Victory 357 Hawk Ekranoplan Finale

 Continuing on, what seems weird to be is that the diagram didn't call for the window installation to come before I closed up the fuselage - like you'd usually see. OK, I'll play along. Since the interior is gone I sprayed some thinned Smoke color to tint the windows. 

 Next was to put on the tail wing/fin assembly, and then it was time for paint. After a coat of black primer, I tried a mottling pattern as seen on a video from a You Tuber. 

 The box art offered two  options - bare metal and a blue color. The fuselage was no where clean enough for bare metal so blue it was. After that the decals went on without problems, and some weathering. 

 Next it was time to install the windows, and just when things were going so well I got the smack in the face when the windows didn't fit. Did they need more sanding? were they really meant to go in earlier? I don't know. I tried to sand down the front window to know avail. I just ended up breaking it.

The next thing to try was taking some of the clear packaging plastic and make a wind shield out of that. Trial fittings showed it could be done, but a shim of sheet styrene was need to close the gap. Once the glue was all set up the plastic needed to be trimmed in some places. I also decided the windows needed to be shinier, so clear UV resin was applied over the windows and set with the light. 

 I saw somewhere that the plane was skimming across the water, and decided I'd make a little base to look like that. But with the blizzard that hit us and all the shoveling, I still haven't made it to Hobby Lobby for a box to use as a base. Til then it's sitting on a black cube. Thanks for looking. 

 

Victory 357 Hawk Ekranoplan

 I pulled this vehicle out of my stash as I was in the mood for something unusual. On site mentions it as the future that should have been. Another created a backstory for it: 

 In early 1929, Thomas T. Brown published an article in prestigious Science and Invention magazine. Article’s title was simple: How I Control Gravitation. However, the topic was anything but simple. Brown proved that using electrogravitics he could control gravity. 

 After few years the sector spun-off and become Gravity control propulsion research center. Soon large-scale tests proved that indeed gravity could be controlled. One of the experiment showed that a solid block of graphite with a mass of 500 kg doesn’t weigh the normal 4903 N but only 3236 N. Only 66% of original weight. 

Next phase was of course moving this new technology out of the laboratory in and into the field. Sparing no time a special vehicle, Victory 357 (Победа 357), was developed. It was basically an ekranoplan using three small jet engines for horizontal propulsion and an enormous 15,500 HP Kuznetsov NK-12 generator for powering electrogravitics elements. Generator provided enough electricity to reduce the weight of the vehicle from 160,000 N (16,315 kg) to 85.000 N (8.667 kg) making it a reasonably nimble ekranoplan with limited flying capabilities. 

The kit was made by AMP Models and is in 1:72 scale of detailed gray plastic. Having a quick look at the instructions gave me the first minus score to the kit - there's was just a few exploded views of where the parts basically go. I don't like that. 

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The first step, as is with most plane models is the cockpit. This is where I noticed another problem. The sprues are lettered but the parts are numbered on the instructions, but not on the sprues. No problem with some of the larger parts, but there's quite a few smaller parts that look similar. Oh boy! 

Edit: while there are no part numbers on the sprues, they do include a diagram of all the sprues and the corresponding numbers. -  

 This kit has a complete interior. There's the floor, the front and rear firewalls, a center control. There's two seats made made me smile in that they reminded me of chairs from a 1960's kitchen  :P There is also a very nice instrumentation panel. The details of the panel were a PE piece and I must admit it is the best looking panel I've ever seen. What I noticed pretty quickly was that pin "A" fitting into slot "B" is at a minimum. Most parts are just butt joined together. This leads to sometimes what happens is the part slides in the wet glue before it sets up.  Afterward I noticed the instrument panel was a little cockeyed. Dang! :(  Behind the pilot seats were two benches along each side. But being a nice interior I tried to give it the best paint job I could. 

 The next set was putting the interior into the body of the plane. This is where I noticed that all the careful painting was for nothing, when I noticed the size of the windows. 

When I went to close in the fuselage I came upon a BIG error. I don't know whether it's the kit or theme, but I couldn't get the two fuselage parts to meet. I tried several different ways for them to join but to no avail. I even started filing down the floor and firewalls... No good. 

