PT-17 Stearman
Revell

Thomas Bischoff
Nice starte - this is also on my wishlist!

Robert W Martel
Thanks Thomas,
It's pretty nicely detailed little kit. it's small though. the rigging will be the tough part. It can be done in an Army blue scheme also, but I think I like the yellow Navy version better.

Thomas Bischoff
I will also go for the yellow peril - will look nice beside the yellow Tigercat 🙂

Gordon Sørensen
I have this kit (along with the Lindberg) in my stash too. I build te 1/72 scale version many yeata ago. Going to watch to watch your build!

Robert W Martel
Hi Gordon,
I'm just getting started with it. So far I think it will be pretty good, but it is small!

Robert W Martel
All in all a pretty nice little kit. Good detail, things fit well, fairly quick & easy build. The decals went on real nice & didn't give me any problems. Is it perfect? mmm...close.

Things I'd like to have seen better:
1)The windshield glass is super thin, I broke one in half removing the mask. Squeezed too hard I guess, be careful there.
2)Separately molded tail wheel, I broke it off pretty quick. Things like that are always better separate, watch out for that.
3) I think the center wing struts could have been molded separately also. I bent one, but didn't quite break it off. I suppose it does make it easier to align the upper wing. keep that in mind.
4)Little molded fuel lines would add that much more realism. Wouldn't be hard to do for some of you scratch builders. Solder wire would work good. Trouble is you can tell where the leave the tank, but not where they go into the cowl. Wouldn't be hard to figure out I suppose.
5)Some kind of marks or small indentations where the rigging wires go. You can't just glue wire to the wing surface. Their wire length guides were a bit off, some too short, maybe just my build. I pre-drilled holes, and it helped a lot, but you have to put a pretty steep angle on some of them, you need a tiny bit set & pin vise, and be careful you don't drill through! But, even just a bit of a hole helps a lot. Also tell me somewhere that I'll need wire (size, length) on the box, maybe it did and I just didn't see it.

Things I did wrong:
1)Thought I could get away without using primer. WRONG !! Especially with a light color like yellow. The first coat looked Green! YUK. It took 4 coats to cover it so it looked yellow. I could have gotten a much better paint job if I had used primer. Funny, because I usually always use primer at least on the exterior! Don't know what made me think I could get away without it this time, I'm slippin' !! Definitely use primer! ALWAYS
2)I goofed where I put the rigging wire on the upper stab (but I bet you cant tell!), didn't look at the instructions close enough. But, like I said, they should mark them somehow, some are difficult to figure just where they go.
3)Be a bit more gentle, Little things are easy to break. I'm not used to working on tiny aircraft, I like them a bit bigger.
4)Study the instructions all the way through before I start! I know, only sissy's need instructions. LOL
It is easy to miss important "stuff". For example I didn't see where they said what color to paint the tail wheel. I haven't seen a PERFECT instruction sheet yet, but they always help.

Other than that it went pretty well. I had to use steel & brass wire for the rigging because I didn't have enough of either to do them all. I used the .016 brass on the inner wing braces & the short ones on the tail. The .020 steel (music wire) for all the long ones on the wing, The brass is easier to cut, but bends too easy. If you bend it it's near impossible to straighten. I like the steel better, it has some flex to it. You can bend it quite a bit and it straightens itself.

I left the port side cowl unglued so it could be taken off, there is some pretty good detail inside there. Otherwise why even put that stuff in there if you can't see it!

I like the kit. As a matter if fact if I see another one at HL on clearance I'll definitely buy it. It will be an easy one (except for the rigging) for my grandson .

I give it a big thumbs UP !! Nice Little Kit

Thomas Bischoff
I like it although the rigging is a bit too "heavy" in my opinion, Well Done!

Robert W Martel
Thanks Thomas, Yes the wire is a bit too thick, is it it's all I had, so..., next time I'll try to find smaller wire. Seems to me that was the smallest HL had when I bought it. Oh Well !!

Thomas Bischoff
somehow the wires always look smaller in the shop 🙂

Robert W Martel
True Thomas, next time I go to HL I'll look again at what they have. I started out using the smaller brass but there wasn't enough, and I didn't have $ to go get more! .004 doesn't sound like much, but would have looked different. That's 20% smaller!

Gordon Sørensen
Like the detail with the cowling panel off! Nice clean build.

Robert W Martel
Thanks Gordon, It could have been a bit better, but...... I like the kit.