electric indigo

One step closer to a proper FA RX-78

Gundam Stormbringer F.A.

Brotherhood of the Wolf was really something special; I got the art book "Proto" by french comic artist Mathieu Lauffray because it has the drawings that are presented within the movie. Too bad director Christophe Gans hasn't come up with anything of similar quality again.

And from my box of "The best movies you've never heard about":

ARQ (2016 Netflix original movie)

I'm not giving away too much by telling you that it's a time loop movie, only that it dawns to the participants that they can use this situation to their advantage, since they don't start into the next loop with a wiped memory... Plot twists abound as loyalties shift and stakes rise, and while the movie was clearly shot with a tight budget, the actors deliver and the suspense never stops when the opposing fractions try to out-smart (and kill) each other in the next re-spawn.

44 minutes ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

While we're on the subject of Super Hornets...

I notice that the Ferris scheme is fashionable again.

The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi)

It will probably blow your head off, though.

Here's the Robotech-free original...

He changed my perception of ceiling fans for forever.

RIP

12 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

OMG, that sounds like a disaster in the making.  I think the last American fighter the Luftwaffe has was the F-4.  If anything, they might be better off with the F-15X as an interim solution.  Or just get more Eurofighters.  They can be bombed up, right?

The problem is that the Eurofighters need a "license to bomb" for the American atomic bombs, which is a condition to keep Germany in the decision process about NATO's nuclear strategy. The American authorities have hinted that this would lead to a years-long process for the Eurofighter, while it could be dealt with swiftly for the F-18s.

The recent decision to withdraw a significant portion of the American troops from Germany may still dampen the incentive for the 8 billion F-18 deal. 

Getting the decals done on the Fitter was kind of an uphill struggle. The mechanics must love a good read - there's a stencil on every panel. I got an aftermarket set from Authentic Decals, only to discover that a good part of them were way oversized (as if designed for a non-existing 1/32 kit), incomplete, and the instructions were a mess. So I hunted down every available photo of the real thing from the depths of a russian modeling board, only to discover afterwards that czech kit maker Eduard has the instructions for their Fitter for download on their site, including a comprehensive overview of the stencils. I was already in fantasy mode and distributed the available decals at will across the fuselage.

So while not accurate, the overall appearance is somewhat convincing. And technically, the decals were high quality with a clean print & thin carrier film. 

After a coat of flat & overspray of the camo colors to bring down the saturation:

There's still a lot of detail work ahead.

7 hours ago, peter said:

 

That must have been a very rewarding moment after all the hardship. Congratulations!

I'm still amazed how beautiful the design of the refit is - it's an icon of utopia. Which is somewhat counter-productive in that it makes all the other aspects of the actual show look rather pedestrian IMO.

85 (of former 357) are still flying, and will do so until about 2030. There's currently a political debate about getting an interim fleet of 45 F-18s to replace them until an upgraded Eurofighter of the next generation FCAS can fill the gap.

Brett Easton Ellis would be proud.

@wm cheng Amazing work on the cockpit; too bad most of it will be invisible, especially with the pilots in place. 

Are those cowlings sculpted on the kit's parts?

Oh and on the Hase pilot, you can use a small drill to open the space under the oxygen mask, it really makes a difference IMO. You can see it here on my Sinoraptor.

MT, these are regular 100 kg fragmentation bombs. I don't know how the training rounds are marked.

21 minutes ago, wm cheng said:

Beautiful!!!  What plane do these bombs belong to?

They will go on my Fitter. An interesting bit of info I learned on the Su-17 is that the pilots trained to fly a low-level approach & pull up before releasing the bombs, thus sending them on a ballistic flight path onto the target.

@Dobber What derex says. With Tamyia acrylics, the cleanup is easy & basically odorless.

-

Just another regular day at the bomb factory:

Each rack is 35 pieces (sans bombs) and took me an evening to clean up and put together. Now back to the plane...

You can't get military sets from Lego, but fortunately you can get military planes that look like Lego.

We finally get a kit of the F-15 Kai, but 3.500 Yen for 1/144 is a bit ambitious.

https://www.taghobby.com/archives/468224

What I like most about this offering is the absence of rivets.

It will probably come cheaper to grab a Hase kit for the decals.

Lovely.

14 hours ago, Convectuoso said:

Ok, so not just KitzConcept but Kids Logic is also producing Southern Cross figures (or statues) now

 

Southern Cross x Hajime Sorayama? 

That's actually quite brilliant.

Peter, I suggest setting that E on fire. It will just give you more pleasure.

Stunning work! Do you consider any of the upgrade versions of the Barbatos?

@peter Thank you for documenting the building process; it's an amazing kit and you really did it justice. I was always bugged by the official pics and most builds where they blocked out the hangar doors of the carriers in solid black, I like your wash solution much better.

Another interesting Kotobukiya release is this How to.. book in cooperation with Ammo/Mig. It's available in english!

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10710231