Revell 1/144 AV-8B Harrier II plus - "Ace of Spades"

The finished Harrier II Plus, gave it my favorite satin varnish before taking pics. Finished sometime ago but never got round to taking pics.

Like the darker grey pattern i achieved with blu-tac.


DML Dragon decals used for the tail wing, had to cut up the one piece into 4 to get it to fit. The Revell decals seemed to be incorrect for this jet from the research i did.


Great "Ace of Spades" decal which is very sharp for one so small.




Made the harrier somewhat more dirtier than my usual builds, wanted to try out the dull used look.



Ian

1/144 RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 "Shiney Two" - Paint - Wip -

Nice easy paint work, painted the tail fin black first and then did under shading but what thought was a light coat of grey seems to have covered it.

Only use the airbrush outside until i get a extractor, was the perfect evening to sit outside and enjoying a little painting.

Ian

1/144 RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 "Shiney Two" - Weapons - Wip -

All built and  weapons added, 2 very cool Storm Shadow Cruise Missiles, a new tooling from DML Dragon.

Will prime the Tornado later this evening, should be able to paint it up sometime during the week. I only use the airbrush outside and have to wait for a evening without wind.



Ian

1/144 RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 "Shiney Two" - Basic Assembly - Wip 2 -

Got the Tornado basically ready to primed in quite a good time for a change.

The wings can move, like the swept back look myself . The rear one also rotate, except i notice the plastic weakening at the join which i might just glue in place.

Very simple but effective cockpit. Added a few little bit of plasticard  for the control panels.




Hope i don't knock off the open panels during the build, think there looking quite good.



Ian

Time to start those 1/144 Valkyries

Ive got alot of these f-toys 1/144 VF-1 Valkyries, thought it was about time i started working in them again. Going to be work on them factory style, do the same thing to each model at the same time.

Got lots of ideas for the the livery, mostly 80's US Navy style schemes. But some from various books and comics and i hope i can copy some of the real nice designs from some of the hasegawa kits.

Ian

1/144 RAF Panavia Tornado GR4 "Shiney Two" - Open panels - Wip 1 -

Got started on the cockpit really quite quickly then decided to do something new, open panels.

Spent some time do research into what panels i could expose and not over complicate the model with the too much going on thing. The panels i choose are both computer points which are quite easy to replicate in 1/144, just a few small boxes.

Marked what i wanted to be cut out, then spent what felt like hour carefully cutting them out with a scalpel blade.


Used plasticard to the the inside of the panel, all very simple but effective i think, didn't have to build the box as the plastic was so thick. Hoping i can paint the detail in there.



Ian

Next build - 1/144 RAF Tornado GR4 and ADV

Next build is going to be the 2 versions of the Panavia Tornado in service with the RAF, Gr4 and ADV.

Will be using the Revell kits to make both with decals and weapons from the Dragon. The only real good kit is the Revell ECR and the new GR1 just released. The Dragon kit id not very good but has some nice new equipment for the modern Tornado.

 Below is the first Tornado i going to build No.2 Squadron 95th anniversary livery "Shiny Two"



Ian

Big Wars

"Grand Scale Space Opera" It may well be but with a total lack of story. The animation in the anime OVA is really very good, the old cell painted animation from the 80's and early 90's which is my favorite with some very nice mecha design.

The big problem with this is the total lack of story, its like the move starts over half way though what it should be, there no beginning. There is this massive opening Star Wars style crawl try to explain a plot about the Greek gods fighting a war against humans on Mars and not being very good at it?. Basically theres this big battle cruiser which is impossible for the humans to destroy, which then this team goes on suicide mission and destroys quite easily, then goes home, its crazy.

Still if you want a quick fix of sci-fi anime watch this and try not to think about what the heck it going on.

Where the heck where the awesome looking Greek Gods, not a sign of super men anywhere, just a few cherubs.

Ian

F-toys Star Wars 1/144 - Luke Skywalker's X-Wing Red-5 -

May the Fourth be with you.

Had to post something for the very cool twist on May the 4th, Star Wars day.

A F-toys X-wing dirtied up and small detailed added, this X-wing is a very cool little model, the wings actually move into attack position which is awesome for something so small. Was too clean for me so had to be really dirtied up.







With the also very cool, Y-wing, attack the Death Star!





Ian

Sweet 1/144 - Mitsubishi A6M3 Model 22 Zero Fighter - Painted and decaled -

Working very fast on the little model, just as i hoped,reckon i could have ti complete by next week.

Looking good so far im thinking, once the decaled where applied it really came to life. Next to be gloss coat then given a dark wash to bring out the panels lines.

Below is the Zero all built and ready to be primed from Friday. Best fit ive ever had on a model, as can be seen only a few drops of putty on the seam lines only where i over cut the sprue.



Accidentally stood on the propeller which is a pain, going to have to try and fix that as best i can. Droped it, looked at it, went to pick it up and for some reason i stood on it, strangely funny when you think of it.
Ian