KUROK

Really Cool Eagle!

There is a 1/48 kit that is 22”. It’s pretty expensive. This is the newer and smaller 1/72 which is 14”. It’s a little easier on the pocketbook. 

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

I loved it when I was a kid. I'd love to give it a re-watch some day, just to for nostalgia purposes. I'm currently doing that with the original Battlestar Galactica.
 
Kev

You're right! This one is quite a bit cheaper than what I remember seeing even the older 1/72 kit for, an way cheaper than the older 1/48 kit. I'm having trouble locating one in Australia at the moment, though...
 
Kev

Love this!
 
Sincerely,
Mark

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

It’s interesting that the current 1/72 kit is quite a bit bigger than the old “1/72” Eagle kit, which is now taken to be about 1/96 scale.  The metric for “true” scale of the Eagle seems to be based mainly on the fact that the pilot figures used in the 44” filming miniature were modified astronauts from the 1/24 Gemini kit.  That’s how the new half sized 22” kit came to known as 1/48 scale, and the new 1/72 kit was made ~14” long.  Bit, like most vehicles in TV and movie Sci-Fi, the dimensions of interior sets in relation to the actors were usually a bit larger than the exterior dimensions of the model would suggest, so it’s just a guess anyway.

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

There is a 1/48 kit that is 22”. It’s pretty expensive. This is the newer and smaller 1/72 which is 14”. It’s a little easier on the pocketbook. 

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

Hello all,
One of these days you WILL see a LSP project from me!  Not today...
In the meantime, here is a project I actually got finished.
It's the new tool Eagle kit from a somewhat crappy 1970s sci fi TV show.
The plot lines in those shows were silly...but the special effects were totally cool and I loved the "Eagle".
This new kit is a far cry from the old Fundimensions/MPC kit we had.  This one is accurate in shape and has modern standards of fit.
I needed an "off white" paint to match the studio model and I found a craft paint called "bisque" that fit the bill.
I watched several youtube videos and experimented a lot in order to learn how to airbrush craft acrylics.  It was a learning curve but I enjoyed it.
The tail cones are sprayed with alclad polished aluminum.  To get a brushed metal look, I first primed them with gloss Tamiya black.
Once hardened, I chucked into a drill and spun while holding steel wool against it.  This give the gloss black a texture that yielded the brushed metal appearance I wanted once alclad was sprayed.  Plus I saved a little money by not buying the metal engine bell set!
I did employ the window frames from a Paragrafix photoetch set.  These look great and fit well.
For clear coats I did some of it with Future but I still struggle with getting a consistent airbrush coat that is not "pebbly".
So I fell back to an old reliable standard...MicroScale gloss and flat.  I had some thirty year old bottles that still worked fine.
Here's a couple iPhone photos...

this is my last 1/32 kit , first for 2021, i dont build many large scale airplanes, only the Alies classics of WW2, this time is the spitfire, it is almost OOB build, just added resin wheels and PE seatbelts, and some wires to the engine, hope you like it guys. Engine cowls dont fit perfectly, but the model will be displayed without the engine cowls
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After not getting to the bench in two weeks vacation I made some progress today.
The blck primer is on, some clean up on th seams has been done and now the zipper is ready for paint

 
My plan is to paint most of the markings before the actual camo. So with a little patience I drew all the templates for the Silhouette cutter.

 
Drawing the letters with outline is a tedious taskn and applying the masks to the model (even with transfer silm) will be incredibly fiddly.
As one might guess from the numbers - I decided to go for 27+81 which appears quite clean and tidy in most pictures with some touch ups on the tail. I think those make a great contrast to the otherwise "boring" two tone camo.
 
Cheers
Joachim
 

The white of the front cowling is blown out in the photos - it is weathered...promise 
 
Weathering as follows :
- Gloss coat using Tamiya X-22 acrylic.
- Decals applied using MiG decal solvent
- Gloss coat again to protect decals
- Then used MiG washes - starship grime and dark wash - I like these products as they are actually quite oily. Let them dry and then work them in using a soft brush with a small amount of turpentine or white spirits
- Then let dry for 24 hours
- Final matt coat using Tamiya TS-80 flat clear decanted from the can and thinned with Tamiy lacquer thinners. Several thin coats are misted on to give a nice finish. For years I have battled to find a matt varnish that works. This one definitely does !!!
- Exhaust stains are dark black/brown mix over a medium grey
- Gun stains done using pastels
 
 
 
 
 
 

my last built , enjoy :



 
 

 
 

 

 
 

I can't believe it's eight weeks since I last updated this build - even by my standards, that's a long time! 
 
The weather really hasn't been suitable for painting for much of the time - far too cold and, with the central heating on, by turns too hot and dry, too.  However:
 
Custom case arrived from Widdowson's. Great service, especially considering the ongoing lockdown(s). Pilot's badge added.

