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MPC 1/72 Space 1999 Hawk Mark IX

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  • Member since
    October 2021
MPC 1/72 Space 1999 Hawk Mark IX
Posted by PhoenixG on Sunday, February 13, 2022 7:31 PM

Had this kit in my stash for several years and it finally felt like the right time to do it.  For as busy as the model is visually, MPC did a great job of keeping the number of pieces to a managable level.  I think there is just over a dozen major assembly steps to this model.

box art

They gave painting and marking options for both the preproduction model, which is colored like the regular Eagle, and the filming miniature.  While there are things I like about the preproduction model the thought of doing it as filmed was more appealing.  It will also be more challenging due to the masking need to accomplish it.  Which is good, I need the practice.

Nice detail on the main body.

main body

Fit of the pieces isn't bad but it isn't great either. 

nacelle

Despite how that seam looks, the other side is nearly perfect. 

The fuel tank.

fuel tank

Overall the pieces come are coming together with little difficulty.

Next steps is to finish cleaning these up and then hitting them with Vallejo Grey primer.  It looks to be pretty close to the base color used on the originals.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, February 13, 2022 8:09 PM

Oh that looks so cool Phoenix! You've been on a roll lately! 

 

It's such a cool ship- funny that it only appears on one episode of 1999. I got the impression it was some sort of standard Earth military ship- seems like they could have worked in some excuse to use the model or stock footage in another episode or two. 

 

PS: For some reason I keep seeing you in my head as Simon Phoenix, Wesley Snipes character in 'Demolition Man'! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: Boston
Posted by mach71 on Monday, February 14, 2022 8:48 AM

I'm looking forward to following this build!

 

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 1:32 AM

Gamera

Oh that looks so cool Phoenix! You've been on a roll lately! 

 

It's such a cool ship- funny that it only appears on one episode of 1999. I got the impression it was some sort of standard Earth military ship- seems like they could have worked in some excuse to use the model or stock footage in another episode or two. 

 

PS: For some reason I keep seeing you in my head as Simon Phoenix, Wesley Snipes character in 'Demolition Man'! 

 

I don't recall when it showed up in the series and it's been a long time since I watched it.  While I did start it again on Prime, it took a back seat to working on models. :)

LOL, Demolition Man is an awesome movie.  Can think of worse things to be compared to. ;)  I chose the moniker Phoenix decades ago because of how often I died in video games.  It seemed rather appropos. 

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 11:40 AM

Simon says - Build!  Big Smile

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Tuesday, February 15, 2022 10:23 PM

Real G

Simon says - Build!  Big Smile

 

ROFL! Big Smile

Hope you don't mind but the build was temporarily interrupted this weekend by the arrival of this at my doorstep which required assembly and thorough testing.  Big Smile

T2

After that was done I got back to my real job.  ;)

First coat of color applied to the early assemblies.  These are going to be painted off ship as that will be easiest for masking and painting the secondary orange color.paint 1

The color of the plastic is this off white, creamish color.  Going to take a few layers to keep it from bleeding through.

While those are curing started dry fitting main sections of the hull.  They come together nicely but there is a slight misalignment of the molds.

dry fit 1

dry fit 2

Even at this stage can see the potential.  Yeah it's going to need some adjustment, filling, and scraping but nothing too egregious and well within the expectations of a $20 model.

So exciting!

 

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Sunday, February 20, 2022 1:57 AM

Masking has started and proceeding at a rather glacial pace. All the details to be picked out make for slow going.  First couple of hours got me this far. 

mask 1

Did those little arrows by laying down whole pieces of tape around them and then burnishing it down around the edges.  Finally, using a new sharp blade to cut the outlines and peeling off the rest. You can see where some of the primer peeled when I pulled up some tape.

A couple more hours has got me this far.

mask 2

I found the best way to get a well aligned mask that conical portion of the tank was to cut short pieces and overlap them.

Still more masking to be done on the tank and then onto the exhaust nozzles and cockpit.

Tedious, but hoping it will pay off with nice clean sharp lines and a smooth airbrush finish of the orange.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Friday, February 25, 2022 9:49 PM

Put some time into the paint booth this week.

Got the orange down.

orangepaint

Really pleased with how well the masking turned out for these parts.  The engine bells still have two other colors to be added.

masking

Started assembly of the main body.  Masked the cockpit area and trying something new.  Added a pull tab under the mask to hopefully make it easier to remove once the body is finished being painted.

cockpit

Shot of the assembled fuselage.

body

The seams were rather concave.  Had to apply some putty to fill them.  Putty and I don't always get along so fingers crossed.

putty

Thankfully the more challenging areas by the enginers will be hidden so I'm not bothering with filling them.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Thursday, March 10, 2022 1:54 AM

Have some time off this week and using some of it to progress this.

