Mighty Mini's GB! 1/144 scale

Yeah, well, that's the only problem with Revell, you get an entire cockpit, sticks and all, but no pilots to fill the seats. To top it off, they're easier to pose in flight, rather than on their teeny- tiny landing gear.

Good luck with the build though. I had fun with my typhoon when I built that kit.

Klik

Nice F-18, Klik. Don't worry about the empty cockpit, my Typhoon will also probably have an empty cockpit as well..

WOW! 

IL2windhawk, love what you did with the Falcon's cockpit! Clever, well-done paint job truly makes it look like the movies.

Rob Gronovius, cool kit. What a weird way to package it, huh? Big tank, small kit, and I can't wait to see it finished with your usual flair.

deattilio, the C-47 is looking fine . Keep up the great work and get that lady her paint job.

Meanwhile, I've been busy, but I finally got the F-18D finished. (as in "if-you-don't-mind-the-conspicuously empty-cockpit--finished"). I don't really have a ton of spare 1/144th figgies for the cockpit, so it's a 'drone' fighter.

Pics:

and that's it. Finished (what's funny is that the pics are larger than life-size).

I look forward to seeing more of your builds. Keep up the great work.

Klik

kg4kpg, that really looks great.

IL@ that is so cool looking.

Rob, I love those little Dragon kits.  Reminds me I need to do another Peanut Butter Panzer

deattilio the C-47 looks really ice so far.

I am still plugging away on my (normal size) M1A1.  I got the 109F PE detail set in the mail.  It is pretty incredible.  I'll try to get so pics up soon.

Nice Millenium Falcon IL2Windhawk, and the C-47's coming out nice deattilio.

I have the GB badge ready. Check on the opening post of this thread to find it.

IL2windhawk, I cannot write WOW big nor often enough to express how impressive that little Millennium Falcon is.

I got a coat of primer sprayed on my C-47, there are a couple spots where I need to revisit with putty and sand paper but, it is nearing her first coat of color toward the Texas ANG scheme.

@Rob: Wow... That is so small... Wonder how it compares in size to the AAV I did at the start of the GB.... Nice gift.

Now that the crew & cockpit is assembled and sealed, I'm turning my attention back to the light system.

Here I'm experimenting with just one LED inside the shell.  Next I will work toward mounting ~10 of them.

Here is a couple of before photos of my Dragon Maus. A fairly large tank done in a very small scale. I received this kit as a gift around ten years ago. A fellow club member  won the two tank set (it originally included a Tiger tank) in a club raffle and only wanted the Tiger. He gave me the Maus. That was around 2004.

The kit includes 11 plastic pieces molded in a type of soft styrene as well as six photo etched grills for the engine intakes. I took a photo of the parts (minus the mantlet) sitting on my Droid Razr for size reference.

I started to paint the tracks in a tan color, but the enamel did not react well with the soft styrene. The paint didn't fully dry and the parts are a bit sticky to the touch. I will repaint them along with the rest of the tank using acrylics.

I'm having difficulty with Flickr and will add the photos when I can.

kg4kpg,

     Good looking C-2 and very interesting shot staged next to the E-2!

Nice nice work, KG4!  She looks fantastic all dolled-up with decals.
The E-2C is nice too... and also your carrier deck display :)

I had a great time working on the Falcon today!  A really really fun day.  I ordered a cheap 1/144 figure set on ebay last week, and they came in a couple days ago.  This afternoon I sat down to modify them into a flight crew for the Falcon as it flew during 'Empire Strikes Back'.

Solo, Chewy, Leia, and C3PO.  

Starting point.. 

Pick of the Litter 

The horror! 

Everybody looks happier 

I used this photo a LOT today 

The best I could manage.   I swear it looks lots better in person.

A view to the final product.  
Note that C3PO is flailing his arms, like he does through-out the whole movie!  hehehe

A view to the final product 

Also, I cut out the engine area for the LEDs 

Nice work kg4!

Nice build there kg4kpg. I think I might have to get the E-2C next but modify it to E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. My dad's actually working on it... Well, until Northrop moves the program to Florida.

Also, I'm thinking of extending the date, by another 144 days, because there aren't too many people involved.

Crap, I'll fix this Friday at work when I can edit from my PC. Sorry.

Calling this one finished.

9/6. And done. Definitely not my best build, but I'll take it considering the issues I had. I'm sure there are some inaccuracies but I build for fun so not really concerned about them.

Sitting with a Revell E-2C I did a while back.

So, the one guy is saying "look dude, it's getting close to being done". And his buddy is like, "hallelujah!"

Nice looking there so far deattilio. Don't you just love kits that can make a bottle cap look big?

Everyone’s builds are coming along nicely, and rather quickly which made me feel a bit like a slacker so managed to take some time off from house projects to get some time on my C-47.  The fit problems are slowly being camouflaged with ample mounds of putty – and yet still more is needed.  There was a huge gap and small step on the left wing I filled with putty which left only a step needing correction on the right wing.  I have steps at the top and steps at the wing-to-fuselage joins, the wing is much too thick.  The frustration with the C-47 is rapidly dampening the enthusiasm to start the C-117, it may get further back in line in the stash pile.

