Area 88 1/144 - Break the Big Leg (B-1 + F-4E): NEW ACADEMY TOOL

[Army of One]

Oh....I  the electronics....amazing

[zenrat]

You are right.
No seam to be seen here.  Move along please...

[strobez]

Wow... it's been a while since I've updated this thread... had to go digging to find it.  Lots to update... so let's dive back in.

First, the B-1...

I wired up the insides. Have to make sure the wires don't obstruct the swing of the wings. 



Then the interior was painted black to prevent see-through.



glued the rest of the fuselage together.  Don't tell anyone I forgot to put the caps on the wing pivots...



Quick check to make sure the lights still work... thankfully they do!



Windows masked, first round of putty, sanding and a coat of paint complete... needs more work.  I don't know why I always seem to get that indent on the side by the cockpit.  I was as careful as possible while glueing...

[strobez]

Next up... some updates on the Phantom side of this equation...

Alright, time for a few LEDs... nothing fancy, just wired in.



Is that gap under the cockpit supposed to be there? I think not... but...?



Light check.... check!



Some putty on the seams and gaps...



...some putty off the seams and gaps... hopefully.



Canopy masked and intake interiors painted...



And now assembled... now what? Paint I guess...



So... grey.... on the bottom... I think.  Should I have pre-shaded the panel lines?



First coat of paint on the topside. I'm not sure the black pre-shading will do any good once it's all said and done.



Masking... round 1



Ok... more or less successful. On to masking Round 2!



Hmmm... I dunno... Does it look like something an F-4E Phantom II would wear?

[NARSES2]

I keep having to remind myself how small these things are !

[PR19_Kit]

I keep having to remind myself how small these things are !

Exactly, me too! 

[strobez]

So, I had to unearth this thread and breath some new life into it, but this project was stalled, but not forgotten.

After picking it up again, I realized that the next thing to do was to get work on the engines.  A little metallic paint should do the trick.


Hmm... a few stray sparkles.  How much do I care about that?


With a coat of Future and some weathering, the sparkles are all gone. Whew!


Mounted on the base. Lights still work.


A few decals to complete the look.


All done. Now just waiting on the B-1 to join.

[strobez]

The REASON I revived this project is because the kit I was waiting for fell into my hot little hands.  I more or less stalled out after I heard that Academy was going to be releasing a new tool 1/144 scale B-1B.  The Panda/Dragon kit is pretty good, but some of the fit issues were a bit disappointing, so I shelved the project in anticipation of the new release.  Well, a couple of weeks ago I attended the Hobby Fair 2019 here in Seoul, and low and behold, Academy had advance boxes of the B-1B on sale.  Needless to say that was my big conquest from the weekend, and I more or less rushed home to get it started.

I pushed aside the Panda kit, but not before removing the crew from the cockpit and the LEDs from the engines (waste not, want not!).

Since this is an advance boxing, it's just the generic offering.  No mistaking who's doing the offering though, is there...


The sprues... are fabulous!


...and there's lots of them!


Started cutting out the big pieces.


Have to sort out the cockpit and the engines again.  Luckily I saved the electronics.


Not really sure what colour to paint the engine interiors... Tamiya Dark Iron seemed a good bet.


Engine interiors assembled and wire holes drilled out.


The decals are awesome!


Cockpit assembled, Saki and his co-pilot are seated and ready for takeoff.


Main assembly just waiting on a bit of sanding on the engine nacelles.


Engines sanded and the main fuselage is assembled.


A few more extras.  I'm not sure there's enough bombs...


Ok. Good. The lights still work. Whew!


Masking on the canopy... I'm in love with die-cut masks!


Under shading done... let's hope this works.


A few coats of white paint, and voila! The shading is there, but subtle... I'm calling it a win.


The panel line wash was much easier with these fine details.


Mounted and ready to go! I had a bit of trouble with wrinkles on the base decal, but no one will notice, right?


Now for the decals!

[Old Wombat]

Must be a good kit, that build was almost Dizzy-speed!

[NARSES2]

Does look a neat build 

[Steel Penguin]

another one coming along nicely Strobez      not an episode ive got.  but very eyecatching

[strobez]

Thanks guys.  This episode is from the very edge of the manga that's been translated into English.  Most people who have the comics don't even know that the series continued for a few more chapters in a magazine called Animerica.  It's cool though, because it basically is the payoff for Saki getting that awesome B-1 (I don't think it ever appears again... I guess he forgot where he parked it).

Anyway, the final decals are on and everything is now mounted in place and wired up... and hopefully no one can tell that I managed to drop the F-4E on the floor in the process and snap off part of the tail.

There were a few bubbles here and there, but I think I can smooth them out.


I do think the decals really make this baby pop!


Lights all wired up... afterburners are go!


And I simply couldn't resist taking the family group picture.


I'll get another coat of Future on it to seal everything in, and take a few more glamour pics for posterity, but this one is now done~! Yay! it only took three cracks at it with 3 different B-1 kits.

Luckily the Lindberg kit will be re-purposed (again!) for my Tintin Carreidas 160 project... I just can't get that out of my mind as I think I've solved the cockpit problem that stalled that project in the first place.

[kerick]

Could always whiff one into a 1/72nd fighter!
This looks super cool!!

[TheChronicOne]

Maaaaaaan!!!! Hell yeah, it does!! Super cool and nerd-tastic. Fans will love it.

[kerick]

That Academy B-1B looks miles beyond any other. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.