AREA 88: "The Upside Down Bomb" (DC-10-30)
That’s an old timey box for sure.
Too big for a sprue shot, so I just did a dry fit.
I knew that black tape would come in handy. Useful for marking off panel lines to be scribed.
Slow and steady... but we now have panel lines!
Next to block off the cockpit from the cabin.
Painted the interior black to give it some depth.
Trimmed the engine exhausts but need some cones... luckily I found a couple of bombs in the spares box that’ll do the trick!
Glued the interior windows in place. The ones from the kit were very thick, so I made my own.
Engine bits painted and awaiting assembly after drying.
Added a bit of a wash to make the fans stand out a bit more. They'll be hard to see once they're in the engine cowlings.
That circle cutter comes in handy for masking jobs like this one.
The rear side of the engine is glued in place and assembled.
Now that the engines are completed, I was able to glue the fuselage together... bit by bit.
After lots of putty, sanding and repeating I get to... repeat! There's still some seams visible.
The top side doesn't show any visible gaps, but there's still a bit of a ghost ridge. Not sure how I'm going to get rid of that.
Decided to retro-fit the wing tips with very tiny LED lights... I had to reopen it a bit, but it wasn’t too far gone.
I know it looks like a mess... but that bundle of wires, resistors, capacitors, and a 555 timing chip works, and that’s what counts here. 😉
Four wing tip lights, and two red blinking lights on the fuselage.
Decided to add a couple of SMD LEDs for the underwing bombs... alternating blink with the fuselage lights.
Final panel lines scribed, and major sanding done. Time to attach the windscreen and the engines/underwing fins.
More putty... more sanding...
Time to get clever and add some colour to the wing tip lighting. I had some clear red plastic sprue, but for the green I broke the clip off a highlighter pen.
Just need a little bit...
And... disaster! I had to use CA glue of affix the green plastic, but in the process ended up yanking out one of the tiny LED leads.
Ok, wing tips opened and wires retrieved. Before we get some new LEDs in there, let’s pause for a moment of inspiration.
New lights lined.. man they’re small!
And... they work!
Ok. We’re back in action!
Now that the wing tip lights are fixed, I decided to replace the fuselage ones to fit the scale better. Took a bit of cutting, fishing, soldering, glueing, puttying and sanding... but it’ll look better
Some clear plastic fro a sprue will work as a cover for the LEDs. Needs a bit of filing to shape.
There's the bombs... finally. Painted to keep the light from shining through the plastic.
Wing tips are sanded smooth and painted with metallic grey to black out the lights.
First coat of primer on... a few touch-ups necessary.
Primer all done, now for some masking.
Hmmm... it's grey. I probably should've done the white coat of paint first though... I just got excited to put something other than pure white on this one.
Well, moving right along... let's paint the wings Tamiya XF-16 Aluminum.
Added some Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey to the wings/tail...
Painted the nose cone black, and added some silver to the engine intakes. I also changed my mind on the grey underside and painted the whole thing XF-16.
Masked out the logo/cheat line... I hope this works.
Ok... I’m calling that a win. I like the red.
And... DONE! I'm spreading my fingers and backing away slowly.
Comments
23 May 2024, 05:28 -
Album info
When assassins target Asran Crown Prince Saki Vashtar, they don't care who gets in there way - including a plane full of innocent people. With bombs placed strategically under each wing, and set to detonate in 2 hours or if the plane drops in altitude, Saki isn't left with much choice. He calls on his two ace pilots, Shin and Micky to attempt to shoot the bombs off. The only problem is that the Kfirs' tails are getting in the way. The solution? Shoot them off while flying inverted. This build will try to replicate this dramatic action scene from the Area 88 manga.
