AREA 88: "Blue Cheese 7" (Learjet 35)

Greg Baker
The other half of the "Blue Cheese 7" project. I think I'll start on the MiG-21s first, but I'm eager to get this one underway as well.

Nils Steyaert
following 🙂

Jay Dubya
This is going to be gouda

Greg Baker
AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Bart Goesaert
looking good... You won't model this one in the cloud cover? One large cottonball? 😉

Daniel Klink
count me in! 👍

Greg Baker
I plan to include a bit of cloud on the base... but not obscuring this masterpiece...😉

Martin Oostrom
Hold your horses! You are claiming a masterpiece yourself? We'll be the judge of that and you'll accept our regular judgement: masterpiece

Dave Flitton
Watching

Sergej I
Wow! Following!

Jay Dubya
Glad it wasn't made backwards Greg, that'd be edam.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I decided to finish up the other half of this build project first, so I can turn my full attention to this baby... but the encouraging words help!

Chris Greathouse
Following for when you come back! 😄

Greg Baker
Won't be long... the Porco Rosso build has captured my attention for the moment, but I just need a bit of masking and painting to finish off the MiG-21 side of this build... so it won't be long before I get back to work on this one.

Jay Dubya
Have you abandoned this thread Greg? I've a couple more cheesy jokes for you !

Greg Baker
Whoops! I forgot I split this build between two albums! Thanks for the reminder, I've switched the pics, so we're all good now.

So lay on the cheese. I'm ready!😉

Jay Dubya
Sorry I'm just not familiar with the blue cheese story Greg. Is the pilot Gordon Zola?

Derek Huggett
....Or the Stinking Bishop? 😄

Spanjaard
I am in, of course

Jay Dubya
Does the Learjet get shot down by a MIG missile Greg? There would be de-brie everywhere!

Sergej I
Is there a full comic to this somewhere online? Would love to read 🙂

Greg Baker
J W... groan...

Keep 'em coming!😉

Nathan Dempsey
Can't wait to see where this one goes.

Jay Dubya
Where's that Peter Hardy? He usually pops up on Greg's threads to say haloumi

Matthew A
JW knows his onions.

Greg Baker
Yeah... maybe he's cheesed off... but I don't know what I Gouda done to deserve it...

Oh well. I spent most of tonight's modelling session reviewing the Area 88/Tintin decal set I'm creating, Then after I finally got to the work bench, the first thing I did was fling a tiny little Learjet window into the stratosphere. So most of the second half was spent on the floor. Luckily it eventually turned up and I was slowly and carefully able to get all the windows in place. The windscreen was a particular challenge. There's a little lip that needs to fit under the nose of the fuselage, but I couldn't get it to fit snugly and hold in place long enough to glue it. After a while things started smooshing around a bit, so I ended up having to slice off the tabs and just carefully glue it to the side of the fuselage. I hope it holds.

There's some putty and sanding in my future, but it's starting to come together now.

Matthew A
With lights that bright there's no hiding from the MiGs

Greg Baker
Oh, shush... you're ruining it for everyone... 😛

Nils Steyaert
looks good, love the lighting 🙂

Chris Greathouse
Wow! With that foil those lights really light up the cabin well 😄

Jay Dubya
Come on Greg, I'm just trying to ensure your Stella work remains at the top of the daily Newsfeed by Kraft-ing each Single comment to Fetta-in a reference to your subject title!

Greg Baker
LMAO!

Greg Baker
I started sanding the seams, but then realized I had a few more parts to put on. So, after some careful cutting and glueing, I got the wheel wells sealed up, added the wing tip tanks and got the engines sorted out for painting. I think it might be starting to look like something now.

Jay Dubya
So I know how the story ends Greg, is this what happens? Seconds from being shot down by the 3 Migs, desperate to avert the impending disaster, the Mexican pilot calls East German air traffic control and yells "Nachos cheese amigos" ?!!?

