Macross +++ 1:100 Stonewell/Bellcom VF-1W "Wild Weasel Valkyrie"; aircraft "DM (27)5" of the U.N.S.A.F. 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron; Northern Europe, 2014 (Whif/modified Arii kit)
Mutations, mutations... another (totally) fictional Valkyrie version, and an exotic one, too. This kit had two inspirational sources: after building some grey low-viz Valkyries, I considered a machine with a darker paint scheme like "Europe One" a.k.a. "Lizard" (even though I am not a big fan of this kind of murky look).
On the other hand, with the recent VF-1G AEW Valkyrie in the back of my mind, I speculated about a specialized SAM supression aircraft like the F-105G, F-4G or Tornado ECR (so-called "Wild Weasel" aircrafts), and how an innocent Valkyrie could be eqipped for such a task...?Well, with this murky and not really elegant VF-1W, both aspects came together.
Some further explanation might be useful: A "Wild Weasel" is an aircraft (the term originates from the United States Air Force) specially equipped with radar seeking missiles, and tasked with destroying the radars and SAM installations of enemy air defence systems. Wild Weasel tactics & techniques were first developed in the Vietnam and the Yom Kippur War, and were later integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). In brief, the task of a Wild Weasel aircraft is to bait enemy anti-aircraft defenses into targeting it with their radars, whereupon the radar waves are traced back to their source so that the Weasel or its teammates can precisely target it for destruction.
A simple analogy is playing the game of "flashlight tag" in the dark; a flashlight is usually the only reliable means of identifying someone in order to "tag" (destroy) them, but the light immediately renders the bearer able to be identified and attacked as well. The result is a hectic game of cat-and-mouse in which the radar "flashlights" are rapidly cycled on and off in an attempt to identify and kill the target before the target is able to home in on the emitted radar "light" and destroy the site.
The kit is a standard, vintage 1:100 scale VF-1D dual seater Valkyrie Fighter from ARII, which underwent various modifications. As usual, it received a crew. Since the machine would be rather dark, I went for olive drab pilot suits, but I could not resist and still use a bright red and white ("bone dome") helmet ;) Further cockpit details include a HUD, a console for the 2nd crewman, seat belts and election seat triggers. Some antennae on the outside were added, too..
Beyond that, the extra radar sensor equipment on board had to be placed somewhere - in the USAF's F-4G for example, the M61 gatling gun had to go. I found two plausible places on the Valkyrie: most obvious change is the different, more voluminous nose cone which comes from an 1:72 IAI Kfir. Less obvious is the elongated dorsal hump, which is supposed to hold extra equipment and a heat exchanger. Additionally, radar sensors were added on the fins as well as sensor arrays on the legs' sides, later enhanced witn dielectric panels. Overall, the VF-1W looks bulkier and somehow bigger now - much of it must be tributed to the nose. It is not longer than the original cone, but the proportions have become way different.
This "different" look is augmented by a bizarre looking ordnance mix under the VF-1W's belly and wings. Instead of the GU-11 gun pod, this SEAD version carries a slender ECM/sensor pod. It consists of two very poor (not to say ugly!) ALQ-119 pods from a vintage Revell F-16 prototype kit, combined and with some added elements. After years, these things could be used somewhere... This piece, painted in grey, also holds an adapter for the kit's display.
In order to accomplish its radar suppression task, a pair of 1:72 AGM-45 'Shrike' came under the outer pylons, including starter rails, conincidently resembling AGM-88 HARM anti radar missiles in 1:100 scale. Under its inner wing pylons the VF-1W carries a vintage ALQ-87 (in white) and an ALQ-101 (in grey) ECM pod, from a 1:72 Hasegawa aircraft weapons kit. Four AMM-1air-to-air missiles are also carried for self-defence purposes, even though such a Wild Weasel machine would hardly operate on its own. Being a special decoy machine with high target priority, it must be assumed that it is accompanied by true fighters for protection, and by some buddies which carry (more) weapons against ground targets.
