Macross ES-11D Cat's Eye

[Thom216]

Hello,

I've been working on this for about a week or so and am getting close to finished. I bought it from the Starship Modeler Store about a year ago, and decided it was finally time to take it off the TD Shelf.

It's a real good model. No air bubbles and only slight alignment issues, mainly around the gear doors, which are more designed to be in the open position.But nothing major. Basically, just lightly clean a part and glue it on!

This is the parts layout.

I am going to be making some slight changes to it. It's modeled after an AWAC on an episode of the Japanese anime Macross, but I want to model a newer ship, or at least one that's been upgraded.

If you've seen the show, you know that there was a small follow-up called Flashback 2012, in which the main characters are set to leave on humanities first colonization fleet. The main colony ship is called the Megaroad 01, and so this plane will be assigned to that ship. Seeing as the First Zentradi war is now over, I imagine upgrades being done to the airframe, such as newer engines, different sensor, an ECM pod on the tail and newer avionics in the 'pits.

The first thing to do was get it set for a mounting rod. There is a big cavity in the belly, which is also a perfect spot for the rod, so it was filled with resin.

There is a belly panel that goes over that. It was a little over large and so needed to be trimmed down.

That's also where the mounting rod is going,and I luckily have an acrylic rod and a metal tube that are a perfect fit!

Also, since this will be a flight display, the gear doors are closed up. I think they were made to be left open, as the fit is a little off. But some dabs of Mr. Dissolved Putty along the seams concealed any major gaps, as can be seen in the pic with the belly panel.

The main wing roots went on with ease, and the wing tips were added with some gap-age. Mr. Dissolved putty showed up again to fill it after several applications, dabbing on and wiping off excess.

Then it was onto the engines. This plane has four, two for atmo and two for space. The regular turbine engines are along the fuselage with the space-worthy reaction engines mid way long the wing.

The kit comes with four turbine blades, but calls for six positions... Hmm. A little creative thinking in here solved the problem. As I am going for up-engined plane, I found a replacement set of exhausts for the atmo engines. Many thanks to Gundam!

The new exhausts were cut from the toy, and after some sanding and routing of the inner nacelle, they fit in pretty dang good!

The fan blades were glued into their nacelles, with half being cut off since its right against the fuselage.

+

Test mounting.

I actually didn't decide to upgrade the cockpit until after they were pretty much done. Here's the before with the standard consoles.

And then the replacements. The pilot's up front is a panel from a 1/72 F117. For the rear RIO's, I simply bisected a blank piece of styrene and painted it as a pair of big MDFs.

And pilots! I was going to scrounge through my VF kits for them, but then I remembered the old Starforge pilots I bought years ago. They are a perfect fit!

I'll paint them later. Onto the ECM pod! I wanted something similar to the EA-6B Prowler, so I started looking through the parts bins and came across another helping from the Gundam universe. A foot...

Perfect as it turns out.

It needs to be shaped a little more, but I like it.

A quick test fit on the stand.

And pinning! I placed pins for the ECM pod as well as the tripod stand for the dish and the canards.

I use thin nails that I then cut down with my dremel.

The ECM pod is glued in place and dissolved putty was used to fix a little rough join.

And since I wanted to change the electronics, I decided to alter some more of the sensor pods, such as the long chin one. I cut it into thirds and threw away the middle section,

then rounded the edges. The bit of red styrene is going to be the NAV lights for under the nose as well as atop the ECM.

Then they were glued in place, the larger one going to where it would have been, under the nose and the smaller going up behind the RIO.

And a little doohicky-thingy on the bottom that serves some electronic purpose. It's in an extended position.

And now, according to the few remaining bits left, I'm almost to paint.

I have to paint the pilot and RIO, then cut and mount the canopies, then do the wing top marker lights. Then it's on to paint!

A last test mounting for the night.

not such a good pic...

Carry on!!

Edited August 2, 2016 by Thom216

[whitestar12chris]

cracking job so far, a really interesting subject, love it.

All the best Chris

[rockpopandchips]

that is looking fantastic.

[Thud4444]

That's one of my grail kits. It looks amazing so far!

[Thom216]

Thanks very much. Again, except for some fit, she's really a beaut to put together.

