AREA 88: "A Wild Goose Chase" (SEPECAT Jaguar)

Greg Baker
I needed a bit of a break from my ongoing 1/72 scale builds... so instead of finishing off some of the 1/144 ones that are on the back burner, I decided to start a new one, of course!

Martin Oostrom
Very wise decision. The only viable one naturally

Laurent VILLANUEVA "HELLER-forever"
nice

Greg Baker
LMAO - I'm an artist Martin, I work in the space between Inspiration and Perspiration...

Matthew A
The paint job looks like it will be fun

Dave Flitton
I see a fourth one still on the sprues, you must have miscounted. 🙂

Greg Baker
Heh... you have sharp eyes gentlemen! The bright blue, white and red paint job is one of the reasons I moved this build up the priority list. I seem to have been bouncing back and forth between desert camouflage and mostly white planes. So this looked fun. And yes, after all the wiring was done, I discovered there are four planes.😉

I've done quite a few 3-plane formations, but considering I can get Academy Jaguars for about $2 each off the shelf... I figured we'd go for four this time. 🙂

Dave Flitton
Awesome!

Greg Baker
Thanks Dave. BTW, I titled this build "A Wild Goose Chase" for two reasons. First off, in the manga, the Lt.-Col. that Shin meets with the Patrouille de France turns out to be an ex-mercenary (who eventually convinces Shin to sign a different mercenary contract after he can no longer stand civilian life following his discharge from Area 88). During their meeting, the Col. tells Shin that the reason that mercenaries are sometimes called Wild Geese is because only the strongest make it through the full flight (south for the winter) and even making it there doesn't guarantee you'll make it back. Second, when he tests Shin's skills by commanding the unit to perform a drill designed to mimic an emergency vertical take-off from a base under attack, only he and Shin are able to pull it off the maneuver, leaving the rest of the unit chasing after the two "wild geese".

So for this build, two of the jets will be headed vertical while the other two are flying straight and level. Should be fun.

Alex K
Always entertaining to read the background stories of your projects!

Jay Dubya
You've pecked my interest Greg, mind if I take a gander at this project too?

Chip H
Very interesting! I bet they'll look awesome when finished.

Greg Baker
There's still plenty of room in the VIP reserved section, so don't be shy!

bughunter
If I count right, the next picture will show five? 👍 It will be interesting, what you do with the LEDs! Watching ...

Martin Oostrom
The leds are more expensive than the kits?

Murad ÖZER
this is going to be huge man, watching with great interest.

Jay Dubya
They are flocking to see your work Greg. May I suggest 5 jets in a Flying Vee formation - Mighty Ducks style???
[img1]

Greg Baker
Heh... I somehow missed some of these comments. Classic! I've capped the project at 4. The price of the plastic (and the LEDs actually) was quite cheap... but you pay for it in putty and elbow grease. The fact that there's basically no detail on the underside of the fuselage bugs me quite a bit. I was thinking about trying to scribe some, but I'm not sure it'll be worth the effort. Anyway, the cockpits are done and the pilots are now in place. I believe the Patrouille de France wear lightblue flight suits, so that's what I went with. If I'm wrong... too bad, they're already glued in place.😉

Greg Baker
All the holes filled in and I made an attempt at scribing at least a bit of panel line detail on the underside. Meh... good enough.

Michael Hickey
That electric spaghettis looks very confusing, can't wait to see more.👍

Greg Baker
I think I might need a new airbrush. I had to really fight with a sputtering belligerent one just to get a simple coat of white paint on. Now comes A fair amount of time cutting tape and masking the complex paint job...

Tim Heimer
Greg I love your imagination!

Matthew A
couleur, coloris, teint, colorer, colorier

Greg Baker
Hey, thanks Tim! As for you Matthew... 색깔!😉

While I was reviewing the scene from the manga I discovered that there's actually five planes in the formation... but after thinking about it for 30 seconds... I decided I was happy with four. After masking four of them, I was SURE I was okay with not adding one more. 😛

Treehugger
I like how the red on white color scheme looks "stripey" or basic, and not just being motif centric. 🙂

Slavo Hazucha
Life just got more colorful! 👍 Nice job Greg & lots of patience and a steady hand for masking the 3rd color!