Jay Dubya
Random Painting Tip: I heard that the best cheese for putting camouflage onto a P-51 Mustang is mascarpone

Greg Baker
LOL thanks for the tip JW! So, after what seems like endless sanding, painting, sanding and painting, I'm calling it even on the Learjet. The passenger windows still bother me a bit, but cutting out such small window openings and fitting in the clear parts provided was a real challenge. And then stuffing the inside full of aluminium foil created problems as well.. so all in all, I'm not going to complain. There's still a coat of grey to do on the underside of the fuselage, but we're getting close now.

Nigel
Edam well deserves a medal for all that sanding, painting, sanding, and painting!

Matthew A
So how does it end? Does Greg roquefort the clouds and turn off the lights so the MiG's cheese after another over lite plane?

Greg Baker
It ends... by me putting down the soldering iron and walking away...😉

I'm actually sad to see this build project come to an end... the cheese puns alone were worth the price of admission. 🙂 The Learjet was surprisingly difficult to get to settle down. As I mentioned, I created some of the problems myself; this would've been a much cleaner build for someone not trying to install LED lights. Oh, well. It's done. The panel wash could've been a bit better I think, but I'm always a bit hit and miss with that.

This build depicts Greg's "origin story" - basically how he came to become a mercenary and join Area 88. After being dishonourably discharged from the Danish Air Force (for reasons never explained), he starts a "defection taxi" service (with the call sign Blue Cheese 7) for people trapped behind the Iron Curtain. In this particular pick up, The compass breaks down, and he ends up drifting over East Germany (hence the MiGs). Then, the lady he's trying to rescue shoots him in the shoulder after she panics and thinks he's going to turn her in to the East Germans. Then, after finally arriving in London, the rescue is all for naught because the lady's waiting husband turns out to be a Soviet sleeper agent and kills her AND her daughter. Greg kills the KGB agents before they can "remove any witnesses" and then he and his co-pilot Bugsy have no choice but to drop off the map and join a civil war in the Middle East to avoid detection.

John Thomas
Hey Greg, you always have great story displays and bases

Chris Greathouse
I love the direction of #22... You get a cool view of the chase.... fantastic Greg!

Slavo Hazucha
Great build & a cool story 👍 I really like the MiG swarm, they look sharp & aggressive in their silver finish, a properly good show! 👍

Spanjaard
looks great Greg 🙂

Daniel
great dynamic dio, and a cool cold war story behind it, those migs look like they shoot first and ask questions later! i especially like picture 17

Nathan Dempsey
Great finish to the story and the build Greg🙂

Urban Gardini
Nice mate! A comment for the future. As you noticed it isn't enough with black paint to hinder the light to shine through. But to make it more simple for you in the future I can say that the foil isn't necessary at all. No, just paint the inside of the plastic with silver paint and thereafter with black if you wish to do so. The thing is that silver paint do block light from shining through.

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! I'm really glad you like the pics. I do try to make them a little interesting, rather than just the standard poses. Also, Urban, thanks for the tip. I did spray the interior with a metallic paint to try and block out the light, but it didn't work well enough for my taste. Of course, it was a dark iron rather than a shiny silver, so maybe that's where my mistake was. I'll remember the tip for next time.

For anyone who's interested, I updated my blog - strobez.ca/wp/index...ue-cheese-7-area-88/ Same pics... but a bit more of the manga pages to read~

Michael Hickey
Now that looks cool.👍👍👍

Jay Dubya
Co-pilot 'Bugsy' - I thought he'd be Chad Darr ?!!?

Nils Steyaert
looks great, those MiG's look mean 🙂

Stephan Ryll
Very cool dio and good work Greg 👍

Sergej I
Bravo! Looks superb! I love the A-B lights in the MiGs 🙂

Greg Baker
Hey, thanks guys! I'm glad you all like it!

Jay Dubya
And so ends Greg's homage to fromage

Dave Flitton
hahahahaha