Not much done this week...

  First of all, I must apologise for anyone who is keeping an eye on what I have been modelling recently.  I don't get much time during the week to do my modelling as I either at work, to tired from work or out with Natti.  So my modelling is usually only restricted to my days off work which are Thursday and Friday, yes I work on a Sunday, night time too... It sucks a lot and I really hate it.  Anyhow... This week I decided to take a break from modelling and look into my other projects/interests that I have... my first one that has been taking up a lot of my time is

  I know this is a picture for Tyrannis, the expansion from 2 years ago-ish... but I like the picture so sod it.  I have been playing EVE-Online since 2004 and loved every minute of it.  I've joined a new corp now so I have been sorting that out as my old one died a slow and painful death, oh well.  Least I get to ruin peoples days again.  If you are wondering what it's about then look at the website for it.

  My second hobby incase no-one could guess is Anime, for the lazy people out there... yes Japanese "cartoons".  I have gotten Natti into anime as well.  Altho her tastes are a little different to mine.  She loves Howls Moving Castle and Spirited Away, basically Miyazaki films, where as I like a broad spectrum of stuff.  It ranges from SDF Macross (No, not Robotech), Gundam, Maria-sama ga Miteru, Azu Manga Diaoh to Bubblegum Crisis. However my absolute fav is and always will be Oh!/Ah! My Goddess and The Place Promised in Our Early Days.  If you read the UK-Anime.net review of it, one of the people that the reviewer is talking about is me. ;)  Well I saw a show on Animezuki years ago and started to watch it, however it got licensed about half way through so I thought I would wait for the DVD's.  I'm an old skool fansubber, basically if a show got licensed we would drop it and buy the dvds once it was out to help support the industry.  Well I had totally forgotten about the DVD's of this show until I saw it by chance on Amazon.  So I bought Spice and Wolf. Now nothing special happens in this show, it's about trade and business for the most part, which bores me.  However the characters are really well done and there is something about Holo that I think is really funny.

  Holo is the girl on the left, for the more attenative of you out there you will notice that she has an tail and ears.  Thats because she is a Wolf in a human form, the dude is Kraft Lawrence, a nice guy really.  Basically, Lawrence is a travelling trader in what is middle-time-ish place.  Where people are starting to believe in "God", it's not actually said, but it hints at Christianity and forget the old ways of Paganism.  Sorta old England really.  Anyhow Holo wants to escape the town she has been helping in the south of the contient and go back home to the north, where she is from.  The show follows their fun and games they have and all of the money making stuff they get upto.  There is a love story behind it, but it doesn't kick in fully until the second season.  It's a good show, and it appealed to me just because its nice to watch a show that doesn't require any thinking to watch, unlike some shows.  They really need to do a 3rd series to finish off the story, I'm gonna buy the mangas as and when I can just to see what happens in the end.

  Even tho I have said all of this, I have finished the decals on the F-18, F-14 and the Typhoon.  I just need to tidy them up and get the weapons and wheels on.  I may do that next week. :)

  Peace!

  Dazz

WiP- F-18 Super Hornet, Typhoon FGR4 and F-14D Super Tomcat

  Just as the title says, I have been busy the last couple of days getting the decals on all 3 of these planes.  I will post the pictures and write a little about it below.

   The memory card you can see there is an MicroSD card, just so you can get an idea of the size of the plane.  This is my Tornado FGR4, it's still a work in progress as are all the models on this page.  If you look the model's leading edge you will see little decals that say "No Step".  There is bloody loads of them, I now hate those things!  Still I think I have done well with it.  I brush painted this one instead of using an airbrush, you can tell it too.  I wasn't prepared for how quickly the paint dries.  Nevermind, live and learn.

   The other side, I've still got the Storm Shadows, GPU12's and the fuel tanks to put on it.  Not too sure if I wanna put some Meteor missiles on it or not.  Hopefully that'll be soon.

