01 - AREA 88: "The Bloody Screw" (MiG-27)

Greg Baker
I joined a 1-week build at Whatifmodellers.com, so my entry is the 1/144 AREA 88 project I'm calling "Operation: The Bloody Screw". Early in the AREA 88 manga series there's a battle between the Area 88 mercenaries and "The Wolf Pack" mercenaries hired by the Anti-Government Forces. They come blazing in out of nowhere and attack using a complex arial maneuver that causes the victim to succumb to the massive nose bleed caused by the enormous G-Forces they endure. This build will try to replicate this dramatic 3-plane dive bomb maneuver.

And yes... expect a few snickers from the peanut gallery...

Greg Baker
I never should've used the word "bloody" in the project title. I poked my finger with the knife while cutting out the air vents... bloody indeed.😉

Spanjaard
i am in 🙂

Greg Baker
I'm gonna get you a director's chair with "Spanjaard" printed on the back. You've got reserved VIP seating.😉

Jay Dubya
Happy to watch a master at work, even from the bleachers.

Martin Oostrom
Somebody say peanuts?

Spanjaard
Thanks Greg! I will be honoured.

Greg Baker
Hey JW, I'll be sure to let you know when a Master shows up... but somehow I knew Martin would show up if I offered free snacks. 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Ummm, how does the "victim" suffer massive G-forces from a plane he is not in??? Or do they trick people into the plane, then pummel them by remote???? I know manga has its own logic and stuff...LOL

that aside, looks interesting.

Martin Oostrom
Yup. Peanuts, chocolate. Will do anything for Scooby Snacks 😉

Greg Baker
I read the issue again... apparently first they box there target in, then use the concussion force of an explosion to knock out the vicitim's windscreen and fill the cockpit with swirling blood and then let the pilot's anti-G suit squeeze all the blood out of him... I dunno... sounded scarier in 1987... still looks cool in 2018.😉

Martin Oostrom
And who or what shall pose as victim? Instead of weathering, some bloody streaks along the fuselage 😛

Greg Baker
Since this is a one-week build that already features 3 (itty bitty) planes... I decided against including Greg's A-4E Skyhawk as the victim. As I mentioned earlier, a project with a name like this demanded a blood sacrifice. Cutting out the tiny air intake vents with a very sharp knife and sausage fingers was a recipe for disaster.

Even though it's a quick build, it's been fun. I needed some pilots for an in-flight presentation (I could just hear Peter's comments about ghost planes ringing in my ears), but 1/144 figures are tough to come by. Luckily I had a silicone cloning chamber and some willing volunteers from my Lindberg 1/144 B-1 bomber kit... so now I have a whole family of tiny pilots.

I also decided (once again) to try the undercoat panel shading technique. It never seems to really work for me in 1/72, so maybe 1/144 will be different. The first coat looks promising. We'll see if it survives the camouflage stage.

Spanjaard
i will probably need to do something similar about pilots... i am working on some 144 project with lots of ghost planes at the moment.....

Greg Baker
It was the best solution I could come up with. I find it a bit strange that getting a little baggy of 1/144 scale pilot-esque plastic blobs should be so hard.

Anyway, the first top coat of paint is on. I was gong for a subtle under shadow but I pulled back a bit sooner than I usually would considering there's still another coat to go. The very thick canopies gave me some trouble. Since it's a 1-week GB I didn't have time to try and sand down and repolish them, so the pilots and seats and all are a squished and the fit is suspect. We'll see how it looks in the end I guess.

Greg Baker
Alrighty... all done. For a 1-week GB entry, I'm pretty happy.

Spanjaard
nice job

Hoodlum90
Looks great! I really like the base.

Konrad -
Amazing work Greg! Really cool 👍

Martin Oostrom
Mission completed. Well done (as usual)
👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! Much appreciated... and I'm really glad someone likes the base. 🙂

Jay Dubya
Oh Greg, you completed this project within your tight deadline mostly by not trying to do it 'perfectly'. Like I said before, a master ... of yourself! So, something else I've learned from my 'Mates here. Cheers

Nils Steyaert
nice work 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Wow! Well done! And that base is awesome! Great job all around especially considering the time constraint.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! Voting has started in the GB, so wish me luck!

John Thomas
Very nice work, and base

Martin Oostrom
Greg, what was the result? Did you win?

Greg Baker
Uhm... I was in a 3-way tie for second place. Oh well. It was sure fun.

Martin Oostrom
Number of contestants? 4? 😉

Jay Dubya
That's a bit harsh Martin ... funny, but harsh nonetheless !!!

Martin Oostrom
Greg, be sure to pinch me in one of my albums. 👍

Donald Dickson II
What the hell took first?????

