To Infinity and............back to the shelf of doom? .....well the Vipers Mk. VII are painted

[trickyrich]

I now know I really should have avoided this GB!!!!

 

 

After see the modelling carcasses other keep bring in here reminds me where I left the bodies.....opps I mean past projects!! 

 

I did have another doomed carcass I was hoping to resurrect (along with the Rafale & F-22), my AMK F-14D but after 2 days on it I realise that's one turd that can never be polished (candidate for the worst model I have ever built.

 

But after moving a few corpses around I found this!

 

 

For those that don't know what it is it's a 1/48th full resin model of a SA-43 Hammerhead from the TV series "Space Above and Beyond".

 

 

It was for the SciFi GB way back in 2019 (there were also some 1/32nd Vipers involved...more later), I'm not sure when I got this model but have never seen another one and it doesn't appear on the companies list of models either. I will attach the link to the original thread.

 

 

Needless to say the model was pretty crude and needed LOTS of work! I have played with this build on and off since then, but this time I have to finish her.

 

So back to the future, the stores were crap! I had planned to modify/scratchbuild new ones, though they still look a bit crude.....

 

 

.....so I'm going to change them and the pylons out with something a bit better looking, still more to do with them before they're done.

 

 

The upper cannon has been improved though there is still some more to go. plus I will be adding little bits of extra panel detailing as well.

 

 

The nose cannon was just wee blobs of resin with not clear idea of where bits went (the instructions were very crude), so a bit of additional detailing was required.

 

 

There was no undercarriage supplied and everything was closed up, so will have U/c, this was the first idea, but the main gear is meant to have tandem wheels, plus it's a bit narrow, so more to do here.

 

 

The rear is slowly getting there.

 

 

But it is starting to look good....

 

 

....same with the front.......plus there were no clear bits supplied so will have to do the canopy from scratch, luckily it's all flat panels.....

 

 

....even the stance is right!

 

 

I really want to finish this one, especially seeing how rare this model is, it needs to be completed!

 

All going well I may even get to play with these.....

 

[trickyrich]

update to come shortly, been busy with this build.

[trickyrich]

Well the Rafale and F-22 are finally done (update to follow), so time to move on to the other builds.

 

Right I have actually made some real progress with these, the Hammerhead is on the back burner for now, but real progress has been made on the Vipers....well the Mk.VIIs. 

 

Somehow in the intervening months/years since I last worked on these I have managed to break off the tips on the big Mk.VII.......not helpful at all!  So some 1/48th Sidewinder noses made the ultimate sacrifice, not the original shape, but will do fine.

 

Some final tiding up before painting...unfortunately all the gaps had been filled with filler, this is before I moved to using plastic sprue. Way too much work to correct now, just have to hope the lacquer paint is kind to the filler!

 

Both this one and the baby Mk.VII were given a coat of Tamiya XF-19 as a base coat, before the larger of the two was given the "wiggly" treatment. My camera doesn't like the LED lights in the spray booth!

 

 

Now the main colour for them is not so easy (situation normal!!!), there is a bit of discussion as to what is the correct colour for these Vipers. General consensus is that it is a pale Sky colour, so I used RLM.76 as the base. Then to make it a bit more futuristic I added some metallic Stainless Steel and Crome Silver to it. The finally a light dusting of just RLM76.

 

Unfortunately in the photos like looks really grey the camera just can't do what natural light does, as it has a nice Sky tint to it.

 

 

 

Finally the 2 together and the masking is finally off the engine after near 3 years!!!

 

 

 

I will need to do a bit of work to get the canopy to fit, it have a full Green Strawberry PE interior that needs more finessing for the canopy to fit.

 

With luck these should be the next to be completed.........as I have found even more to be finished off!