   The F-18 E Super Hornet, in it's 75th anniversary scheme.  I am still not too sure if I will put weapons on this or not.  I might just put on the basic missiles load out and leave the Mk.83's and the JDAM for another model, possibly the A-10.  Loving the Felix logo tho.

   Front view, I think the top grey is a little too dark.  It was the closest match I had to the FS numbers from my Vallejo range.  Also this is the first model I painted with my new airbrush that Nat bought me for my birthday (THANK YOU NAT!!! :) ) need to touch up a few things tho.

   And the other side... dont ask... I think the black spine decal is a little too thick for this model.  So you get one side alligned correctly and the other side is out.  Also it's not long enough.  I started to put the VFA-31 decal on, and it just went tits up.  I had already put Micro-set on it and all the brushing I was doing to sort it out just wasn't working.  In the end I managed to bugger up the VFA-31 decal and the "1935 thru 2010" decal.  At least the other side looks good.  If I was to do this again, I would paint the black spine on by it self.  Also if you look towards the back of the plane, between the two rudders you will see a dark grey box.  There are two decals that are not mentioned in the plans.  I only noticed their shape and put them where I think they go.  Don't look too bad but got no idea what they are tho.

  Just had to get a close up of Felix the Cat. It's printed really well, there is another two logo's like this one on the decal sheet but on their own.  I imagine they are for the people who want to try and paint the red themselfs.  Worth a go I guess.

   Just wanted to get a close up of the decal on the tailplane, I love that decal.  God knows why, also I love the one on the inside of the rudder.  Not too sure what it is tho, think it might be the air group or something.

   This is what the otherside should of looked like.  I really do like these decals.  Altho I keep on saying I am not one for CAG planes this one is kinda cool.  I need to sort out the canopy and it's paint. 

   The F-14D Super Tomcat, right first of all, if you think the canopy looks shite.  It's because I wasn't happy with the paintwork (it really did suck).  I knew I was getting the airbrush too, so I stripped all of the paint of it using the over cleaner method.  It took the canopy and the cockpit decals with it.  The insides of it got flooded with I washed it all off.  I cleaned up as much as I could but it still looks like that.

   The other side, the ejector handles look overscaled to me, but also look cool at the same time.  Not too sure if I am going to turn this into a Bombcat or not now.  I dunno...

   The sharkmouth is cool, it's aggressive but low vis at the same time.  The other decals are good too.  The Canopy needs to be touched up with the paint. I also need to do some little touch ups here and there.

 And the last picture, those Grim Reaper pictures are freaking sweet!!!  HOWEVER, the redbar at the top is a crappy decal, the instructions said you use two on each side however there is only two on the decal sheet!!!  Also they will not settle down at all!  I'm gonna take them off and paint it on.  The decal for the "Grim Reapers" is also a little poor.  You can barely notice it's there, it's even harder to read in real life.  Also the "AD" decal on the inside of the rudder is annoying.  They have both silvered a little.  I can understand one doing it, but not both. Dunno if I am just unlucky??

  Please let me know what you think.  I am open to input, however please bear in mind I am still learning how to make these things again.

  Peace!

  Dazz

New Purchase - RetroWings and Freightdog Model parts.

 So I said I would post some pictures of these resin parts, I've tried to give them a little wash, but the only wash I have is a light grey.  Hopefully you can see some details on them.  Onto the pictures.

   First up is the "Freightdog 1/144th Tornado GR.1/1A Gulf War weapons set pack".  You can see 3 LRMTS pods, one TILAD pod, IR Line Scanner and two JP233's. I love the details on the JP233's, altho one thing I am not too sure on, is the fact that the Tornado had a TILAD pod.  I know towards the start of the war, the Tornados had a Blackburn Buccaneer buddie who designated the targets for the Tornados.  Which pretty much turned the Tornado into a bomb-truck.  Will have to check up on that one.  Ironically enough, I read the other month that the RSAF is planning on doing the same thing with their Typhoons, using them as bomb trucks and using the Tornado as the designator.  Might do some kind of diaorama at some stage with that in mind.

