
The kit appears to be accurate compared to photos of the real thing but there is absolutely no landing gear or interior detail whatsoever. The engines are molded in relief integrally with the cowlings but would probably look pretty good if painted carefully using washes and a little dry-brushing of details.
The decals are a bit thick and are of course somewhat yellowed with age but look like they would be usable once bleached out in sunlight. Unfortunately they don't match the box art and are incomplete, lacking the scalloped areas marked on the wings and stabilizers. It might be better to use the scribing as a pattern for making your own decals or even as a guide for painting them directly onto the model.
The instructions are adequate since not much guidance is needed for such a simple kit but there are no painting call-outs other than to "see illustrations" which don't illustrate anything! The only painting guidance is the box art which is of a different airplane than provided by the decals. Time for some Internet references!
Despite its simplicity and inherent drawbacks this is actually a pretty nice little kit and would build into a very good desk model with little effort. With some scratchbuilding and superdetailing to add internal details and landing gear this kit could build into an impressive model indeed, held back only by its odd scale.
As an aside, this kit has a smaller cousin in about 1/80 scale and as far as I know it is identical except for its size. Comet also produced their S2F and F-104 kits in two scales and I believe Aurora reissued all six kits.
Till next month, "Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to".
Be sure to visit Al's Place while you're surfing the 'Net!
