Totally Awesome Eighties GB-- Re-Animated!

I wasn't gonna bother much with the undercarriage at first,but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use colors other than olive drab,dark yellow,etc...

Not much,but it's a start!

Thanks Tony! I was out of town for the weekend, and will CM with the Cobra build tomorrow. My intent is to have her done by the end of next weekend.

Keep up the good work Stikpusher, its great that you're keeping thsi GB bubbling along. It will be good to see a coat of paint on that Helo.

Cheers

Tony

Have kit,will build!

Another day's progress... not much left to do on her...

 

Yup...  loud music.... loud clothes.... loud movies.... those were the '80s

And for the latest update on my Cobra... cockpit painted, installed, and fuselage glued together... seams sanded...

 

Shhhh... We're watching re-runs of A-Team, McGyver and Knight Rider... then have a video night, watching the whole trilogy of Star Wars! Inbetween some LP's will be played - The Boss, Pink Floyd...

Good to see some more action! I've been bit busy with other things. Tony, agree with you - almost does seem that there's no logo's on the BT52 seatbelts! Maybe a small Fila logo? But that may be part of the overalls giving that impression. Slightly peeved in that the TS13 made some fine cracks way post-application on some of the rear wing decals.Nothing major, fortunately. Most likely oversprayed a bit...

Awful quiet in here for such a noisy decade....

Here are the first shots of my Cobra so far...

All parts that have been assembled to this point

armament close up- blast defelctors on TOW tubes hollowed out and sink areas on ouboard pylons filled

Close up of the inner side of the engine "doghouse" and the IR exhaust suppression "toilet bowl". The only mods I will make to the kit are here- added a tube to the turbine exhaust and a bulkhead to the forward end because way too much daylight was visible through those points...

 

More work completed in the morning- TOW launchers (most pics show IDF Cobras carrying only two per side rather than four), rocket pods (opting for the seven shot tubes), stub wings, "toilet bowl" IR exhaust suppressor, main rotor,  and some filler in areas needing it so far.

SeaBee wrote:

This side the cockpit is done. Slightly disappointed not to have any seatbelt marking in the decals. Do have some seatbelts sets somewhere to scrounge decals from - but strangely enough could not yet find which make seatbelt they used! Most likely arexons, since it was blue (could at least verify that much!) Anyways still have to find that set - definately not where I expected myself to put it. Suspension-time... fun!

Hi Seabee,

Sorry I don't have a photo of the BT52 seat belts that answers your questions. I do have a photo of a BT53 from 1984 that has blue belts with no visible manufacturer label. Maybe that's why there are none on the sheet.

Cheers

Tony

OK, I have selected my kit and begun construction as of earlier this evening. 1/48 Fujimi AH-1S TOW Cobra. I am gonna mark it as used by the IDF during the war in Lebanon in 1982. Pics will be posted as progress continues. So far I have built the cockpit and several other sub assemblies. My goal is to get this kit finished in a rapid manner, so no add on mods. Straight OOB aside from decals, which I already have.

 

Ghostbusters?! Jeez, I had to smile just the other day when the mrs got hold of some ghost pops again! Don't know if they were made outside the country... It a sort of a chip.

Back to the Brabhams - Tony I do remember that car - and the tragedy and controversy surrounding the De Angelis death very well - I liked him very much (most likely because he was a Lotus driver!) Think that was (with respect) the worst car Gordon signed. It even looked bad! But very destinctive. Seem to remeber the flat idea already started the previous year - think the 53 was quite flattish as well.

This side the cockpit is done. Slightly disappointed not to have any seatbelt marking in the decals. Do have some seatbelts sets somewhere to scrounge decals from - but strangely enough could not yet find which make seatbelt they used! Most likely arexons, since it was blue (could at least verify that much!) Anyways still have to find that set - definately not where I expected myself to put it.

Suspension-time... fun!

TD4438 wrote:

Finally scored something.Put me down for a Ghost Busters Ecto1.

OK, you win, that is the most 80s thing I can think of. Who you gonna call ?

Finally scored something.Put me down for a Ghost Busters Ecto1.