   Hawker Hunter cockpit, lots of flash here, will have to be careful of what I cut away and what I dont.  The chair is well detailed tho.

   The Hawker Hunter's cockpit again but this time you can see the business end of it.  Looks likes fun to paint this lot. 

   Front end of the A-6 Intruder, hope you can see the details in it.  Once again the chairs look cool, look forward to painting these.  Will knacker my eyes out tho.

   The "Office" for the A-6 again, lots of detail there.  Very impressed with these :)

   New nozzles and intakes for the Revell A-10, not much here to look at, SYSIWYG.

   Cockpit kit for the Revell ECR Tornado, very cool, even got the holders/arms for the HUD.  Gonna have to find some thin clear plastic for those.  Still lots of bits to paint up again.

   Tried to get a better shot of the cockpit, hope you can see the details.

   This time a close up of the chairs and my left hand.  Loving the chairs, lots of detail to bring out on them.  You can see the HUD holder better here.

   Dragon Tornado set, pretty much the same as the Revell one, just a darker resin.  Still will have fun painting this bugger.

   Close up of the Navigators (back-seater) console.  That bit glues onto the plain flat bit you can see in the cockpit tub.

   Same kit again with a close up of the cockpit tub, lots more details to paint up there.  Hoping I can bring out the details in this one.  Might see if any of the decals can be used on here.  Probably not tho.

  This is the set I got for the F-18 "legacy" models.  Now that I have the model, I am rethinking if I want to cut it up or not.  I'm thinking not and getting another Hornet to cut up instead. Lots of details in the wing tips and the elevators too  Got the flaps and slats as well as the control surfaces for the rudders.  Might be a good addition if I can EVER get a carrier deck.

  Hope you can actually see the details in that lot.  I tried to get as close as my camera would allow.

  Peace!

  Dazz

New Purchases - AH-64D, S-37 Berkut, F-86 Sabre and YF-23

  Got these ones when I bought the F-22 from LuckyModel.  Quite impressed with some and others I am not.

   Right these two planes, the Longbow was purchased because I needed some Hellfires for a project.  The only other model that I can think of that would have them is the Dragon GR7/GR9 Harrier kits and I have next to no chance of getting one of them for a decent price.  The S-37 is a plane I really like as well, thinking of painting this plane the same colours as the Sukhoi T-50 Pak-Fa and the MiG 1.44 as an Mig-29 of some kind.  Might be risky and paint it like Yellow 13 from Ace Combat 4 : Shattered Skies.  Dunno yet, I remember building the Apache when I was a little nipper probably about 12-ish.  Didn't think much of it then, but it now I can have the cockpit window open.  Might look into that.

   I lied earlier, I got this one from Hannants, I ordered it when the second F-22, I was under the impression that it would be the same kind of class as the F-22, I was wrong there.  I also have massive respect for this plane.  It also had some very cool paint work painted all over it at the time.  Might have to see if I can get any other kind of decals for it or see whats in my stash.  Sure I have something.

  I also love this plane for some reason, even tho it lost to the F-22.  I love it's name too, "Black Widow II" after the P-61 Black Widow, what a beast that plane was!  There was another plane made nicknamed "Grey Ghost" sounds like something from Macross or Metal Gear Solid.  Still a cool plane, altho the sprues are very crap.  There is about 40 pieces on the models if that, I was thinking of scratch building the bomb-bay too.

  Thats all for now.

  Peace!

  Dazz

New Purchase - Trumpeter 1/144 F-22 Raptor

  The box isn't much to look at, two Raptors with their burners on.

   The first thing you see when you open the box, the canopy is already attached to the airframe, how cool is that?  Also buggers you up if you want to have the canopy open tho.  I like the way that the canopy is protected, means there shouldn't be any scratches on it.

   Now I love the way these sprue's are spread out, if you look closely at the sprue runners you'll see 4 little plugs near each corner.  These are raised by about 1cm and the sprue on the left fits into the one on the right a special way so that no parts are touching or scratching each other.  A clever idea me thinks and I likes alot.  I will be buying more from Trumpeter in the future!!! :)

  Just look at the detail on the bomb-bay!  Thats gonna look great with some wash/dry brushing.  The cockpit tub looks cool also, you can see it to the top left.

