Renwal M51 Skysweeper 75mm Anti-Aircraft Gun

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Another long term project to share with you all. 

The ancient Renwal Skysweeper.  Built one back in the late sixties and years later I tried to mount it on a Monogram M48 Patton III hull in a feeble attempt to create a what-if SPAAG.  No clue on what happened to it all those years ago but I suspect it was thrown away by a sibling or parents while I was in the Army. 

I acquired this Skysweeper and a second kit via eBay for a price that made my wallet cry out in pain.  Well over $100.00 for each kit B4 tax and shipping fees were added in.  That was about two years ago and the prices have only increased since. 

Once received,  the figures were removed and reassigned to the local landfill. 

Attached images show WIP which up until today has been mostly cleaning flash from some of the parts.  The most recent efforts resultd in checking fitment of the stabilizer legs, building the radar dish assembly and adding some CA glue to the cavity on the optical tracker. 

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The Grey plastic radome next to the Skysweeper radar is from a Kinetic 1/48th scale S-2 tracker which is only slightly smaller in diameter than the Skysweeper radar dish.  Depending on how this turns out it may become part of this project.   

[Dr. YoKai]

One of those kits I reeeeeeeeealy hope Atlantis gets around to re-issuing someday. (Assuming the molds still exist) Having a taste for ancient plastic like this myself, I feel you on the subject of removing flash. Looking forward to your progress.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

One of those kits I reeeeeeeeealy hope Atlantis gets around to re-issuing someday. (Assuming the molds still exist) Having a taste for ancient plastic like this myself, I feel you on the subject of removing flash. Looking forward to your progress.

Agreed!  It would have been much easier on the wallet if the kit tooling was still available or serviceable to make new kits instead of having to deal with collector's pricing on the few kits remaining and available.  Since I purchased my Skysweeper kits the price has gone up again to a staggering $225.00.  So much for finding a bargain at e[vil]Bay. 

The mould flashing was not that bad for a kit as old as this one is.  More annoying was trying to remove the seams that resulted from the two-part moulds that shows up as a fine line down the median of each part.  Some seams were left alone because of the small size of the part but others could not be ignored.