Flash Gordon's SkyFlash

 The SkyFlash is the next craft up on Fantastic Plastic's Classic Rocketship series. From Fantastic Plastic's website:

 The "Skyflash" was the hero ship featured in the "Flash Gordon" TV series that aired for one season (39 episodes!) on the short-lived DuMont Network between 1954 and 1955. Like many rocketships of its era, the Skyflash was a single-stage, chemical rocket-powered tail-sitter inspired largely by the German V-2 ballistic missiles of World War II.

Operated by the Galactic Bureau of Investigation in the year 3203, the Skyflash traveled throughout the galaxy, carrying Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Zarkov on amazing adventures on the lowest of budgets.

The 1:288 scale model is well done resin cast, and comes in 7 parts. IMHO this has to be one of the quickest and enjoyable builds I done recently.  

The parts went together effortlessly, and the only tricky part was getting the nose cone to sit straight. While waiting for the glue to dry, it was time to think up a simple base for it. I had these 100mm plastic bases from Citadel. I took some 1/2 - 1mm tape to create divisions in the groundwork and then stippled to concrete color on. After pulling off the tape I added a shot of Smoke from the airbrush, and I had the launch area. 

Turning back to the ship I painted it in V's Duraluminum, and then gave it a zenithal shot from the airbrush of V's White Aluminum. And with that I was done.

The 1:144 Convair KingFish

 This latest kit is another to add to my prototypes/experimental/ or never was planes. It's the Convair KingFish in 1:144 scale from Fantastic Plastic. The kit comes in 29 resin parts, and is patterned and cast by Anigrand Craftwork[1]. Good to see they they are sort of still in business.

In 1957 there was a contest to replace the U2 spy plane. The contest came down to Convair's KingFish and Lockheed's A-12, which would eventually became the SR-71. Giving this little piece of the story away, you know how it ends up.  Work on the KingFish continued for a few more months, but when the money ran out, the project was cancelled. 

With no real cockpit, the work started with the two engine nozzles that were embedded in the fuselage. Since they will be buried deep in there, I got out the silver paint right away.

Next there was a "spacer" mid-fuselage that I had never seen on an Anigrand kit before. It fit in there perfectly, and yet still left enough room for me to add some "Liquid Gravity" on each side as close to the cockpit as I could get.  Nothing was mentioned in the instructions about adding weight, but anytime I do not have a wheel in the tail, I add weights. 

*A is that spacer.

 Then came what seems to be the typical Anigrand landing gear. The cockpit had a lot of room and only one  tiny seat. I would have thought The cockpit windows were small as well, but no, it was wide open. So I did the best I could to add instruments with paint. Oh well. Looking back I should have added more to make it look "busier."

 

The paint scheme is an overall black. But black leaves me no where to go if I wanted to add some shadows, so out came V's Black Gray. Having a second thought that the jet was never completed, so it never did anything to get weathered. The decision was that except for a few chips (because I couldn't resist) I left it alone.  The decals went over the dark paint with not problems and with a layer of satin poly over the decals I was done... Or maybe at this scale a coat of matte is needed.  Anyway, thanks for looking. 

 

[1] I've included Anigrand's website for reference. It seems the site has not been updated since 2019, and emails bounce back.

Lenticular ReEntry Vehicle (LRV) Finale

 To see the previous entry, go here: http://kevtk.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2020-08-13T21:59:00-04:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

 I had nothing but bad luck with the paint job on this model. Yes, it's simply white on top and black on the bottom, but I would paint the bottom the black. Let it dry. Turn it over and paint the white top. Let that dry. And when I went to move on there would be some scratch or nick in the bottom's paint. Re-paint the black and then there would be something wrong with the white paint. I must have at least 1000 layers of each color on this model! Grrr.  So I just left it for nearly 2 months!

When I looked at it again, all looked OK. So I proceeded with decals. Hoping I didn't have the same results as the Nuclear Wing, I started working the decals. These went on like a dream. I guess the model gods were giving me a break after their paint fiasco. There weren't may decals - just 4, and in no time, I was done. Thanks for looking.  

 

Northrup Nuclear Powered Flying Wing Finale

 To see part 2 look here: http://kevtk.blogspot.com/2020/08/small-updates-nuclear-powered-bomber.html 

 When I left off all I had left was to add the decals, smoke the canopy (so you couldn't see there was nothing inside) and I was done.  Easier said than done. The smoking of the canopy was no problem, but the decals were a nightmare. No matter how much water I flooded over the area, as soon as the decal hit the model, it stuck on, and could not be moved. After ruining one decal that goes along the cockpit, I left well enough alone and didn't bother with any markings on the bottom. 

