K5054NZ Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 One of my dream builds has been a model of one of the two Pfalzes built for The Blue Max, the more accurate but poorer-handling G-ATIJ: 'TIJ flew in several other films until ultimately being retired to a hangar in Alabama. There it was found and its location passed on to Blue Max fan and collector Peter Jackson, who then bought it and had the sad old plane shipped to NZ. The aircraft was restored to flight - in its film scheme - at Omaka in New Zealand and flew as ZK-JPI, making its debut at the 2005 Classic Fighters Airshow. That was a highlight for me! It is now on static display at the Omaka Heritage Centre, appropriately on a red carpet, but is apparently still ready-to-fly. They have it displayed under a projector screen which shows the first "dogfight" of the film on a loop, which features this aircraft and its sister Pfalz...which Sir Peter also owns, and is used as a training aeroplane for The Vintage Aviator Limited. Like many aviation enthusiasts I love the film and when I lived in Blenheim in 2007 I visited the museum often to see this machine in person. One of the reasons was to photograph every inch - over the barriers - in preparation to build it from the 1/72 Roden kit. This is the said kit with the Encore decals and a few mods to better represent ZK-JPI. It was a looooong build but it was great to get some rigging practice and experience with pre-cut lozenge decals. AND I've finally got ZK-JPI in my collection. Now to do it all over again in 1/32 sometime down the line... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SBARC Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 That's an impressive looking model....I'm impressed it is 1/72 scale. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RotorheadTX Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Excellent!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joel_W Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Just a great presentation, and a equally outstanding model. It's hard to believe that it's in 1/72 scale, which makes it all that much more impressive. Joel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K5054NZ Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 (edited) Thanks gents, I appreciate your kind words. Steve and Joel - high praise coming from you, thank you! (No offence my dear RotorheadTX ) This was my first rigged model and my first experience with decal instead of paint for the vast majority of the model. I've learned new skills and have some things to fix - and improve in future builds - but above all I finally have a model of one of my favourite aircraft. This is also on my to-do list in 1/32 down the line. Edited July 7, 2015 by K5054NZ Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skystreak80 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 (edited) Thanks gents, I appreciate your kind words. Steve and Joel - high praise coming from you, thank you! (No offence my dear RotorheadTX ) This was my first rigged model and my first experience with decal instead of paint for the vast majority of the model. I've learned new skills and have some things to fix - and improve in future builds - but above all I finally have a model of one of my favourite aircraft. This is also on my to-do list in 1/32 down the line. Amazing job on this little model. I Have built Wingnut Wings 1/32 version i also have their 1/32 Gotha yet to build !!! Edited July 18, 2015 by skystreak80 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rocat Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 1/72 scale ?!? Amazing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K5054NZ Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 skystreak - I'd like to build this machine from the WNW kit, but I need to get a couple of their other builds under my belt first. Rocat - sure is. Looking at the photos, it looks like a 1/48 kit to me! Thanks for the kind words! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SERNAK Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Impressive work though I think the lightning you have used to take the pictures undermine the quality of your build. Edited July 20, 2015 by SERNAK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K5054NZ Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 I completely agree! I plan on taking new photos with much better lighting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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