  Here you have the air intake "bomb-bay" that I have only ever seen Sidewinders or ASRAAM's use.  Very well detailed it is too, the wheel wells are the same. 

  The decal sheet, nothing special really as there isn't any special markings used on these planes yet, and as far as I am aware the whole fleet of F-22A's are grounded due to concerns of the oxygen system killing the pilots. 

  Generic painting guide, has all of the paints for Mr. Hobby, Vallejo (all bar one), Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol.  Guess what paints I use now?!

  And the other 3 options for the model.  Think I am going to do the top one, the rest are too generic for my likings.  Love the pictures tho, think I will build mine with the fuel tanks on it, they just look cool with them on.

  All in all I am impressed with this model, it really it well packaged and everything it in poly-bags are really thought out.  With the detail of the kit you would think that it was a 1/72 not a 1/144.  This is going to be fun to build.  Probably take me 2 years tho!  I liked the model so much that I actually bought a second one, that I am thinking of making into the preposed FB-22.  But I will have to hack the wings off and stretch it a bit also stick in another bomb bay.  I'll let my skills develop before I attempt that one.  Also I am not buying anymore models until I get a few of them done.

  Peace!

  Dazz

New Purchase - Revell 1/144 Tornado GR.1

  Ever since I bought that decal sheet from Kits-World and the resin JP223's from Freightdog Models, I have wanted a decent Tornado to use for those parts.  I have got the Matchbox Tornado GR.1 which isn't upto the task as it doesn't have the Sky Shadow ECM pods that where used in the Gulf War, nor the Fuel Tanks that where used either.  I've also got the 1+1 Dragon GR.4 kits, but once again the fuel tanks are the wrong ones can't remember if the Sky Shadow ECM pod is in it or not.  I also have a Revell Luftwaffe Tornado, can't remember off the top of my head whats in that one, but there was something wrong.  Once again I believe it was the Sky Shadow ECM pod and/or the Fuel Tanks.  This model however fits the bill excatly, it has the Sky Shadow ECM pod, you can see it on the left wing on the picture and as the picture shows also it has the 2250 litre "Hindenburger" tanks that the GR.1's "borrowed" from the F-3 Tornados for the extra range.  Might get another two of these.

 

 Even tho I am not going to use these decals, these are class.  I am really impressed with these colours and the cockpit decals too.  I might use these on one of the other kits now that I think about it. I am NOT looking forward to all of the red "X's" there is loads of the buggers!

  It's a nice scheme too, altho not one I remember seeing ever.  I will have to look on the interwebs with my Google-fu skills to find some.

 I am going to assume that these two spures are generic Tornado ones, theres not much difference in all the Tornados except between the  ADV versions and the IDS/ECR ones.  The ADV has one cannon and a longer nose while the IDS/ECR ones have a shorter nose and two cannons... I think the GR4 has one cannon now too. 

  These two spures I think where made just for the GR.1 model alone.  It has the Hindenburger tanks the Sky Shadow ECM Pod, some kinda Paveway bombs, 4 1000lbs bombs and two ALARM missiles (Air Launched Anti-Radation Missile, think HARM and your there.) oh and the canopy.  Looking forward to building this one.

New Purchase - Revell 1/144 F-18/CF-188 Hornet

 I bought this one from Lucky-Model, thought I'd give them a try.  Admitted I could of gotten this model from somewhere else, but I got this one to bulk out the order and make the shipping worth it.  I have said in previous posts that I am not a fan of bright paintwork/CAG schemes.  HOWEVER, if it's an anniversary scheme or a display colour (like the Red Arrows or Blue Angels (listen to that cool music!!!)...) then I may use it.  This mode was shipped with the colours you see on the box for the Candian CF-18 Hornet's 20th Anniversary of service and an CAG scheme, I can't remember who for right now.  Tigermeet schemes I kinda sit on the fence with, it depends on the actual scheme.  French and German schemes are 9 times out of 10 really cool tho. :)

  
   The CF-18 scheme, now I really really do like this scheme.  I think it's really cool and I will be using it for this model.

