I feel I owe an apology for the long silence to readers who've been faithfully following this thread. My LSMR-198 project has been disrupted by a number of things this year: at the beginning of the year, everything took a back seat to moving into our new home, which was nothing short of chaos. More recently, I've been focused on several commission builds. I want to address a couple of comments and questions that have been left hanging and maybe, just maybe, I'll have some news on the 198 model to report in the near future!
First, let me tackle this question from David:
Thank you very much for your question, David. I'd sure like to hear some more about your LCI(G) project! I commend you for tackling one of those - they saw extensive service and nobody builds those! You asked several interesting questions: am I still pursuing PE for the launchers, could those be purchased to represent Mk 7 launchers, and have I considered getting these printed? Yes, I am working, albeit slowly, on the PE Mk 51 launchers. However, in answer to your second question, although the Mk 51 and Mk 7 appear similar, the dimensions are significantly different. I suspect that the Mk 51 launchers will be oversize if you are building the Lindberg LCI. I haven't done the calculations to know whether a Mk 51 in 1/144th scale would be reasonably close in another scale, such as 1/160th, which is the scale of the Lindberg kit. As for getting them 'printed,' that is an intriguing question that I will have to pursue.dhenning wrote:John,
Hope you are all settled into the new home and back to modeling. During a recent trip, I read the book "The Heart of Hell" by Mitch Wise. It is the story of the LCI(G)-449 leading up to Iwo Jima. Highly recommended. I've decided to build one of my Lindberg LCIs as a gunboat and will use your LCI build to assist.
Have you made progress on the rocket launchers for your LSM build? Are you still pursuing photo-etch? If so, could a fellow modeler get in the loop to purchase 10 for an LCI(G)? I know that you are modeling a Mk 51 launcher and the LCI's used Mk 7, but I think the difference at this scale would be negligible.
Have you considered getting one of the 3d designers on the forum to print these out instead of photoetch?
A quick response to ModelMonkey's comment: Thank you for the input. I am probably typical of modelers who deal with products produced using any new technology: I assume that there will be some bumps in the road, so I am forgiving. I had hoped for the best, but expected the worst. Your comments suggest I set my expectations too low. Although you correctly point out that I could have gotten a replacement if I had complained, I didn't. I see this as a shot across the bow. I will be in the market to order more printed products in the near future and with the knowledge I've gained from this first experience, my expectations will be much higher.
John
I have to admit that most of the delay in getting the PE is my fault; the good folks at Hauler got right on it, and once I addressed the revision of Corel, they produced a beautiful rendition of what I had sent them. (And for a great price, too.) Here's a look:
