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Keep us posted...this is a much wanted kit...other than the TLP Pershing, the only thing I've seen are some FG nose cones for scratchbuilders...and some entirely scratchbuilt upscales...or maybe some bigger HPR kits.

The folks here can direct you to some replacement decals....

I have a set of decals I got from Phred at Excelcior.

If you want he can make you more but he says the orange ribbon for his Alps printer is a pain.

I make the BT-101 nose cone in balsa but it's freakin' huge!

MarkH said:

I picked up a Pershing on Ebay ...

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I hate you.................................just kidding.

Lucky you!

I had one of those as a kid.

Sure wish Estes would bring it back.

If it is not too late in your build, you need to protect the inside of that stuffer tube with glue.

--put a length of string through the whole MMT (leave it hanging out both ends)
--tie one end tightly around 4 or 5 cotton balls; use enough of them so they make a pretty darned snug fit when you try to pull (with the other end of the string) them through the MMT, but don't pull them through just yet---
--start the cotton balls just barely into one end of the tube, stand the MMT vertically on that end, and squirt a good quantity (an ounce or so) of white or yellow glue into the top end of the tube so it collects on top of the cotton
--pull the string slowly and draw the cotton balls through the entire length, coating everything well with glue
--don't forget to wipe out the MMT chamber while the glue is still wet so you don't leave excessive amounts of glue in there--or you won't be able to get the motor inserted

best to do this over a few sheets of newspaper or something that can be thrown away

MarkH said:

Yeah I ordered a set of decals from Excelsior a couple days ago.

Interestingly the orginal orange stripes in my kit are adhesive, but the adhesive is gone. The decal scans on Jimz site show the striping as water slides. Maybe the older versions were stick-ons, and Estes switched to water slide at some point? Also, the other decals (US ARMY, etc.) are water slides and look useable except that they are yellowed or almost brown looking. The scans at Jimz look the same.

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I don't know if your's is the same case, but I had some old Estes decals I worked with recently that also had yellowed. It turned out to be something between the decal backing paper and the decal that had yellowed, not the decal. I assume it's what releases the decal when it gets wet. I found that once the decal was slid off the paper I could very carefully rinse and rub the yellow off the back of the decal. I had to change my water very frequently, almost with each decal to get rid of almost all the yellow. I also put a drop of dish washing soap into my water to help in placement. The decals were thick and tough enough to allow this, so I had no tearing problems. I also had no problems with them staying on after cleaning them. May not apply in your case but thought I'd mention it.

Looking forward to seeing this complete. I remember spending a couple hours trying to choose between this and the Maxi Honest John as a kid in Service Merchandise. I finally picked the Honest John and never got the Pershing.

The orange decal sheets were a fairly close match to the old Krylon fluorescent orange. I'd venture to guess that they still make a comparable fluorescent orange paint. Fluorescent colors work best over a white base coat.

MarkH said:

Yeah I ordered a set of decals from Excelsior a couple days ago.

Interestingly the orginal orange stripes in my kit are adhesive, but the adhesive is gone. The decal scans on Jimz site show the striping as water slides. Maybe the older versions were stick-ons, and Estes switched to water slide at some point? Also, the other decals (US ARMY, etc.) are water slides and look useable except that they are yellowed or almost brown looking. The scans at Jimz look the same.

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Mine were paper stick-ons also.