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This is a limited edition kit
produced as a
collaborative effort
between 12 Squared and
Miekraft. Inside the box is
one sprue with 21 pieces in
brittle white plastic. No
decals are included. There
is also a white metal
display stand shaped like
Iraq, but my copy was
missing this piece.
Neither Miekraft nor 12
Squared are known for their well-molded kits, and this effort is not going to change that view.
This is one of the poorest kits I have ever seen. The pieces are rough, in all senses of the word.
The finish is covered with little bumps
and pocks, all the pieces are surrounded
by flash and the injection gates are huge.
The body pieces for the Patriot are
basically lumps of plastic in the general
outline of a Patriot missile.
There are bulkhead parts (3 & 6) for both
the Patriot and Scud, but you don't really
need to use them. The plastic for both
subjects is so thick that the support that
you would gain from the bulkheads is
practically nil.
I started with the Patriot. I glued the body
parts (7 & 8) together, and once dry I
filled, sanded and scraped until I had a
passable body profile. The fins (part 9)
were discarded and new ones were
fashioned from plastic sheet. I filled in
the rear of the body and drilled a new
hole for the exhaust outlet. I also added
the wiring tunnel to the side.
After successive coats of light grey
primer with sanding between coats to
correct flaws, I sprayed the nose Testors
gloss white, followed by coats of gloss
orange and gloss red for the body.
Since there are no decals, I went to the spares box and added a US Army script decal to the
wiring tunnel.
As for the Scud, I had high hopes for this one. It looked the more promising of the two subjects.
The body halves (parts 1 & 2) are crude but in much better shape than the Patriot body parts, but
just like the Patriot, a lot of filling, sanding and scraping was needed to get a passable finish and
shape.
My plans of completing this kit quickly were dashed when I applied the first grey primer coat. I
knew that the Scud had deep panel lines, but I was certain they would be reduced and become
less prominent once multiple coats of paint were applied. Unfortunately the primer revealed a
more sinister flaw. The panel lines were not straight, and did not quite line up at the seam where
the two body halves mated.
Well I was now faced with a dilemma. Being a semi-perfectionist I just couldn't ignore the
flawed lines, and filling and rescribing them was just a bit more work than I wanted to do at the
time. With my desire to finish the Scud waning, I decided to abandon it for the time being,
leaving it to be completed when my patience returns.
After a few months I returned to building the Scud. All the lines were filled with super glue and
baking soda, and sanded smooth. This took quite some time as there were about 14 of them and
they were very deep. I didn't feel it was necessary to re-scribe all of the lines just filled, so I only
did six of them.
I removed the round molded on wiring conduit and replaced it with a square plastic rod and
sanded the ends so they tapered down to the fuselage.
Painting started with a primer coat of Testors Light Grey. It revealed a few flaws that were filled.
The final painting consisted of two coats of Testors Russian Armour Green, then the tip of the
missile was masked and sprayed Krylon Gloss white. A final two coats of Testors Glosscote gave
the missile a nice glossy shine.
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Conclusion
All I can say is that this kit was one of the biggest disappointments I have had in
modelling, though my disappointment was made more bearable by the fact that I got this kit extremely
cheap on eBay. Following a disproportionate amount of work I wound up with a passable
representation for the both the Patriot and the Scud, but I must admit that at one point the Scud
rocket came very close to being tossed into the garbage bin. Upon further thought, I would say that the box art work
is the best feature of this kit.
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