I am relatively new to the forum, so I figured that I should post something. This is a patrol helicopter used by the A.D. Police from the Japanese OVA series “Bubblegum Crisis.” This is a very old project that I probably started when the videos were being released. It got put away when I couldn’t figure out how to do some things, but was dusted off a few years ago and is more or less finished. Well, around 95% finished. The model is basically sheet plastic and epoxy putty, and was based on eyeball guesstimations from the line art produced for the shows. The scale is ostensibly 1/72. Unfortunately, I didn’t bother to take any progress photos (I didn’thave a digital camera in the 1980s), nor did I photograph the unfinished model when it was resurrected. My apologies. Anyway, here are some current photos of it.
I still need to pull a nice clean vac formed canopy, and there are a couple of small bits for the cockpit to be added. I will add a pilot figure as well. The clear coat has sat for so long that it has shrunk, revealing decal film edges big time, so I will also need to polish the entire model down. I also need to make a suitable permanent display stand, maybe something with a period feel to it.
This model represents a time in my life when I had the energy and enthusiasm to attempt such things. I am older and much lazier now, and would probably not attempt a project like this today. The only thing I have over my younger self is that I have learned a lot of dirty shortcuts along the way.
The canopy in the photo has a dust blemish, and is not as clear as I would like it to be. I used scrap blister packaging to do it, so a proper sheet of clear plastic should do the trick. It’s a real bugger to keep the master clean when vac forming stuff. Dust just likes to stick to it or the clear sheet. I also vac formed the red partol lights, and again I need to pull some new ones, as they are not 100% perfect.
The stencil decals are from Satellite, a Japanese aftermarket company. The sheets come in black, red, white, grey, and yellow, I think. The grey sheet is crap, as the ink is very translucent compared to the other colors.
The figure will be a modified US helicopter pilot, modified appropriately. Sorry, no svelte woman in form-fitting armor in this one.
I have other “lost projects”, including a 1/20 A.D. Police powered suit and a Combat Boomer. The powered suit still needs legs, a rethink on the entire jointing system, and a clear visor with pilot head. The Boomer is not salvageable, as it is made from some polymer clay type material that refused to harden. A guy in my local model club is starting to cast resin stuff, so maybe I can fix up the parts enough to get molds from them. This will be a slow cooker project that I probably won’t get to any time soon. Plus, I can’t remember where I left the parts. Sorry guys.
Bubblegum Crisis, as well as the other 1980-era Japanese OVAs, had the coolest machine designs IMHO. My greatest disappointment was that kits rarely followed, and the few that did were usually the main characters only, and were in expensive resin. That’s why I attempted to make my own models. But I didn’t have any sophisticated tools or materials, so I ran into a lot of difficulties forming parts. That’s what killed it for me back then. I learned a lot in the ensuing 25 years, which allowed me to dust off the helicopter and move it closer to being finished. The problem now is that I’m older, slower, lazier, and my vision is declining. But I am trying to ramp up my building, so as they say, stay tuned!
Very cool! Impressive work with all those complex curves, I’ve done only a little scratch-building and that’s only slab-sided simple subjects.Kudos to you for tackling something so complex. And looks like you’re about 90% or more finished from what you have.
BTW: Maybe a HO scale railroad figure could provide a female pilot? I think it’s 1/87 so it would be a little small. Anyway if you use a 1/72nd pilot a little putty could provide a sex change without much work.
Actually, the majority of the model was built from flat sheet plastic shapes filled in with epoxy putty. The engine module was the only thing that needed any real contouring; it was like sculpting a human nose! The cockpit tub had to be hollow, so a balsa wood master was carved and some 0.040 sheet plastic was vac formed from it. The canopy was done in a similar way, although I used polyester putty for the master. The flying surfaces are laminated sheet plastic carved to airfoil sections, although the fins have blunt leading and trailing edges because I though that is what the line art showed. I could have been wrong though.
I have a helicopter pilot selected for the model, but he is male. I am trying to replicate the machine that appeared in the first BGC episode, and the pilot was a standard grunt. I am not particularly good at modifying figures, so I think I will hold off unti I get to the Aoshima Motoslave to try any cosmetic surgery!
That kit is another kettle of fish - it is a really poor looking, barking mad dog of a model. The figure of Priss in her hardsuit looks like an ultra low quality toy that even the collectors would reject. The Motoslave was actually my pipe dream Holy Grail scratch build project back in the 80s, but even with the appearance of the Aoshima kit, I may still try to scratch one up.
But as Smeagol said, you either have the energy and time, or know-how, but never all at once!
Huh-huh. Nah, these guys are the A.D. Police - they are the ones who are always getting squashed! Plus, note that there are no guns or weapons of any kind on the model. The show featured two other similar but larger designs, and they were gunships with machine guns. But they got squashed too. It sucks being the “red shirts.”
Wow, it has been over a year since the last post in this thread, but the model is finally finished! I had to rush some things through and made some mistakes as a result, but I’m calling it done.
The pilot was a modified CMK resin US Army helicopter pilot. I had to cut almost every joint to get him to sit properly. The “R” on his helmet was snipped from a Bandai decal sheet. The “nerf bar” behind his seat was changed at the last minute because the original looked too fat.
Mike Grant instrument decals were also slapped into the empty dials in an attempt to dress up the sucky looking panels.
The stand came from a Fine Molds Y-Wing Fighter kit. I covered the top with sheet styrene to show a bit of interesting detail. Due to time constraints, I used Tamiya rattle cans to take advantage of the fast drying time. The “AIC” lettering is a homage to the animation studio Artmic’s habit of putting their initials on the backgrounds of the shows they did.
The pilot had to be chopped up quite a bit before he could fit. I cut his elbows and knees, chopped him at the waist, and split his legs. I tacked the pieces together with gap filler CA, then Mr Surfacer cut with Mr Color Thinner, applied with a fine brush, was used to fill back the contours in the clothing. It was a good thing that resin is impervious to solvents, as this allowed patching to proceed very quickly.
Now I have to get back to Bsyamnato’s OYW group build!