For the paint scheme, inspiration came from Spangdahlem-based F-4Gs from the 80ies. These Germany-based machines used to carry the USAF "Lizard" scheme. Effectively, these Phantoms were painted in the South East Asia scheme with two greens (FS34102 and FS34079), but the tan simply replaced by charcoal grey (FS36081). Such a livery is even plausible in the Macross universe - in the "This Is Animation Special: Macross PLUS" source book, U.N.S.A.F.'s VF-11 and VF-5000 are shown in a similar livery.
Anyway, on the small 1:100 kit, "Lizard" with authentic colors would look VERY dark and dull. I searched for lighter alternatives and stumbled across A-4K Skyhawks from New Zealand. These machines used to carry a wrap-around paint scheme with the Lizard colors, but when I found a drawing of their paint scheme, I was intrigued by the "wrong" colors that were used in the graphic. The overall machine looked rather greyish and ...interesting. I found this different look so unique that I tried to emulate these "wrong" tones, and the VF-1W's three basic colors have finally become:
Humbrol 224 "Dark Slate Grey" (probably a British tone)
Humbrol 66 "Dark Olive Drab", which is VERY dark and has a rather greyish hue
Humbrol 79 "Dark Blue Gray", much lighter than FS36081
After basic painting the kit received a thin black ink wash, blending out the differences between the 3 colors even more. Additionally, engravings were blackened witha 0.1mm fine liner pen. No colorful markings were intentionally added, just the wings' leading edges received a contrats in Humbrol 83 (Ochre), some dielectric sensor covers were marked with black decals. Almost all markings and stencelling were kept in black or grey for low contrast. The Macross insignia were self-made from sliding decal paper, enamel paint and a black fine liner. The result is not perfect, but it was the only way to make these markings almost invisible and blend them into the camouflage. Finally, the kit received a matte varnish coating - except for the black radar nose, which is - just as on the A-4Ks - glossy black, a total contrast to the rest of the greyish-green machine.
Honestly,I am not totally happy with the overall result. The dark camouflage scheme takes the kit very far away from the Macross "color code"? I suppose it will remain the first and last attempt into this direction...
Macross +++ 1:100 Stonewell/Bellcom VF-1W "Wild Weasel Valkyrie"; aircraft "DM (27)5" of the U.N.S.A.F. 81st Tactical Fighter Squadron; Northern Europe, 2014 (Whif/modified Arii kit)
Mutations, mutations... another (totally) fictional Valkyrie version, and an exotic one, too. This kit had two inspirational sources: after building some grey low-viz Valkyries, I considered a machine with a darker paint scheme like "Europe One" a.k.a. "Lizard" (even though I am not a big fan of this kind of murky look).
On the other hand, with the recent VF-1G AEW Valkyrie in the back of my mind, I speculated about a specialized SAM supression aircraft like the F-105G, F-4G or Tornado ECR (so-called "Wild Weasel" aircrafts), and how an innocent Valkyrie could be eqipped for such a task...?Well, with this murky and not really elegant VF-1W, both aspects came together.
Some further explanation might be useful: A "Wild Weasel" is an aircraft (the term originates from the United States Air Force) specially equipped with radar seeking missiles, and tasked with destroying the radars and SAM installations of enemy air defence systems. Wild Weasel tactics & techniques were first developed in the Vietnam and the Yom Kippur War, and were later integrated into the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). In brief, the task of a Wild Weasel aircraft is to bait enemy anti-aircraft defenses into targeting it with their radars, whereupon the radar waves are traced back to their source so that the Weasel or its teammates can precisely target it for destruction.
A simple analogy is playing the game of "flashlight tag" in the dark; a flashlight is usually the only reliable means of identifying someone in order to "tag" (destroy) them, but the light immediately renders the bearer able to be identified and attacked as well. The result is a hectic game of cat-and-mouse in which the radar "flashlights" are rapidly cycled on and off in an attempt to identify and kill the target before the target is able to home in on the emitted radar "light" and destroy the site.
