Mighty Mini's GB! 1/144 scale

It looks like you have your work cut out for you, Deattilio.  I've built a few kits like where I had to rebuild major pieces, so i know what you mean by needing extra time.  Good luck with the build.

By contrast, I think this FineMolds Falcon is possible the finest model kit I have ever worked on.  Seriously, I am enamored with this kit.  I have built dozens of airplanes, but none of them were built like this.  In these photos, about 90% of the kit is held together with friction alone.  The gun turrets rotate freely, and the upper and lower shells have a snap-fit, which offers me all kinds of flexibility for fitting an internal lights & battery system.  Despite all the moving parts, the seams have very tight tolerances so I may never have to actually glue the upper and lower halves together.

That said, there is a shortcoming that I plan to fix.  I plan to cut away the "walls" that should be "pipes" in the access bays.  See image below and you'll know what I mean.

Also, I added a coffee cup for scale.  It's a fairly small kit: nice desk-top size.  About 8-9" in total length.

That Millennium Falcon looks impressive, it reminds of the metal toy I had as a kid when the movie came out (the original) many moons ago.

I got the wings assembled and the fuselage assembled and am now working on cleaning up the seams and steps.  This is not the greatest fitting kit, with wavy edges that align only every so often.  The wings and tail surfaces are very thick that will prove a challenge of their own to blend.  The biggest discrep in the fit department lies in the wing to fuselage join though, as seen in the picture below.  I’m still working a way to fit it better without truly buggering up the join at the upper wing surface to fuselage join.  Also, the cabin windows refused to cooperate; I widened the holes in the fuselage and could still not get the windows to fit from inside or outside and have decided I will be using Kristal Klear when the time comes.

On another note, the B-52s I ordered from Squadron yesterday morning arrived this afternoon – Squadron is awesome!  It looks like an easy kit and if I get my C-47 together quick enough and without eroding my patience for 1/144 I may tackle that kit for this GB as well.

Well I started building my Trumpeter AAV7A1 today.

So I like the packaging and such.

Unfortunately I had to do a little trimming to get some extra sprue plastic off but nothing too bad.

After I assembled the upper hull.

And this is the test fit of all the parts. The upper hull assembly is glued and complete, but the lower hull hasn't been glued yet. I have to paint it next. Anybody know if AAV7A1's were painted in a desert tan coloring?

I'm going to have to order more 1/144 kits... a lot more...

MikeyBugs95

I have to paint it next. Anybody know if AAV7A1's were painted in a desert tan coloring?

We had tan AAVs in OIF I and OIF II.  I wasn’t brave enough to tackle this little kit and opted for the preassembled/painted offering.  Good luck to you, your eyes and a steady hand on this one sir.

Ehhh who needs a steady when you have a homemade 1mm plastic brush. Heh. But thanks, I'll need the luck. Unfortunately, I might not be able to use the desert sand spray paint that I got because I need it for my Dragon M1A1. So I might just have to brush on light tan if it works.

Started the Clipper yesterday. This should be a clean little build. It's going to have a NMF/ silver dope finish, so I'm going to expend a little effort on that top seam.

The usual sprue shot, except the parts all were loose in the box.

Put the halves together. I've decided to glaze it with Krystal Klear after painting, rather than use all the thick little windows that came in the box, then mask them etc.

Hi Mikey,

Could you put me down for a 1/144 Tornado F.3 please.

Cheers

Tony

Gotcha Tony. I'll put you down right now.

Deattilio, I'm pretty sure I built the Minicraft B-47, and it was a really nice kit in 1/144.  You should enjoy the B-52 build.  

Mike, that's a really small model!!   Good luck with that.  Don't drop it into the carpet or it'll be gone forever! LOL

And GMorrison, I'm really looking forward to seeing your build.  When I was considering options for this group build, the Boeing Clipper was on my short list.  I guess I'm kind of building the equivalent, for space flight :)

So on my Falcon, I finally finished all the metal piping work.  Whew... I'm glad that's behind me.  It started pretty slow, then went faster after I got more practice.  Probably 6 hours of work, hope it's worth it.  Next big challenge for me will be a visit to radio shack to figure out lighting.  I probably will work on the cockpit first, though.  Need to scratch build a Han, Chewy, Leia, and C3PO.  

before:

after:

before:

before:

Other pictures:

Wow. Nice metal work there Hawk. It looks like it's coming along pretty nicely.

And yeah this thing is small... You know a regular Testors tube of glue? Everyone here should know what it is...