Bryn Crandell
Impressive dio. Amazing detail for such a small scale. Granted I also model N scale trains which is 1:120.

Christian Bruer
Nice idea, very well executed 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! That's high praise considering the sources! Actually though, I'm not quite satisfied with the result. As I mentioned above, it was entered in a 1-week group build, so I just had to keep charging forward. However, I was never satisfied with the shape of the nose (MiG-27 instead of just a weird MiG-23) and I also did't get the camouflage right. So I decided to take what I learned and give it another go.... after all, it only took me a week the first time, right? So stay tuned for an update.

Greg Baker
Alright... the "secret weapon" arrived today - three boxes of the Trumpeter MiG-23BN - so I got started on the "do-over". I usually don't complain about kit quality, but man... now I know what a scale(ish) model of a plane made out of bubble gum looks like. The one and only redeeming quality is that the nose piece seems more or less the correct shape - which is good, because that's the only reason I bought 3 cheapo kits off eBay. Took a bit of manhandling, but I think the silhouette of the first victim looks more like a MiG-27 than any of my previous attempts. Thanks to Nils for pointing me in that direction.

Nils Steyaert
its my pleasure to help, i built that kit many, many years ago (Airfix boxing) and i too was dissapointed at the lack of detail. but then i tried to fit the old -BN nose to the Academy kit and it looked better, not perfect but i could live with it. i think with a bit of patience yuo can maki it into a quite decent little Flogger.

Greg Baker
As a cheap buy off eBay (slightly cheaper than Aliexpress this time) I expected the low quality when I opened the crushed up Miniature Hobby Model box. But I can imagine it would be more of a shock opening up an Airfix box (with associated price tag) and finding one of these babies inside.

I've got a few ideas on how to make it a bit more palatable in the mating, so we'll see. I glued them together, added the putty, lit a candle, put on some soft music and went to bed... Hopefully by the time I get home from work today they'll have come to some mutual understanding.😉

Greg Baker
After lots of shaping, putty and sanding I put some paint down to check the progress... needs a bit more work.

Martin Oostrom
Well screw me sideways. That's a lot of work on these tiny planes. You're a persevering dude Greg 👍

Greg Baker
It's not the size of the plane, it's the size of the man... no... wait... that's not right... 🙂

Bart Goesaert
Nice start over. When sheet styrene in this scale is to thick, you can also use paper, hardened with thin CA. Then you can cut it, sand it, all that you like. I use it in various thicknesses to make cockpit details, rocket fins, etc in this scale...

Greg Baker
oh, now that's a GOOD idea! I'm going to try that. I'll probably end up glueing my fingers together just like every other time I open a bottle of CA glue... but it might be worth it.

Bart Goesaert
take a large sheet, apply the glue in the corner, wipe it open with another sheet, let it dry, no fingers touch the glue, see here: F-15DJ duo | Album by Silenoz (1:144)

Spanjaard
at the moment i am using very thin copper sheets but this trick with the paper is certainly worth trying!
thanks Bart

Greg Baker
Y'know... when you build a mini dio with three planes, you have to do everything 3 times... so I've discovered...

Bart Goesaert
Not 6?

Greg Baker
Ok... maybe six... or nine!

The wheel wells are finally enclosed to my (grudging) satisfaction and the cockpit details (such as they are) have been added to all three planes. A bit more sanding to smooth all the add-ones and tie them together and we'll be ready for some painting (finally)!

One problem I noticed after dipping the canopies in Future is that one of them (the middle one in the pic) has a pair of parallel scratches on it. Hard to see in the pic, but quite noticeable. My instinct is "meh, who'd even notice" but lately I've been hanging around with high performers on this site.

How many hours did Martin polish those chrome bits? How many times did Peter strip the paint off that tank? How times did Lode put his sanity at risk cutting up teeny tiny bits of tape? How many transfers did Spanjaard put on that F-4J? How many time did Kerry... do whatever the hell Kerry does?

My path is clear... sigh...

*update: upon further review, the parallel scratches were actually just tape residue... so I guess I can't add myself to the list of superhuman feats just yet.😉

John Thomas
Hey Greg, after seeing several of your Area 88 builds, should there be some kind of soundtrack that would go with the build? I am thinking of some kind of James Bondish song or sound.

Greg Baker
Thanks John. Conveniently, the Area 88 anime does indeed have an OST - suitably "Japan 80s" 😉

Youtube Video

Donald Dickson II
OK, I am going to have to try to watch this show now. LOL

Spanjaard
they are going really good. 1/144 scale can be certainly lots of fun 🙂 i realy like what you did with the cockpits.
and no ghost planes this time (now it is me doing ghost planes LOL)

John Thomas
WOW Greg, very cool Video. I can see why you like modeling the planes. I must be old but I would like a more 70's/ 80's tune, great work.

