Model Kit
Review: Lindberg’s 1:72 scale Captured Alien Attacker, (Kit #77311)
(Page One)
(Background)
Deciding to take a break from my usual 1:72 and 1:48 scale
modern fighter aircraft, I zeroed in (get it?) on Lindberg’s Captured Alien
Attacker aircraft, from the blockbuster movie “Independence Day 4”. After seeing the movie, I rushed out to
order several kits of the Alien Attacker from a hobby mail-order store. I received them about two weeks later. I promptly opened one of the boxes, cut the
pieces of the kit out, dry fitted it together, washed it, and put it into a
plastic container (to keep it dust-free).
Then, I forgot about it for almost a whole year.
There were several goals I wanted to accomplish with this kit,
(other than the obvious one of building and completing a model). First, I wanted to try to “get back to some
modeling basics” by getting away from airbrushing (as much as possible), and
re-visiting both the paint brush and canned spray. I wanted to stick pretty much to the “out-of-the-box” theme. I
wanted to complete the model as quickly as possible, (for my quick
gratification). I wanted to "play
around" with different types of metallic and metalizer paints. Finally, I
wanted to have some fun!
(Construction and Painting)
The “Captured Alien Attacker” model kit comes in a total of 14
pieces, (10 for the aircraft itself, along with a 4 piece stand). It is molded in medium gray, with a clear
dark windshield, (to hide the fact that there is no interior detail). The hull is divided into upper and lower
halves, along with the weapons pod (found on top), and two sets of “engines”,
(found below), all of which were divided into left and right halves. Rounding out the contents of the kit is a
“protective cage”, and the aforementioned clear dark windshield.
Instead of taking the traditional approach to model
construction, (i.e., putting it together first, followed by filling in the
seams, sanding, and painting it), I decided to be a little unorthodox. I wanted to do the majority of the painting
before gluing the two main pieces together. I first used as a primer a coat of
Model Master Gunmetal, (from a spray can).
A secret I discovered with respect to using spray paint from a
can is that if you warm up the can before spraying the paint, the paint will
flow out much smoother and more evenly.
(This is why they suggest that you shake the can vigorously, before
using). Heating up the can be done by
various means. Two methods are either
to use a container of warm water, or to use a small electric “space heater”,
(which is the method I use). Be
careful, though. As our physics teaches
us, as a gas and liquid are heated up, they will expand. If heated up too much, they will EXPLODE out
of the confinement of the spray can. I have never experienced this,
however. The can, when ready, should be
warm to the touch, NOT HOT!
Anyway, after allowing a day for the paint to dry, I decided to
seal it with a couple coats of clear semi-gloss Crystal Cote, (by
Floquil). The reason I decided to use
this in place of my usual Model Master Gloss-Coating was that I have discovered
that as the Gloss-Coat (or Dull-Coat) ages, it sometimes starts to yellow – the
Crystal Cote does not.
The Crystal Cote was diluted with Floquil’s thinner (Dio-Sol),
and airbrushed on. This was done to add a protective barrier, since I was
planning to add washes to the entire surface.
After the clear coats dried, I diluted Model Master’s
Pontiac Engine BlueMetallic with Model Master Air Brush thinner, and proceeded to
apply the wash. Unfortunately, due to the dark color of the Gunmetal prime
coat, this lighter bluish wash did not show up very well. Because of this, I decided to just go ahead,
and airbrush it on also.
I set up my paint/thinner mixture, (roughly 60/40), and
proceeded to spray the paint on. I had
originally purchased the Pontiac Engine Blue in an attempt to match the
photographs of the built aircraft located on the box top. After the Blue metallic paint was air
brushed on, however, the finish ended up silverish, and not bluish. Evidently, the darkness of the Gunmetal was
still having an effect. Oh well…I
decided to leave it alone, (after all, who really knows what the color of an
Alien Attacker craft would be, anyway)?
Back to the model. After
the last coat of paint on both hull sections was dry, I went about
installing
the only internal piece – the dark windshield.
I had just purchased some cement from Testor’s made exclusively for
clear parts, and decided to give it a try.
I positioned the windshield in place, applied the glue (sparingly)
around its perimeter, and taped it in place, to give the glue a chance to set.
At this
point, I decided to “attack” – (another good pun, huh?) - the 4-piece aircraft
stand. The three pylons had numerous ejection pin marks, sink holes, and seams
that needed fixing. I went about
puttying, (using Squadron white putty), and sanding both the puttied areas,
along with the seams. In actuality, I
spent more time “cleaning up” imperfections on the stand, than imperfections on
the actual aircraft. Anyway, after
spending some time on the
filling/sanding/washing/priming/filling/sanding/washing/priming process, it was
finally presentable.
In between working on the stand, I had gone back to the
aircraft. The windscreen was firmly glued in place, with the glue drying nice
and strong, leaving a slight whitish look to it when viewed directly. I then proceeded to glue both the top and
bottom halves of the aircraft together, using Testors plastic cement -
(“Precision Cement Applicator”, found in that strange looking black
container). I used masking tape to
allow the glued pieces to set in place.
The way Lindberg designed this model was pretty good, with
respect to the joining of these two halves.
What they did was create a “lip” on the bottom of the top half, with a
recessed “groove” inside of it. The
edge of the lower hull section fits up into this groove, flush with the inner
edge of the lip. This, in effect, just
about completely hides any gap resulting when the two pieces are connected.
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Copyright © 2008 by Anthony I. Wootson. No material may be reproduced without permission. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.