The Burnout Build: F-19 Stealth Fighter, Italeri, 1/72

Every now and then (more so than not) a modeler will hit a wall with a current project. Either a problem has come up that requires some though, or that there has been enough frustration that one just needs to step away for a while. For me, it's been a mix of the two. That Revell Typhoon has been pretty frustrating lately and I just need to step away for a bit. Momentum will slow down and the worst thing to do is to step away completely as it could be a while before you'd want to go back to the bench. That's why I maintain a small stock of easy to build, cheap kits. I call it my Burnout Pile. It'll be a simple build, done any way you want, simple assembly or paint scheme (I tend to pick up cheap Matchbox or Airfix kits for $1-3 when I can find them). This one is a Italeri/Testor's F-19 Stealth Fighter from the 80's, before everyone had heard rumors of a stealth plane, but not much else:

 

I picked this up for a grand total of $1! Cheap cheap! I had this kit back when I was a kid and I enjoyed building it. It's only got three sprues (two black, one clear) and doesn't have an awful amount of detail, but my memory of it was that it was a quick and easy build.

This is actually one of my favorite boxes - the box art in the back show the completed model, along with some "facts" - I remember totally geeking out when I first saw this. The kit was in its original shrinkwrap, and opening the box up transported me back to 1991. Nicely packed, instructions and decals at the bottom. The bubble canopy had broken off the sprue, but I never liked it anyway and will opt for the smaller, more sinister framed canopy. I started off with a quick brush paint job, brushing the equivalent of dark gull gray on the cockpit details.

Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder, Esci (Italeri boxing), 1/72

It's been a while since I've posted, as I've been very unhappy with photo hosting sites lately. Ever since Picasa went away, it's been frustrating trying to upload images.

Anyway, hopefully, with Google Photos, this will work out.

Years ago, I desperately wanted a Tu-22, but could never afford one. When it went out of production, it went for an eye-watering $120 on eBay, and I was able to snag some from an estate sale for $20. Revell also reissued this a few years back, with some very colorful schemes for the Egyptian and Iraqi Air Forces. This particular one is the Iraqi example.

Several built examples show this as two-tone brown and tan, but right before I built this, a I found an image that it used gray and green, which actually looked better.

The most distinct omission on this kit is that the fuselage is too short by almost 4cm, and I believe the nose landing gear would need to be relocated as a result of the added length. I started correcting the issue but later abandoned it when I decided it looked good to me in the first place. This was during a phase when I had to have everything perfect, and I was absolutely miserable. One day, I took it out of the box, realized I was wasting my time agonizing over it, and finished it anyway. It looks like a Blinder with or without the plug, and it never bothered me before I heard about it anyway.

Paints used were a Tamiya light blue for the undersides, medium grey and olive green for the uppers. I opted to close the bomb bay as I liked the sleek likes of the aircraft.

I might do another one with the fuselage plug, but Trumpeter's coming out with one and I'll probably hold out for that one, as they've done pretty well with their bombers. Alternatively there's the Modelsvit kit. I'll probably pick whichever's cheaper.

The aircraft is massive - about 60cm - so I'm not too sorry about not plugging it, as I was living in an apartment at the time, so space was a premium anyway. So there it is - the Tu-22 Blinder. Looks good to me! The cool paint scheme, giant size and menacing looks (especially from the front) makes this one of my favorite models. Sorry about the grainy images - these were taken with an old camera. I might come about and redo the photos again at some point.

(The wings might look off but I promise you they're symmetrical - bad camera angle)