Next month’s launch contest is plastic model conversion, and I haven’t even started on it. Yeah. Earlier this year I bought a Lindberg Mars Probe kit; I can’t find much of anything online about converting it, but I figured how hard could it be? A while ago I finally took a close look and decided the answer was probably “not very hard at all”. Maybe even “too easy”. So, perversely, I decided to save it for a fallback and attempt something a little bit harder. Still easy, or so it says in various places online, but not Mars Probe easy.
I went on eBay and settled on the Monogram Thunderbirds F-100 1/48 scale kit. A vintage kit (mid 1980s I think) in a time-challenged box:
Cheap! And a bit risky. Open, damaged box. But the seller specializes in model kits, has excellent feedback, and said it was all there, good to build.
Did I mention the condition of the box, though?
Yeesh.
The decals look a little better than that. I don’t know how usable they’ll be. 
I’ll scan them on general principles… though they have white, and you’ve seen what happened last time I tried to print on white decal paper.
The parts looked pretty OK. I haven’t done a detailed inventory but all the big parts certainly seem present, mostly still on the sprue.
The pilot’s been painted, it seems… but I can’t find his right arm.
Rich's Rockets 