1/32 scale Mig 31 Firefox PP1

I'm sure there would be. I like your 2001 helmet and many of the Sci-Fi items on your site. Great stuff.

Hi there,
thank you Woody . You may have noticed my favorite subject is the Disney Nautilus.... well in the air it's the Firefox for movies anyway...for real aircraft, no surprise here, the SR-71

William

Though I've never tried to model it, I'm a big fan of the Nautilus. As a matter of fact I'd drive my folks crazy as a kid and ride the Disney Nautilus ride two or three times in a row. Definatly an "E" ticket ride.
What's the scoop on the "Lost In Space"(B9 ?) robot on your site?

Well ,used to make parts for either build ups of kits for the B9 Robot that pic is me and my wifes in front of the first one before finishing...pretty cool ehh
William

Very cool. I've always wanted to build a full size B9, Robbie, or R2.

Well,
I saw the movie when I was a teenager in 1982, always waited for the plane to be produced as a kit, never was. I started making models and flying rockets of it (modified from a "d"powered Black Brant 3 of all things). Anyway, I used to make all kinds of models of it, waited for it to show up on TV, then made sketches and such of the details and general shape. Later in college I learned to use CAD. before that point I had been hand drawing everything, including my Nautilus pics. My cad drawing was drawn, redrawn and kept changing as I acquired more and more information about the plane. The laser disc came out and I traced it off the TV (sound familiar). about 1996 or so I talked to a gentleman that as a kid had actually talked to the original studio that made the effects miniatures, Apogee. The guys at the shop were so enthralled that someone had contacted them. they sent him a set of studio drawings..this is the short version of this story ..Anyway, I found contact with this guy and he agreed to send me a set of these drawings. There were nine drawings detailing every aspect of the plane, including the detailed turkey feather patterns for the engine nozzles. The drawings provided development patterns for the nozzle itself. Then there were the McDonnell Douglas Phantom F4-E landing gear drawings, and a ducted fan placement and wing rib drawings for the radio control flying model fox's made for the film. The most important drawing of all to me, was a close up of the nose showing the faceted shape of the plane (this is where all models replicas have gone wrong to date) top view, front view, and side view. Then, on separate drawing, there was the side detail elevation of the plane drawn a a smaller scale including all intakes, landing gear and undercarriage. another drawing sheet had the landing gear bay doors with the double panel and detailed inserts. This is stuff that Fox fans drool over if they like details. Four years later in year 2000, I got in contact with someone that knew about a 63" Firefox model that still existed, long story short, was able to get about 40 photos of it. OK now I have all my reference I would ever need.
I Started back up my cad drawing and proceeded to trace the Fox right off the plans as the shape was exact to what they ended up with for the film. Then I took all my photos and referenced certain points for certain details. This allowed me to transfer all details from the "hero" 63" straight to my drawings, panels, wing brakes, speed brakes, rearward defense pods, tail drone and chute unit, landing gear and under carriage, virtually every detail necessary to model this plane to the likeness of the film "hero." Then with countless hours and a later released DVD version of Firefox, a friend and total Firefox fanatic, Adam and I went back and forth detailing the entire cockpit as per film, calling out common used pieces of equipment, from the F 4 Phantom. I then transferred this information to the CAD drawings for pattern making. This is the plane currently under development should be a real pretty plane replica when finished. I will keep those interested advised of it's progress. I hope to attend my first Wonderfest this year, and will hope to bring a finished plane with me, and perhaps a few other surprises..we'll see.
Best,
William



If you dream it! ,i've probably built it!!!..........William

I hope you can make it to Wonderfest. If so I'll be sure to check your Firefox out.

Hey, that looks great! Will you be producing the kit yourself?

yes..I want to kit it for collectors.....

again i hope to bring either a casting or the masters to Wonderfest this year..time is crucial now!

William

Any idea how much?

at 1/32 scale it will be 23.625" long not sure of price but it will have every single detail the film mini did
Best,
William

Nice bird! I have fond memories of that film. Haven't seen it since it was in theaters, but I considered building it for the Cold War GB. Just wasn't sure if it would be "allowed". Can't wait to see more of it.

I would be so interested in buy a kit when you get this all worked out.