Greg Baker
Donald - you NEED to check it out. The manga is better than the anime, but it always is IMHO.

Anyway, I've got some more paint on it. That was supposed to be the magic mixture to produce "Soviet Cockpit Blue/Green" but I don't think it worked... Oh well. At least it showed me what is still a bit of a problem and what's not. All three pilots had to eject (and take their seats with them) before the painting, but I'll probably be painting them up soon.

I also just noticed a bit of an accidental cross-over in the picture. The MiGs are under the watchful eyes of a pair of friends of mine from another project stream... blistering barnacles!

Greg Baker
The canopies are masked, but I'm not quite sure what to do about the gaps... white glue I guess... haven't had a lot of luck with that though.... hmmm...

Martin Oostrom
Bit of ca tinted with metallic pigment. Makes it easier to see and softer to sand.

Bart Goesaert
or shim it with styrene sand flush and glue then with PVA. PVA alone won't cut it I think.

Greg Baker
Martin, won't the CA cloud the canopy? I might try to shim it with styrene, but it is quite small, so I'm worried about things getting out of control...😉

John Thomas
Hey Greg, I have heard if you dip your canopy in Future After drying then you can use CA to glue it. I have not tryed it so you may want to test it first

Greg Baker
Hmmm... I always dip my canopies in Future, so I think I'll try that. I've had a phobia about CA fumes clouding up my canopies so I've never actually tried, but I've seen it in action in the bottle and numerous crime shows when then check for fingerprints...

Greg Baker
This one's sort of got lost in the shuffle, but I got it back on track and masked up the bottom. Time for some more paint.

Greg Baker
Ok. We're into the home stretch now. The main painting was done, but I ended up making a few marks on one of the planes due to an errant soldering iron while wiring up some LEDs. It was just the lightest of grazes, which is good... because it could've destroyed the whole show. A bit of touch up brown and no one but I will notice... right?

I just HAD to wire up some LEDs... sigh...

Spanjaard
impressive

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. Lode, that comment really made my day. Usually my builds aren't those super detailed dioramas that try to recreate a scene (although I'm always impressed by those) but I like your words "bring stories alive". That's a good way to describe what my style is. Thanks~!

Peter Hardy
So are you going to use real blood?

Martin Oostrom
I do. Those modelling knives are sharp!

Greg, I agree with Lode. I really like how you go the extra 1/144 of a mile. Adding leds, custom decal to the custom base. There are things to learn here! 👍

Greg Baker
"Go the extra 1/144 of a mile..." 🙂

Ok... you win post of the day today. That sounds better than you "go the extra 11 meters...".

Anyway, just about (re)done this one. I got the custom decals on, but the tail markings really bother me. I was hoping to mask the relatively simple cross/half circle shape and paint them on, but it was impossible to cut so small. Lots of bad or worse ideas, but bot sure if I have any options though... oh, well. I basically just have to swipe some armament from the first incarnation of this build and wire it up and we're all done.

Peter Hardy
Hmmm, shark mouths....

Greg Baker
I knew you'd like that... in fact I was thinking that and smiling as I applied them. In my defence though, I'm actually not a huge fan of shark mouths either, but as you can see from the decal on the base... I need to be true to the subject.😉

Peter Hardy
Mmmm, painfully? obvious Greg. Would be a 10 outof 10 without the grin!

Donald Dickson II
He chose the shark mouth subject on purpose I bet! LOL I like the improvements Greg. Well done.

Bart Goesaert
What one can do with such decals is removing as much as possible of the carrier film with a sharp knife... that's always a good practice anyhow...

But lovely work, and glad there are more that fancy this scale...

Greg Baker
Frustrations with decals continues. I tried plan "C" and used white backed decal paper and added some background colour. Then I used the hands of a surgeon to trim them... but I'm not sure it's an improvement. Of course the colour of my printer doesn't match the paint, no matter how carefully I tried to match it... but I knew that would happen. But... I dunno... it's not right.

This is frustrating because I can look at the tail section and see exactly what it should look like... I just can't find a way there. I'm like a starving man staring at people through the restaurant window... I can see it... just there... out of reach... sigh.

Spanjaard
the decal in the tail seems to be something that could try masking? you can print the design in tamiya paper sheets, and carefully cut it and airbrush it
i have seen people doing those mask with a Cameo machine, very intricate ones.
scalemates.com/kits/261651-t..sheet-1mm-grid-type-5-sheets

Martin Oostrom
If the surgeon is still around, perhaps he can cut out the centre of the decals as well?

