Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy

One more airliner I decided to try. Wanted something I had actually flown on as a kid. Added LACI flaps; was tougher than I thought and didn't go as well as hoped. Even with a lifetime of modeling military aircraft, I was surprised at how many basic mistakes I was trying to overcome. I must say you airline builders are most skilled in your area of specialty! Also replaced the strut of the nose gear, after learning from a NWA build how weak that part is. Also reshaped the lip of the tail intake to be sharper, and made clear wingtip lights.

Okay, while making the horns, I still had to keep readjusting, as I realized they were a bit too long out to the sides. Finally got the bodywork on it sorted, and painted. I deliberately used brush painting for the central mount, as from the photos it appears to have that "wrapped" look. Had a license plate made by a decal company that does custom work. Turns out they were not waterslide decals, but photo decals in which you use the paper backing. So, I used bare metal foil for the reverse side of the plate, in case anyone was able to glance behind it from one

Besides the main weapons bay, I really liked the idea from another build I found online of two tiny additional bays for self defense AAMs. As I wanted this to be a late Cold War bird, which is when the model was produced, I figured R-60/AA-8s would be feasible, even though R-73s/AA-11s would be more desirable. Why did I go with the 60's? Because I had a pair of 60's that I had modified the forward fins on. And because I had no 73s. After cutting out for the small bays, I changed my mind about the shape of the forward end, and added wedge shapes to give

Well, I'm hoping the weapons bay fits snugly under it....somewhere between the bay and the dorsal intakes....

I tried figuring if any Soviet/Russian air-to-ground weaponry would fit into the tiny weapons bays. NOTHING. Worse yet, Russian A-G missiles are pretty huge. I finally realized a solution. Connect the two weapons bays, fore to aft, right through the maingear wells, and it would be JUST BARELY big enough to hold a single Kh-31 missile, perfect for a Wild Weasel type. Also add two smaller bays for a pair of self-defense AAM's. The gear legs themselves already mount 'way outboard, so they won't have to be moved for the bays to be connected. So, extend the gear bays fo

I was 17 when I bought the original 1/48th release when it came out in 1988. I know it isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, but I totally loved it. So ugly that it grabbed my heart. As I grew up and went through flight school, I realized the problems in this otherwise neat bit of fiction. PROBLEM 1: It can't carry hardly anything in its TINY bays to make it worthwhile to operate in the first place. PROBLEM 2: Really, it is about 30-35% too small. A stealth plane with internal weapons bays should be plenty larger than an A-7 Corsair. Even the undersized cockpit barely fits

Ok, a little more. Finished the modified/corrected bumpers, plus the re-chromed parts, corrected the taillights from the Cabriolet kit, and started the steer horns.

The "Klingon Cloaking Device" was a prop created for one of the "Nighthawk Corsairs'" deployments. The rumor mill was strong that this was the unit that flew the mythical Stealth Fighters in the Nevada desert. So, they took a napalm-cannister-turned-luggage-pod and did it up with a big flashing light, false aerials, nuclear markings and a "Reactor Cooling Fill Port" marking, creating a most sinister underwing store! The idea was to say "the A-7 is the REAL stealth plane, thanks to this nuclear pod!"

Another addition to my Stealth/XST/F-117A series I did earlier this year. It was the F-117 pilots' cover story; they could truly say they flew A-7's, at least by day. It handled similarly to their "real" mount. Fujimi kit, Aires cockpit, Wolfpak decals (sadly OOP). Scratch-built "Klingon Cloaking Device" pod, one of the great military disinformation pranks of modern times 😄

Decided to take the bottom of a FineMolds TIE Fighter base and reshape it to complement the Diamond's angles. Maybe I did it the hard way, but I like the result. Once the shape was established, and a bottom installed, it was filled with lead weights and liquid resin. The "pole" was also angular, depicting the subject as well as what it was actually mounted on at the radar range (sort of)(nothing round!). Once the top of the base was cut and installed, and the final bodywork and primer done, a simple spray graphite color was used. Voila.

In-progress pics. For this shape, a block sander is an ABSOLUTE necessity. Filled the gear bays, prepared to scratch build exhausts in the style of the Have Blue XST and F-117. Reshaped cockpit tub, then added kit seat from a Fujimi A-7 Corsair (correct time frame). Canopy glass was tinted goldish as on real Stealth planes. 1/2 of an Airwaves F-117 intake screen proved just right for the Diamond's fictional intakes.

Built this in the Spring as part of my Stealth/XST/F-117A collection. In reality was only a shape that Lockheed tested in the early 70s to prove their stealth approach for their XST submission. This of course led to the stunning F-117A. Unicraft 1/72 resin kit; very crude, but the airframe is workable. It was produced with the makings of a cockpit and jet exhaust, which the actual Hopeless Diamond model did NOT have, but let's face it, would be a VERY boring build without those options. The provided landing gear was pretty much unusable, but I wasn't going use it anyway, prefer

The rest of the glass is from the Aoshima kit; just gotta cut the forward sections off and discard the rest. Once black is applied for the rubber lining, I use BareMetal Foil for the metal bits. Then, all the glass is tinted with a special blend of Clear Floor Polish, food coloring and acrylic thinner. Now, here's how I make headlights. I take the appropriate size acrylic rhinestone/gemstone. Make sure it's acrylic and not glass. Use sandpaper to remove the facets, then "paint" with clear floor polish. Voila.

Took old post and added a ton of stuff to it. Thanks for looking!

Gettin' there, folks! First, windscreen had to be made from scratch, since the windscreen frame was significantly widened from the Revell Classic VW kit. Thankfully, it's flat, so, not impossible. Started with the original windscreen, traced it, then added the appropriate fill plug, on paper. Then, cut the new shape from packaging from something-or-other that my lovely wife bought (no idea what, it was in the recycling). Next, the bumpers. Closest option of the 3 kits is the Aoshima, except these represent the slightly later style wit

Ok, fine...not perfect, but close enough for now. Definitely hoping not to do that again....

Ah! Apologies!

Close, but not quite. The LFR1 is much bulkier, and has a raised area where it fits to the pylon. Here it is in 1/48: https://the48ers.com/rocket-pod-matra-type-f1-lr-f1-x-4.html

Some in-progress shots:

We Gen-X'rs and older remember well when the F-117 Stealth Fighter was rumored in the same way that government-flown UFO's are. We remember Testors' smash hit educated-guess F-19 Stealth Fighter in 1986. Then a year later, Monogram jumped on the bandwagon with their offering of same. The problem was, Monogram's version, while based on an actual concept artwork which appeared in aerospace trade magazines, their actual kit was FAR below the quality of the Testors. Almost no features to speak of, really. The 1/72 version was not only scaled down from their 1/48, it also had almos

Ok, good info, so now I'm finding 1/72 SNEB pods that are either type 23 or type 155, but neither is what is shown on my above pics....

Thank you! But not the same, the -1 seems to be bulkier than the -4. Again, maybe my imagination, but I could've sworn someone said they were in a Jaguar kit or something like that....

Hoping to find these pods in 1/72 to mount on a Mirage F.1. Seems like someone said they could be found in one of the Jaguar kits, but I can't seem to find the discussion nor any images of Jaguar kits with those pods. I *think* they're called LRF1's (?).

Besides the IRST unit under the nose being deleted, also move the huge ILS antenna to the centerline under the nose (was offset by the IRST unit on the M/MF). Also only one hinge on the tail instead of two. All 4 weapons pylons only carrying AA-2 rails (NOT AA-7's or -8's). It's the simple long-rectangular looking rails. And definitely not the huge pylons for the large AA-7's.

Sold, thanks!