SeaBee wrote:

Tony, sorry to get back to you only now. But the masking still brings a couple of questions. I presume you got a base and then went merry. Did you "layer" some of the colours or did you mask off everything but the area you want the specific colour - which is the painfull way, but the way I'm leaning.

Hi Seabee,

There is no layering, each colour is sprayed onto a base on Tamiya Fine White Primer. It is more painful because you need to remove and reapply all masking for each colour, but it's not that bad.

I've actually recently purchased resin kits of the 86 and 89 Brabhams. Neither was terribly succesful, but I think that 86 was the beginning of the end for Brabham, they had a terrible year, lost Elio De Angelis in a testing accident, which I think had a serious impact on Gordon Murray.

Interesting car though, the concept was to build a very low profile, to reduce wind resistance. However it seems that couldn't get  the handling sorted out.

I'm not committing to build it for this GB !!!!

Cheers

Tony

Tony, sorry to get back to you only now. But the masking still brings a couple of questions. I presume you got a base and then went merry. Did you "layer" some of the colours or did you mask off everything but the area you want the specific colour - which is the painfull way, but the way I'm leaning.

The wing turned out to be not so tricky. I was very sceptical not having pre-painted before assembly before. Now that I've done it, it's not that bad and will do it again. I thought the wings also had those side winglets, which is really crappy, but it turned out to be just "plain" wings - one large area at the bottom, two smaller upright parts and the endplates to be juggled. Fortunately the big one can be slided in later. Bit of sanding was required, but no hassles. Decalled after assembly to ensure best alignment. The extremely dark blue colour turned out as I hoped and is quite pleasing.

Of course, never a dull moment and I simply had to stuff it up by getting a drop of CA running on the big wing element. Yes, after assembly. Yes, after decalling. Yes, the top of the wing... But heck, that blue and white rear wing with the Parmalat sponsorship - man, I miss that! (Totally 80's!) It's been given the last clear layer and is ready for the rest of the car. Which is nowhere near ready for the wing!

Started on the seatbelts, very nice to work with! Should finish that and the rest of the cockpit within the week. Progress has been a bit slow due to life getting in the way... Hope to pick up a bit on it!

Thanks Seabee.

Looking forward to seeing some photos of that wing.

For the harlequin paint scheme, I've used strips BMF to mask the edges, then filled in the remainder of the masking with Tamiya tape and Humbrol Maskol.

The first coat after masking is Tamiya TS gloss clear lacquer, to seal the masking. Then I layer on colour as per the usual process.

Time consuming, not quite perfect (but it's close ), but at least its done.

Cheers

Tony

Great job on that scheme, Tony! Any tips? I still have one on the pile...

Brabham coming along slowly. Body painted - forgot to add the fron wing endplates beforehand (it must be the age). No decals yet. Rear wing... I decided to tackle that by doing all the elements and endplates seperately, then attach, then decal, then another clear. Also decided on going for the blue-that-looks-almost-black rather than black, as the instructions wants. Must still assemble, will need to gather some deep breaths, since I usually tend to build, then paint the wings... Oh, and the seatbelts turned out to be material and hardware instead of the expected metal - must still be done. Transmission and base of rear suspension assembled, transmission painted.

Hold your breath for that freakin wing...

Hi all,

Thought I'd better check in with my Bennetton. I've been working on it for the last couple of weeks, this is the status as of a couple of days ago. Since then, mor masking, spraying, still more masking....

 

 

 

Cheers

Tony

okay, after much online searching I have decided to not do my original idea for the Back to the Future Delorean...as I had no idea it would be a collector item and be rather expensive.  Heck the cost of models in general has risen quite a bit (I have been absent from the hobby for about 20 yrs.) 

Anyway, I am in for this build, but my subject matter is now going to be a 1/144 Revell Space Shuttle.  The Shuttle program (flying wise) kicked off in the 80's.  While Columbia was the first to launch, I'm sure it goes w/o saying as to why I'd pick to do Challenger.  I was in 8th grade in English class watching that launch live, I remember the mood in school was changed for the remainder of the day, even in the hallways between classes it was really quiet.  

