Introduction

PGH-2 Tucumcari Hydrofoil is a vintage model that evaded me. I did not know about this model until I watched a History Channel show featuring it (Remember when History Channel actually channeled history?) and PGH-2's CO mentioned the model. A few days later I found and acquired this kit. It has languished for a decade awaiting time for me to review it. Enjoy this nostalgic look at one of Aurora's exotics - PGH-2 Tucumcari.

Aurora can't be considered in the same league as today's mainstream (mainstream - get it?) ship model manufacturers, yet in the 1960s Aurora was as good, if not better, than their competitors of that era. Aurora’s Tucumcari is a fair model and definitely one of the more exotic models Aurora gave the modeling world. Your reviewer offers mainly photographs and defers to you as to whether that still holds true.

Kit Hydrofoil Tucumcari

I won’t try to describe this vintage kit in great detail - instead I’ll let the photos do the talking. The model is considered fairly accurate because when Aurora cut their tooling they did so with some help from Tucumcari's builder, Boeing.

The kit consists of over 70 parts of hard gray and dark gray styrene (including eight figures). Unfortunately, several parts are off the sprues; I attempted to arrange them per sub-component.

Molding is generally crisp but many parts suffer from seam lines and ejector marks, and some flash. There is no texture on the metal surfaces.

Aurora designed the model in a conventional manner: two hull halves and a deck; left and right cabin halves, bridge, overhead; hydroplanes; dozens of individual pieces and sub-component parts.

The figures have some detail but the three seated figures have sink marks. I shot a few photos of them for you to judge their quality. Common for nautical models, a display stand is included; I think it looks a bit more like an aircraft display stand, which might be a subtle nod to the hydrofoil design. In the late 1960s Aurora made vacuform terrain display bases for their military vehicles and aircraft, and created square boxes to accommodate them. I have never heard of a vacuform display for Tucumcari.

Detail

Aurora animated the retracting foil struts with the simple tab-and-hole design.

The bridge/pilot house is detailed with seats and an instrument console.

Aurora created their models with a mix of separate pieces, and molded-on detail like the anchor and engine and crew access hatches. Tucumcari features dozens of separate pieces.

The figures are fair for the scale although their detail is inferior to contemporary HO (1/87) figures by AHM and Monogram. Four of the figures are posed sitting at their weapons. One standing swabbie has a silly overdone "popeye" hat.

The .50 caliber machine guns and 40mm Bofors are lousy. The deck rail posts are thick, as are all of the antennas, masts, rails and staffs.

Painting and assembly instructions, and decals

Aurora printed the instructions in shaded line art. No color was used. The illustrations are sharp but cluttered. Assembly is shown on two pages with 28 written steps. The front page has a halftone of the box art, an Important - read this first! inset, plus advertisements for Aurora's brands of glue and paint, and their catalogue. The back page has two photos of the completed model, foils stowed and foils deployed, a planform and side view of the boat's sections, and a history of Tucumcari. Very basic painting guidance is given - only four colors.

Decals are for Tucumcari only. The carrier film is thicker than tolerable today, yet registration and sharpness are printing are good. I am sorry the decals are yellowed.

cast off!

I plan to build PGH-2 Tucumcari Hydrofoil. It is a decent kit even if the guns are poorly molded. I plan to replace them with H-R Products castings (S72-18 40mm Bofors Single - although they do not make anything in this scale, but straddle it in 1/72 and 1/96) or Wespe Models resin 1/87 Bofors. The twin-fifties will probably come from Herpa (Minitanks) kits.

Regardless, Aurora's old model should be an interesting and unique model for my shelf. Photos on line show that it builds into a respectable and cool model.

Remembering Aurora

Aurora was one of the pioneers of plastic modeling. Their large series of standardized 1/48 scale models of aircraft and armor evolved from toy models into models as miniature prototypes that we expect today. However, Aurora’s star dimmed and some of their models were issued under the K&B logo. Eventually Aurora died. Some of their molds were acquired and reissued by other companies. Monogram’s 1/48 F-111, A-7, Fokker D.VII, Sopwith Camel and Se-5a are Aurora models. It was reported that Monogram bought the lion’s share of the Aurora tooling but that most molds were destroyed in a train wreck in the late 1970s.