italeri sr71 blackbird.

[wookiee76]

Hi guys, this is my second gb/ following the d day 48hr build so please be gentle
I take it nobody has any issues with the worlds most iconic spyplane!

[wookiee76]

How it looked in the box, no bags except for the clear parts and no protective paper over the decals with the upper fuselage having some fairly serious scratches.

[wookiee76]

The obligatory sprue and decal pictures, some flash evident on most parts especially the smaller ones, decals are high gloss and fairly thick. Some raised panel lines too, this could get interesting.

[wookiee76]

Main upper fuselage and cockpit tub built, not exactly tricky i know but I'll try to make it look at least respectable.
I will be building it as the non drone version, the new cockpit shape just messes with the lines of the plane plus it means i can practice/figure out painting and weathering something black on the drone.

[martin57]

BEST of luck with it , intrested to see what you do with the painting , i have never painted an all black aircraft before .

[wookiee76]

Thanks, im considering starting out with a really dark grey to start with and shading from there, hence building the drone first, its only 5 parts and practicing/experimenting on that. Shes a big bird for 1 72 scale, 41.5cm long!

[Ads24]

AWSOME choice of subject! Looking forward to following your build...

[wookiee76]

Thanks although i dont think this will take too long to build, he says hoping and praying that the larger parts go together properly!

[wookiee76]

Cockpit parts all painted and then installed, other than some slight adjustments to the instrument panels it all went together well, paints used were vallejo model air u.s. grey and chrome along with citadel skull white, ruby red and sunburst yellow. I painted the inside of the fuselage chrome so that the camera windows on the underside didnt resemble black holes.
Also a quick mock up of the larger pieces.

[martin57]

Nice start, hope the rest goes ok for you

[wookiee76]

Thanks, thankfully the four fuselage pieces all went together well with no obvious gaping chasms and i have also attached the tail fins, engine intakes and painted the engine fans and nozzles in vallejo model air steel. The drone is assembled, all five pieces and base coated with us grey from which i intend to experiment with differing shades to figure out how to paint the mothership as it were.
Also a side by side comparison with a 1 72 typhoon as i still cant get over how big the sr71 is.

[mincemeat]

Hey Wookie, good luck on your build!

Here is an official shot of the Blackbird at the Air & Space museum near my place of residence. It is quite a big bird in person. On the starboard engine you can see the different shades of black. You may want to try starting with a lightened flat black and post shade with very diluted straight black. Don't take my word for it, black birds still scare me and I've yet to do one, just a thought.

I just realized how many lights there are on this plane. More than any other in the hanger. The place is not especially highly lit, so I imagine if they didn't, it would just be a large dark object.

Go here to see the full res image: http://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-l ... 0Blackbird

[wookiee76]

Cheers and thanks for the encouragement mincemeat, im thinking of starting with a dark grey base and then darkening from there, will have to try to make any details really pop and make sure the decals are right.

[wookiee76]

So i added the undercarriage, engine nozzles and all is built, only 47 parts all told so not exactly tricky, think there were more parts in the gun on the afv paladin im also building!

[Jack]

Looks great so far mate keep up the good work.

[wookiee76]

Thanks jack, got the ole bird in undercoat, not primer as the raised panel lines are so fine i didnt want to risk losing the detail even though im not sure how i will pick them out yet.

[ladip63]

Looking good!! I use to have the 1/48 Blackbird and it was about 2 feet long. Wish I still had but...

[BaldyBuilderBoy]

Great start to this iconic aircraft mate. It is a big bird, I remember building a 1/72 Blackbird as a kid ( Cycled a 30 mile round trip to the only shop I knew that stocked them at the time ) and being amazed that I could sit my 1/72 Hawk on one engine nacelle. Wish I could remember what happened to them both.
BBB

[wookiee76]

Thanks chaps, i finally mixed up what i feel to be a dark enough colour to pass for a slightly faded black but that should still show up a pure black pin wash, a 60/40 mix of black and u.s. grey model air. Also clear coated ready for detail painting and decals although i will have to rely on the box art and reference pictures to figure out placement as the instructions are worse than vague.

[martin57]

Excellent work looking very smart

[schweinhund227]

Keep up the good work !

She is an old one but... always looks impressive once built !

[wookiee76]

Progress was somewhat slowed over the weekend due to the battle of britain build but the old lump is finished, pics to follow later.
Other than a couple of silvered decals on the bottom which lets be honest wont get seen once she is shelfbound everything went together well and i figured out where the decals were supposed to go. Not a great kit but then not a bad one either any issues were caused by me and i managed to hide any mess ups pretty well!