Beechcraft 18 Twin Beech American Airlines - Modified Encore 1/72 kit

Contemplating the harmonious lines of a well-designed classic twin is always a pleasure, and for those privileged to have seen them in person, a sight to remember.

In its attractive American Airlines livery the plane seems to invite its ten passengers to ply the skies above serene landscapes, in comfort and relaxation, including a restroom.

Not for nothing this era of aviation is called "golden".

This endeavor started as a comparative build -of the same airplane type- against a Rareplane vacuformed kit.

The building process of both kits can be visited here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2019/12/beechraft-model-18-twin-beech-172nd.html

The model is based -as explained in the building article- on a revamp by Encore of the original -and frankly poor- PM kit. This new boxing included -to no exceptional advantage to me- some resin bits that were supposed to be an upgrade, and a very bad new transparency, that in my sample only deserved the trash can, with apologies to the trash can. A few of the resin parts are identical to those of the original kit, or worse, and only the cabin door, exhausts, cowls and engines are of use (if you are not too picky, especially regarding the cowls).

The kit's alternate civil decals that tempted me to buy the boxing are a total fiasco, since the real scheme was applied to a highly modified plane of later date, that has very little to do with the kit, having, among other changes, squared wing tip additions, and three-blade props. So it's either kit surgery or trashing those nice -but useless- decals. Thus I went a different path, adding interior and exterior detail and commissioning a decal sheet from Arctic Decals for a plane used by American Airlines.

I know that there were other Beech 18 kits issued by Hobbycraft, and having such variety of nice civil liveries, I am surprised that a better injected kit doesn't exists, or at least an upgrade set -that makes sense, that is.

In any case these old platforms can be turned into fair models with some work (and research, something many manufacturers don't bother with). Many of you have one or other of these incarnations (RarePlane, Encore, PM; Hobbycraft) in the stash. I think they make for a good skill-honing project, without pretending to obtain the ultimate model.

Personally, I find the venerable RarePlane vac superior to these much modern alternatives so far in the market; you may have a look here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/02/beech-d-18-converted-rareplane-vacuum.html

Knowing the limitations of this kit (which are various) I may venture -some day- into another conversion, since there are things that I could do better after having dealt now with this kit.

Even though it took some time and no little work, here is the result obtained with the Encore kit, with which I am fairly pleased, all things considered.