Green Dragon
07-30-2006, 03:23 PM
well, working diligently on my Cassiopia from PDR.
This was one I always wanted in the day, but never did get - so when I saw it listed, had to grab one .
first thing I noted was how small this is... I know we've all had that happen ( things were 'bigger' as kids, lol - I recall Bill's comments on the taurus clone particularly, lol ) , just I figured this was Andromeda or Alien Explorer sized and it's much shorter than I remembered.
Upscale already in the works, lol .
anyways - kit looks real good and so far going together well .
I did get one fin ever so slightly off from perfectly straight out from the BT :-( , I'm using the estes yellow angle guide for these ( won;t fit well on the old grey fin fixture guide), so must have slipped just barely , it's 120 degrees, but not 'perpendiculer' exactly ... would not be as much of an issue on a 3fnc, but with the ring it will take some tweaking .
comments on the kit itself - nice parts, high grade stuff. my only 'mini-issue' is the shock cord, it's 1/4" elastic which is good, but seems overkill, and fairly short - I;d much rather see a longer length of 1/8" elastic, or Kevlar, but he's obviously trying to keep the vintage feel to the kit with the tri-fold mount ( which ,incidently,worked fine for 30+ years ).
The decals look a little fuzzy, but nice and bright, will have to see how they look once completed, give me a week or so to sand,seal,sand,sand, etc.
I also recieved the A20 Demon kit, which has been commented on my others, and it's great.
right now I'm putting that off waiting for basswood for the fins ( nicer and a little weight won't hurt with the big fins and D12 power ).
I do have to interject a huge plug for PDR here - my A20 had a balsa noseblock that was about 3/4"-7/8" long and really unusable, also it has a 12" shock cord.
I emailed them re: the block, and casually mentioned the cord as a 'no biggie, but add length in future' .
well, I was sent , arriving about a week later by priority mail, a new block ( he says it was a cutting error, not sure if it was an 'end cut' that snuck in, or if others got messed up ), new 24" shock cord, and a bonus kit for my 'trouble' ( total surprise to me, for sure ) .
All I can say is - debate over original name choice or not - PDR is a class act that stands behind thier product, and can expect many more orders from me.
~ AL
ps: do have one question regarding the decal for the A20 , which I;d asked in another thread here, with no certain response - on the 'demon' heads wrap decal, should the heads be white ?
they appear silver in the catalog, but I assumed they were white.
Don's photo post shows them as just black / clear, so was wondering what the original had - anyone have a vintage kit or builtup can verify the decal background ?
I know Tango Papa has these available, not sure if they have white or not ( dropping him al ine ,too, to check it out ), just wondering before I go ahead and build the bird - it's another of those ' always wanted' kits, that I never built ( did have an unopened one that I sold with my collection, so never did open and build one )
This was one I always wanted in the day, but never did get - so when I saw it listed, had to grab one .
first thing I noted was how small this is... I know we've all had that happen ( things were 'bigger' as kids, lol - I recall Bill's comments on the taurus clone particularly, lol ) , just I figured this was Andromeda or Alien Explorer sized and it's much shorter than I remembered.
Upscale already in the works, lol .
anyways - kit looks real good and so far going together well .
I did get one fin ever so slightly off from perfectly straight out from the BT :-( , I'm using the estes yellow angle guide for these ( won;t fit well on the old grey fin fixture guide), so must have slipped just barely , it's 120 degrees, but not 'perpendiculer' exactly ... would not be as much of an issue on a 3fnc, but with the ring it will take some tweaking .
comments on the kit itself - nice parts, high grade stuff. my only 'mini-issue' is the shock cord, it's 1/4" elastic which is good, but seems overkill, and fairly short - I;d much rather see a longer length of 1/8" elastic, or Kevlar, but he's obviously trying to keep the vintage feel to the kit with the tri-fold mount ( which ,incidently,worked fine for 30+ years ).
The decals look a little fuzzy, but nice and bright, will have to see how they look once completed, give me a week or so to sand,seal,sand,sand, etc.
I also recieved the A20 Demon kit, which has been commented on my others, and it's great.
right now I'm putting that off waiting for basswood for the fins ( nicer and a little weight won't hurt with the big fins and D12 power ).
I do have to interject a huge plug for PDR here - my A20 had a balsa noseblock that was about 3/4"-7/8" long and really unusable, also it has a 12" shock cord.
I emailed them re: the block, and casually mentioned the cord as a 'no biggie, but add length in future' .
well, I was sent , arriving about a week later by priority mail, a new block ( he says it was a cutting error, not sure if it was an 'end cut' that snuck in, or if others got messed up ), new 24" shock cord, and a bonus kit for my 'trouble' ( total surprise to me, for sure ) .
All I can say is - debate over original name choice or not - PDR is a class act that stands behind thier product, and can expect many more orders from me.
~ AL
ps: do have one question regarding the decal for the A20 , which I;d asked in another thread here, with no certain response - on the 'demon' heads wrap decal, should the heads be white ?
they appear silver in the catalog, but I assumed they were white.
Don's photo post shows them as just black / clear, so was wondering what the original had - anyone have a vintage kit or builtup can verify the decal background ?
I know Tango Papa has these available, not sure if they have white or not ( dropping him al ine ,too, to check it out ), just wondering before I go ahead and build the bird - it's another of those ' always wanted' kits, that I never built ( did have an unopened one that I sold with my collection, so never did open and build one )