Wings of Intent: 2023

(The step-by-step assembly post is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/12/ford-v-8-truck-193637-ace-of-ukraine.html

This is undoubtedly an excellent kit, with magnificent detail for the scale. It’s well molded, although with some little flash and mold partition lines, and caters for three possible versions. The decals are well printed, in register and the color is solid. The manufacturer’s perfectionist approach makes it feel as if this were a 1/35 scale in miniature. The instructions are well printed, and clear -to a point- but leave some details in obscurity. I am almost sure they got confused, in some minor way, about which parts are for which version. Decide early on which truck you want to build, and test and re-test to be sure which parts you need before committing to glue anything. Many parts are minute, and some are fragile, so be warned. Extract and clean the parts as you need them so not to lose them, and bear in mind some that a few parts for different versions are almost identical. Every part has some kind of locating device, so during clean up be sure not to obliterate “flash” that is not flash. Extreme care is needed to extract the parts form the sprues, as stress would result in the parts breaking, so Xuron-type tools won’t do but for a few larger parts. There are some extremely small pips, tongues and indentations that are there for a reason. It’s difficult if not impossible to paint the model once assembled so if you can, paint the subassemblies, depending on your choice of truck. The P.E. set is good and sharp, but the parts that have bending marks may brake at the “hinge” if you try to correct the bend. The metal is not very forgiving. No clear parts are provided, not even for the headlamps. Only patterns for cutting clear material are printed in the instructions, no clear material is provided. I added home-made headlamps and modified the kit housings to accept them.

In general this type of kit in this scale has a lot of detail just molded-in, not as separate parts, and a lot of butt-joints, instead of keyed parts, so it’s a welcome change in approach, although for the less experienced modeler it may feel over-engineered or a tad challenging. I think it’s a step ahead in kit mentality.

The fit after cleanup -when needed- is good, with a few exceptions (see the building post).

The only real flaw I find in this kit is the engineering of the cabin windscreen frame, where the windscreen posts get divided in two parts. This produces a very weak joint, difficult to align properly, to clean up and to smooth up. The windscreen section should have been either part of the cabin roof, or the hood, or a separate part altogether; as it is molded, it’s a source of continue problems (my assembly, in spite of being extremely careful, broke twice). That was a poor solution, and it's inexplicable why the designer made such obvious mistake. Besides, the fit of the cabin front panel (where the pedal are) is too tight for the hood (which is canted inwards), again posing problems during final assembly. As I said already to exhaustion: what looks fantastic on the screen of the person designing the kit can become a real pain for the modeler. The person doing the 3D-modeling work should always think of the processes of assembly and painting, and bear in mind that tolerances are critical, and allow for some very small wiggle room, as computer doesn’t translate 100% into reality. A big image on the screen will be a minuscule part on the hands of the modeler, so will the locating devices, etc.

This kit requires care and attention, it’s not an easy build because of the number of parts and very small detail and some uncertainties regarding fit and proper version parts, but it’s a very good kit indeed. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought another.

ACE, the Ukrainian manufacturer, should be praised for the general quality of the kit and the choice of beautiful civil subjects.

I recommend that if you are building one (and you should if it’s your kind of thing) that you carefully read the construction post; it may save you a head-scratching or two.

Modelers that build civil machines are grateful for this kit, being vehicle modelers or airplane modelers. Planes look always great when photographed with vehicles, which is what I use them for.

Cook Cleland entered the good looking “Lucky Gallon” in the 1946 National Air Races placing 6^th.

The model construction process, which involved only a few modifications, can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/11/corsair-racer-conversion-of-172nd-scale.html

A Tamiya kit was used, and it must be said that the detail and fit are superb. This is the first time in a many-decades modeling life that I use this brand, arch-known by scores of modelers. I knew of it of course, but as they don’t do civil types I never bought a kit from them. Now I understand why they like it.

A Draw Decals set was used to complete the model.

Cleland chose in 1949 a much powerful F2G -a model of this later mount can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/05/special-hobby-172-f2g-supercorsair.html

Converting these kits to racers is a lot of fun, there are many decal sheets available for the most known types and versions, and the modifications are usually not too taxing for the modeler. Many aftermarket products can enhance them; just remember to look at photos and remove anything that doesn’t apply to the racing version. These post-war conversions are in most cases very colorful and refined, pleasantly revealing the aesthetic qualities of the original presented in an appealing guise.