It's not even half the length of it. So I will be VERY careful with this one. I've already almost lost one or two pieces... out of about 6 or 7. Ha.

Just painted the AAV7:

Wow. Everyone has a great build going. 

If I may enter, after a trip to the LHS, I've got a "J-15" from Dragon (that I couldn't resist starting and nearly finishing-- these little kits go fast), and Revell's F-18D.

Klik

P.S. from what research I have done, I can't tell, is there a difference between the Chinese J-15 and the Su-33?

Yeah. I just finished Trumpeter's AAV7A1 in a few days total... I have a feeling that everyone in this build will have accumulated quite a collection of little 1/144 models by the end of this build. Tomorrow, well... today, I'm going to pick up some more 1/144 from my LHS.

And about the SU-33 and the J-15: I've found a resource on a Pakistani defense forum here: www.defence.pk/.../222978-major-differences-between-su-33-j-15-a.html and on an easier to read and understand informational here: www.ausairpower.net/APA-Maritime-Flanker-D.html. According to these, and Wikipedia, the only thing that's the same between the two is the structure. Everything else is domestic. The electronics, flight controls, etc. are all Chinese produced.

Dug out my Dragon Maus and I think I'll give this GB a shot. I did run across a bunch of 1/350 armor "kits" that I think are for shiploads. Don't recall where they are from or what they are really for, maybe beach scenes?

I mentioned that I might be interested on one of the "feeler" threads but I'll make it official and join.  I've got my 1/144 Revell C-17 opened up and ready to go.

BTW, nice work so far IL2windhawk, kg4kpg, deattilo, Gmorrison and Mikey!

Well, I finished my AAV7 just now. I sprayed a little desert sand on it from so it sprays in a sporatic pattern. I don't really know how to describe it. But here it is before and after:

I have a Revell Eurofighter Typhoon 2000 coming in soon too.

Cool little AAV, you could probably have a whole platoon assembled within a week for a heck of a dio.

I was thinking of that... but theres no HMMWV's in 1/144... At least not that I can find. And no Abrams... I'll keep looking because I'd love to do that though.

That's an outstanding idea.  Maybe an bunch of 1/144 figures?

Do they even make figures that small? N-scale railroading figures maybe? I have a few... I'll check the proportion. Maybe it might be Z-scale.

N-scale is too small. But I've found some 1/144 figures. But I have no money to buy them with.

Mike,

Check these out:

www.hobbylinc.com/pegasus_1:144_scale_plastic_model_figures

Here's the C-17 kit:

Here's some AM stuff I'm adding to it:

The plan is to build it in its landing configuration.  This way I can set it on the shelf or hang it from the ceiling.  Plus, not having to build the interior will save alot of time.

I saw that C17 kit at the LHS a few days ago.  The box was open, so I sneaked a look at the sprues.  Nice kit!

I'll add you Fly-n-Hi.

Fly-n-hi, I too have built that C-17 kit, it's a fun build. Don't be put off by the interior. I (with my relatively limited skills) had little problems getting it to fit, so it should be no problem.

MikeyBugs95, if I may enter with my (aforementioned) F-18D (since I just finished my J-15/Su-33, and I don't think I can enter with it), I would appreciate it. I'll have pics of it as a WIP, which is rare for me when it comes to 1/144th.

Klik

P.S. love the work everyone's done so far!

they actually do make figures in 1/144th, just that they are for Gundam kits. If you want, I can attempt to take pics of one of mine.

Klik

Fly-n-hi, I too have built that C-17 kit, it's a fun build. Don't be put off by the interior. I (with my relatively limited skills) had little problems getting it to fit, so it should be no problem.

Thanks.  I don't actually have a problem doing the interior but for the fact that I'd like to pose it in its landing config.  In fact, I may get another one (with a Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon) and pose it with the doors open.  Maybe I can borrow some of the 1/144 vehicles y'all are making

I've got some work done on the C-17.  This was the tedious and boring part...cutting out the wings and the trimming up/cleaning the resin parts.  

I had to cut out parts from the leading and trailing edges of both the upper and lower wing halves.  And, of course, I had to cut off the extra molding and flash from the resin parts.  This took a few hours to accomplish and I'm still not done!  Now I have to cut all the flap control fairings so that I can attach the trailing edge flaps at the correct angle and cut some notches out for the slat controls.

Awesome stuff, Fly.  That's gonna look terrific.  Where did you get the resin kit?