The kit is a standard, vintage 1:100 scale VF-1D dual seater Valkyrie Fighter from ARII, which underwent various modifications. As usual, it received a crew. Since the machine would be rather dark, I went for olive drab pilot suits, but I could not resist and still use a bright red and white ("bone dome") helmet ;) Further cockpit details include a HUD, a console for the 2nd crewman, seat belts and election seat triggers. Some antennae on the outside were added, too..
Beyond that, the extra radar sensor equipment on board had to be placed somewhere - in the USAF's F-4G for example, the M61 gatling gun had to go. I found two plausible places on the Valkyrie: most obvious change is the different, more voluminous nose cone which comes from an 1:72 IAI Kfir. Less obvious is the elongated dorsal hump, which is supposed to hold extra equipment and a heat exchanger. Additionally, radar sensors were added on the fins as well as sensor arrays on the legs' sides, later enhanced witn dielectric panels. Overall, the VF-1W looks bulkier and somehow bigger now - much of it must be tributed to the nose. It is not longer than the original cone, but the proportions have become way different.
This "different" look is augmented by a bizarre looking ordnance mix under the VF-1W's belly and wings. Instead of the GU-11 gun pod, this SEAD version carries a slender ECM/sensor pod. It consists of two very poor (not to say ugly!) ALQ-119 pods from a vintage Revell F-16 prototype kit, combined and with some added elements. After years, these things could be used somewhere... This piece, painted in grey, also holds an adapter for the kit's display.
In order to accomplish its radar suppression task, a pair of 1:72 AGM-45 'Shrike' came under the outer pylons, including starter rails, conincidently resembling AGM-88 HARM anti radar missiles in 1:100 scale. Under its inner wing pylons the VF-1W carries a vintage ALQ-87 (in white) and an ALQ-101 (in grey) ECM pod, from a 1:72 Hasegawa aircraft weapons kit. Four AMM-1air-to-air missiles are also carried for self-defence purposes, even though such a Wild Weasel machine would hardly operate on its own. Being a special decoy machine with high target priority, it must be assumed that it is accompanied by true fighters for protection, and by some buddies which carry (more) weapons against ground targets.
For the paint scheme, inspiration came from Spangdahlem-based F-4Gs from the 80ies. These Germany-based machines used to carry the USAF "Lizard" scheme. Effectively, these Phantoms were painted in the South East Asia scheme with two greens (FS34102 and FS34079), but the tan simply replaced by charcoal grey (FS36081). Such a livery is even plausible in the Macross universe - in the "This Is Animation Special: Macross PLUS" source book, U.N.S.A.F.'s VF-11 and VF-5000 are shown in a similar livery.
Anyway, on the small 1:100 kit, "Lizard" with authentic colors would look VERY dark and dull. I searched for lighter alternatives and stumbled across A-4K Skyhawks from New Zealand. These machines used to carry a wrap-around paint scheme with the Lizard colors, but when I found a drawing of their paint scheme, I was intrigued by the "wrong" colors that were used in the graphic. The overall machine looked rather greyish and ...interesting. I found this different look so unique that I tried to emulate these "wrong" tones, and the VF-1W's three basic colors have finally become:
Humbrol 224 "Dark Slate Grey" (probably a British tone)
Humbrol 66 "Dark Olive Drab", which is VERY dark and has a rather greyish hue
Humbrol 79 "Dark Blue Gray", much lighter than FS36081
After basic painting the kit received a thin black ink wash, blending out the differences between the 3 colors even more. Additionally, engravings were blackened witha 0.1mm fine liner pen. No colorful markings were intentionally added, just the wings' leading edges received a contrats in Humbrol 83 (Ochre), some dielectric sensor covers were marked with black decals. Almost all markings and stencelling were kept in black or grey for low contrast. The Macross insignia were self-made from sliding decal paper, enamel paint and a black fine liner. The result is not perfect, but it was the only way to make these markings almost invisible and blend them into the camouflage. Finally, the kit received a matte varnish coating - except for the black radar nose, which is - just as on the A-4Ks - glossy black, a total contrast to the rest of the greyish-green machine.
Honestly,I am not totally happy with the overall result. The dark camouflage scheme takes the kit very far away from the Macross "color code"? I suppose it will remain the first and last attempt into this direction...