  The CAG Scheme, I do like this one as CAG schemes go, but I will not be using it.  I might buy a Dragon F-18C later on and use it on the second model in the pack.

   Shame I wont be using the weapons on this one, those AGM-84 Harpoons, AGM-65 Mavericks, AGM-88 HARM's (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile), look really good too.  Theres a laser designator and a pod of some kind, think its an TILAD... possibly I will need to check that out.  Those stores wont be used tho, so they will be going into the stash.

  Those decals look really good too, that orange will be hard to match but I will give it a go, I've also now got a few spare USAF roundels as well.  So I might get the Revell 1/144 F-15E Strike Eagle that everyones complaining about with the decals and use it on that.  Not a bad idea actually...

  Thats it for this kit, onto the next...

  PEACE!

  Dazz

MiG 1.44 MFI and MiG-29 WiP

 I was going to sort out the resin parts today, but I had a computer to fix (a complete motherboard change on a laptop).  So I done that then saw these on the table I was working on and just started to work on them.  I've started the MiG-29 too, my thinking is that I am going to do both the 1.44 and the 29 in the same camo scheme.  I've seen lots of grey 1.44's so I thought I would do something I haven't seen it before, a kinda "whatif".  The MiG-29 is just a quick kit to get done out of the way and keep some people off my back, they know who they are!!! :P  Picture time...

  Those attachment points for the canards are horrible.  Will need to use a bit of filler on them.  The instrument panel didn't get any decals as they where really bad, so I decided not to use them.  I'm still impressed with the cockpit tho.

  Front section, once the cockpit is done the rest is a doddle tbh.

   Those nozzles look good on this model, a little worried about painting them, but I will figure something out.  I was going to drop the flaps on this one, I couldn't figure out what are the flaps and what are not.  I see something in the middle of the wing that looks like a flap and I see a little flap between the rudder and the nozzles, as of yet I haven't been able to find any pictures of them dropped, so I have left them up.

   I've left the intake off so I can paint it the usual dark grey/white whatever.  One thing that did cross my mind when I made this one, I didn't put any weight in the nose and I have a feeling it's going to be a tail sitter.  Those intakes go back a little way so I am going to stick some weight there, will have to see what I have to use.  I didn't have any problems with the joins in the wings, a little filler will be needed on the top, but nothing that a bit of Mr. Surfacer can't fix.

   The Academy 1/144 MiG-29A Fulcrum, I thought this would be a good model as I have an 1/72 OV-10 Bronco in my stash and that's a great model with lots of detail and looks fairly accurate to me.  Well as much as I can see as I've never flown/worked on/walked around one.  First thing that you should be able to see from this picture is the nose!  What's wrong with it?  It reminds me of the Sukhoi Su-34 "FULLBACK" aka "Platypus" just worse, at least that plane looks cool!!!  Now that I think about it, I might actually paint the MiG-29 as an Luftwaffe model, I should have some decals in the stash for that.

   Next thing you notice is those jet nozzles, they do not fit at all!  I though it was the way I had glued the fuselage together but no, they are perfectly correct (a result really!)  If I had glued the nozzles flush with the top half, there would of been a massive gap of about 10mm or so between the nozzles and the back of the bottom fuselage.  So I decided to do it like this.  The only thing I can think of, is that Academy have gotten the MiG-29 mixed up with the F-15C as you could think it has a "lip" on it's nozzles.  Thats the only thing that would make sense to me...

  And the two birds together, the MiG-29 is almost the same size as the MiG 1.44 wing!  That is one massive bird.  You can see how big it is by the size chart on the mat, just times the size of that by 144 times and you *should* be close to it.  Still both are fun models to make and I am looking forward to paiting them, now that I have a new tool to use on them :)

  More to come...

  PEACE!

  Dazz