Scratch-built or kit-built ...

[J. S. Bach]

...I had this helium tanker bought for me at O Scale West last year (although I did not know it at the time) and am wondering if it was built from a kit or from scratch. I am leaning towards scratch. Any thoughts?

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[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hawk made a kit but it was better than that......scratch.

[R.K. Maroon]

Hmmm....maybe, but it sure looks like a Hawk to me

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[Rufus T. Firefly]

You are probably correct. Just had not seen a Hawk done so crudely as to make me think it was a scratch copy.

[rex desilets]

Never underestimate the ability of a klutz to screw up a nice kit.
OTOH, not everyone has Rufus' skills

[rogruth]

I can/could/might do something Rufus can't do with that kit. I can make it a mess and not really try.
Actually I probably wouldn't even try to build it these days.50-60 years ago I would have done OK.

[J. S. Bach]

I can/could/might do something Rufus can't do with that kit. I can make it a mess and not really try.
Actually I probably wouldn't even try to build it these days.50-60 years ago I would have done OK.

Same here!

[De Bruin]

I understand the sentiment with regard to trying to match Rufous's technique, I stick to stuff he would not touch, more modern day basket cases to salvage. Candidly JS's helium car would likely be easier to fix up than some of the basket cases I'm compelled to re-incarnate.
It's a syndrome. I think Dennis Holler's signature over on NK says "If it's old and broke, I like it."
I entirely get that.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Never underestimate the ability of a klutz to screw up a nice kit.
OTOH, not everyone has Rufus' skills

I'd end up doing what some of those reno gits do on HGTV and trash 90%, save 10%, and spend too much time and resources doing it. In any case, I still have another 10-20 projects in the crate to work on. Right now, adding more to the queue is not happening.

I would however be open to an unstarted Hawk kit for this car if reasonably priced, i.e. not the borderline nutz price of the last I saw sold,

[John Webster]

Tichy makes O scale decals for this. Ambroid did one in HO scale that would provide a set of plans.

Rufus wants one for the 1/48 scale model of the USS Akron he is building.

[E7]

Hard to confirm either way for me because it looks like it was pretty badly abused. Darn near a certainty that Dennis would like this one. Mt vote would be that it is a kit, but my expertise on this kind of stuff is a few notches below zero.

Rich

[rex desilets]

Tichy makes O scale decals for this. Ambroid did one in HO scale that would provide a set of plans.

Rufus wants one for the 1/48 scale model of the USS Akron he is building.

Ooooh! I wanta see that!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Tichy makes O scale decals for this.

Interesting; wonder if they've sold any.

Ambroid did one in HO scale that would provide a set of plans.

I used to have that kit in the queue thinking that someday, maybe, but no.

Rufus wants one for the 1/48 scale model of the USS Akron he is building.

No. But I do have a balsa kit for a Graf Zepp resting up in the rafters - box is about 4' long......

[R.K. Maroon]

I imagine that the Graf Zeppelin could be kit-bashed into a reasonable approximation of the Akron or Macon. One would definitely want to include the Sparrowhawk hanging on the trapeze from the belly.

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[Rufus T. Firefly]

I imagine that the Graf Zeppelin could be kit-bashed into a reasonable approximation of the Akron or Macon.

Maybe. I'm no rush finding out.