Peter Hardy
I'm with Marty Greg, although how to do it at the size eludes me as well. It's got to be fixed though, I agree, it just isn't right as it is. Hey, I'm not an artist, I'm a critic ok?

Greg Baker
The problem really is the size. The square around the yellow cross that you can see in the latest pic is 5mm x 7mm. There's really not much to work with and even using a brand new blade isn't sharp enough. After sleeping on the problem, I think what I might try is to cut out the main shape from some tape and then try to piece together a mask in place. Basically assemble the mask in pieces rather than one single stencil (which was plan "A"😢.

Donald Dickson II
Perhaps something like this. I have been thinking about getting one..

walmart.com/ip/Broth..17ded7522e2fb225850a

Spanjaard
yep. i have heard good things about some of those. i remember somebody here doing a skull and crossbones mask for a 1/48 phantom, with all the tiny details. result was great. but the "toy" was 200 or 300 EUR

Donald Dickson II
That one I linked is like 150 USD. Most I saw were between 150 and 300 USD. A bit pricey, but perhaps worth it.

Peter Hardy
Get two Don! I'll accept one as a xmas prezie! Very generous of you! I'm to reluctant to offend you by declining!!!! 🙂

Greg Baker
Let's not forget who's thread this is... besides, I will gladly accept a two-week late birthday present...

Bart Goesaert
I'll have to look it up, but I saw a build with custom cut masks, that were ordered... Maybe that way will be the cleanest and cheapest

Greg Baker
Well... it's done. It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do. I might not have been able to get a seat at that restaurant (see my earlier comment), but I smashed the glass, grabbed a sandwich off a plate and ran off into the night. I'll call it a win.

Sometimes I get too wrapped up in the process and forget to think sideways. The yellow cross on the tail is yellow... so I was a) trying to use a yellow cross as my reference image for the cutting... and b) I was trying to cut through tape. Once I stopped to think about it, I switched tactics and printed out a sheet of little black crosses (lots... just in case) and then started trying to cut them out from the paper directly. It took me about 6 tries and 3 knife blades (the very tippy tips kept breaking), but I was finally able to cut out a paper stencil I could live with. I needed to reinforce it in a few places with thin (like 0.4mm!) strips of tape, but it worked. Then I carefully applied the stencil to the tail and painted on the yellow.

It wasn't perfect... the paper wouldn't sit flush on the plastic like tape, so there's a bit of a fade around the edges. Also, the delicate stencil was getting more and more delicate every time I used it (and I had to do 6 sides!) so I was trying to work fast. As the paper got painted and repainted, it started getting wet, and then paint seeped in in a few places... but... whatever. It really was the best I could do under the circumstances, so I will eat my stolen sandwich in some dark alley and move on with my life. 🙂

Oh, and just to add insult, when I was wiring the base for the LED afterburners, one of the posts snapped. So I had to carefully dig out the already glued-in bit (without cutting any wires!) and then glue the now slightly shorter post back in. I also think I put two of the planes in the wrong spots... but I don't want to think about it too hard... 😉

Spanjaard
Well done. Better than decals I think

Martin Oostrom
If it is snape off week, I won't be building anything 😉

Bart Goesaert
Nice work...

John Thomas
Just outstanding

Peter Hardy
I'm just showing off Greg's wall to Mam. She is captivated! I am jealous!

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I really appreciate the kind comments. I think perhaps the problem-solving aspect of scale modelling is often overlooked. There's almost always more than one way to achieve a result - some better than others. Also, since this was a 'do-over' build, I can also see some direct improvements from the first attempt. But also that feeling of having a result just out of reach pushes me to get better and achieve something better.

Greg Baker
Now the big question is what takes this spot in my workbench rotation... my shipment of supplies came in from China finally so my other stalled 1/144 projects can get back underway. Do I go with the DC-10 or the T-6 Texan or the Zero/Cessna combo?

Spanjaard
zero of course. i have one waiting too (to be started very soon), would love to see what you do with yours 🙂

Donald Dickson II
Peter and Greg, sure! Why not? Its not like I HAVE to eat or pay rent.😉

Greg, good solution sir. I have a Corvette kit that I am going to do the Prince emblem on and was thinking of the same approach. Good to see it works. Your final result is awesome as always.

Christian Bruer
Nice work 👍

Greg Baker
In case anyone is interested, I uploaded this build to my personal blog as well - I also included 6 pages of the manga story that inspired the build, so you can see where I was coming from - strobez.ca/wp/index...44-the-bloody-screw/

Spanjaard
excellent job Greg!