1/48 Academy Flanker B

by Shaun Foo

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Hi! Greetings from Singapore! This is my first posting on ARC, and this is my 1/48 scale Academy Flanker, built OOB. I've been hanging around for some time on this site, and the learning experience has been invaluable.  

The kit is one of the better ones I've seen, although as many have already said, the cockpit detail really leaves much to be desired.

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I avoided the shark mouth decals provided with the kit... that design makes Flipper look aggressive! Since Flanker No. 08 had that shark pattern, which I didn't want to model, I decided that inverting the kit decals would allow me to built Flanker No. 80 instead. Incidentally I saw a picture of Flanker No. 80 on Airliners.net, although much of my work is really guesswork.

The lazy version of me would avoid the all the masking required to get those missiles airbrushed, but this time round was an exception. The long range AA-10 Alamos provided in the kit were too long and spindly, but I used them anyway thanks to budget constraints. Lovely AA-11 Archers though. 

The pilot was scavenged from an old Sea Harrier I had. I had to cut the poor bugger's legs off and sand down his butt down in order to squeeze him into the cockpit... Ouch! 

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This kit was a first in many respects for me. It was my first attempt at preshading, freehand airbrushing, panel line washing (raw umber and red poster colours mixed with handwashing soap) and burnt metal finishes apart from just painting the exhausts pure Tamiya Gunmetal , so go easy on a rookie okay?

Anyway, the entire kit was painted with Gunze and Tamiya acrylics, mixed and matched to get a faded looking Flanker. A sewing needle was used to replace the pitot tube in the nose.

I couldn't resist posing the Flanker head to head with its traditional rival, the F-15C Eagle, which it outperforms in many respects (although its avionics and maintenance leave much to be desired).

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable project!

Shaun

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Photos and text © by Shaun Foo