Spey_Phantom's corner of solitude

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #121


ok, the past few days have seen a lot of activity on the bench, especially when it comes to clearing out long-term projects that have been gathering dust for so long now.

i just finished restoring/upgrading an old 1/144 UH-60 Blackhawk, and painted as a FAA Westland/Sikorsky WS-70 Knighhawk HC.5 (pics to follow) as used by Royal Navy SpecOps Commando's.

also im finally making progress on the first 2 commision build Sea King Mk.48's, with the interiours done and the 2 fuselage-halves met.
it should be progressing smoothly from here on in, should have them finished in a couple of weeks (if all goes well)
that after that, its time to start on 2 other commision builds, a pair of Belgian NH90-NFH.

im also about to start on some new projects in 1/144 scale, as announced earlier, one will be a WHIF F/A-18C Hornet from a Buck Danny comic (in Managua Air Force markings), the other is RW project, an SA330 Puma, in Belgian Rijkswacht/Gendarmerie colors.

another project on the bench at the moment, is a revell 1/144 Mig-31 Foxhound i attempted to correct and improve, but so far im not having any good results. you can pollish a turd, its still a turd  might have to bin the project and use the rest as spare parts.
another larger project on the waiting list is an Airbus A320 CC.1 in RAF Air Support Command markings, that project should start very soon.

there are still many what-if and realworld projects to come down the line in all different scales, including 1/72 Belgian Tiger-ARH, RQ-9B Reaper, H135M and a 1/144 A400M among others....

more soon...

[Captain Canada]

Sea Kings ! The big A400 is going to be cool. Still haven't seen one yet.

[PR19_Kit]

The big A400 is going to be cool. Still haven't seen one yet.

It's pretty large in 1/144 scale, in 1/72 it's ENORMOUS! 

[Captain Canada]

I haven't seen either kit. I'd really love to see that 144th scale one. Such a lovely aeroplane. The youtube videos of her showing off are really somat to see.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #122


bench activity is up again. im making good progress on various projects.
a couple of days ago, i started on a 1/144 F/A-18C Hornet, in Fuerza Aerea De La Managua markings.
as i said before, this is for a "Buck Danny GB" over on the Dutch modelers forum. the plane comes from this comic, i might even build the drugcartel's Hind allongside 
there's also a lot of F-104G Starfighters in there, a good idea for a future project, i believe someone here already made a Managuan F-104 in 1/72 a few years ago.




other projects at the moment are the commision 2 1/72 SeaKings, witch are making good progress after gathering dust for the past few months. the interious are done and ive now started on the exteriour of the models. that work should progress at a more rapid pace now.
also about to start is a 1/144 SA330 Puma in Belgian Gendarmerie colors.

on the "on hold" side of the bench are 1/144 Mig-31 Foxhound and a 1/144 P-51D Mustang. there are also 4 revell miniwings Hawker Typhoons to be used as a parts source for the refurbishment of an old Minicraft Avro Lancaster. i might paint it in French or Dutch navy markings.

im also looking to start decal designing on another project, a 1/72 Thunderbird 6, the new Airfix Tiger Moth should be an ideal kit for the job 




more soon....

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #122b


one more addition to the blog i forgot to mention.
aside from modelbuilding, i took the time to do a little charity work.

this big jar of small change has ben sitting in the closet for years, all pieces of 1, 2 and 5 cents.
the content of the jar is estimated at roughly 20 euro's or more. since it was to creul to take these to shop to spend, the content has finally been put to good use and has been donated to the cancer reseach fund, witch is collecting rusty's as part of its fundraiser.

[NARSES2]

Well done mate 

A lot of pubs and bars over here have large jars/bottles to collect small change in

[Captain Canada]

Nice one Nils !

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #123


not much movement on the bench, except for the managuan F/A-18C, its now about 65% completed,
just need to put the doors on the rear landinggear and its ready for the paintshop.

no progress on the SeaKing, expect to continue on them in the weekend.

also been doing some thinking on future projects, ive been planning to build a Canadian Airbus A330-MRTT (CC-145T) for some time,
now im planning to build another one, in Belgian Air Force colors, following yesterday's announcement the we might be buying 3 tanker of our own  
i still need to design some decals for the Belgian MRTT, i already have them for the Canadian AF version, but i still need to make some additional stenciling. i also need to do some reseach on the design of the boom and the HDU pods.
in 1/72, im also planning on building my first drone kit, an italeri MQ-9B Reaper, in Belgian markings, and an AH-46D Longbow Apache, also in Belgian markings.

ive been planning to build a lot of Belgian equipment for some time, including a 1/72 H135M (formerly EC635), Tiger-ARH, F-35A, A400M,...but all in good time.

meanwhile, also no progress on other projects, such as various ships.


there wont be much activity for the next few days, because as of today, until the end of next week, i am back at work!
after 7 months since my last interim job, i now have another one, its only temporary, to fill in for someone who's on sickleave, but its better then nothing.
there is a chance that there might be another one in the future, the last few weeks calls for work have been rolling in, 90% of them witch are out of my range/league. ive also been going to a number of job interviews lately, but none of them have bared any fruits 


more soon...

