Reviews : Atlantis Frontiersman Kentucky Long Rifle American Muzzleloader

Being a big fan of, and having built several of the old Life Like gun kits, I'm happy to see this classic kits coming back by way of Atlantis. The kit is fairly rudimentary, and as Flintlock Rifles go, not altogether accurate, but that aside, an excellent rendition of these historic old guns. The kit is very well done, with very little flash. Parts were molded in black and brass styrene, and the overall fit was quite good, with little trimming required. The only areas that created any real challenge were fitting the butt plate to the right side of the stock, which did require a bit of trimming to get a good fit, and with the two forward sections of the barrel/stock joints under the barrel bands. A bit of trimming was needed there also due to an overly snug fit. I also set up the trigger and lock using the provided spring, which actually works in making the lock functional. The barrel was finished in the ere correct plumb brown by first painting the barrel with Tamiya XF7 Flat Red, then airbrushing Tamiya X25 Clear Green to achieve the desired brown color and texture. The stock was done by first spraying a base coat of Model Master Military Brown, then dry brushed using Zar Dark Mahogany wood stain to simulate the Curly Mable grain. The stain was allowed to dry for several days, then a Testers Gloss Coat was airbrushed to seal it all in. The brass trim was done with Alclad Polished Brass, and the lock with Alclad black base coat and Chrome. Some filling and filing was needed on the cock to eliminate some voids in the castings, but it all cleaned up nicely with only moderate effort. Final Assembly went without a hitch, until it came very last step, which was to insert the ramrod into the thimbles. It turns out that the provided ramrod was too large in diameter to pass through the middle thimble, so a rather than carve out the thimble, a new rod was made from 1/4 OD aluminum tube with the jag turned from wood dowel. The rod was painted with Model Master Radome Tan and dry-brushed with Model Master Leather to simulate the hickory wood grain. The jag was painted with Alclad Polished Brass, glued in place and the ramrod stowed under the barrel. Over all I would give this kit a solid A+. There were a couple of minor fit problems which were easily fixed, and a few dips and divots in the molded parts, but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. When finished and mounted above the fireplace the Model represents its full scale counterparts well, and makes an excellent conversation piece among friends.

This was an unusual undertaking. My first for something this size. A lot went sideways at times, but for the price, it's worth it. The plastic is pretty flimsy, so I ended up filling the stock with foam. The firing mechanism was trouble and ended up not working properly. For authenticity and a little weight, I added a piece of aluminum tubing inside the barrel and sanded it smooth. With that said, I just bought another with the intentions of filling in all of the ornamental stuff and make it a backwoodsman's rifle.