Finally completed - 1/48 Hasegawa VF-1J Super/ Strike

[vincemoto7]

I finally completed it.  I didn't want to paint this one up in the traditional hero colors so I made this as a tribute to another hero of mine... my father.

The squadron decals are of VF-124 "Gunfighters", the first one he was assigned to when he got stationed at Miramar back in the good ol' days.  

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pics.  Hope you like it, constructive criticism welcome.

 

[SpiceWeasel]

Great build

Really like your take on the Gunfighters paint scheme

[peter]

Nice job, I hope mine turns out that nice when I eventually get to it.  Big fan of gray Valkyries

Was it easier to do wheels up on the 1/48 compared to the 1/72?  

Are you going to mount it to a stand or something?

I did wheels up on my 1/72s, but I didn't want to drill any holes in them so I just balanced them on spare hex keys I had laying around.  It's really sketchy, lol!

 

 

 

[ulvdemon]

Awesome build.  Love the colors and the squadron selection.

[Photogirl]

niiiiiice

[MechTech]

That's cool you did that to honor your father! Great build and great finish! I think you got just the right amount of weathering on there, especially for a Navy bird. - MT

[vincemoto7]

Thanks guys!

@peter - I think wheels up was about the same on either, easier on the 1/48 because the wheel well door pieces are bigger.  I had to file the edges down a little so they would fit but not a big deal.  After that I just stuffed the wheel wells full of Plastic-Weld epoxy putty and put the doors right on top.  It's not the cleanest, I had to re-do some panel lines and one of the doors on the front gear had popped out a little while the epoxy was hardening so it's totally uneven.  Btw, your 1/72's in formation are really nice.

 

 

 

[Thom]

Cool looking bird, and a very good looking tribute at that! Nice gray scheme and weathering.

[Bolt]

Looks awesome. Great job

[Capt Hungry]

Beautiful work! And a nice tribute to your father. 

[DWN013]

I'm a simple man, I see valks customised after USN / USMC squadrons and I upvote.  Great work!  Can I ask what your old man did in the RAG?

[vincemoto7]

On 11/11/2020 at 4:51 PM, DWN013 said:

I'm a simple man, I see valks customised after USN / USMC squadrons and I upvote.  Great work!  Can I ask what your old man did in the RAG?

Thanks DWN013.  

My father was an aircraft mechanic, more specifically, he worked on tomcat airframes. Back in the day, usually a day before the Miramar air show, he would bring me and my friends to the hangar and we'd get an up close, behind the scenes look at all fighters. I also got to do a tiger cruise one year, for those that don't know that's when kids got to meet up with their dad's in Hawaii and sail back to San Diego with them. He was on the USS Ranger at the time and that was awesome, one the best parts of my childhood. 

[derex3592]

Awesome story @vincemoto7! 

[ChristopherB]

Great job, I really like the decals and paint scheme!

[Ridden001]

I like how you painted the tips of the missiles to look like the opaque lense covers of those early version Infrared Seekers.  
 

if that wasn’t what you were trying to do, you pulled it off anyway.  You nailed the color.

I added the Aurora and Smoke lenses to the tips of my DX Missiles to act as seeker heads and that detail really brings those missiles to life.  The early IR missiles and some IR/Radar combination missiles have a grey/yellow color to them and the more modern pure IR seekers essentially look like camera domes at the tip of the missile.

looks great man, you really did a great job.  I’m sure your Father would be proud.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Ridden001

[vincemoto7]

On 12/7/2020 at 12:58 AM, Ridden001 said:

I like how you painted the tips of the missiles to look like the opaque lense covers of those early version Infrared Seekers.  
 

if that wasn’t what you were trying to do, you pulled it off anyway.  You nailed the color.

I added the Aurora and Smoke lenses to the tips of my DX Missiles to act as seeker heads and that detail really brings those missiles to life.  The early IR missiles and some IR/Radar combination missiles have a grey/yellow color to them and the more modern pure IR seekers essentially look like camera domes at the tip of the missile.

looks great man, you really did a great job.  I’m sure your Father would be proud.

Thank you Ridden001.  

I didn't do anything special to the missiles., just paint from a airbrush that needed to be cleaned.  I wish I had the attention to detail that you have.  I'd like to see what you did the DX missiles, you should post some pics.

[Ridden001]

21 hours ago, vincemoto7 said:

Thank you Ridden001.  

I didn't do anything special to the missiles., just paint from a airbrush that needed to be cleaned.  I wish I had the attention to detail that you have.  I'd like to see what you did the DX missiles, you should post some pics.

Just making sure things are clear, I in know way critiqued your work in a negative light. Your detail is much better than mine.  
 

Somehow your photo makes the tips of the missiles look like a different color.

attached are photos of the missiles with seeker heads, I really think it brings them to life.  But again this isn’t a “you should have done this” 

Edited December 13, 2020 by Ridden001
Grammar

[vincemoto7]

On 12/12/2020 at 1:43 PM, Ridden001 said:

Just making sure things are clear, I in know way critiqued your work in a negative light. Your detail is much better than mine.  
 

Somehow your photo makes the tips of the missiles look like a different color.

attached are photos of the missiles with seeker heads, I really think it brings them to life.  But again this isn’t a “you should have done this” 

All good Ridden001, I didn't think you were critiquing me at all. 

I like what you did to your missiles.  I think it's a great little detail and I don't recall seeing that done before.  I'm working on a another 1/48 Valkyrie right now, I'm gonna turn it into a cannon fodder VF-1A, I think I'm going add your missile detail to the loadout.  Where did you get the lenses from?

[Ridden001]

Site lenses for Zaku’s on eBay, they come on what looks like a sticker sheet, not the ones with metal parts.

Edited December 14, 2020 by Ridden001