[NARSES2]

Best of luck with the job mate even if it is temporary. It may well lead to something else

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #124


as you noticed, i decided to change my blog activity from weekly to periodicaly, as updates tend to change more often, or i forget to post one every now and them.

this update includes pictures this time arround  

i wasnt planing on doing anything today, except go shopping with my girlfriend, but she just called in with bad news about her grandma, so our shoppingplans were cancelled. her grandma has just passed away today, so its understandable she needs to be with her family now, wished her lots of strengh to get through this difficult time. i really have been thinking a lot about her the past few days, and told her im here for her if she needs me.

but lets get back to the modelling side of the blog (thats what its for in the first place).  

at the moment, im slowly making progress on the Managuan Air Force F/A-18C, heres what i have now,
today im gonna focus on putting on the last parts before painting can start.



meanwhile, have started development work on the A330-MRTT's for the Belgian and Canadian Air Forces.
the Canadian decals might need to be redesigned, but both the BAF & CAF aircraft need additional stenciling.
to make these, i start out with a rough sketch on paper, writing down the dimensions requred for the formation lights, director lights, the length of the booms,....the decals for the nationality markings will be designed on PC using paint.net and a scanner.
at the moment i have one Revell A340 kit for the Canadian version (to be converted to A330-200) and im planning to get another Revell A330-300 to convert into the Belgian version. i already have an A330 kit in the stash, but im saving that one to build a RW Belgian version (CS-TMT, an aircraft that was leased from HiFly up until last year).

Physical changes to the kits, aside from the boom and underwing HDU pods, include shortening of the fuselages, addition of various antennae, camera stations under the fuselage for the boom operator,...




other projects will also get some attention this weekend, such as the 1/72 Seakings and the 1/144 Mig-31.


oh, and almost forgot, in regards to work, yesterday i heared there is a possibility that the 5 day contract might be extended by another few days or even a week, although i did have to note that i cant work on may the 8th and 11th since my and Jessica are going to Disneyland Paris for that weekend (although there is a risk the trip might be cancelled due to her granma's passing).

so the past few days has been a real mix of good and bad news  


more soon.....

[kitbasher]

Mixed news indeed Nils.  Hopefully the positives outweigh the negatives (and carry on doing so).

[Captain Canada]

It's about time you got back to work ! lol. Congrats Nils, hope it works out for ya ! The wee Hornet and Airbus are looking good. Love the MRTT idea.

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #125


work is slowly progressing on the FADLM F/A-18C, the landinggear is now fully painted, so now im gonna have a look at fitting the clear parts, then its off to the paintshop again for the main scheme  

on the planned A330-MRTT's, decal designing of the additional stenciling is done, the Decal designing for the Belgian AF version are finished, now i need to redesign the ones for Canada, i think im gonna go with the dark grey low-vis markings, like those on the CC-177 Globemaster III, as said earlier, the designation for the RCAF A330 tankers will be CC-145T. however, i was thinking about building the RCAF with a 3-point HDU system, but with the CC-177 not having a refueling probe, im thinking of adding a boom on the tail anyway.

When the F/A-18 is done, im gonna start on another small 1/144 project, a realworld SA330 Puma, in Belgian Gendarmerie colors.
other 1/144 whiffs down the line include more F/A-18E/F super hornets, both in  single- and twin seat variants (twin seaters being built out of Revell EA-18G Growlers).

with so many ECM and jamming pods being stripped from the revell growlers, im thinking of building some additional WHIF Electronic Warfare platforms. im already thinking of a Tornado ECR2 Jammer aircraft, possibly in low-vis German Bundesluftwaffe colors, but also an EF-16G "Sparking Falcon" in USAF colors (Electronic Warfare/Jammer version of the F-16C Blk.52+, as an EF-111A replacement), might try to get some Retrokit CFT's for future F-16's to be built, might find some at the Middelkerke Modelshow on May 17, or This Weekend at the 20th annual Modelbuilding Festival in Bissegem (Kortrijk)


more soon......

[Spey_Phantom]

Blog Entry #126


work on the F/A-18 is almost finished, im just putting the final touches on the paintjob before i start on the decals.
i also already started work on a 1/144 SA330 Puma, but only just.

development on the A330-MRTT's is also going smoothly, the decal designing for the Belgian version is already done, and im now looking to make the ones for the Canadian version.
im still looking at building that tanker version of the Boeing 737-800 i noted some time ago, i was planning a Belgian version, but with the A330 tankers now in the works, im thinking of building the KC-737 in different markings, i was thinking maybe Israeli AF or Croatian AF.

looking at the stash, i should really start slimming to down, especially the numbers of Super Hornets, Tornado's and Flankers in 1/144 scale, as well as the amount of 1/72 models. the because im concidering buying additional new kits, im eyeing a few recent new releases and re-releases, most obvious are Airfix's 1/144 Vickers Vanguard, Boeing 707 (witch i find quite pricey for an old mould, might go with minicraft instead), trumpeter J-20..., in 1/72 im looking to get the RQ-9B Reaper, AH-64D Longbow Apache,.......
i have a big wishlist at my usual online store, but i think i might wait until later this month when Revell's 1/72 Agusta A109 and Su-27SM becomes available. i dont know witch ones im gonna order, as i always set a certain budget for online purchases.

im now looking at continueing my WW3 story build, might have a place in it for the Managuan F-18 im building right now.
other aircraft on the planning list include many versions of the Super Hornet, Su-30/35 Flankers, PLAAF J-20A, Russian AF Mig-39 (Mig-1.44), Su-47SM, USAF F-15E/SE/SMT Active,....
there's also a stealthy 5th Generation version of the Tornado down the line.

there wont be much time to model, as i still have to work from monday to thursday, then on friday im off to spend the weekend at Disneyland Paris with Jessica and wont be back home til monday.
i was planning on going to the Moorsele Modelshow yesterday, maby get some new stash, but unfortunatly, i was unable to make it, no thanks to the Belgian Railways, who decided that this weekend was the best time to work on the lines 
usually it take about an hour to get there by train, but due to the works, its either 2 and a half hours by bus, or 3 hours by detoured train. that way to long for me, especially for such a short trip. maby better luck in 2 weeks time in middelkerke, witch is about an 45 minutes by e-bike 


more soon.........