Starscream, Robot in Eggs-guise! FINISHED!

[Mossie]

This one has been coming a while, since before I went on holiday.  I been wondering what to do for my F-15 Egg for some time.  Then I clicked on Roberts site & saw some Transformer profiles he'd done.  It didn't click immediately, but when I picked the model up & pondered for the nth time I realised it had to be Starscream!  For those who missed Transformers, Starscream was one of the main characters of the Decepticons (bad guys) & changed from a robot into an F-15.  In my traditional fashion, it's taken longer than I thought as it's given me plenty of problems, mostly of my own making.

First problem was that it needed it bit more PSR than you'd expect for such a small kit, every seem needed filling, some sanding heavily.  I snapped off the right vertical tail twice.  I used rattle cans to paint it, but found that touch ups are a problem; I tried to spray some paint onto a surface in order to dip my brush into it, but found the solvent actually removed the original paint!  Several masking attempts later I got a result I was happy with.

I had few problems with the canopy.  I used food colouring added the to Klear to tint the canopy.  I maksed it well, but must have nicked some of the Maskol since some of the paint got on the surface of the canopy.  Fairy Power Spray didn't quite remove it all (hence a thread I started) so I re-tinted it.  Didn't seem to want to cover as well on the second & third attempts, fourth would just about do not that it mattered!  Those at the SIG Meet will vouch for me that the canopy was yellow (someone commented that the yolk had cracked on the canopy!).  I put it on my shelf after getting home from the meet & on Sunday most of the yellow tint had gone, by Monday it was total.  Now food colouring is susceptible to the sun (shelf is next to a window) but I didn't bet on it degrading that quickly!  If I can find some yellow ink, I'll try that, but it'll do for now.

It's OOB except for the guns, which were two different weapons from a Zoids toy cut up & bashed together to form something roughly like Starscreams.  The decals were printed using work's colour laserjet, I coated the decal paper in Klear both before & after printing, this eliminated the slight colour bleed that I'd had for my Soviet P-40 Egg.

The Man himself in Masterpiece incarnation, model pics to follow!

[Mossie]

[ChernayaAkula]

  Great!

You know what's next, though, don't you? 

[Mossie]

Yes, he does transform!!! But the model was trampled by rampaging Unicorns then struck by a bolt of lightning before I could take the pics!!!!!

[PanzerWulff]

I LOVE IT!!!!!!  Awesome Idea I mat have to try that with mine Thundercracker or Skywarp for me.Again AWESOME job Simon 
"Panzer"

[Mossie]

Thanks Chris!  I can send you some decals if you want, I printed out eight but only used the two, I was expecting problems but they went on fine.  Being 'home' printed, the quality isn't fantastic, but it's not bad as long as you don't look too close!

[Mossie]

Got hold of some Tamiya clear yellow yesterday, & I'm in the process of applying it.  I've thinned it a little with screenwash as I've found it diificult to brush paint in Tamiya clear colours the past.  This was the reason for going the food colouring in Klear route.  The first coat has a few brushe marks in it, but it'll do.  More coats to go onto tonight, hopefully should get some pics done & into the finished thread tonight or tomorrow.

In the meantime, I managed to snap off one of the undercarriage legs with the lightest of pressure. For anyone doing an Egg F-15, there's a weak point where the two upright sections meet & the cross section is tiny, all I did was knock it.

[Mossie]

Finally done!  Yellow clear coat didn't go on well, but some coats of Klear helped no-end.  Looks a little streaky in the pics, but it's not that bad in the flesh.

[Robert]

Eggsellent! 

[Mossie]

Thought I'd add a pic of my two builds together.  Looks like Hasegawa have employed some kind of scale, the F-15 is noticeably larger than the F-16.