I drilled a few dozen small holes around the kit to enhance the details.

Something I’ve started doing for all my HGUC kits is to raise the waist by 1.5mm. I do this by layering on plaplate.

I think I’m more or less done with the modifications.

I thin my Future 50/50 with Isopropynol Alcohol so it will spray easier. 24 hours to dry and I can do the wash tomorrow.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Bandai
Scale: 1/144
Media: Injection Plastic

This is the kitbash of the HGUC Jesta and the HGUC GM III. I blatantly ripped this off from Hobby Notoriko’s kitbash. Credit where credit’s due .

Hobby Notoriko uses one of the shoulder cannons from the HGUC Loto for his Jesta. I’m still debating if I should do the same thing.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Bandai
Scale: 1/144
Media: Injection Plastic

This is my version of the RGM-79Q GM Quel operated by the Titans of the Earth Federation. It’s my entry into Plamo’s WOOB 07.

I’m combining the upper body and arms of the HGUC GM Quel with the bottom half of the HGUC GM Custom. Why? I find the lower portion of the HGUC GM Quel to be too blocky and it looks disproportionate. It’s a simple matter of swapping parts.

I’m doing some simple modifications to the kit. First up, I added plastic strips at the base of the torso to extend its height by 1.5mm.

I also added some plastic strips inside the torso to extend the neck by about 1.5mm.

I think I’ll swap out the GM Quel thrusters and use a different weapon too.

This drastically affects the look from the top. If I looked carefully, the gap between the intake and the nose section looks shorter on the left. While I think most people might not notice it without it being pointed out, I know it’s there.

Anyway, another round of primer next. Hopefully this one round of putty is enough.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Scale: 1/48
Media: Injection Plastic

This one’s been in the backburner for awhile (what else is new?) so it’s time for it to see the light of day again. The plan is OOB with decals from TwoBobs Decals.

Back when the US Navy ran the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School aka ‘TOPGUN’, it operated A-4 Skyhawks in the role of the adversarys, ie. the bad guys. This particular Skyhawk took that role to the extreme by having an actual silhouette of a MiG-17 painted on it.

This project is heavily reliant on the excellent article by David Aungst at Hyperscale, who did all the research required to do up an accurate Top Gun #56. In fact, the TwoBobs decals are also based on this same research. The kit itself is the excellent 1/48 Hasegawa A-4E/F kit.

The cockpit is surprisingly detailed and with the canopy opening being so small, I think it looks more than adequate.

Based on the article, I needed to modify the cone shaped fairings that’s attached all over the airframe. The cone tips need to be cut off first.

Work is actually quite straightforward and I managed to get quite far in assembly. The kit also broke down into very easy subassemblies. The landing gear and landing gear doors were all handbrushed with white and given a wash of black gray.

This is how it looks like right now. I sprayed some primer on the main joints to get an idea how much work will be needed to fix the gaps.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Bandai
Scale: 1/100
Media: Injection Plastic

OK… Plamo’s ‘Build that Shelf Queen maggot!’ groupbuild is now up. 3 months time limit. This is ONE of my shelf queens since 2008 (wow, 3 years). This was supposed to be my entry for Indonesia’s Bandai competition. Oh well. Now I have 3 months to finish this or the Gunny will have my ass.

The parachute pack is from the MG Hyaku-Shiki. And the idea is the Nemo will be posed doing a HALO jump with some sort of a weapon strapped to it. First up some minor mods:

I enlarged the sensor on the head with plastic strips

I cut grooves on the upper legs so the Nemo’s legs can be posed wider apart.

I also cut a groove on the waist to allow the kit to bend over more.

My Nemo of course needs a big gun. I decided to arm it with a beam rifle from Ako Hobby.

The rifle will be fitted to the front parachute pack. As a one-off Nemo Custom design, I figure a KISS approach is fine.

A minor modification I did was to cut a groove so the grip can be folded.

The main parachute pack only friction fits onto the Nemo so I had to figure out some way to attach it more securely. Again, a KISS approach with square plastic rods.

And… this is the pose I’ve decided on.

Some more minor detailing soon. Not planning to overdo though.

Next up is the head. I added a minus mold to simulate a eye camera inside the visor. Before this it was just a hollow tube molded into the head. I also plan to Future the visor.

Then more minus molds on the shoulder and backpack.

I also detailed the backpack with some PE plates.

Kit Info
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Scale: 1/48
Media: Injection Plastic

My 2nd ‘SMLJ Aggressor?’ build will be the General Dynamics F-16N in Marine Corps markings. 22 F-16Ns were acquired by the US Navy to serve in the Dissimilar Air Combat Training (DACT) role in 1987. By 1995 though they have all been retired. The F-16N is based on the Block 30 F-16C.

One particular F-16N was given a very striking green splinter camouflage and Marine Corps markings. This is the one I will be building, I hope…

By all accounts, the Tamiya F-16 kit is the best one in the market right now. It’s also supposed to be a shake and bake kit. I somewhat agree with this although there are some issues to overcome.

Firstly, the MLG bay. Pin marks are everywhere. Not sure why this is so since Hasegawa and Academy (much older vintages) don’t have this problem. I filled these up with Vallejo Liquid Putty.

The kit also has these 2 panels that are oddly separate. Luckily they fit fine.

The kit came molded as a modern version of the F-16 so some bumps and antennas need to be removed to accurize it as an F-16N. The instruction manual is pretty comprehensive though so it’s a matter of just doing the proper cutting and sanding.

First up, the scoop at the base of the tailfin needs to be removed.

Antenna bumps on each side of the topside wingroot need to be sanded down.

There are antenna bumps on each side of the bottom side wingroot that need to be removed too.

The leading edge of the wings has the RWR (called ‘beercans’) molded on. Well, parts of them anyway. These need removing and cleaning up.

This kit comes with a full length intake which conveniently has 2 seamlines running along the horizontal axis. Joy. Anyway I’m trying this out to see if I can reduce the obvious seamline running across the middle of the intake. So basically instead of a front and rear intake I’m assembling them as one long upper and lower half of the intake. This allows me to easily remove the seamline in the middle.

A quick testfit shows I can still attach the intake with no problems.

I sprayed the exhaust in Alclad Jet Exhaust and I found the color abit too dark. Given another go, I think I’d have gone for gun metal color. I attached the exhaust petals with cement and carelessly got the cement onto the Alclad. Sigh… paint got removed.

I can’t handbrush Alclad so in the end, I decided to handpaint gun metal on the exhaust housings and layer on Future over it. It’s not too bad if you don’t look closely. I do like the contrast between the exhaust housing and the petals though.

Next up is the base which is a 4′x6′ chipboard from Art Friend in Singapore. It’s a simple matter of spraying it flat black from a rattle can and a flat coat over it. Then it’s a brass rod into a hole I drilled through the base.

And I’m done! These are temporary pictures while I take better photos.

Yes it took awhile. But at least it looks decent enough.