AREA 88 : "Break The Big Leg" (B-1B)

Greg Baker
So there I was, walking by and minding my own business, when suddenly the Panda B-1B kit jumped out of nowhere and into my arms. It had been shivering and cold... languishing in the "unloved models" discount box , unceremoniously sitting on the floor in front of a shop packed to the ceiling with Gundam kits. For a mere $5 I just HAD to rescue it.

When I got it home, I realized that the inside of the box and the plastic sprue bags had a bit of mold (like the "make you sick" kind, not the "new tooling" kind), so after taking a picture of the box, I chucked it. And then I washed the sprues, just to be sure there was no mold on them... but they were so big that I decided to cut them a bit... y'know... for easier storage... but then I cut them a bit more... and somehow the cockpit got painted... and well... y'know...😉

Peter Hardy
Very brave man Greg! You were lucky to escape with your life! Paint is always a good way to seal in germs, paint away!

Bart Goesaert
pretty big box, but also a pretty big aircraft...

Spanjaard
looking forward what you do with this one 🙂

Donald Dickson II
You know, I am astounded at the kindness you have shown this poor neglected kit. It warms my heart.

Greg Baker
Well, it was practically shivering... cold, hungry and in need of a good home. The Gundam kits were teasing it incessantly... so sad. I know I JUST built a B-1... but sometimes you just need to man up and do what needs to be done. Amirite?😉

Last night was "craft up some more pilots", so no real updates, but the cockpit assembly should be ready soon.

Spanjaard
good action of the day Greg, you saved this kit from a horrible fate, staying there forever, never build.... now have a home and you will give it all the care and attention it deservers... and some sanding too probably 😄 😄

Greg Baker
Yes indeed... probably more sanding than either of us wants.

Anyway, the cockpit is now done, but before I can get to the main fuselage assembly I need to figure out some electronics as well as what to do with the swing-wings. The Lindberg kit had access through the landing bay, so I could wait until later for the wiring, but the Panda kit needs to be wired before main assembly.

I'm also not quite sure what to do with the wings. The open/closed nature of the wings always give me trouble to paint. There always seems to be part that gets missed, or rubbed off if I try to paint in one go... or a different shade than then previous coat if I try to wait. I'm debating trying to paint the wings fully before assembly. Any suggestions or votes from my mates?

Peter Hardy
This might seem like a dumb question but wouldn't the dio scenario dictate that?

Greg Baker
Not sure I follow how it would dictate that. If I assemble first and then paint, there's always a bit that's covered no matter what position the wings are in. If I move them while painting, I run the risk of rub lines, but if I wait, then the unbalanced number of coats creates a visible line. If I paint the wings fully and then assemble them, it should solve the problem, but I'm worried about it creating other unforeseen ones...

Peter Hardy
Well, my thoughts would be; High speed flight ... wings back. Take off, landing and manoeuvring to avoid the company of bad people; wings forward.

Bart Goesaert
IMHO, it's better to paint the metal parts of the hinge, then you can paint the cammo in 1 go

Martin Oostrom
Greg Baker, the Mother Theresa of model kits 😄

Donald Dickson II
I came to the conclusion that I was going to paint the wings on my 1/48 (if I ever get back to it) prior to putting them on. Honestly, it just makes sense in my mind to do it that way. I do the same on F-14s. Tornados are different as there is generally a different color on the swing area.

Spanjaard
nice. i would suggest to have some aluminium in the exhaust, so the light does not go through the plastic (i have seen a very nice build for the colonial Viper using that, not my idea)

Greg Baker
That's a good idea. I was wondering if paint on the inside and out would be enough, the aluminum will surely do the trick.

Spanjaard
certainly. this is the one I meant. Moebius Colonial Viper Mk 2 WiP | Album by Demigod (1:32)

Calvin Gifford
Neat idea!

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! I'm taking a bit of a slower, more methodical approach with this one. Trying to make sure the engine pods are fully puttied and sanded before they're attached and trying to paint the wings before assembly. We'll see if it pays off. I need to finish the engines so that they can be wired in place properly, but the engine pods are a bit confusing as to which seam lines need to be sanded out and which ones are meant to be there. I had a hard time finding good reference pics, so I'm just sorta winging it and hoping for the best.

Peter Hardy
Winging it? Ohh, very droll!

