1/48 Minicraft XF5F-1 Skyrocket (Short Nose)

[dupes]

Hey, there's like 5 or 6 days left in October...time to start my MoM entry build! Need to try this Imgur photo service, so this is a good excuse. Here's hoping I can figure it out!

The kit - Minicraft XF5F-1 Skyrocket. Picked it up at Baycon last year off the club table for a cool ten bucks. It's a weird aircraft, as you might notice here:



Already got several subassemblies put together, as well as some basic painting (interior silver, engine and tire black).



So here we go! First up I needed to get the engine cylinders in, as you can't close up the cowls for painting until you do so.



Whipped up some seatbelts out of paper and tape (to conform to IPMS "out of the box" rules) as I always do. Should look good underneath the canopy.



This one goes together in a very different order than a lot of other conventional-type aircraft. You build the wing/fuselage, and then add the cockpit after the fact...in pieces. Weird!



Fit on this thing is remarkably good. All individual panels to get the MG covers/nose in place, and it fit like a glove!



And ready for the fun part...paint! Still a lot of fiddly bits that won't go on until later, as I'm just going to break them off anyway. Hahaha. Hoping to fire the base coat in the morning if it'll stop raining for half an hour?

[Leon]

That sure ie a wierd looking aircraft! Your off to a good start on it.

[dupes]

Thanks Leon! Going to get fun now.

[dupes]

Paint! It's been pouring here for the last two days, so my hopes of using my fave rattlecan silver Tamiya TS-30 isn't going to happen. Closest thing I can find to that finish is X-11 Silver (surprisingly not a Vallejo metal color shade!), so that's what I'm going with. Sprayed this morning before work:



Slow day at the office, so I came home early (it's good to be the boss!) at lunch to tape off the parts that need to be yellow. Going to get it sprayed as soon as I can today.

[dierk]

What a weird and wonderful wingy! Nice work!

[dupes]

I know it...it looks more like a 1950's sci-fi-movie take on what airplanes should look like in the future vs an ACTUAL aircraft!

[Tojo72]

Now theres one you don't see every day,great job.

[moramarth]

"it looks more like a 1950's sci-fi-movie take on what airplanes should look like in the future"

It's silver and yellow, maybe it's an early prototype of the Naboo space fighter?

vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/d/d3/N-1_BF2.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/499?cb=20170825000654



M

[Leon]

Paint looks good Dupes!

[TRM]

Look at Dupes with the odd-ball wingy! Looking great buddy! You're getting some decent bench time in!!

[dupes]

Oct 26, 2017 17:52:43 GMT -5 moramarth said:

It's silver and yellow, maybe it's an early prototype of the Naboo space fighter?

Hah! True! Hadn't thought of that at all.

[dupes]

Oct 26, 2017 18:32:01 GMT -5 TRM said:

You're getting some decent bench time in!!

Yeah, about flippin' time. The seasonal business is at the end of it's season!

[dupes]

Thanks Leon and Tojo!

So, like I said...slow, rainy day at work. Came home to fire the early-war yellow! Technically it's probably more accurately an orange, but the FS number is yellow. Go figure.



Peeled off the masks, and everything was good to go!



Finally, I threw down a coat of Future in prep for the decals this evening. Likey likey!

[bbrowniii]

Well that's just funky!

Love the silver and yellow/orange combo!

[dupes]

Wait until you see her with decals on.

[Leon]

I'm with Boyd on the color! Really like that combination.

[dupes]

Shoot, there's all kinds of things you could do in this scheme. Dauntlesses, Devastators, Vindicators, Wildcats, Buffalos...just about everything the U.S. Navy was fielding at the beginning of the war. Heck, there's even a company that does JUST that!

yellow-wingsdecals.com/decals/index.php/

[dupes]

Speaking of decals...



Clear coat over the decals is drying, on to the panel line wash! After that it's just the small fiddly bits to deal with.

[Tojo72]

Nice job with the yellow

[Leon]

Looking really good!

[dupes]

Thanks dudes!

Got the black/brown panel line wash laid in, as well as painting the black bit at the front of the cockpit and repainting the MGs. Next up I need to mask and paint the wing walks...and mask the canopy. Oh how I hate masking canopies! The one piece of aftermarket I always buy if I can is mask sets - but I don't have one here.

[dupes]

This is why I hate masking canopies. Nearly an entire modeling day blown on bits of Tamiya tape! Kills your pace every time (especially on something with this many panes of glass).



Here's hoping that I did it right and things work out the way I want them to. Almost there!

[dupes]

Last day of October...build complete! Had a dog of a time with the canopy - didn't want to fit open, didn't want to fit closed. Bottom line is that it was less reluctant to be closed, so that's the route I went (with lots of glue and rubber bands). Hope you like the finished product!

[Leon]

Nice finish on this weird bird Dupes !

[dupes]

Thanks Leon! I really dig how this came out. Going to look good in the case next to the "regular" aircraft.

[moramarth]

"Going to look good in the case next to the "regular" aircraft."

I was going to suggest the job was only half done, and you now needed to build a "What If" in-service version.  However, it seems this has already been done; but the most popular alternative finish seems to be as those flown in the old "Blackhawks" comics...

Regards,

M

[dupes]

There's actually a long-nosed variant boxing as well that comes with the blue-blue-white war scheme (think Corsairs).

I'll find a pic.