I received the kit in the mail a couple of days ago, it looks to be in decent shape.  I tried to win a bid for the resin nozzles off ebay, but forgot to check the bid before it closed...oh well.  Also got the "Walkaround Shuttle" book, it has some great reference pics in it.  Also looked into the tile decal set, but I think their TOO light of a gray for the look I want.  Lastly, been pondering how much of a pain it would be to scribe tiles....insane?  Yes!  Probably wont do that but the thought did cross my mind.  

 

 

 

What you do with the figures is up to you, of course...

Back to earth: Some quick notes on the BT52. It is an old MFH kit, not one of their newer and much better ones. Not a bad kit, though, the new ones are just a step above.

The gearbox prefit revealed some heavy-handedness needed to get it aligned. Even having done that, I've glued it all together and came out nicely, but there will have to be some more bending and filing to get the rear suspension to fit, haven't even touched that yet.

Body shell unto undertray prefit looked great, till I noticed the one radiator cover both areas and it did not align. Some sanding fixed the front of the undertray, which was a bit skew. Aligned nicely now. The one side has an "air outlet" (to let the hot air escape, rather than stay in the engine area). I drilled out the area underneath it and opened up the gills to give it a bit more natural look. Also glued in place already, since it will become body colour.

Cockpit: the "tub" had a seam line that compared nicely to a smallish mountain range. Was on the outside, so easily fileable - and in the end shouldn't be visible, anyways. Seat fit was extremely tight. The area behind the instrument panel took some fileing to convince it to get into the correct position. It was a bit too far forward as is, which fitted with the gear lever. But not once you add the instrument panel itself. The tub, seat and that area has been glued together, the whole area to receive semi-gloss black. Will add some texturing to the seat afterwards. There's no way of inserting the seat afterwards and not buggering up the tub's paint - you really have to force it in.

Well yes, that's about where I am. Haven't started doing anything regarding painting the body. The rear wing still awaits - threateningly. (Fortunately not those mega-wings that came out later in the 80's!) Funny, I thought the rear wing was blue, but now only see it is supposed to be painted black! Will have to verify that on some pictures. BTW, this is the Monaco version, where the paint job was slightly different. The majority of the car is white, with blue lining and a white engin cover and front wing.

SeaBee wrote:

Awww shucks, what can I say... not quite the armor stand-out, am I?! BTW, you guys talking of Iron Eagle, I have (believe it or not, Tony!) a Hase F14 in the stash. Dunno when I'll ever get to that. But had to laugh when I saw markings there for two blokes called Maverick and Goose! Those that don't know them, missed a helluva movie...

I have to ask, is Maverick giving the bird ?

Anybody have a "Bj & the Bear" 1/25 Kenworth COE kit hid away anywhere ? That would fit right in for this build.

Awww shucks, what can I say... not quite the armor stand-out, am I?!

BTW, you guys talking of Iron Eagle, I have (believe it or not, Tony!) a Hase F14 in the stash. Dunno when I'll ever get to that. But had to laugh when I saw markings there for two blokes called Maverick and Goose! Those that don't know them, missed a helluva movie...

Hey Seabee, I saw your name as the last poster and thought 'F1'.

Great to see it. I'm very interested to see your BT-52, definitely a classic eighties machine.

Cheers

Tony

Just started test-fitting an "old-style" MFH Brabham BT-52. Does that count?

taxtp wrote:

Hi all, I like the Gb badge, are we staying with it ? Cheers Tony

 

Tony.

 

I guess so, No one has said otherwise :)

 

 

Thanks for the info. lewbud.  Put me down for a twe seater F-16 that Doug Masters flew to pick up his dad, that landed on the runway, that shot a missle while taxiing on the runway, that got his dad home.  I will make up markings if that is cool with everyone.

painklr wrote:

Deeve - I did not find animal chin, but is was fun trying.  Doe's anyone know what type of F-16 and squadron was flown in the movie Iron Eagle?  I was thinking about building that for our group build.

Painklr,

The markings are most likely totally bogus dude!  They were IAF F-16s in US markings.  However, it was a totally rocking movie.  Have the soundtrack on vinyl somewhere.