Greg Baker
I knew one of you would pick that one up...😉

Calvin Gifford
👍

Greg Baker
Now that my Zero/Cessna combo is done... time to get serious about the B-1B/F-4E combo... interior wired up and fuselage glued together. This will take some putty as the fit is a bit suspect in some places.

Daniel Klink
And another light show by Greg 👍 How i missed that?

Peter Hardy
Thank goodness, I have been sitting here holding my breath for months!

Greg Baker
Well, thank goodness it's made it back to the top of the rotation! Glad to have you back in the heckling chairs, Peter!

And don't worry Daniel... you haven't missed a thing yet!

Peter Hardy
I saw a book advertised on a modelling site recently Greg all about the after-burning engines on the B1. See? I didn't have to expose my ignorance in the first place.

Greg Baker
I usually just nod along like I know what everyone else is talking about... otherwise my ignorance would be hanging out all over the place.. Truth be told, when I put the lights in the first version of this build I didn't really know either - I just assumed there would be afterburners on a jet this sleek. Well, that... and the fact that I didn't care I just wanted it to light up my shelf regardless... 🙂

Donald Dickson II
OK, you need to post a thread with pics of all this stuff on display!

Erik De Smet
Greg, the orange leds are a good representation of the flames, do they also flicker or just plain light ?

Greg Baker
They just light. I've yet to find a good way to make them flicker properly, so we just make do.

Erik De Smet
You might use the leds of thealight candles , maybe connected in series with a red led, which would then flicker too and give a hotter flame effect.

Greg Baker
That's a good idea Erik. I'll try it in the future. In the meantime, I got the windows masked and then after some putty, sanding and a bit of paint... I need more putty, sanding and paint. For some reason I always seem to get that dent around the cockpit... grrr...

Greg Baker
Just found out that Academy has a new tooling 1/144 B-1B in its 2019 catalogue.... sigh

Peter Hardy
Any PE for it available Greg????????????????

Greg Baker
What's PE?😉

Donald Dickson II
A new tooling 144??? Rut roh...

Greg Baker
Alright. I got my hands on the preview box of the new tool Academy 1/144 B-1B, so I couldn't resist reviving this project... off we go... again!

Donald Dickson II
Whoa whoa whoa...a new tool 144 B-1B?????????

Peter Hardy
Seat belt fastened! Rolling ......

Greg Baker
I'm really liking this new Academy B-1 tool. It fits like a glove and the engineering is almost foolproof. The engines only go together one way.

Patrick Hagelstein
And yet you manage to include some wires and LEDs to make it in there too.... 😄

Greg Baker
Heh... well even gloves still have room for fingers.😉

Patrick Hagelstein
😄

Bryn Crandell
Awww a rescue kit. Work so far looks really good. Can't wait to see it all finished. The lights are a nice touch. Now tell us more about the Academy kit!

Greg Baker
So I got the engine interiors painted. Tamiya Dark Iron seemed a good bet. The kit itself is fabulous, very nice details, and an extremely well thought out design. The hardest part is figuring out how to hide the wires since there's not a lot of wasted space.

M M
Wait... Where is TinTin? LoL nice build so far

Greg Baker
Hrm... not EVERY one of my builds is Tintin-related...😉

Martin Oostrom
It is almost comical that most of Gregs builds are comic related.

Greg Baker
That's not by accident...😉 I build what I know.

Greg Baker
Ok... so far the thing I love most about this kit is that the wings seem to be removable for painting. They slide on and off some "mini wings" that sit on the main rotation point. I'm not sure if the behind wing caps will interfere or not - you get a choice of folded or fully-extended wings - but so far it looks like you can slide the wings out to be fully painted and then slid back on for final assembly.

The instrument panels decals are also the best I've ever seen, and the fact that the canopy comes with a mask is winning a lot of points with me.😉

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Greg 👍

Nathan Dempsey
I was curious about this kit. Nice to see it being built here!

Greg Baker
I have to admit, being able to get my hands on a pre-release box really made me want to push this build to the top of my list. I thought some people might be interested in seeing it get built by someone with an average skill level instead of the usual god-like review builds.😉

Donald Dickson II
Average? Do not sell yourself short my friend. But i am totally interested in this kit. Much more manageable than the quarter scale. LOL

Peter Hardy
And ..... it bounces when dropped!

