I'm playing around with a new Odd'l Rockets kit based on the old Centuri fighter Fleet series. To see the Fighter Fleet, CLICK HERE
I had to draw decals from an online scan. After this first attempt there were four revisions. No matter how you try, the first decal print will be thrown away. Most details end up too large.The Centuri kit was the F-16, mine will be an F-17.
You can't sell a decal with the name "US Air Force" without paying for the rights so I settled for "US FIGHTER FORCE".
The Centuri kit had a clear canopy, this one will be card stock.
There's no real trick to drawing a canopy, you just have to dive in knowing it'll take a few revisions to get the shape to fit.
On the left is the first try.
After cutting it out the glue tabs were held down with long tweezers while the glue dried.
TIP: One trick to gluing small tabs like this is to use very little white glue.
Really hoping this makes it to production - the Centuri fighter force models were ones I never got to build as a kid. As much as the word "Fighter" ties this back to those classic models any chance you'll consider changing the final version of the decals to "United States Space (or Star) Force'? :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Openroad,
DeleteWho knows what the name will end up being. The design has already gone through many small changes. It probably won't have Space or Star in the name. It's still supposed to be a winged jet not capable of space flight.
LOL! Call it what you will - it's a sharp, evocative design - very cool. BTW, being a (very) tenured USAF/ANG NCO, I remember a brief time when there was a push to rename us as the U.S. A(erospace) F.
DeleteNot to be critical of your build, but just a minor note with regards to the shape of the canopy of a F-16 that could affect the overall look. Most of the time we envision a bubble canopy with the bulge being near the front, and the canopy having a small part of the front remaining fixed to the fuselage. The F-16 is a bit "backwards" in the respect, as the fixed portion is near the rear. The shape also has a bulge located further aft than the typical bubble canopy.
ReplyDeleteHi Naoto,
DeleteYou know a lot more about jets than me! This is a fantasy design made up of elements from a few different jets. The canopy is simply a "place holder". I'm not locked into anything in the prototype stage. I like the looks of the Centuri F-16, it's mainly based on that.
The link below has some images of the F-16 and F-15 that shows an aspect of the shape of the canopy that's not immediately obvious until you see it nearly directly from the front, or if you see one in person up close.
Deletehttp://www.f-16.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27598&f=33