WIP : Frog 1/72 F-16C Viper Blk 52 Pt.3 – Painting & Finishing
I decided to go with preshading plus random mottling over various panels. The refueling door was painted and masked off at this time. The bottom gets more panel mottling as it gets dirtier here. The stores were painted with my usual masking and spraying for the missile bands. RSAF F-16s are still painted in the …...
WIP : Frog 1/72 F-16C Viper Blk 52 Pt.2 – Construction
For Air CAP, RSAF F-16s are usually loaded with 2x AIM-120C, 2x AIM-9M and 2x wing tanks. There’s also a Sniper pod on the starboard intake cheek station. The kit comes with a pair of AIM-120As so I took the AIM-120Cs from a Hasegawa Weapon Set. The kit includes two copies of the Sniper pod …...
WIP : Frog 1/72 F-16C Viper Blk 52 Pt.1 – Construction
For this year’s F-16 build, I’m going to be building a Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) F-16C Block 52. The base kit is from Frog which is generally considered as the first ever model kit manufacturer that operated from 1932 to 1976. This Frog however, is a company started in Singapore in 1997. The …...
Completed : Academy 1/72 Grumman F-14B Tomcat ‘VF-103 Jolly Rogers’
Kit InfoBrand: Academy 12563Scale: 1/72Media: StyreneMarkings: Fightertown Decals 72004 + Kit stencils The SubjectIn 1987, the Grumman F-14A received its first major upgrade in the form of the F-14A+. The original TF30 engines were replaced with the F110, which provided a significant increase in performance, range...
WIP : Academy 1/72 F-14B Tomcat Pt.2 – Painting & Finishing
Painting a weathered F-14 is always challenging but fun. The key I think is to build up the effects layer by layer. I began with a base coat of black with the marble coating using white and brown. Note I avoided the panel lines and have kept them black except for areas in the rear …...
WIP : Academy 1/72 F-14B Tomcat Pt.1 – Construction
Another year, another Tomcat. This time it’s the much talked about new mold F-14 from Academy. It’s been getting raves around the community. Hopefully it lives ups to the hype and I can retire my old Hasegawa kits. First impressions though is somewhat disappointing as Academy has chosen to simply re-use the boxart from the...
Completed : Academy 1/72 Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian ‘TNI-AD’
Kit InfoBrand: Academy 12514Scale: 1/72Media: StyreneMarkings: CJM AH-64E Apache Guardian + Kit stencils The SubjectThe Boeing AH-64 Apache is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter for a crew of two. It is armed with a 30mm M230 chain gun carried under the forward fuselage and has four hadpoints on stub-wing pylons for more...
WIP : Academy 1/72 AH-64E ‘TNI-AD’ Pt.3 – Painting & Finishing
Time to paint and finish this build. I started with my usual black base and white marble coating. As we shall see later, it wasn’t that effective. The AH-64E fielded by the TNI-AD comes in a 2-tone camouflage of olive drab and green. The CJM decal sheet states that the olive drab is FS34031. I …...
WIP : Academy 1/72 AH-64E ‘TNI-AD’ Pt.2 – Construction
The rotor is next. The base kit is an AH-64D so I need to modify it to the one that equips the AH-64E. My reference for this comes from the Hasegawa AH-64D and E instruction sheets. I made sure they were the same size and then superimposed them together to get a better idea of …...
WIP : Academy 1/72 AH-64E ‘TNI-AD’ Pt.1 – Construction
For this year’s annual TNI aircraft build, I decided to combine it with my annual helicopter build and decided on getting the TNI-AD’s AH-64E Apache Guardian done. What was originally thought to be a straightforward build wasn’t to be. Unsurprisingly really… In any case, this is the base kit… As usual I...