 With the blood pressure rising, I ended up pulling the interior out. Not like you could really see in anyway. With the interior gone the fuselage went together with no effort. 

 The front grill was 2 pieces and was installed with little effort. I spent a bunch of time hopefully getting the seams to disappear. But with this sessions time running short I was threw on the pontoons and called it. check back for the finale. 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.



 

Vic Torry's Saucer Finale

We left off last time with the saucer and stand in gloss black primer .
I was going to do something special with the base but decided to just leave it as it is.

For the saucer I decided to use Vallejo's Duraluminum for the color and gave it a spray. Once dried, I added blue and then a dot of white to make it look like the engines are firing. 
Finally, I used Kristal Klear to make the from window glass. Thanks for looking.

Future Retro Moon Suit Finale

I left off with the assembly under way. I finished that up, and then turned to the decal.  First thing I noticed was that it was VERY thick. Almost to the point where I thought it was a sticker and not a decal. Even cutting the decal close, in a few spots it wasn't close enough and if you really look, you can see the carrier film. Oh well. 
I added some black/gray "dust" to the suit and positioned it on the moon base.  Thanks for looking.

Vic Torry's Spaceship

Vic Torry and his Flying Saucer was a pulp comic released in 1950 at the height of the flying saucer craze. In one episode Vic, an aviator, and his girlfriend are given a flying saucer by a dying alien. Getting in, it is programmed to return to the home planet of Mercury. They land amidst a civil war...

I picked this kit out of the stash after the Moon Suit and Charon builds, I wanted something simple. Looking it over I don't think I could get anything more simple. 
The Atlantis kit is 4 parts of yellow styrene for the saucer and 4 parts of purple for the base. It also comes with a card stock cardboard of pages of the comic. It also comes with a little blinking LED, but I'm leaving that out.

 The one thing that confused me about the model is that the kit is yellow plastic, the saucer in the comic is yellow, and a lot of the models I see built are painted from a yellow through a gold color. But right in the first page of the comic, the script says the saucer is silver! 

Hmmm.  I will be painting my saucer silver!  

Looking the kit over and test fitting, it's apparent that there are no windows, so I will have to add them later. But first I blacked out the interior so it hides the yellow and the fact that there is no interior. 

You can see that the two engines have also been attached.

I then closed the two halves up and puttied the seam around the edge.  After that. I painted the craft Vallejo's gloss black primer to be ready for V's Metallics. 

I like their Duraluminum color. But that's for next time. Thanks for looking

Future Retro Moon Suit part 2

Most of the sanding and smoothing done, I started the assembly.
A few of the resin windows on the bottom were troublesome. They were fit and sanded, and tried again, and more sanding, until the part went in place smoothly. Then I applied the superglue and it didn't fit. UGH. One got a little blob of glue on one corner. But by this time I was tired of fiddling with it and just stuck it in there. I attempted to sand it while in place, and then added a few drops of Future. Doesn't look great, but not that bad. I may do some weather to hide it a bit...   Thanks for looking.

Resin windows aren't totally clear, but I like 'em better than vac form.

This is the window that caused me all the problems.

Antenna attached.

Future Retro Moon Suit

I've had this model  from Futuristic Models in my stash for a while now. IIRC there was supposed to be a styrene version produced by someone, but apparently that plan must have just gone away. Liking the Future Retro look and wanting one, I picked this model.

There are two version of this Moon Suit; one with the astronaut running with a rock and a rock hammer, the other with the astronaut just standing there. I have the running version. It's apparently based on this image from Life -

 

The kit is a gray resin, with the windows a clear resin. The clear is mostly clear and dips in Future made it slightly better. There was a seam line on the main body par, and some flash here and there, but nothing that couldn't be dealt with- 

The aforementioned seam

The other thing to notice was the very big pour plug on the main window. I always take clear resin as being brittle, so I was very careful with the dremel tool getting rid of this plug.  I did get a crack on the bottom but I luckily caught it in time and super glued it closed.  All the clear parts then got a dip in Future. 

Taking a break from cleaning the seams - yes there is a little noticeable line along the accordion section of the arms and legs - I decided to paint the astronaut - 

More painting and I start the assembly next time. Thanks for looking.