I don't know where this part goes?

[McColm]

Hi,
I'm not sure where to put this topic.
I've been working on the Heller 1/72 E-3A kit, converting it into a maritime patrol aircraft. On the spruce there is a part which doesn't appear in the instructions nor on any reference material that I can find. Part 40 looks as if it is a large ariel.

The same can be said with the Hasegawa 1/72 Lockheed P-3. The instructions are for the older P-3A/B model with newer parts and decals added.
Along with the Neptune kit, which shows the upper gun turret in place in some of the instructions and without it in others.
Where as the Prowler kit gives you two inflight refueling probes. (just in case one gets eaten by the carpet monster!!).

Revell 1/72 Atlantic MPA gives you parts to make the Italain version with no instructions.

The newish Airfix 1/72 Sea King AEW has the parts for the dipping sonar, but no instructions. MK2 and MK5 radome, air flilters and two tail rotors. Plus various ariels

The older Airfix and Matchbox instruction sheets are a little vaige. Trumpeter however gives you loads of pictures and line drawings.

[ChernayaAkula]

In the Prowler kit, the second IFR probe is not a sacrifice to the carpet monster (), but for a different sensor fit. See the little notch at the base of the probe? That notch houses a receiver used on ICAP-1 Prowlers (and later), while the the one without is used on earlier Prowlers (which use the other outer pylons with the "antennas on a stick" protruding from them).

The Trumpeter instructions may be nicely detailed, but they contain some errors as well. Their 1/32 MiG-23s have call-outs for the wrong type of ejection seat, even though a correct one is included in the kit. In case of their 1/32 A-4E, apparently they want you to use a wrong parts as well. Best check twice!

You could add Hasegawa's 1/72 F/A-18E/F Super Hornets to the list of confusing instructions. They want you to use the wrong type of adapter rail for the wing-mounted AIM-120. The launcher they want you to use is for the AGM-88 HARM, while proper AMRAAM launch rails are in the kit (just blanked out in the instructions as "unused parts").

And from what I learned a couple of days ago on ARC, Hasegawa wants you to install a circuit breaker panel in their 1/48 AH-64D's pilot cockpit that's no longer there on the actual aircraft. They simply copied their AH-64A instructions there (for which the circuit breaker panel is correct).

[PR19_Kit]

The two tail rotors on the Airfix Sea King, and which also appear in the Heller version because it uses the same moulds, have different number of blades. The kits include the earlier 5 blade rotor as well as the later 6 blade version. AFAIK all the early MK 1s in FAA service were retro-fitted with the 6 blade tail rotors at some point in the their career.

You'll need to keep both anyway as the blades are THE single most fragile bit of any Sea King kit, and you're bound to snap one off at some stage. 

[McColm]

Thanks for the advice.
Not all 1/24 or 1/25 car model kits have left or righthand drive nor do they have the left or right wiper blades.
The Jaguar TWR instructions are for the left-hand drive, even though the licence plates are for the UK and the dashboard has two parts left or right. They also provide a different bumper to the TWR version.

[Hobbes]

This sort of thing often happens when the base kit is used for more than one purpose: you get a couple of orphans that aren't mentioned anywhere and are only needed for another version. I've got a Revell kit for a Mercedes race truck; they added the race bits to a road truck kit which means you can build about 1.5 trucks out of the box...

ISTR reading that one manufacturer (Tamiya?) likes to put little puzzles in its instructions: there's one step that needs more than superficial attention to get the kit assembled correctly.

[The Wooksta!]

The Hasegawa Lancaster has the large tropical intakes and the parts for the Village Inn radar gunlayer as part of the standard sprues but as yet we haven't seen an option with them.  Mind, they do include the camera bay for the post war MPA version too.