Wow.....nice job.

Update!
I've made a decision to make the Firefox kit hollow cast resin with photoetched detail parts and accessories,Still hoping to get the master patterns all detailed out and make the tools by end of May, even if I have to contract out for the scribing. Time wise, I know a pro scriber that's real fast, I can do the work myself but he can do it just as well but way faster, I want it right though...
All for now..email me with topic heading 1/32 scale Firefox if you want to be on the waiting list for a commissioned kit of this piece
Thank you for looking.
regards,
William

I'm looking forward to seeing pics of one of the kits.

Here's Break down of the components I want to have in the kit:

1/32 scale "film accurate" Firefox model to be made available for private commissioned kits, or buildups. I hope to get it done by end of May,as I want to debut it at Wonderfest, it's gonna be a close one. It will feature a hollow resin fuselage, solid resin wings, verts, ventral stabilators and canards, with full cockpit, photo-etched wing and airbrakes, and landing gear and accessories.

At 1/32 scale based on the "Hero"dimensions, It will be 23 5/8" long. There are two options I'm looking at right now and probably will be avialable with the commissioned kit. First, a mockup of the Turmansky engine turbines, if not a whole engine, then at least the turbine blade units for dramatic effect to go inside the intake nacells, or the intakes can be left closed like the filming hero. The detail that goes on each side of the air-splitters will be in brass.
Second, retracted canards as seen in the film, these will be an option to either add to the model or not. It's up to builder. I want to have certain accessories in brass and resin like the step ladder, the air and wing brakes, as well as cockpit details. As of now I'm not sure what the price for a commissioned kit will be ,but will let you know. Adam Leet has been assisting me a lot in researching out the details for the cockpit, undercarriage and missles/bays.

At this scale I will be able to use the 1/32 scaleTamiya F4E landing gear for accurate gear and will laser cut the gear doors and such. For the cockpit I want to either laser cut or photoetch the instruments, not sure which on that yet, I am open to sugestions. Looks like the engine turkey feathers will have all the detailed patterns of the "hero" molded in at this point, had thought of doing photoetched turkey feathers for the nozzels, but not too sure on how to accomplish this so that a novice model builder/assembler could get the right look after bending each feather correctly and attaching it to the next to form the nozzel. This should give all a better idea of my intentions for this piece.
Best regards,
William

I remember watching that movie over and over on HBO as a kid and wishing I could skip all the stuff leading up to when he actually steals the plane.

I'm new to this area of the forum, I usually frequent aircraft area but stumbled on this part. I love the FIrfox movie. I'm glad to see a kit being produced. Do you know if Hollywood is going to remake the movie with updated Digital Sound track?

Thank you

Neil

i wish they'd have made FIREFOX DOWN ...seems like a much more intense film possibility, loved FIREFOX from the point gant sees the plane the first time till th end....cant stop watching at that point
William

I agree. I still like the build up to that part also. I especially like the way once he was strapped in the cockpit Gant just went to town. I read the book long before the movie came out and as I recall, he had studied plans of the firefox cockpit that were smuggled out of the USSR, so he knew exactly what switcheds to active and knobs to turn......oh
"you must think in Russian" great line!

Really the most acurate replica,im another fan of this fictional design, so impressiveto see , first time in this hangar in Bilyarsk, my english is very poor, you have an unique luck with the real plans of apogee ,i see some models but are insatisfactory, your work is the best , is like see the models for the movie with remarkable sharpness

tried a test in cardboard(reason for rough texture) for the cockpit instrument panels....... it looks like it will work great for doing the final parts ..

here's a pic:

same for turkey feathers for engine nozzles remember......this is only a test...working though

Really nice! Will your kit include photoetched parts?

hope to have Photoetched parts, yes!..still working on the artwork for it

Here is a test of a few turkey feather patterns per the "hero" applied to a nozzel blank.........pretty cool, I think..

Pretty cool? Very cool!

some new pics of the master..diff angles

Great looking master! Who is doing the casting? Will there be a complete cockpit? Once again, she's a beauty.

I'll be doing the casting on this as well.....It's what I do :) yes there will be a complete cockpit and clear glass(plastic)