Hustler Clone and other pics
 

I have just completed a few clones; attached below is a picture of my Centuri Hustler Clone, Cherokee-D, A-20 Demon, and Astron Trident clones.

Very nice. The Demon is a Pimpdaddy kit, isn't it? That one is high on my list. :cool:

The Demon, Cherokee-D, and Trident are all Pimp Daddy kits !
All were GREAT builds.
The Astron Trident sure used a LOT of Balsa Fillercoat and Sanding Sealer (of course ORIGINAL Aero-Gloss dope) for the NINE total nose cones !

The Cherokee-D used an all Aero-Gloss dope finish :p .....Sanding Sealer on top of Balsa Fillercoat for the fins and cone, Pactra Prep for primer, then Swift White and Stearman Red dope for the top coat....I sure am glad I bought an airbrush as it allows me to use some of the 5 cases of pints/half pints of original AeroGloss I recently acquired. I actually have one whole case of Bonanza Blue pints.

How did you clone the A-20 chrome decal?

They look great, BTW!

The chrome decal was included in the PimpDaddy clone kit.

What did you think of the recovery systems?

Great finishes!



Which airbrush did you go with? Did you have to use any retarder to keep the blushing down?

Bill:
As far as the recovery systems, I did not like them, in fact that is the only fault I find with all the PDR kits....I used kevlar cord attached to the thrustring for a leader (but below the top of the body tube to prevent zippering) tied to 5 feet of elastic cord; I also did not use the mylar chutes, I replaced them with nylon Thrustline fluorescent green chutes; 12" for A-20, Trident, and Cherokee-D.


Craig:
For the Airbrush, I just bought a basic Badger Airbrush from Michael's craft store with a 50% off coupon, which made the whole kit around $30.00.
I did not use any retarder (I spray in a dry basement) to prevent blushing; I used 2 parts AeroGloss dope to one part Sig Butyrate dope thinner (costs 1/2 the price of AeroGloss thinner around me and works just as well). The only time I ever have to use retarder is with black; for some reason this color seems to need it & even then I only use about 10% retarder in the mix.

Love the Hustler and A-20 Demon! Question: where did you get the Centuri logo decal for the Hustler. I checked Excelsior and Tango Papa and didn't see Centuri logo decals at either site.

Also what are you using for your balsa filler coat? I generally spray two or three fairly heavy coats of Kilz primer but that doesn't always catch "everything". Local do it yourself stores in this area don't handle fill and finish, only the elmers wood filler and I'm not sure how that stuff thins out and haven't tried it yet.

Thanks! Great looking clones :)

The Centuri logo decal is NOT a repro; it is not currently cloned/reproduced; it is new-old-stock and almost impossible to find; I have two sheets of them.
I use REAL old-stock Pactra Aero Gloss Balsa Fillercoat high-VOC content dope for filling balsa grain; none of that water based garbage for me. I usually use 3 brushed-on coats of AeroGloss Balsa Fillercoat followed by 2 coats of AeroGloss Sanding Sealer with sanding after each coat. I really like the old-school finishing methods...some things never change for this BAR. It helps that I have over a case of quarts of Sanding Sealer and Balsa Fillercoat :D :D :D !
I usually prime over that with KILZ or Pactra Prep depending on if I am using Enamel (KILZ) or AeroGloss Dope (Pactra Prep) I have oodles of cans of all colors of Aero Gloss dope INCLUDING the now very rare Royal Purple.
The only thing I use thinned water-based fill-and-finish for is filling body tube spirals; I only use that because Pactra Plastic Balsa is no longer available...now THAT was a real filler !
Elmers wood filler does not thin out too bad though.