orlik XP-55 ascender

[missymouse]

ok, well my first official post here so here it goes. this is my personal review of the orlik XP-55 ascender and i have to say i am not to happy. i've stopped work and actualy tempted to throw the kit away, i started work on it like every one else, cockpit. not to bad, has some detail issues so finished that up then moved to the rear of the fuselage and used the draf model laser cut frames for this kit and compaired the frmae parts to the ones in the kit and marked the part numbers and cut off the green areas to glue to the laser cut parts, frames go together very nicely, no sanding or trimming needed, got the skin joiner strips on just like the diagrams say to, starting from the top and moving downward. well got to the bottom and noticed quite a bit of overhang and trimmed that off then came the skinning....YIKES!! ALL THE SKINS ARE EITHER TO SMALL OR TO LARGE!! i mean heck! i noted and marked the direction on the backs and where they're supposed to go! not a single skin fit! ok...well that right there is a kit killer and set it aside to start...well resume work on the orlik Jelcz GCBA 13/48 fire truck and so far that one is going together nicely cept for the kit stopper there which was an error on my part and messed up the frame. but if any one else has built the ascender and actualy had no problems, please let me know. thanks.



da fluffy busty rat girl.

 

[Ashrunner]

Hello MissyMouse

I haven't had any experience with the Orlik model, so I can't comment on that one. However, several years ago, I built the XP-55 Ascender put out by I believe Digital Card Models. It went together very well, though there wasn't any cockpit detail.

If you are still interested in the Ascender (one of my favorite experimentals) you might want to see if you can locate one of them. Maybe someone else here will have better luck locating it, than I did before I posted here.

Ashrunner

 

[Darwin]

Hello MissyMouse. Anyone whose avitar draws from one of my very favorite digital comic strips must be ok. One thing you haven't said....are you building from a scan of the kit or from the original? Also, have you compared the laser-cut parts against the original kit parts for size?

 

[missymouse]

heh, thanks.. umm, its the original kit and not a scan and yes i have compaired the parts and they are all the same.

 

[Ashrunner]

Well, now I know I am an antiquated, old fart. I have no idea of who the avatar MissyMouse is using is, but assumed it was either a mouse or rat, as per fluffy busty rat girl. Even that one has me stumped...not the fluffy part, at least I don't think so, and not the busty part, assuming my mind is still sharp, but rat girl part? Figure its some character from somewhere 8v)

Missymouse...don't toss that cockpit for the XP-55. If you do come across the DCM Ascender, you might be able to upscale it to the same scale as the Orlik model and have something to work with.

Ashrunner

 

[missymouse]

actualy the avitar is a pic of my own that i drew, i'll post it on the forum later on but the cockpit is not getting tossed, the whole model is, if you'll read you'll see that my issues are with the poor fitting fuselage skins over the laser cut frames which are exactly the same size as the printed frames in the kit. even with the joiner strips they're still small, so some time i try the kit again with the laser cut frames again and scan the skins in and take out all the color and skin details leaving the oitlines so i can glue those on as a base skin before i glue on the outer skins.

 

[sakrison]

I had similar problems with Orlik's Shinden. See the review on this forum in the "Kit Reviews" section.