Mono Vixens

[Pete in Lincs]

Back in the saddle after completing the Sternail, so what to build?

Well, I got this box of Hobbycraft Vampire bits from the bay. Almost two Aircraft, and I have boxes of greeblies.

I thought of doing a star Wars build instead of Kreiger. What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, 1/48th, but two seaters, and a 1/32nd figure fits nicely.

 

One kit was sort of assembled and painted silver. But it soon fell apart. The other was still in bits.

The silver one had a big hole drilled through top and bottom. I backed them with card and applied filler.

I did the same with the nose wheel bays. These will be space fighters with an odd landing gear.

 

And in close up. 

 

The rest of the bits. I've supplied the figures (ex Phantom I think) and, in the top left corner is a printed part.

I have two of these. Sea Vixen engines courtesy of @The Baron who very kindly sent me some of his excess prints.

 

The plan is to fit the Vixen engines in here (somehow). Exposed engines seem to be a Star wars thing.

I also covered over the mainwheel bays as can be seen here. Hopefully I'll find time to do more very soon.

Thanks for looking, Pete

[Hunter Rose]

Sounds good Pete! Look forward to seeing more 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Nice, will watch with interest. 👍

 

Just one request; please don’t name it by picking some random letter of the alphabet and then adding the suffix ‘wing’. If I come across one more ‘Q-wing’ or ‘J-wing’ fighter I think I’ll just roll-over and suffer a brain aneurysm. 🤬

[Pete in Lincs]

3 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Just one request; please don’t name it by picking some random letter of the alphabet and then adding the suffix ‘wing’

Not me, Mate. I'm sticking with Mono Vixen for now but am open to better suggestions.

Mono Vixen is because it's got one ex Sea Vixen Trent engine. And it's a single seater.

The idea is that this is a low orbit defence fighter, launched from an orbiting space station.

[Bandsaw Steve]

8 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Not me, Mate. I'm sticking with Mono Vixen for now 

Good man! 👍

[Uncle Monty]

"The Force is strong within this one".

Sorry. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out

 

[Pete in Lincs]

I've done more faffing about with plastic. So here are some pictures...

 

Two ex Phantom (I think) pilots in 1/32nd scale. Plus, two Airfix? car seats altered to suit.

I had to modify the figures to fit, straightened the legs and erm, posteriors, to fit the seats. 

 

The used canopy was broken at the back, so I've grafted on part of an He111 canopy. There is a request for another in the wanted section, one can but hope.

I can modify the 111 bit to fill that gap. I'm thinking of early Meteors with a metal rear canopy as a role model.

The good canopy seen here is for the other model, BTW. A bit of the engine bay can be seen here too.

 

A better shot of the engine bay (It will be left open) and a fitted canopy. Somewhere in there is a pilot & seat.

I'll probably repaint their crash hats in a more vibrant colour so they can be seen through the rather very thick plastic.

 

Is there anybody there....?

I've cut card to panel out the engine bays and I'll do some detail work in there too. But I don't think it's worth much effort in the cockpit.

I've also cut down the wingspan, and I'm making wingtip pods from bits of missiles.

I'm off work this week so I may get more time on this. As always, comments etc are very welcome. Cheers m'dears, Pete

 

 

 

[Hunter Rose]

Like those figures Pete 

[Pete in Lincs]

4 hours ago, Hunter Rose said:

Like those figures Pete

Thank you. I think they are ex Revell German Phantom. If so, I built it around 1977! 

I found them lurking in the spares box recently, they must have been waiting for this build.

 

[TheBaron]

On 24/04/2022 at 18:55, Pete in Lincs said:

The used canopy was broken at the back, so I've grafted on part of an He111 canopy.

Doctor Moreau's got nothing on you Pete! 😁

Looking forwards to seeing this  build develop.

[Head in the clouds.]

And he is off again, where he takes us nobody knows but the ride will be fun.

I am curious what you will do with all 4 of those booms?

[Pete in Lincs]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I am curious what you will do with all 4 of those booms?

Ah, there were only two in the box and they were fitted to the silver one. They won't be used in this instance. Maybe later.

And now it's time for another update, I seem to have missed one last week.

 

There have been changes. Firstly may I say how privileged I feel to be able to use the engines kindly donated by @TheBaron.

One came painted, this one was still as printed and I've added the black & chrome bits you see on the end here.

Wingtip pods are much in evidence too. Halves of 1/48th missiles, the open side blanked off with black card & bits of bombs for bulges.

On what was the boom fairings are the two halves of an ECM pod. Just the right size and now masquerading as sensors.

 

A shot from the side. Engine and bay will get more detail. Exposed engines seem to be a Star Wars feature.

The black bit was actually a loco wheel. Mounted in the Dremel, I turned down the flange, took off a little diameter and it fits nicely.

 

 

This is the business end of the other engine. This one is painted. The loco wheel on the previous one has multiple spokes.

 

Here are the two of them together. You may have noticed the black plastic card strakes below the cockpit.

Of course they cover the intakes, not really required in orbit. Likewise aerodynamic aids, But I think they improve the lines.

You can also see that the wingtip pods are handed, having different 'bumps' to left and right.

 

And a close up. 

 

And then came Humbrol filler. A good rub down will no doubt show that more is required!

More lumps and bumps and landing gear will follow shortly.

