A little help required...

[strobez]

Oh - I  thought you were going to build it "as seen in the manga" and your question was related only to the real thing as a point of curiosity/information.   

I'd visualized the four-legged Sea King poised above the picture - featuring all four legs - on the stand.

Hmmm... well... there is that...  I suppose it'll depend on how easy it is to find an extra wheel...   I suppose I DO have 2 kits in that box... 

[strobez]

Since this is fun... for me, I thought I may as well dump a few more pics in here for the academy to contemplate...

First up... probably the most obscure Area 88 kit build EVER! It's not a bird... it's a plane... but what plane is it?  Appearing in only 1 single panel of the whole 10-volume series... I give you... EXHIBIT "A".



Based on my dubious research, which basically consisted of checking pics on Wikipedia for "long passenger planes with four engines that flew in the mid-1980s", I'm thinking this is supposed to be a late model DC-8... four engines, but the bigger, puffier ones.

Next up... one I'm a little more sure of.  Based on the same criteria, and the four "spikey spines" on the underwing (which I think Kit told me were flap track fairings... ) I'm quite convinced (to the point of blind denial to the contrary) that this is an Airbus A300B.





Next up... a CH-53, right?  Kanzaki knows how to leave in style... I'll give him that.



Uhmmm... tank. Big tank?



Oh! I know! a Tri-Star (and a Tigershark)... how much more convenient would it be if all the jets just had their names written on the side...

[Rick Lowe]

The tank looks to be an early M1 Abrams (7 roadwheels, plus the disc on the outside of the sprocket, which was deleted later on).

HTH

[scooter]

Uhmmm... tank. Big tank?

Abrams.  The rear deck is also a big indicator.

[Dizzyfugu]

Funny that in the pics first a DC-8-63 shows up, then an Airbus A320 family member (personal guess, due to the narrowbody hull and four flap loweing mechanism fairings? A Boeing 757 would only have three per wing  ) and finally a Tristar?

And, yes, the tank is an M1 Abrams, turret and engine bay cover are pretty characteristic.

[PR19_Kit]

This BLOODY Forum, yet AGAIN it's just deleted my whole post when I pressed the 'Post' button! 

===================================

I think that DC8 is a 70 Series as it has the later, fatter CFM-56 engines. The earlier 60 Series versions had much thinner P&W engines that the airliner fans call 'Tube Engines', just because they look like tubes.

The current Minicraft 1/144 DC8 kit would be ideal for that as the recent plastic bagged release comes with BOTH sets of engines and it has grooves on the inside of the fuselage to show you where to cut to make the shorter versions. See my 'Super Stretch DC8 thread here.

http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php/topic,45745.0.html

[strobez]

I KNEW I'd seen that kit somewhere before, but I just couldn't remember where.  That was an epic build to be sure.

I'm glad to know that the latest Minicraft box had both sets of engines. That makes it a lot easier.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm not sure if the boxed kits come with both engine types Greg, mine certainly didn't, but I'd had a good few years. The bagged kits certainly DO have both types though. 

If you'd be building it with the wheels down I'd invest in some SAC white metal gear sets (2 in each set) as the M'craft ones are VERY fragile! 

[strobez]

That's good advice.  The bagged kit certainly does seem to come with both engine types, so that's likely the way I'll proceed.  There's no decals, but I think I'm okay with that (despite this one actually being in SAS livery).  I remember you mentioning about fragility of the wheels during your build, but the plan would be wheels up I think.

As for the rest, thanks for the ID on the tank.  There's actually one more unidentified Tank in the series that I've seen, so I'll try to find a pic and post that one up too.  As the Area 88 manga was serialized from 1979 to 1986, I'm thinking the A320 family is a bit late to this particular game, so I'm going with the A300B and calling it a victory.

[strobez]

Ok...  next on the list... Identify this float plane for me.

The scene is a flashback from Greg's days as a private pilot in Denmark, well... Europe.  The plane looks a bit like a DHC Beaver to me, but not quite.  I'm wondering if the academy has a better guess.

[Old Wombat]

The front windshield and radial engine looks Beaver-ish, but a Beaver has no rear window, the wings and tail group look like Cessna 180/185...

Yeah, my guess, too. A Beaver crossed with a Cessna (only I'd hazard that Flyer has a better knowledge base re: Cessnas than I do).

[Scotaidh]

I just Googled "who makes floatplanes" and got a list of such listed by country.  Scrolling through, looking at all the pics available, none of the high-winged single-radial-engined floatplanes I saw have rear windows - the top of the wing straight-lines into the tail.

I agree that what you have is one of those mash-ups so common to anime/manga.  I dunno if it's to avoid legal attention or if they're just picking the bits they like the most, but it's as much a part of the scenery, so to speak, as big eyes and radical hair.

[scooter]

I agree that what you have is one of those mash-ups so common to anime/manga.  I dunno if it's to avoid legal attention or if they're just picking the bits they like the most, but it's as much a part of the scenery, so to speak, as big eyes and radical hair.

And...umm, "huge tracts of land"

[loupgarou]

Also the windscreen looks too rounded for a Beaver, and side windows are different. Just a mash-up.
And you wrote DENMARK ?? Denmark is SMALLER than the scenes portrayed, and last time I have been there it had NO mountains. 

[strobez]

Thanks gentlemen.  I?m glad it wasn?t an obvious answer at least. After reading through the thread it occurred to me that I have a few leftover bits (mainly upper cockpit/wing) from my 1/144 Cessna build.  I wonder what would happen if I married that to a... T-6 Texan? I?d still need floats from somewhere though... hmmm...