Greg Baker
Let's hope we don't have to test that theory, Peter...😉

Bart Goesaert
looks good like that... That academy seems a whole league better then the Panda one...

Greg Baker
I've now built the Lindberg, Panda and Academy 1/144 B-1B kits... no comparison. The Academy one is hands down the best. The only thing is I'm not sure it comes with enough bombs... 😛

I got the main parts of the fuselage put together and checked the lights still work. Whew. Now for some priming.

John Thomas
Greg, your burner cans look very cool, all ways great work

Spanjaard
who is the guy with average skill? we may want to see that build too 🙂

Peter Hardy
Greg, Mate, you gotta put that in a dio! On a runway, wings out, rotating. That should be a doable challenge for an "average" builder. You however should be able to throw it together in a few minutes!

Nathan Dempsey
Wow that kit has a ton of weapons!

Greg Baker
There is a ton of weapons. In the end, I decided to close up the rear bomb bay doors. You also get a choice of weapons to load, so there are extras regardless. Once that decision was made, it was time for a bit of white primer and then painting on some grey undertones, arguably along the panel lines. The seam along the front of the fuselage isn't perfect, but for the most part Academy has it in line with what I believe is supposed to be a panel line, so I more or less just glued, sanded off the rough edge and left it alone. That might be cutting corners, but I'm not convinced that a lot of sanding and putty will help the cause. So that's that.

Greg Baker
Should I use my own decal for the tail art... or should I buy and wait... hmmm....

Daniel Klink
What a fabulous collection and the sockets and bases wow! Really love and admire your works👍

Greg Baker
Thanks Daniel. That means a lot coming from a master like you. I think I'm running out of room on my "Area 88 1/144 stereo" display... It took three cracks are the B-1 for this project, but the third time's the charm I think. I may need to smooth out a few bubbles in the decals, and probably a final coat of Future to lock everything down, but "Break the Big Leg" is in the books!

Bart Goesaert
Nice work, and not only on this model... those bases are great...

Nathan Dempsey
I agree, the bases really add that extra coolness factor.

Patrick Hagelstein
Very cool collection!

Stephan Ryll
Very cool work 👍

Konrad -
That is so cool 👍! I've never seen this kind of series but the planes look fantastic! 👍👍👍

Donald Dickson II
One very sincere and heartfelt WOW!

Tom ...
I missed this one. Another fabulous creation again. How do you keep up this level of creativity and output? Most impressive and humbling. Definitely starting to look crowded. No chance of some kind of display case somewhere else in the house?

Also, I'm making my first 1:35 (jeep) model and it's strange to work on something so small. Can't imaging building 1:144 and 1:72 like you do.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I seem to have this need to "collect" my builds and I use the bases to tie them together. I'm quite proud of my Tintin displays, and these Area 88 builds are now a very close second. Despite the fact that the large decals on the base sometimes give me fits, I really like how they look - the trick is often how to build around them. I wanted to have the targeting flare that Shin lays down in the F-4E for Saki's bomb run in the B-1, but there just wasn't enough base to work with. The locust swarm was another challenge, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to add just the right amount of sand to the "chicken" show down between the T-62/Jeep. All fun though.😉

Greg Baker
Tom - the level of creativity drives the output. I have at least 10 more Area 88 1/144 builds in mind, all clamouring to get to the top. The T-62/Jeep one will be done quickly enough, as will the F-100D... so I'm hoping to dust off the DC-10/Kfir project that got stalled while I waited for parts... that is unless one of the other 20 or so Tintin builds I have in mind are able to wrest control of my current build focus.😉

Nathan Dempsey
Thanks to Greg's builds I've realized Hasegawa is doing many Area 88 planes in larger scales too...😢

Greg Baker
Yes indeed... and I have all the 1/72 scale ones in my stash already.😉

Michael Hickey
Awesome, a very nice collection you have their my friend.👍

Bart Goesaert
well to be honest, glad to be on the blog to... there's the complete background story for these gem's and what they depict..

Greg Baker
Thanks Bart, that's right! strobez.ca is my blog, and I post up each of these builds with my own musings about the subject matter and why I chose it, the highlights/lowlights of the build itself, as well as both Final and WIP picture albums. For the Area 88 1/144 builds, I also include the 5-10 pages of the manga that gives you the story they're pulled from.

Greg Baker
Added some final glamour pics...