Many thanks for looking. Comments and questions are always welcome. Cheers, Pete

[TheBaron]

Splendid to se the whoosh units getting a second life in space Pete: lovely work!

[Hunter Rose]

Liking the shape Pete! The added side bits have really transformed it

[Pete in Lincs]

4 hours ago, Hunter Rose said:

The added side bits have really transformed it

Thank you. I like them too, I wonder what they would have done to the aerodynamics on the Vampire. 

Though there could then have been a slight problem with the engine 😆

They're all rubbed down now, and blended in nicely.

Cheers, Pete

[Hunter Rose]

15 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Though there could then have been a slight problem with the engine 😆

 

I'm sure it would have looked very majestic as it spiraled in to the ground!  

[Pete in Lincs]

Crikey! Has it been that long? Apologies. The weekends just aren't long enough.

I've been doing the odd bit of modelling though, twenty minutes or so, here and there.

The landing gear finally got assembled and (test) fitted this morning. Roll telecine Cue the pictures!

 

In orbit you don't need retractable gear! These are made up from bits box parts and wire.

Star Wars machines can just hover in thin air. That makes the models hard to display though. So why not just one skid plate & oleo's?

 

The thicker (aft) leg is TSR2. Not sure what the other bits were. I intend to wrap thin wire onto the support wires so it will (may) look like springs.

 

'Avin' a bit of a kip after a particularly long squawk! But it may be easier for you to see here.

I got five minutes to have a proper look at the broken canopy (as no one has messaged with a replacement) so that is the next job.

As always, many thanks for looking. I'll try to make more progress tomorrow, 'onest Guv!

 

[Uncle Monty]

It does look very Stars Warsy, if you know what I mean. I can see Obi Wan Kenobi climbing out of that.

[Pete in Lincs]

Thanks, Guys. I managed to get a bit of time this morning and made up the springs for the supports. 

My idea worked, I will post some pics when I get a bit more done.

Work this week promises to be insane due to the long bank holiday (I'm working) so, see you next weekend.

[Hunter Rose]

Cool landing gear I like the single stand design!

 

Oh and just as an aside I know you've veered into star wars for now, but you've inspired me to scratch a bit of Ma.k myself; I bought a cheap 1/48 hughes 500d helicopter at the weekend so I can have a crack on my next project at making a clear canopy PKA H1 Heinrich suit in 1/20 scale. Cant wait to start it so want to get my current guy sorted ASAP!

[Pete in Lincs]

7 hours ago, Hunter Rose said:

making a clear canopy PKA H1 Heinrich suit in 1/20 scale.

Sounds interesting. I think he used drop tanks & beads? for the arms/legs. I'm sure I saw something on you tube?

[Hunter Rose]

1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Sounds interesting. I think he used drop tanks & beads? for the arms/legs. I'm sure I saw something on you tube?

Yeah Kow used all sorts, luckily for the legs and some armor bits I'm going to use some donor parts from an old Fireball suit and I still have tons of spring tube from my ma.k days which is good! 

Want to give it my own twist so will add some mods and details, but it's probably going to be a few weeks before I start it

[Pete in Lincs]

Yep, another update. Lucky you eh?

Last weekend I had a go at the broken canopy. Some early Meteors had a metal rear to the canopy.

A replacement canopy for my broken one hasn't turned up, so I'm copying the Meteor idea.

The other one has a full transparent canopy, so we'll have a Mk1 & a Mk2 fighter.

Milliput and card. It's been sitting all week, so it should be dry by now. I might get time to rub it down tomorrow.

 

I got a box of spare parts from @Simon Cornes today. Within the hour I'd used a couple of the parts. Cheers, Simon!

 

The long bit seen here. Imagine the conduits on certain Lightnings. Same idea. The other two bulges are from my spares box & are weapons related.

The white 'filler'around their edges is typist correction fluid. All since rubbed down smooth. They weren't designed for these curves,

So I had to rub them down to as close as I could.

 

A bit blurry but close enough to figure out what's going on, I hope. The fat one is ex Fw190, the thin one is a Hawk gun pod.

That's it for now, I'm afraid. Time is in short supply, otherwise I'd have done a lot more.

Thanks for looking, Cheers, Pete

 

[Pete in Lincs]

And there's more...

I got some time this afternoon (after the chores, obviously) so here are the results.

The cockpits got a coat of Tamiya German grey. I'm not doing any detail in there, you can barely see the pilot & seat with such a thick canopy.

 

The pilots got glued to the seats and I added tape shoulder straps.

The canopies got masked. Though in this picture I'd not yet done the rear portion of the big one.

I also did a bit of pre-shading on the engines.

 

Wing tip pods. I've driller thruster holes, top, bottom and sides and added ex Harrier wingtip wheel assemblies. A just in case fit.

 

The Jockies in place. I've since glued the canopies on with PVA and I just nipped into the garage and sprayed white primer on both models.

I'm still undecided about a colour scheme. I want something Alien yet Star Wars. Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for looking in. Cheers, Pete

[TheBaron]

Cor!

On 28/05/2022 at 19:26, Pete in Lincs said:

 

That shot just ooooozes velocity Pete.

On 11/06/2022 at 18:06, Pete in Lincs said:

 still undecided about a colour scheme. I want something Alien yet Star Wars. Suggestions are welcome.

I always liked the bold schemes Angus McKie used on his spacecraft, like this yellow demon here:

Not sure if this kind of thing steps away from the look you're after though.