AREA 88: "Flamenco Flight" (Buccaneer)

Nils Steyaert
looks easy enough, does this snap-kit come with decals?

Greg Baker
Yes, well, already applied. I tried to lift the Buccaneer marking, but ended up tearing it to pieces. It's got that really thick gashapon paint and assembly was quite sloppy, so I decided to tear it down and clean it up. Hopefully it works.

Matthew A
Found this warning about painting britmodeller.com/for..urn-buccaneer-xn976/

Greg Baker
Yeah, I've seen that. I suspect he tried to just paint over it... that would be difficult as the paint has some kind of varnish on it. I'm stripping it to bare plastic (which is some kind of resin I think), but I think it should take paint all right.

Famous
Last
Words....

You heard them here first... 😉

Spanjaard
The 1/144 master attacks again 🙂

Matthew A
wish I bought one of these now - I had thought that they are die-cast

Greg Baker
Well, it's not too late... 🙂

Matthew A
I could have got one for £3 can't find any buccaneers now and they are over £20

Greg Baker
I got mine off Yahoo Japan, so it was a bit cheaper than that, but not much after shipping. In 1/144 though, there's really no choice between this one and the Welsh Models vacuuform.

The paint stripping is a bit slow going, but mainly because I don't want to just soak it in lacquer thinner. I also added some LEDs to the inside of the fuselage before I close it up again. The plastic is so translucent that I'm worried about the light shining through the fuselage. I'm already fighting that battle with my DC-10 project.

Matthew A
You could make a black paper tube to put round the LEDs or if there is room stick some electrical tape in

Spanjaard
Aluminium foil.....

Matthew A
That's a great idea

Greg Baker
yeah... I have some very thin foil that I might try. The metallic paint from Tamiya seems to have done the trick on the DC-10 project, so I'll try that first. But the foil is a strong "Plan B". 😉

Spanjaard
🙂

Greg Baker
The underside panel was quite strange. It was made out of a flexible vinyl. I wonder if this was intended as a battery hatch for something? Well, it needs to go, but luckily I have some tubing that can be scratched into a replacement panel cover.

Nils Steyaert
it was propably intended to be optionally built with the underbelly bombbay open.

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Greg Baker
Thanks Nils. That's probably a good guess. I mean, it is the space for the bomb bay. I'm just curious why they'd stick a piece of vinyl in there though. Kits come with pieces that telegraph future plans for variants, but in this case the flexible vinyl means you can pop it in and out. So I'm curious why you'd need that?

Well, regardless, I've scratched up a replacement which looks satisfactory in my opinion. With the wires in place though, I decided to try out the stand. I'm going to use some clear tubing for the stand as usual, but I added a bit of a bend to it using a candle. A simple little thing, but I think it already adds something to the presentation.

Matthew A
Good job. Using the tube for the bomb bay was a good idea. Remember seeing a buc's bomb bay rotating when I was a nipper.

Greg Baker
Thanks Matthew. I like when a simple idea just works as it's supposed to. I've been sanding it into submission, so I think a coat of primer will show me what's left to do.

Chip H
Which issue of Area 88 is this from? I don't recall it. I love that series though.

Greg Baker
It was not part of the story that was translated into English by Viz/Eclipse. That series ended with issue 42 (although there was the equivalent of about 7 more issues (up to 49) published later in Animerica). This sequence would have been issues 60-61. It is adapted in the Anime though... so it may seem familiar.

Chip H
Ah, that explains it. I'll have to see about getting the other issues then. Thank you!

Greg Baker
Put some primer on... and as expected, it showed me EVERYTHING I still need to do... it's a long list apparently. I really hope at the end, this looks better than it did when I started... no promises though.

Greg Baker
I dunno... I put in a lot of work on the engine intakes... but I'm not sure it looks much better. At least they're wider/thinner now... and there's no seam.

Chris Greathouse
It's another bent gas pokey 😄

Matthew A
Should those pilots be flying whilst legless

Greg Baker
LMAO... possibly not recommended... snicker

Slavo Hazucha
For Pirates & Buccaneers, the absence of a leg is a sign of prowess & seniority! Everything as should be I´d say...

Greg Baker
Waking this project up from the dead.

Greg Baker
Getting close to the end... will have to make some difficult decisions regarding the decals needed. How to make 1/144 scale homemade decals that need a white background... hmmm...

Chip H
Use existing white decal film.

Greg Baker
There's an idea... now let's see if I can find some... 😉

Erik De Smet
I was missing this build

Erik De Smet
Greg try the following trick: print your design on transparent decal sheet as for the base, but in mirror view, and paint the white areas on the decal with enamel . Apply the decal backwards, the white Will be underneath.

Greg Baker
Now that's a very good idea. I'll try that one and see how we make out.

Nils Steyaert
great looking buccaneer, and thanks Erik for the tip, might have to try that myself.

John Thomas
More great work

Greg Baker
Well, I tried Erik's trick, but at 1/144 scale... it was too small to manage. I ended up just using white-backed decal paper and cutting it as close as possible to the edges. It's certainly not perfect (and I'm not quite happy) but it was the best of some poor options... so it is what it is. I almost forgot to paint and mount the missiles, but other than that, this one is done.

Matthew Stec
Great job!! I like the anime also!!

Nils Steyaert
amazing work, decals turned out alright 👍

Matthew A
Looks like the manga come to life

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I painted the missiles and added them tonight, so expect some more close up "glamour" shots soon. I'll show all the flaws~ 😉

Greg Baker
And here we go... some final shots.

Chris Greathouse
As always your builds are awesome!

Slavo Hazucha
Love the pose... Really hits the spirit of the story scene 👍

Spanjaard
terrific 👍

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I've updated the gallery here with the "final pics", but I've also update my personal blog - strobez.ca/wp/index...enco-flight-area-88/ - for anyone interested in getting the "behind the scenes" view on this build, as well as reading a few pages of the Area 88 manga that this build was inspired by.

Alex K
The "gashapon" (a term I learned thanks to Greg) Buccaneer was one of those projects I was looking forward to, as to their resurrection and completion. And it turned out great. Superb action "glamour" shots... And (is it because of the contrast to the plane's dark color scheme?) the exhaust LEDs look great!