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1/48 Italeri Lockheed SR-71 "Charlie's Problem"


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I'm calling this one finished for now. I got this kit back in the late 80s and out of the kits I made back then I thought it was one worth attempting to rebuild and try to finish it to a higher standard.

The fit of the kit is poor and I had made a pretty awful job of blending in the upper and lower fuselage halves originally, plus the rear tailcone is a terrible fit. Without completely breaking the model down I could not do much about those problems, so I instead tried to apply a better finish with an airbrush, plus I got a nice new set of decals, and I got resin wheels and metal undercarriage for it.

I also tried to rescribe it which went ok in places, but I suspect it would have been easier to do with an unassembled model, plus no paint on it.

Finally I got a set of crew members for the SR-71 from plus model in resin and had a go at figure painting.

I guess I'm happy enough with it for a first finished model after being out of the hobby for nearly 30 years and I'm hoping the next model (a Mirage F1) will be much better.

SR-71_finished_front_quarter_view.jpg

The model is pretty big! My portable studio box wasn't quite up to the job!

SR-71_finished_crew_front_view2.jpg

SR-71_finished_crew_rear_view.jpg

SR-71_finished_cockpit.jpg

The canopies have a thick rough layer of paint on them from when I first build the kit, so I'm not that happy with them, I didn't want to sand them too much though as I felt they might break.

SR-71_finished_head_on.jpg

SR-71_finished_above_front_view.jpg

SR-71_finished_rear_quarter_view.jpg

SR-71_finished_rudder_close_up.jpg

SR-71_finished_above_rear_view.jpg

SR-71_front_undercarriage_finished.jpg

SR-71_main_undercarriage_finished1.jpg

Nice to have something in the display cabinet again, and looking forward to getting stuck into the next project!

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Thanks guys! Really appreciate the comments! For all it's shortcomings as a model it does not lack visual impact! I saw a detailed build of the same model elsewhere with scratch built undercarriage bays, much neater rescribing and so on, but that was from scratch starting with an unassembled model, so I don't think that level of built was ever on for me. However I do have the YF-12 from Italeri (basically the same model) in the stash, so when I get around to it I'll hopefully have learnt some good lessons from this build!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Thank you! It's a big kit, but it looks good in the display cabinet!

I used the undercarriage set from Scale Aircraft Conversions, and I used a set of resin wheels, glad you like the end result!

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Well you certainly haven't lost your knack after a 30 year break!! Quite a machine and the figures look great!

Simon

Thank you! The figures came out pretty well, and really add to the aircraft I think. I'm certainly enjoying getting back to modelling again!

Great rebuild and the tail art made me smile.

Thanks! Yeah, I love the tail art, it came from a Cutting Edge decal set and it was my favourite! Poor old Charlie Brown!

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