Major construction on Eurofighters

Much of what I have been working on for the last spans of free time in the evenings has been completing major construction on the two Eurofighters. And I discovered something rather interesting: these Revell molds have not aged well.

It has been 18 months or so since I last worked on a Revell Eurofighter. This is the revised Revell mold, not the repackaged Italeri kit (kit number 4317 if you're keeping track). I remember it, possibly through the post-trauma haze of amnesia, as fitting fairly well and having good detail. But building these two, more recently purchased, have been a major trial. There is quite a bit of flash, the fit is tougher than I remember, and while the detail is still there, it sometimes becomes obscured in the repairs needed to cover the seam sanding required.

I do know that Revell is advertising a new mold Eurofighter for 2016 which incorporates any tranche 3 changes, though I don't know whether it is a completely new mold or just some additional plastic. Revell is occasionally somewhat mysterious about the word "new". I've seen reboxed Matchbox kits thus described. Did they realize that their mold had deteriorated badly and wanted to produce a new one (perhaps to take advantage of all the special schemes the plane has been seen in during the last couple of summers)? I don't know.

But I can tell you to beware of the seams around the airbrakes and spine, the attachment areas of the lower wing piece, and where the upper wings and fuselage come together. These seemed rather disastrous on my examples. Perhaps it is just ring rust from not having modelled much in the last year or more; I do feel like I've had to relearn a lot of techniques that I haven't used in quite some time. But I also feel that there has been a qualitative decline in the kits I recently purchased versus the ones I bought when the 4317 kit first came out.

In any case, the models are mostly together and seam work is ongoing. The next step will be to finish the painting on the aft of the cockpit and mask/attach the canopy.

And then... confront my nemesis of 2014: the airbrush. My last experiences with airbrushing were both frustrating and maddening. The thing obviously needs a more thorough cleaning than I can currently provide; I suspect there is dry paint buildup in the interior where I can't get at it. What it really needs is another trip to Portland for an Iwata corporate refurbishment. I did that a number of years ago and was very pleased with how the brush came back. Alas, that is financially not in the cards right now (medical copays and 20%s are eating up all available cash and more). Still, if you hear a huge scream one of these nights echoing from a distant point in the far western US, you'll know that I braved the winter elements and went back to the battlefield. 

Missile search

Once I knew the missiles I had, I was able to look up the AS-6 and C-601, once again on Google, and get some decent photos. That gave me at least a potential colour scheme for both. The AS-6 kit from A Model comes with full decals, but I could at least cobble together the color stripes from the spare decal box for my Trumpeter version. Color scheme appears to be a medium green with a dark grey nosecone. I'm out of luck with all the Cyrillic stencils, however.

For the Chinese one, I found a picture of a white missile with red pinstripes of all things, a medium grey nosecone, and a C-601 designation on the side in red.

As I am painting the two, I will be working on constructing a little informal stand for them. It is sort of like the displays I've seen in many museums, with related ordnance being shown next to a relevant aircraft. One of these days, I'll spring for that Tsar Bomba monster from A Model.

Not much to show on the missiles, and I don't want to get into copyright issues by displaying the photos I copied for personal use off of my Google search, so here is a shot of the (minor but unexpected) snow we received here in Western Washington a week or two back. 

British cockpits and Russian missiles

The answer to the impromptu ordnance quiz is: the Raduga AS-6 Kingfish missile, the CHETA C-601 Kraken missile, and the Lockheed D-21 drone as attached to the SR-71.

When I first started looking for ordnance to tackle, I happened to be going through the box of a plane that is stranded on the Shelf of Shame, the Trumpeter Tu-16 Badger. I found a couple of sprues of large wing-mounted missiles. The kit identified the Chinese C-601 missile by name, but the larger one was only described as "only used by Tu-16". So off I went on the customary Google search to see what I could find. One of the links I found actually identified the usual wing-mounted missile as an AS-6. Further research showed that A Model did a kit of the type, and I could visually confirm that it was the same one. Now the quandary. I wouldn't have minded building the A Model kit, since it comes with a nice little bomb trolley to display the missile on, but cost and time - plus the fact that the Trumpeter bits were already to hand - made me decide to press on with the kit plastic.

More discussion later about the colour schemes I decided on. Other work that was done was mostly drudgery: puttying seams, sanding them when dry, shooting a coat of spray can primer on to spotlight areas that needed work. Plus I did get the two Eurofighter cockpits assembled and painted. I'll be proceeding on with general assembly of the airframe over the next few days.

Also included in the group of models are those waiting for my future combat with the airbrush. 

