1/72 Monogram USCG HU-16 Albatross  

by Ken Middleton

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Here’s my 1/72 Monogram Albatross in Microscale USCG markings to be displayed at the USCG Air Station Cape Cod. Thanks to Viperguy for the sale of the kit, Bob Perry for the USCG decals, Efrain for the link to some decals on eBay and RotorheadTX for the replacement decals. Without them, this kit would not have been finished.

The assembly was fairly straight forward and was surprised at how well most of it fit based on the age of the molds and kit.

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I used gloss white from a rattle can, and Model Master's Italian Red, though it is not as orange as it should be. I painted over the windows as there really is not much to the interior.

The toughest part was masking over the large rivets and trying to get a good seal. I had to do a few touch ups as some of the red bled underneath.

I messed up on the main gear struts. I used 5-minute epoxy to ensure a good bond, and made the struts straight up and down without attaching the v-shaped support to the fuselage. The struts are supposed to bow in a bit, and the v-shape piece would not fully reach the fuselage now. I superglued it as far as it would go, but it was still 1/4 inch shy. That'll teach me to read the instructions next time.

I used Microscale sheet 72-109 for the markings, and the black walkway marking on the top fuselage came from the Monogram sheet from Bob. The first Microscale sheet I had disintegrated even though I applied Future over it to seal it, and RotorheadTX came though with an extra section.

In the image below, you can see the hole I made in the engine to insert the dowel to support the model when using the rattle can.

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The black anti-ice sections are Microscale black decal trim - I found this a much easier method than trying to mask and paint it.

I also used Microscale blue trim decal for the angled stripe on the forward fuselage - and was quite pleased at how it conformed.

I made a simple base with a wooden plaque, and painted a section of .040 styrene sheet, and drew a few lines on it with a pencil and ruler. I attached it with 5-minute epoxy.

Thanks for looking,
Ken

Photos and text © by  Ken Middleton