US Navy P6 Catapult

Lone Star Models, 1/48 scale

HyperScale is proudly sponsored by Squadron.com

Reviewed by "Bondo" Phil Brandt

The iconoclastic “Resin Prince of Sugar Land”, Mike West, can always be counted upon to release esoteric products, and the long-awaited P6 catapult certainly meets this criteria in spades, addressing the niche market of WWII ship-launched scouts/reconnaissance birds with just the right amount of busy-ness. Just as do chefs in the culinary profession, this curmudgeon is also a strong believer in presentation. That is, a noticeable effort to display a model in the best possible light–even if it doesn’t count in IPMS judging–and that doesn’t mean merely placing said project on a white plastic “tablecloth.” To this end, the Lone Star Models P6 catapult doesn’t disappoint.

Molding

There’s a lot of resin here, as you might expect from the not-small price. A small digression: having mastered and cast some accurized parts for the Collect-Aire RB-57F, I’ve gained increased respect for the folks who do aftermarket resin day in, day out. Their products, IMO, are well worth the price asked. Don’t believe me? Do some mastering and casting yourself, and see if you can still say aftermarket is overpriced.

Thirty-three components comprise this kit, to be exact. Parts are generally crisp, with prominent rivets everywhere in this heavy duty representation of seagoing iron and steel. The main effort, by far, in the building of this kit will be in resin parts cleanup. First, there are the usual casting spigots, some very long, to cut off with either a razor saw or, in the case of Bondo Industries, ze ol’ Craftsman bandsaw. Next, there’s a serious amount of flash, mostly tissue-thin, but not at all unusual in the type components being cast, especially in the large structural pieces. I did find some bubbles, especially in the launch cradle, but Mike acknowledges that this particular part is especially tough to cast, and to that end has included separate extra cradle parts. He tells me that in the future he will re-engineer the cradle to put this issue to rest. I took the liberty of doing a rough cleanup of the parts in the attached picture to better show them .

Ancillary Materials

Mike includes plastic tubing for the catapult gun and lots of lengths of plastic angle stock to be used in fabricating the personnel guard rails.

Instructions

Eleven pages of instructions include eleven b&w pix and four drawings, one a two-page foldout. That being said, as a retired Big Blue tech writer I would have preferred to see the assembly drawings integrated within the three solid pages of text. Not that experienced modelers can’t hack it by referring to the pix and drawings at the back of the pamphlet. I just think the whole project would flow more smoothly otherwise.

Enthusiastically recommended.

Mike’s done it again; another product you’re not gonna see anywhere else. Although the Lone Star Models website would make it appear that the catapults are now OOP, Mike’s apparently doing another batch of ‘em to sell at the Kansas City IPMS USA Nationals.

If I were y’all, I’d get to his tables early!

Lone Star Models products are available online from their website http://www.lonestarmodels.com

Review and Images Copyright © 2006 by Phil Brandt
Page Created 10 May, 2006
Last updated 09 May, 2006

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