Minicraft's 1/48 scale
Blackhawk's Skyrocket

by Tory Mucaro

 Minicraft's 1/48 scale XF5F-1 Skyrocket is available online from Squadron.com

For those of you who don’t know who Blackhawk is, I will refer you to this website:

http://ourworlds.topcities.com/blackhawk/

Everything you would ever want or need to know about this classic comic hero is provided there. So I will save Brett’s valuable web space and dispense with the history here.

This model was constructed from the wonderful Minicraft kit. I thoroughly enjoyed building this kit; it is well engineered and beautifully detailed. The only changes I made from the kit were to reposition the machine guns to a stacked configuration and add a Blackhawk pilot figure (converted from a couple of Monogram aircrew from my spares box) to the cockpit.

The finish is Alclad II Chrome over Krylon Gloss Black (decanted and airbrushed). The red is Odds ‘N Ends brand Insignia Red enamel also airbrushed. The decals were made from artwork available on the Blackhawk website and printed on white decal film with a laser color printer.

Since I have never (in my opinion) seen a very convincing way of replicating spinning propellers on “in flight” models, I decided to go the “Pat Hawkey” route and simply leave the blades off and let the mind fill in the blank. The stand was made from ½ inch acrylic sheet stock and 3/8-inch acrylic rod.

I built this model as a gift for my very good friend Andy Yanchus, who has shown my family and me so much generosity over the years. It now resides in a display case occupied by literally hundreds of examples of Andy’s beautiful models, a place of honor to be sure.
 

Click on the thumbnails below to view larger images:

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Tory Mucaro
Page Created 01 September, 2005
Last Updated 01 September, 2005

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