Brushing off the dust

I didn't think I'd get much of a chance to slip into the modelling room while I was recuperating from the first of two surgeries. However, since around Christmas I have been feeling pretty good, so I snuck into the vicinity to see if there was anything there that didn't have 3" of dust on it.

First of all, as a medical update, I have a second surgery coming, which has been rescheduled to 1-27. This is to complete work on the implanted pacemaker/defibrillator that was put in on 12-9. Apparently this is a lesser job and will not require full anesthesia (just lots of good drugs to fuzz me out and make me not really give a rip what is going on). This device has 3 leads, two of which were installed in the first surgery (though they do want to re-position one of those) and one that they were unable to install to the surgeon's satisfaction, even after 8 hours of OR time.

While in the surgeon's office the other day, they were doing some tests on the device, and were able to speed up and slow down my heart rate wirelessly from across the room. It is more than a little disturbing to realize that your heart now comes with a remote control.

Anyway, I went to scope out what modelling projects were in the queue. I am not one of those fellows that builds one kit at a time in a linear manner. I generally have a large number on the boil at any one time, filling in the spaces for glue drying and paint curing with work on another project.

I think I have mentioned that I have picked up the last two Xtradecal RAF special schemes sheets, both of which come with Eurofighter squadron anniversary markings. At this point I am just putting together the two cockpits. Both are the Revell 4317 kits - not the Italeri rebox. I really do like the kit; it has decent fit and detail, and is not overly complex except in the places that you would expect, like the ventral intakes. So work will be continuing on these two.

I've also started a little side project I've been considering for a while now: a big display of aviation ordnance. I rarely ever put a bomb or missile load onto the planes that I build. The models are there to highlight the aircraft itself. So I have boxes of missiles and other things that have collected up over the years. Why not build and paint them and put together a little history of aircraft equipment. The items themselves tend to be simple - at most a few parts - and the hardest part may be finding decals for some of the newer types. There has been a huge explosion in aftermarket production of ordnance in the last decade. A Model has a whole range of big Soviet items, Hasegawa has their (nine?) weapon sets, ICM has a couple of their own, and many kits come with at least a basic representation of some sort of loadout.

So I have the first three assembled and I'm working on paint. These happen to have come from kits, not solo weapon sets, and they are positioned with the Eurofighter cockpits.

Merry Christmas 2015!

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a thoroughly Merry Christmas! 

Also, an update. I've had the first surgery done in early December, but the doc decided to delay the second one til mid-January. So I'll be a little longer in recovery than I anticipated. The pacemaker / defibrillator has been implanted, but some adjustment needs to be done - one of the leads didn't plant correctly, which has necessitated the second round - and if it is anything like last time, I won't be able to use my left arm for about 2 weeks after the procedure. 

I do have some modelling projects lined up for when I am fully functional: a Platz X-47, the Airfix ragwing Hurricane, and two Eurofighters that will be using anniversary markings from a couple of different Xtradecal sheets. This is addition to what must be a dozen stalled projects that mostly require paint. So I'll be facing down my personal nemesis, the airbrush, most likely in February. Somewhat akin to high noon here in the 72 Land corral. 

A missing dictator

Since Falke asked the question, I decided it was probably a good opportunity to let you know something about what has been going on here lately.

Your benevolent dictator here in 72Land has been struck down in the last few months - since just about the time of the Seattle Show in April - by a series of health issues. Cardiac issues, a cancer scare, and a huge load of abdominal fluid that resulted from the cardiac issues. Literally in a row as the summer and fall progressed.

In fact I am going into the hospital on Wed (12-9) for a procedure, followed by another one on the following Wed (12-16). Then there will be some recuperation of course. I have not so much as picked up a bottle of glue or much plastic in nearly the last year, so there is literally nothing to report on that front. As you would expect, me being a modeller, that doesn't mean I haven't bought a few kits and decals in the meantime! 

I hope to feel rejuvenated enough in mid January or so to kickstart my hobby enthusiasm, and then channel that into the blog. So I hope to rejoin the blogosphere sometime in early 2016. So stay tuned; I hope you haven't seen the last of me yet! 

Thanks - Kevin Callahan

2015 IPMS-Seattle Spring Show (part 4)

One last selection of photos from the show. 

One of Airfix's new crop of excellent early-war releases, the Do-17

A Ju-88 night fighter

There were a small number of what-if creations on display, an area of interest to me

Another one for the 1:72 armor guys, this time a modern German tank transporter

And finally, I suppose by law and tradition I must at least display one Bf-109. At least it is a desert version, always a favorite of mine

As before, I invite you to take a look at my Photobucket album with the photos of 1:72 items from the Spring Show. The link has been in the last couple of blog posts. 

Yikes, now I'm going to have to come up with some regular modelling activity to post about!