But all in all it was a very nice model to build. 

 

Small Updates: Nuclear Powered Bomber

 As the title says, small updates. I can't seem to get my act together, and time at the hobby bench has been minimal. In my latest session, I taped up the Bomber to paint different panels on the fuselage and the rear of the pilot pod. 

The entirety of the ship was painted in V's aluminum, and these sections were painted with Steel. I plan another larger area which I will hit with a slightly less dark Duraluminum.  But that's for next time.

After painting the real of the flight deck with Steel, I realized that I have to put on a black decal. So the Steel most likely is too dark.  It will be re-masked and painted over with duraluminum - dark but not that dark.

Northrup Nuclear Powered Flying Wing.

 Another oldie but goodie is Fantastic Plastic's Northrup Nuclear Powered Flying Wing.

From their site:

In the mid-1950s, the U.S. Air Force flirted seriously with the idea of producing long-range strategic bombers powered by atomic energy.  The main advantage of such a weapon would be its ability to stay aloft for weeks at a time, thus serving as the aerial counterpart to the Navy's fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

Jack Northrop, America's number-one proponent of "flying wing" aircraft, proposed several configurations for such an atomic-powered bomber.  The most exotic of these was an asymmetrical design that positioned the cockpit at the end of the port wing.  (German engineers had proved that asymmetrical designs were  completely airworthy more than a decade before.)  This configuration, while highly unconventional, had the advantage of putting the flight crew as far away from the nuclear reactor as possible while minimizing weight. 

None of Northrop's concepts got farther than the concept stage.

The kit comes in  15 white resin parts and a clear resin canopy. A nice set of decals is also included. 

This kit came deep out of the stash as the date on the instructions says 2007! The first thing I noticed was that one side of the wing was warped.  So after it received its wash, I boiled a pot of water, took it off the heat and dipped the wing. I only took a few seconds for the wing to become pliable and what I do is press it to the flat bottom of the sink and then turn on the cold water.  Now we're back in action.

Somewhere along the way there is an engine section that needs to be glued on. Being that was already done way back whenever, it was time to look at the jet nozzles. Eight need to be glued on and FP gives you another 3 in case of mistakes. I like that. ;) They come individual and you need to sand a small tab off the bottom. After, they they were just butt jointed to the fuselage. the next was the two vertical wings. They will also need a little sanding so they will mate up nicely. Finally, the cockpit pod needed to be attached. I dremeled out the slot a little bit so the tab went all the way, and a little Vallejo putty made a nice join. That was it, the model was built.

 

The jet is featured in it's wheels up position with no landing gear, so that's one less thing to worry about. There is also no features in the cockpit so I will tint the glass and just glue it in place. Since the jet never existed in real life the two color options mentioned was for a metalized body, or the typical gray upper and white lower color as the bombers of the day had.  But that's for next time. Thanks for looking.

Ae 607 and LRV Update

Wow, what a few weeks it's been Between the incoming Tropical storm coming up the east coast and then after the storm had gone by, we THEN had on and off brown and black outs for days. Ugh.  But in between I did make it to the hobby desk. 

The Ae607 continued to fight me to the very end but I declared victory.  This is the last time I quickly look that the parts fit - paint both halves -  only to find out that when the times comes, they really don't. Turns out the front needed just as much sanding down as did the cockpit area and the rear by the exhaust. 

Once the parts fit and glued down, then it came time to repair the paint job.  I think in the end it became a decent 3ft. model. 

Another one that turned into a fight was the LRV. In the end I had to rip the entire interior out. I was just tied of having to sand away most of it because the fit was perfect - no one will see inside anyway. 

I got the two  halves together after sanding away a bit of where the fuselage meets the wings. Then the slot where the starboard vertical fin goes was about 1/2 the size of the port one (which fit perfectly) and I needed to take a dremel and then some files to it to get the opening to accept the fin. 

The top and the bottom are together but you can see I'm still having problem with the g d white color. I needed to sand out a spot visible in the middle of the top and after 3 or 4 coats it's still visible! I think I'm about to go to the hardware store and get some serious can of white paint!  But at least the fins are on and the small gaps filled in nicely. Check back to see if I get this painted or does it get bounced off the wall.  Thanks for looking.

 

 

LRV part 2

Session two was extremely short. Most of the session was me sanding that one hatch to get it a little more level. I didn't want it to completely blend in, but wanted it a bit closer.

