Rocket Punch is 20 years old!
I only realized it after checking the date I bought this domain: 11 August 2005. Oh my… Of course, my online presence is older than that but this domain name began back in 2005. And after 20 years, I still can’t decide between calling it ‘Rocket Punch’ or ‘RocketPunch’. 😛 In any case, thank you...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado IDS ‘Marineflieger’ Pt.4 – Painting
It is time for decals and after a gloss coat with Aqueous gloss (which might have been a mistake in hindsight) I started as usual with the tail markings. So far so good with the Hasegawa decals. Marineflieger line jet markings are simple and understated. This was when I realized that I’d missed out on …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado IDS ‘Marineflieger’ Pt.3 – Painting
I began by painting the gearbays white and then masking them off with tape and sponge. Looking at photos, many of them show the inboard and bottom pylons to be the almost white color from the original Norm 76 Marineflieger scheme. I thought the contrast looked interesting so I painted the pylons Tamiya XF-2 Flat …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado IDS ‘Marineflieger’ Pt.2 – Construction
The nose to fuselage join is decent but the two halves of the nose required some considerable sanding to get rid of the seamline. The result of this is that I ended up sanding away almost all the panel lines which were already quite shallow in the first place. Before rescribing I figured I should …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 Tornado IDS ‘Marineflieger’ Pt.1 – Construction
Something a bit different this time with a Marineflieger (German Naval Aviation) Tornado IDS, I was inspired to build this kit after making the acquantance of a retired Marineflieger pilot. For whatever reason, I managed to lose one of the seat cushions for the Martin-Baker MK.10A ejection seat so I replaced the pair of seats …...
WIP : Wolfpack Designs 1/144 B-58A Hustler Pt.2 – Painting & Finishing
For this build, I decided to try out Mr Color Super Fine Silver 2 which is a lacquer paint. Needless to say, once thinned, it went on without a hitch and looks really good. It’s smelly as heck though so I had to spray outside. I then masked off various panels based on some photos …...
WIP : Wolfpack Designs 1/144 B-58A Hustler Pt.1 – Construction
Something somewhat out of the left field for me for my next build. This one has a personal nostalgia factor for me: when I was a kid, I asked my 2nd brother for a pencil sketch of a jet aircraft and he copied a sketch of a B-58 from a magazine he had. I’ve lost …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 P-51K Mustang Pt.3 – Painting & Finishing
Next I tackled the topside black areas on the wings and the nose. Thankfully this part of the painting process was trouble-free. I then went in and painted the exhausts by handpainting with Game Color Gunmetal. Prop planes are great in that there are relatively few fiddly bits to deal with although the invasion stripes …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 P-51K Mustang Pt.2 – Painting & Finishing
For a bare metal finish, painting begins with a base color of black. Normally, they say it should be a gloss black base, but I’ve found that it doesn’t make that much of a difference. In this case I used Aqueous Black Surfacer which went thinned with IPA, dries to a satin finish. After the …...
WIP : Hasegawa 1/72 P-51K Mustang Pt.1 – Construction
Continuing my Top Gun builds, this will be made into Maverick’s own P-51K Mustang that appeared at the end of Top Gun: Maverick. This P-51K, registration N51EW, is actually Tom Cruise’s own aircraft in real life. This kit includes some of the parts for the K variant even though it’s only sold as a P-51D. …...