Primary color is done on the main hull and painted the belly rockets.

main hull

Adding secondary and teritiary colors to other parts.

additional colors

Not sure how well it shows in the photo but discovered I didn't get an equivalent coating of paint on the nacelles so I have two different shades of orange.  Not sure if I am going to re-mask the one on the right and add additional coats to match up the color.

nacelles

Next up will be masking the hull to apply the orange outline around the cockpit.

This model has a large number of decals to apply.  Given the number and quantity of them it may be necessary to applly many of them before final assembly to ensure they can be placed properly.

decals

Will hopefully have another update later this week.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, March 10, 2022 9:02 AM

How the heck have I been missing this!?!?!?!

Very cool, and nice work! Looking forward to seeing how she comes out. Yes

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Saturday, March 12, 2022 6:22 PM

After a couple of near disasters (paint nozzle on the airbrush got severely clogged and then went flying into the ether after removal) was able to get even more done.

Masking is one of those tasks I love to hate but can't argue with the results.  Compound curves suck as they require lots of little pieces of tape in order to get the best coverage.

applying mask

mask2

mask3

Added the pink blanky of overspray protection!

pinky

The moment of truth.

 

maskremoval

removal2

A tiny bit of overspray but easily corrected and a little bit of touch up with orange to take care of the rest.

Finding out if the masking pull tab idea worked out...

tabtest

Worked like a charm!  Definitely will be trying that again!

pulltabs

Quick test fit of the ready parts.   Liking what I am seeing here!

testfit

Next up will be a light gloss to add decals to the completed parts. 

The rest of superstructer will be painted and decaled separately before final assembly.

Finish line is just over the horizon.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Friday, March 18, 2022 6:54 PM

Oh cool! Fantastic job masking off the nose! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Sunday, April 10, 2022 2:40 PM

Wow, hadn't realized it had been close to a month since my last update on this.  The decals on this model are a royal pain.  They are so thick they don't lay down well.  I've put so much Micro Sol on them that it almost counts as its own coat of paint.

Some of them require as many as 4-5 coats of Micro Sol before they finally conform to the model.

Further complications came in when I noticed the decal sheet had incomplete printings of the decals.  I'll have to mock up some replacements.

missingdecals

Anyways, here's a couple of quick progres pics.

 

decal1

decal2

 

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Tuesday, April 12, 2022 9:11 PM

Today's experience with the decals.

Not sure if any of have seen a decal do this but it sure was novel for me.

sol1

It was almost perfectly flat and hadn't moved after a couple of minutes.  The above photo was right after I drowned the decal in Micro Sol and it finally started to move a little.

About 3 minutes later I added the one that goes across from it.  Drenched the first one again in Microsol and it's finally starting to droop a little.

sol2

Another three minutes and a third drenching of microsol.  We're finally seeing some real motion!

sol3

Another and final 3 minutes and we've finally achieved a degree of conformation.

sol4

 

About 12-15 minutes from start to this final photo and its still not done.

7 more pairs of these to go.

Yay....?

 

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Thursday, April 14, 2022 9:14 AM

Wow, now that's a terrific job masking!!!

I'd be tempted to just paint the rings on the probes instead of dealing with those super-thick decals though.

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Friday, April 15, 2022 10:02 PM

I probably would have if I a) hadn't already started and b) taken it as a personal challenge.

Regardless, all the decals are placed and it just needs the final clear coat.  Thinking it will look best with a finish that is just shy of being a satin. 

The base is a nice little dome.  It's going to be a black starfield.  Its final coat will be a satin finish. 

Hopefully will have that completed with pictures posted this weekend.

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    October 2021
Posted by PhoenixG on Sunday, April 17, 2022 1:40 PM

Photos of the finished model!

All the different panel colors are actually decals.  I only painted three colors.  Black, Orange, and offwhite.  Okay technically four. The tips of the pods are a dark grey. :)

Hawk1

 

Hawk2

 

Hawk3

Hawk4

 

Final thoughts on this model...

It was fun to paint and assemble.  But those decals were a nightmare.  That is where I spent the most time.  Going through gallons (only a slight exaggeration) of Micro Sol to even get them to minimally conform.  Still lots of places with silvering and in many cases I had to trim the decal after application (that was nerve wracking) because it simply wouldn't lay down cleanly.

My only recommendation to anyone considering this kit, scan the original decals and print your own.

The included base is a great addition and just makes that Hawk soar!

Despite the frustration of the decals this was a gratifying build to complete and the results I think speak for the quality of the model.

 

On the Bench:

Bandai 1/72 Defender Destroid

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: SW Virginia
Posted by Gamera on Sunday, April 17, 2022 9:32 PM

Wow great show!!! Beautiful model of a cool spacecraft! 

"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen

 

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