And keep your eyes here. Last I heard, maybe about a month til restock...

https://starshipmodeler.biz/shop/index.cfm/product/2920_61/172-es-11d-cats-eye-reconnaissance-spaceplane.html

Edited August 2, 2016 by Thom216

[Hunter Rose]

Very cool! I'll be watching with interest

[Thom216]

I decided to add a 'chase sensor-thing' to the rear of the plane. I've seen pics of other AWAC type planes with sensor booms and such and this is something similar.

Thankfully, Gundam came to the rescue again and donated some parts.

After some cutting and preliminary sanding, this is what I'm going for.

Carry on!

[Dazzio]

That is very cool! I've always wanted an Elintseeker. Rarer than Hens teeth tho never realised there was a kit of this model tho. Poor Skygrasper and Wing Zero, not sure where the feet are from, I wanna say Wing Zero also?

Looking forward to seeing this progress

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[Thom216]

Alright!

Getting sanded in and looking good. I'm dreading the primer coat for all the sins sure to be revealed!

And all the blisters!

[Hunter Rose]

Really like the little bits you've added, not over the top and very fitting

[Thom216]

Thank you. I was thinking about adding more...

I finished the wing tip lights. I may or may not color them. Also coated them in Micro Kirstal Klear to close the tiny gaps. Will sand smooth later.

And the crew. They still need some more painting, but at least the dang helmets are done!

All for now. Carry on!

[Andrew D Jolly Rogers guy]

Wow! I'm seriously impressed. Not only the workmanship, but I guess I expected so obscure a subject to be more of a crude kit as a starting point. This is really great!

[Thom216]

It's an A-grade kit, that's for sure!!

[Thom216]

Still aworking! Getting the canopies settled in and masked, and added a chaff dispenser that someone mentioned I was missing.

[rockpopandchips]

Looking good and looking forward to seeing more.

[Thom216]

Well okay!

The canopy are in place. Not perfect, as my sanding-to-shape skills are a little lacking. I plan to fill in the notable gaps though with Mr D Putty. I tried using Micro Kristol Klear to get them glued on, and that worked for the back if not the front. Had to use CA for that, and despite some cloaks in Future there was still some notable fogging on the edges. And with it being a little messy in the lower area, I'm masking high and explaining the difference as this being a slightly different canopy set up.

And here is the chaff dispenser. It started out as a sensor blister on the spine but I liked it better underneath and will holes drilled in for the dispensers.

This misc part replaced it on the spine.

Have I mentioned before that Gundam has been very good to me!?

[Carts]

It's fair to say I don't know the first thing about this whole "Anime" malarkey,but I like this kit,and the work you are putting into it.

[Thud4444]

This just gets better and better. I desperately need one of these.

[Thom216]

Been long enough since there was an update. It's now into paint. Started with a primer to see where some corrections were needed. Thankfully not much.

Then I preshaded with Tamiya German Gray. And since I was doing the cockpit frames in black, I decided to hit the tail and wing tips while I was at it.

And see I need a little more sanding on the wing tips, but that's just a little bit.

After that, I'll get the white out and go over the rest, light enough to let the shading show through, then use Model Master Dark Tan 4709 for the nose and tail.

then more black on the body and hopefully into decals before too long!

Including the nice one for the dish!

[Pete in Lincs]

Just caught up on this one.

Very nice work, love the swapping

around of parts that you're doing and

yet keeping to a theme at the same time.

Keep it coming.

[Hunter Rose]

Nice! Look forward to paint

[Thom216]

In there now. Though not without a few snags. While fettling with the wing I snapped the resin pegs. Which is no real problem. Just drill a few holes and replace with metal rod.

But in the process, I hit the tripod mast for the dish and broke the bases loose... Luckily the pins stayed in place so a quick reglue fixed it. And some more Mr D Putty

fixed the gaps that remained.

So, in the almost all-together,

And the first coat of white.

Dang, I forgot the canards!!

Edited August 26, 2016 by Thom216

[Madhatter]

really starting to look quite cool Thom! What colors are you going to paint this in? Aside from White

[Thom216]

I love the Skull Squadron motif, and it will fit with the decal I'm using for the dish. So, black tail and wing tips, black stripes in other locations and a skull on the tail.

[S5 modeller]

I like it, I like it a lot.

Very cool kit.

Matt