After that I painted the bottom black and top white. But as has been my eternal problem, white never seems to be white with me - just some sort of light gray. As with my other white vehicles, after a number of coats, I gave up and it is white "enough."

Also painted white are the top fins and the separate pod.
The final for today was adding the the two nozzles after painting them gunmetal and gluing them to the top of the craft.  More later. Thanks for looking. 

Lenticular ReEntry Vehicle (LRV)

This is another throw back kit from Fantastic Plastic that I dug deep into my stash to pull out. The date on the instructions says 2008!  It's been out of production since 2011, but if you pay attention to the site, older models can come back for a brief engagement at any time. 

The LRV from FP's site:

In the early 1960s, the U.S. Air Force purportedly began development of a modified flying saucer-like airframe for use as a spaceborne nuclear weapons platform.  Dubbed the "Lenticular Re-Entry Vehicle" (LRV).  To be launched atop either a Saturn-like multi-stage rocket or one of the nuclear-powered rockets then under development, the LRV with its crew of four was to be launched into a 300-nautical-mile-high orbit where it would wait in "Fail Safe" mode for several weeks before either launching its nuclear weapons at the Soviet Union/China/North Korea or returning to earth.  Landing would be via controlled re-entry and a glide landing on a dry lake bed.

Although this "Black Budget" project may never have gotten beyond the design stage, there is some physical evidence that prototype vehicles were indeed test-flown in the 1960s.  One such intriguing piece of evidence is a strange "honeycomb" cross-section of an exploded disc recovered near Brisbane, Australia in 1966.

The kit is 1/72 scale is molded in 22 gray resin parts. Certain parts do need a little clear up but nothing that's out of the ordinary.  

The first step was to build the missile bay. Being it's inside means I have to paint it first. 

 After all that I decided I didn't like the option of have the bay open with the shuttle pod half out of the ship, so I did the dumb thing and closed it all in.  Here it is with the shuttle pod.

The closed door is  mostly fits well, but did need a little putty in 2 corners. It also needs a little more sanding to be flush with the ship's surface. But that's for next time. Thanks for looking.

 

Valier "Raketenschiff"

Another nice kit from Fantastic Plastic. It is #6 in their line of classic rocket ships.  The craft was the idea of  Max Valier, a fan of the rocket scientist Oberth. From FP's site:

Valier's dream was a rocket-powered suborbital "Raketenschiff" (Rocket Ship) that could fly from Berlin to New York City in one hour. In a series of published articles, he proposed evolving his rocket plane from existing commercial aircraft, adding rocket boosters to augment conventional motors until the craft was 100% rocket powered.

 The kit comes in 16 parts and a set of decals. The instructions are a little sparse this time, with a exploded view of the original CAD (I think) and you need to refer to the box art for decal placement.

As mentioned, the kit almost falls out of the box completed. ;)  Check back for the completed model. Thanks for looking.

Hutter HU-136 Stubo II

This was a model I've wanted to get out of my stack for a while. The Stubo II is a Fantastic Plastic offering, that comes back in stock every once in a while. 

From the Luft '46 site:

The second design (from the Hutter brothers)  - Stubo 2 (short for Sturzbomber or dive-bomber) - was also to be heavily armored and was similar to the Hütter Hü 136 (Stubo 1). The fuselage was lengthened on the Stubo 2 to accommodate the internal bomb bay which could hold a 1000 kg (2205 lb) bomb load.  

Ultimately, the Air Ministry passed on the unusual proposal, choosing instead to manufacturer the far more conventional Henschel HS 129.

The kit comes in 14 parts including a seat and stick, which you'll never see, and I left out. The canopy is clear but following the directions, the majority of it gets painted.  

 Being cast by Anigrand, you know you are getting a good kit. As usual, the parts went together with minimal effort. 

One thing I noticed with this kit is if the fuselage holes don't match the pins in the wings - swap them, don't clip the pins. They are made to fit only to one side. Cool idea!

A lil seam filling.

  The process continued effortlessly, and a coat of white paint, for the fuselage, and V. Game Color Gory Red, was the shade of red I chose. Then it was time for the decals.  The decals went on just as effortless as the rest of the build.  After a short wait the Micro-Sol went on and suck the decals into all the panel lines perfectly. 
It was here that I noticed that there was no decal for the gun placement. It wasn't sculpted into the fuselage, so I thought it was a decal. Looking closely at the instruction sheet, it says the model was created after the original which didn't have guns.  So if I wanted I could carve wells into the fuselage (THAT wasn't going to happen) or I could create a decals for it.  Umm, didn't the FP guy create decals for his? Why couldn't his design be added to the decals sheet? Even if it added another $1 to the price of the kit, I'd pay it.
Having no ability to create a drawing for a decal, mine will do without.

