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My first introduction to this vessel was through an article in Fine Scale Modeler magazine a
few years back. My knowledge in scratchbuilding was very limited, but after a few years debating if this thing was way out of my league, I decided to try it as my first scratchbuilt project. I used the drawing the author had submitted in his article and enlarged them by 300%.
I pretty much followed his instruction starting with the main hull.
I used balsa wood as a rough armature. Two pieces of brass rectangular
tubing were cut to shape and sandwiched between both hull halves.
Expanding foam would be added into the larger cavities, trimmed and
covered with automotive body filler. This was then filed and sanded
smooth to its proper shape. Flat areas could easily be covered with
sheet styrene but I ended up doing some stovetop heat-forming for
certain compound curves (upper & lower hulls, bridge, etc.).
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I
heat-formed two copies of everything, one for the main assembly, the other using
.015" sheet styrene for panels. These would be cut to shape and glued
in place. The wings were less of a problem. I just cut foamcore board
to size and covered it with sheet styrene. Detail was then added with
thinner styrene sheet. The feather pattern on the top and bottom of
both wings were first drawn onto a piece of .015 sheet styrene, cut with
a sharp blade and glued to the wing-like pieces like a puzzle.
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Two pins attach the wings to the main hull allowing the ship to be displayed in
either attack, cruising or landing mode. Both hull and wing baffles were
made from .080" sheet styrene and cut to shape. With the wings attached,
I simply started by first gluing one to the hull and the next to the wing
and another to the hull and so on. The model was the detailed using
available kit parts, brass and aluminum tubing and several styrene products.
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The whole model was then primed and checked for major flaws. This was
my first time using an airbrush but I found it easier then I expected.
The model was painted with a base coat of Medium Field Green mixed with
a bit of Green Zinc Chromate. Individual panels were painted using a mix of
Green Zinc Chromate and a little bit of Gray to tone it down.
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The feather pattern on the bottom of the wings were painted using Italian Red and a
couple of drops of Yellow. All panel edges were then airbrushed with
Gunship Gray and after 24 hours, I finished it off with a couple coats of
Clear Flat.
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Photos
by Stephen L.
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