Some progress pics: 

I have an update on my Eurofighter. I nearly finished painting it and started assembly of the cockpit tub:

I think it's the stabilizer on the right. But it's very nice. I had a hard time trying to figure out which one to choose...

IL2: Nice "research." It's always the best form . And good luck trying to fit those batteries in side the gear doors.

Yeah...nice save kg.

Man, that's great work KG4.  I truly cannot tell the difference

Well, looks like a save. I still haven't found the kit part, but with some patience, I was able to make another from card stock. Can you tell which one it is?

So I haven't posted anything for a while, but I've been busy.  For instance, I watched the whole 'Empire Strikes Back' for inspiration the other day 

Photo from my, uh... "research".  Lucas, please don't sue me.

Seriously though... I've been busy spec'ing out my electrical system: choosing components that will (1) actually fit in my hand-sized model, and (2) will electrically compliment each other.  I needed the right combination of components for voltage, battery life, current draw, etc...  I choose AAAA batteries because they are small enough to fit through the landing gear bays (which will be turned into battery doors... somehow?).  Together, the two AAAA's deliver enough amperage at 3V to power at least 10 white LEDs for several hours.  The idea is to fit the entire electrical setup inside, so one could fly the ship around the house with the engine lit-up.... not that I do that sort of thing at my age 

Miniature switch that I will hide somewhere on the model.

5mm cool white LED's, 1/4 watt resistors, and AAAA batteries.

5mm cool white LED's, testing for function

battery trays will go inside two of the landing gear bays

KG4, your build looks terrific!  That vertical stabilizer looks just fine, good job.  I've been there, having to scratch a new part like that.  Take it from me, just when you finish it you'll find the original piece!  But you will still be better off for all the skills you developed to make the new one.

Klik, your F18 camo is really interesting.  Sort of reminds me of digi-camo, but more organic.  Like something a South American air force would come up with :)

That sucks but at least at this scale it isn't too hard to scratch your own parts like that.

Some progress and potential disaster. The fuselage is decal'd up with exception of a couple I'm waiting to apply later. I'll decal the engines tonight with the red danger arrows tonight then mount and fill the wing. The rear is going to take a bit as I have lost the right verticle stabilizer somehow. Luckily I hadn't put the decal on yet and I'm going to try to make one from card. Two this sheets gave me an accetable thickness and I got it cut, just need to fine-tune the shape, sand it to this it out in the rear, scribe it and decal it then I'll be back on track. Somehow OzMods molds got confused. The windows on both sides are in the wrong place, based on reference pics I have. I'm just going to paint over them and put a dark grey round decal or paint spot in the correct location, or even drill them out and use some clear glue in them. The panel likes on the left side don't match the right side and are incorrect as well. They set up the side about a 1/4" to high.  I'm actually please with this build despite how amatuer I feel after reading the build thread another member did on a 1/72 B-52D from Viet Nam.  Some super talented model builders here on Finescale forums.

So, enough of my dribble, here's a couple pics.

Klik, nice work on the little jets.  Those are complicated paint schemes in any scale much less 144th.

"OTTO"  (Italian for the #8) was a kubelwagon given to Marseille by an Regia Aeronautica squadron when he shot down 8 planes in 1 day.  

Photo used for discussion purposes only

I like it. Its looks nice... and dotty.

Sorry I haven't been on lately, been busy.

@ MikeyBugs95:

I built that Eurofighter Typhoon kit a few years back. A real beaut of a kit (although I don't remember so many decals--Probably because I didn't use them... )

@ Wing_nut:

That is a cool Double kit. Have to find one for myself--though a bf109 in 1/144th sounds tough, since it's such a small scale! Good luck with those teeny-tiny parts!

one question though, what are the "OTTO" decals for? I've never seen such markings before.

I also have nearly finished my F-18; pics below:

Construction was (nearly) finished before I painted the plane.

Now, here I have to be honest. I am not a fan of the straight grey-on-grey paint scheme used on all modern fighters, so whenever I work on planes in 1/144th, I never paint them straight grey.

Examples for y'all:

Besides, these paint schemes are so much fun to paint (btw, I have about 6 more of these, but no photos of them to share). So when it came to the F-18, I wanted to get inventive, while still referencing the original grey-on-grey scheme (sounds 'artsy', no?).

(without flash)

Personally, I think this paint scheme is too polka-dotty. I had originally wanted to go with a sort of high-altitude mountainous region-type scheme, but something went wrong.

I don't know, what do you think? It isn't quite finished yet, so I can still make 'corrections'.

Klik

Ha. Yeah I saw it. It was pretty good. It actually talked about Sgt. Booker, the perso not the tank. It was a good show. I actually want to try to find it online or on iTunes and download it. But anyways, back on topic:

Im currently still doing the paint job for the Eurofighter which I shall reveal after I finished painting it. I'm painting before assembling.