AREA 88: "The Upside Down Bomb" (DC-10-30)

1
July 29, 2018
That’s an old timey box for sure.
2
July 29, 2018
Too big for a sprue shot, so I just did a dry fit.
3
July 29, 2018
I knew that black tape would come in handy. Useful for marking off panel lines to be scribed.
4
July 29, 2018
Slow and steady... but we now have panel lines!
5
July 31, 2018
Next to block off the cockpit from the cabin.
6
July 31, 2018
Painted the interior black to give it some depth.
7
August 2, 2018
Trimmed the engine exhausts but need some cones... luckily I found a couple of bombs in the spares box that’ll do the trick!
8
August 3, 2018
Glued the interior windows in place. The ones from the kit were very thick, so I made my own.
9
August 3, 2018
Engine bits painted and awaiting assembly after drying.
10
August 3, 2018
Added a bit of a wash to make the fans stand out a bit more. They'll be hard to see once they're in the engine cowlings.
11
August 3, 2018
That circle cutter comes in handy for masking jobs like this one.
12
August 3, 2018
The rear side of the engine is glued in place and assembled.
13
August 3, 2018
Now that the engines are completed, I was able to glue the fuselage together... bit by bit.
14
August 5, 2018
After lots of putty, sanding and repeating I get to... repeat! There's still some seams visible.
15
August 5, 2018
The top side doesn't show any visible gaps, but there's still a bit of a ghost ridge. Not sure how I'm going to get rid of that.
16
April 17, 2019
Decided to retro-fit the wing tips with very tiny LED lights... I had to reopen it a bit, but it wasn’t too far gone.
17
April 18, 2019
I know it looks like a mess... but that bundle of wires, resistors, capacitors, and a 555 timing chip works, and that’s what counts here. 😉
18
April 18, 2019
Four wing tip lights, and two red blinking lights on the fuselage.
19
April 18, 2019
Decided to add a couple of SMD LEDs for the underwing bombs... alternating blink with the fuselage lights.
20
April 21, 2019
Final panel lines scribed, and major sanding done. Time to attach the windscreen and the engines/underwing fins.
21
April 22, 2019
More putty... more sanding...
22
April 26, 2019
Time to get clever and add some colour to the wing tip lighting. I had some clear red plastic sprue, but for the green I broke the clip off a highlighter pen.
23
April 26, 2019
Just need a little bit...
24
April 26, 2019
And... disaster! I had to use CA glue of affix the green plastic, but in the process ended up yanking out one of the tiny LED leads.
25
April 27, 2019
Ok, wing tips opened and wires retrieved. Before we get some new LEDs in there, let’s pause for a moment of inspiration.
26
May 22, 2019
New lights lined.. man they’re small!
27
May 22, 2019
And... they work!
28
May 22, 2019
Ok. We’re back in action!
29
May 23, 2019
Now that the wing tip lights are fixed, I decided to replace the fuselage ones to fit the scale better. Took a bit of cutting, fishing, soldering, glueing, puttying and sanding... but it’ll look better
30
May 24, 2019
Some clear plastic fro a sprue will work as a cover for the LEDs. Needs a bit of filing to shape.
31
May 28, 2019
There's the bombs... finally. Painted to keep the light from shining through the plastic.
32
May 28, 2019
Wing tips are sanded smooth and painted with metallic grey to black out the lights.
33
June 2, 2019
First coat of primer on... a few touch-ups necessary.
34
June 3, 2019
Primer all done, now for some masking.
35
June 3, 2019
Hmmm... it's grey. I probably should've done the white coat of paint first though... I just got excited to put something other than pure white on this one.
36
June 5, 2019
Well, moving right along... let's paint the wings Tamiya XF-16 Aluminum.
37
June 8, 2019
Added some Tamiya XF-56 Metallic Grey to the wings/tail...
38
June 14, 2019
Painted the nose cone black, and added some silver to the engine intakes. I also changed my mind on the grey underside and painted the whole thing XF-16.
39
June 17, 2019
Masked out the logo/cheat line... I hope this works.
40
June 18, 2019
Ok... I’m calling that a win. I like the red.
41
June 19, 2019
And... DONE! I'm spreading my fingers and backing away slowly.
42
June 19, 2019
43
June 19, 2019
44
June 19, 2019
45
June 19, 2019
46
June 19, 2019
47
June 19, 2019
48
June 19, 2019
49
June 19, 2019
50
June 19, 2019
51
June 19, 2019
52
June 19, 2019
53
June 19, 2019

Comments

16 April 2025, 08:35 -

Album info

When assassins target Asran Crown Prince Saki Vashtar, they don't care who gets in there way - including a plane full of innocent people. With bombs placed strategically under each wing, and set to detonate in 2 hours or if the plane drops in altitude, Saki isn't left with much choice. He calls on his two ace pilots, Shin and Micky to attempt to shoot the bombs off. The only problem is that the Kfirs' tails are getting in the way. The solution? Shoot them off while flying inverted. This build will try to replicate this dramatic action scene from the Area 88 manga.

AREA 88 : “The Upside Down Bomb”

73 images

1:144

Completed

1:144 DC-10-30 "SAS Rainbow" (Eastern Express EE144121_6)

All albums

View all albums »