Hard to see - the skid also went in place with no problems.

Looking back one thing I should have done that I didn't was paint the inside of the canopy. With the white paint on the outside and the light tan resin showing on the inside, the windows almost disappear. I'll have to keep that in mind for the next time.  

While I was waiting for the clear coat covering the decals to dry I went apart creating a base for it. It consists of a square of foam that it coated in DAPs Plastic Wood.  I started out using a spatula, but it seemed to go on faster and smoother with just a wet finger. Being the craft just has one landing skid, I created a mini sawhorse to level the plane for display.

I plan to add some grass around the edge of the vignette, and rather than create a new post, I'll be back and edit this one when that gets done.   All done.

Thanks for looking.

Flash Gordon's Rocketship Finale

I was further along than I thought. Seems when I sat down for my latest session, all I had to do is glue the cockpit area the the rest of the fuselage.  They were butt jointed so I had to  match the center window with the center fin on the back. I was done. Thanks for looking. 

 

Flash Gordon's Rocketship

Another kit that was deep in the stash was Flash Gordon's ship.  It is produced by Fantastic Plastic and has been in and out of stock for years. As of this date it is currently on back order, but I suppose you can order one for when they come in. 
From FP's site: 

"Flash Gordon" starring Olympic swimming medal winner Buster Crabbe was the first cinematic treatment of Alex Raymond's intrepid space hero who debuted in comic form in 1934. Distributed by Universal Studios, the serial was filmed in 13 parts running a total of 245 minutes.

Shot on a budget of just $350,000 (Studio press releases inflated that figure to a more impressive $1 million), the production recycled numerous sets and props from earlier movies, including the "hero" rocket, which was originally the "Mars Wing" from the 1930 sci-fi musical comedy "Just Imagine."

Built by the brilliant Dr. Zarkov, the Flash Gordon rocket underwent numerous modifications between "Flash Gordon" (1934), "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars" (1938) and "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" (1940). Most obvious among these was the addition side windows and a nose cannon between the second and third serials.

Rocket is based on the purported filming miniature that was offered on Ebay in 2013. Our kit features a full interior, doors that can be positioned opened or closed, and a clear vacuform canopy and windows. It comes in 26 pieces and has vac-u-form windows. 

As with many flying vehicles, we're starting with the cockpit area. Looking online, to see what it looked like, there's were plenty of views but too many were blocked by Flash or on of his "guys." 

There are a few differences namely the model has a backless seat while the one in the image clearly has one. Even though there is a large window in the ship, without a light, you really can't see in that well. So I just highlighted a few of the instruments and called that part done. While I was at it I detailed the back of the ships instrument console too - 

The the front instrument was installed onto the floor - 

After building those components I turned and painted the fuselage. Knowing I was going to paint the ship in a metallic, I started by priming everything in glass black, then a added V's silver.  There were some light scratches seen, and prolly should have thought to smooth over the raw resin. But I didn't - next time. 
I then slide the front deck into place - 

At the same time I installed the front windows.  The windows are a thin piece of acetate with the dimensions impressed in the plastic. It's just a matter of cutting them to size and installing. For the little side windows, where the tolerance was a bit tighter for the lip, I marked out the size on tape and then used that to create the lip to hold the window in place - 

Continuing on, I glue the front wheel fairings as well the the front "gun."  The wheels parts were all one piece so it was just a matter of being careful when painting the tires. My tire color is V's Black Gray with a little brown added. 

Turning my attention to the back part of the fuselage, I slid the rear deck int place, and then sealed the two parts together. Looking at the fins, which were also primed gloss black, I saw I was one short. How did I lose a big fin?? I had no idea but instead of coming to a screeching halt, I took one and created another out of some sheet styrene I had lying around. 

while looking for a piece, I came across a part that is supposed to represent the power source (I forget what FP called it) on the desk. I knew one one would ever know. But I would and it bothered me. So I twisted the back part open and installed the power unit. In a not too successful attempt to show it bloing I painted the unit silver, then added blue to the recesses, and then some white to make the highlights. I felt better - 

You can also see that one side of the stairs are also in place, closed. The other side will be open for the limited view in.

With that done,  I felt it was time to call it a day. Check back for the next episode. Thanks for looking.