 
Graphics for the decals done. Squadron badges and serials reference my lad's job. Crew chief will go on left fwd gear door, referencing his training Staff Sgt.

 
It took a while to get the mask for the nose stripe right. Solid line was my first attempt, dotted line is where the kit's decal strip terminateed.  This version of the mask will do, I reckon!  Having a mule to practice/experiment on has been really useful.

 
The thing that took the longest time, was deciding how to hold the thing while painting it as it's one colour, all over.  Eventually, this agricultural object took shape.  It ain't pretty, but works a treat. The horns clip inside the engine nacelles.  The twisted wire on the hook part of the coat hanger from which it was made (not shown) works nicely to spring the ends free.

 
Now, what colour red for the stripes? After looking at various options, I settled on Vallejo ModelAir Fire Red.  Paint on the right of the Y, kit's decal fragment on the left.

 
And so, eventually to painting the thing. Grey primer, so I could see that the white top coat had covered properly and a light gloss coat on top, then the part I'd frankly been finding excuses not to get to... masking the stripes etc.  This major feature had to be symmetrical and square, or it would be into the round file with the whole thing.  also, the trusters on the no. 2 engine nacelle had to be exactly in the middle of the red stripe... no pressure.  Fortunately, it seems I was on my measuring-up game, when I did that part!

That red looks very... red, lol.  Still, too late to worry now!
 
and when the wraps came off:


 
Some minor touching up to do, but nothing I can't live with. Phew!
 
It's been sitting curing for the last week; next up is painting the fuselage and engine details, wing tip lights, and most importantly NOT forgetting to remove the paint from the thrusters on the red stripe and then another couple of gloss coats, ready for the decals.
 
That's all for now,
 
Sepp
 
 
 
 

Hi again!  Better late than never...
 
Where was I? Oh yes, thrusters. The kit provides only decals (see items 27, 41 etc. in an earlier post) to respresent what is quite a major feature.  These are, clearly, not good enough for a 1/32 kit - but still better than the studio full-scale props, that omitted them entirely!  There are two types to be represented, first up: lift thrusters.
 
The simplest solution would be to use single lengths of brass tube, but these looked too plain, so by slotting together three of Albion's slide-fit tubes, I obtained what is, to me, a more interesting effect.

 
Three down, four to go.
 
The other type are the smaller RCS (reaction control system) steering thrusters. I was going to use Albion tube for these, too - but Jay came up with a much more elegant solution.  He builds his own PCs, and suggested using these:

and what do you know? They're perfect - 1.8mm diameter, exactly what I need!
 

 
Looking good... except for one tiny detail...  The lesson I mentioned earlier. "Measure twice, cut once", they say. Yes, quite - the hole for the centre lift thruster should be aft of the outboard ones.  Boo. 
 
(By the way: the glue in the pic above is UV cured using the supplied UV LED, and is my new best friend. It made mounting the pins and tubes a totally painless task.  Don't use it in daylight, though - I found that the ambient UV is enough to start it off).
 
Better:

 
I glued the centre thruster to one half of the fuselage before joining the fuselage halves.  Once everthing was assembled, I used a small file to shape the flat thruster faces to conform to the local fuselage shape.
 
If you ever build this kit, and go down this route, measure the tube lengths carefully, it's very tight in there!  (In the pic below, the fuselage is only held together; I eventually nipped the thin ends off the RCS pins to allow the nose intake plate to fit nicely - and later still, did the same to those in the tail which interfered with the centre engine insert).

 
With all the thruster tubes/pins in place and clearances to the undercarriage legs, engine inserts etc. checked, I was able to button the fuselage up and mount the engine cowling assemblies and wings.  Still have some touching up of the filler to do here and there, but suddenly I'm pretty much at the point of putting a grey primer coat on.
 

 
More soon(ish).
 
Sepp
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ahoy!

My son and I are both great fans of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series, so to get one of my Viper kits off the shelf I'm doing this as a present for him. Various extras will be used, as in the pic below - I'm not sure which engine set I'll use, and I might augment the cockpit set with one or two Airscale bezels. Ship, serial and squadron markings will be DIY decals and I might extend that to the various stencils as the kit's decals are notoriously fragile.
 

 

 
The kit has very few parts for a 1/32 subject as you can see and is, on first inspection, not without it's problems... but more of that later; if all goes well, it'll end up looking something like this:
 

 
 
Back soon(ish)!
 
Sepp

Hi folks, here are my completions for the year of 2020. a fair bit of variety, with mostly 1/32 scale but a 1/8 engine, a couple of 1/4 panels, some 1/72 rockets and an odd scale figure thrown in for good measure. I am yet to get some of them in the studio for proper pics but that will come soon enough.
 














 
 

Beautiful! Simply Beautiful. 

An inspirational build. Really well done.