Nils Steyaert
i like what im seeing so far 🙂

Stephan Ryll
Very nice progress Greg 👍

Spanjaard
your modelling pace is amazing. and the results are great 🙂

Greg Baker
Thanks Spanjaard. I'm trying to finish up my F-5A project, so these little birds will have to wait a little bit to get finished. The fit isn't great on these kits, but I'm reasonably pleased with the results so far.

Bryn Crandell
Another Area 88 story in models. Always admire the great work that is done in such a small scale.

Donald Dickson II
Ooooo, a pride of Jaguars!

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I've decided to try and clear off some room on the shelf of doom... at least for some of the projects I never really intended to stop, but which got delayed and put aside for various reasons.

Greg Baker
I think the masking on this project will be the death of me. Doing complex masking, four times in a row has been a bit much. I've basically done one plane per evening work session... so it's taken some time, but just a couple of little touch ups left to do.

Tim Heimer
Keep it up Greg, you'll get there!

Slavo Hazucha
Every stripe of masking tape was worth the effort, they look great! 👍 Looking forward to see them soar!😉

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I need one more pass with the white paint to fix up the last mistakes. Barring a massive disaster, that'll be it... and whatever mistakes may be will stay in their spots and "add character" to the project.😉

Tim Heimer
I think we've all had a project that reached that point! LOL

bughunter
Very colorful - I like those colors a lot, ant the wooden base with the graphics on it 👍 I think I missed it: how you create the picture on it?

Spanjaard
👍 very nice colors

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I create the images on the wooden base by printing off homemade decals on transparent transfer film. The wood is basically just a coaster flipped upside down, so it's pretty smooth, but I sometimes apply a brush coat of future under the decal to get it to apply flat (and then spray another coat to keep it there).

bughunter
Thx Greg! There is a trick to use a black laser printer on a overhead projector foil (mirrored printout), to apply the toner to a copper of a electronic circuit board (transfer the toner from the foil to the board) for etch protection, but this needs heat. So I don't know if this would work on wood.
So to use a decal is the way a modeler knows😉 Great result!

John Thomas
Very cool, nice work

Greg Baker
Well, despite the fact that I managed to snap off the left wing of the last (and highest) plane while mounting it on the base... this project is done. It's not exactly flaw-free... but, as I said... I'm calling it "character" and backing away silently. 🙂

Tim Heimer
Sometimes that's the best thing to do! It still looks good!

Chip H
Very nice! Where are you getting your clear sprues at? Once the quarantine is lifted I'll need to get to wherever you got them and get some for a few projects myself.

Nils Steyaert
wow, looks amazing 🙂
as always, great work 👍

Donald Dickson II
Out freaking standing!!!

Slavo Hazucha
👍 👍 👍 👍😉

Matthew A
Bril thumbs up

Greg Baker
Thanks guys. I appreciate the warm feed back. This project had me trudging through a bit of mud... mostly around the seemingly endless masking and painting. However, in the end, I'm pretty happy with the result. It's a bit subtle, but the idea is really supposed to be 3 planes zoom up and one gets left behind. I'll take a few "glamour" pics in a day or so and update the gallery here and add it to my blog - complete with the manga pages it's based on.

Greg Baker
@Chip - I get the clear tubes (I think they're 2mm, but I'll check to be sure) at a few different places. Neighbour Hobby in Hongdae usually has them, but the main source is Asem Hobby in Yongsan ET Land. They have the full range of StyleX brand styrene, so there's lots of sizes to choose from.

Greg Baker
And that's a wrap. I've update the final pics here, but also added a new post to my personal blog - strobez.ca/wp/index...goose-chase-area-88/ - check it out if you want to read my musings on the project, or just skip that and read a few pages of the Area 88 manga that this build is based on.

Alex K
Did I say that this turned out spectacularly fine? I didn't. I do now.

Bryn Crandell
Another fantastic Area 88 build. Always a treat to see what comes from there. The stand came out really well.

Zsolt Czegle
Awesome idea! Great build! 👍

bughunter
Well done Greg, from idea, build, electric, paint and presentation 👍 I wanted to ask for a picture with ass lights, but then I found pic 25😉

Spanjaard
Simply excellent

Greg Baker
Thanks guys! The feedback is much appreciated.