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MPC 22" Rescue Eagle 4 Transporter


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I finished up this project about a month ago for a contest. The model I used was not a production MPC kit, but rather one of the 12 first run test shots done last September (Jamie Hood made a brief mention in the special SF&FM Eagle issue that one went to a Jerseyfest contest winner, that was me). I documented the early part of the build for this on Youtube, but kind of lost interest when the production kits came out. Still, I knew I had to finish it so I got done what needed to be done before the Wonderfest convention.

Technically there are still some things I want to do to it as I need to add some stripes to the spine and a little more weathering. But overall it is done. Since we don't have access to the Eagle color of choice here in the states, I went with a mixture of Testors Camouflage gray and 30% white to match the production plastic coloring (which was apparently matched to the original studio model paint). The pod however was done in Tamiya AS-20 U.S. Navy Insigia White and it is a DEAD ON match to the plastic color. The red stripes were done in Floquil caboose red.

The main Eagle paint and decal work represents the #1 44" model as it appeared from about "The Last Sunset" to just before "Space Brain". The pod is painted up to represent the rescue pod in "Collision Course" and features red stripes that don't go all the way to the bottom or into the window frames. I believe this was the last time a 44" model was painted with a rescue pod as future appearances that weren't stock footage used the 22" model.

For this project, I also made use of the rather expensive aluminium engine bells from Round 2 and the thruster bells. They look great, although next time I do one I'll go the Alclad route on plastic. I've also got 4.6 mm standoffs inside each gear pod to get the model to sit level at the proper height mainly because I didn't have access to the springs used on the production kit. Even with the springs, standoffs are a VERY good idea to keep the model sitting level because the engine bells do make the model a bit tail heavy otherwise.

I also installed a battery powered lighting system in the nose to illuminate the cockpit interior and the astronauts. Everything (CR-123A battery, two LEDs, power switch) is self contained in the nose and the nose itself is held on with magnets so I can detach it when I wish to.

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That is an impressive looking Eagle!

I like this version especially, and was very tempted to do the red striping on my one.

Great work, very nicely done! :)

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Thanks! I would say about 80% of the Eagle models I've seen built from this kit have had the red stripes, but they usually do them with the full stripes like from the episode "Earthbound". So I wanted to be a little different with mine. It took me about five hours to mask the stripes... 22 mms at a time. But in the end when I pulled the masks off... I was stoked, especially since I didn't have much of a bleed under problem with the red. The beauty of airbrushing acrylic is it tends to be a little soft until it cures. So I was able to scrape off most of the red overspray spots with a knife blade to get them off and not damage the basecoat.

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Nice job, especially the alu bells.

I did not have the energy to stripe mine, so took the easy route by doing the VIP version.

Besides I like the colour orange...!

Some nice eagles starting to emerge now.

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I'm doing the Rescue Eagle version in my current build, I think it adds some nice colour. I like that you did the alternative scheme which doesn't cover the window frames - I'm tempted to do that myself as it looks easier to mask :)

Lovely job!

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In terms of the difficulty of masking, I think doing full stripes wouldn't add too much to the masking time, except one just has to make sure the windows are masked as opposed to just the window wells. To mask the wells cleanly, I resorted to cutting up an old credit card to get plastic masks that were thick enough to drop into the window slots. They did the trick quite nicely.

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