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VF-27 with SR-71 Blackbird-like livery


Vifam7

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Finally finished my Bandai 1/72 scale VF-27 Lucifer kit. I think I’ve been working on it since Summer 2010.

Since the design of the VF-27 seems to be influenced by the SR-71 Blackbird, I decided to paint and decal just like it. Please ignore the stick holding the canopy up. I just used it to keep the canopy up when photographing. :)

I’m not really skilled in building kits, so if you see faults, it’s due to my lack of skills. ^_^

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Some of the other photos are here: http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii43/Vifam7/plamo/Bandai%20VF-27/

The kit wasn’t that hard to build up but it does consume a lot of time as it is a complex kit with a ton of pieces. The one section folks should be careful with is the shoulder mechanism. Don’t use too much force in putting it together as it will break easy if you do. I broke the left shoulder on mine. But since I was intending to lock this kit in fighter mode, it’s not a problem for me. As for painting, even though mine is mainly an one color paint job, the work still took a lots of time. This mainly due to the inherent design quirks of the VF-27 and the transformation feature that Bandai incorporated.

On this build, I decided to use the UN Spacy decals from the Hasegawa VF-1 kit, 1/72 SR-71 decals from Rocketeer Decals, and a few stickers from this VF-27 kit. I decided not to apply on all the VF-27 stencils and whatnot decals on this build because I didn’t think it’d look good and moreover I didn’t want to do the work. :lol:

I went with the UN Spacy markings because they are so much better looking than the SMS or NUNS stuff (IMO ^_^ ). Besides, the red & white UN Spacy insignia makes a striking contrast to the black don’t you think? BTW, can anyone tell me why Hasegawa’s UN Spacy insignia decal is a two-piece affair? It was a major pain in the butt to get the two-pieces to align while also adjusting the placement of the insignia!

One thing I changed on this build was the landing gears. The included landing gears pieces in this kit are out of scale and just don't look good. So, I decided to use the landing gears from a 1/72 F-14 kit I recently ruined. For the nose gear, I snipped the insert peg from the kit’s nose gear and glued it to the F-14’s gear. On the main landing gears, I simply trimmed the F-14 legs a bit and inserted them backwards. The main gear wheels are from a snap-fit Hornet kit. Too bad I can’t do this mod for the 3 VF-25 kits I still have left to build.

Finally, since I painted and decal’d it as a reconnaisance plane, I decided to clip a TARPS pod on the belly. Yes, I know that the TARPS pod is a F-14 Tomcat equipment, but I thought it’d look cool hanging from this VF-27 so I did. In retrospect I think I wasted my time figuring out a way to hang that TARPS pod from the arm because it's barely visible.

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Nice build!

Does it still transform? I want to see the head with this color theme!

Sorry, the model is locked in fighter mode. When I was building the kit, I broke the left shoulder mechanism.

Honestly though, having now built this kit and knowing its workings, I would advise NOT to paint or decal, if you intend on transforming the model. There are just too many places where the paint and decals can get easily scratched or chipped. And transforming means you have to touch and handle the model all over the place. Heck, even during the buildup, I had to be careful not to scratch up certain areas. Clear coating can help but it's not foolproof.

If you want to transform and play with these Bandai models, I would advise to simply snap the kit together, use the stickers, and call it done.

Edited by Vifam7
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Vifam7, excellent custom! I wish Bandai would give us a black VF-27...I always thought that since it looks like the SR-71 it should be painted like one. If I had a complaint about your work, it would be the floating hydraulic strut behind the nose wheels, looks very sci-fi but I think it's a bit weird...it's only me.

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Vifam7, excellent custom! I wish Bandai would give us a black VF-27...I always thought that since it looks like the SR-71 it should be painted like one. If I had a complaint about your work, it would be the floating hydraulic strut behind the nose wheels, looks very sci-fi but I think it's a bit weird...it's only me.

Thanks! I actually thought about cutting that part off but I left it in because the stalk was already really long and I thought some kind of arm-like looking thing was needed to pull the leg in. Ideally, I should've modded it so that it connects with the bay but that's the kind of work I'm not quite confident with yet. Maybe one day...

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