M-31 Firefox, scale plane replica

Amazing workmanship on this project.. I'm blown away.

Update,
Here's a break down of how the kit will be done:

1/32 scale "film accurate" Firefox model to be made available for private commissioned kits, or buildups. I hope to get it done by end of May,as I want to debut it at Wonderfest, it's gonna be a close one. It will feature a hollow resin fuselage, solid resin wings, verts, ventral stabilators and canards, with full cockpit, photo-etched wing and airbrakes, and landing gear and accessories.

At 1/32 scale based on the "Hero"dimensions, It will be 23 5/8" long. There are two options I'm looking at right now and probably will be avialable with the commissioned kit. First, a mockup of the Turmansky engine turbines, if not a whole engine, then at least the turbine blade units for dramatic effect to go inside the intake nacells, or the intakes can be left closed like the filming hero. The detail that goes on each side of the air-splitters will be in brass.
Second, retracted canards as seen in the film, these will be an option to either add to the model or not. It's up to builder. I want to have certain accessories in brass and resin like the step ladder, the air and wing brakes, as well as cockpit details. As of now I'm not sure what the price for a commissioned kit will be ,but will let you know. Adam Leet has been assisting me a lot in researching out the details for the cockpit, undercarriage and missles/bays.

At this scale I will be able to use the 1/32 scaleTamiya F4E landing gear for accurate gear and will laser cut the gear doors and such. For the cockpit I want to either laser cut or photoetch the instruments, not sure which on that yet, I am open to sugestions. Looks like the engine turkey feathers will have all the detailed patterns of the "hero" molded in at this point, had thought of doing photoetched turkey feathers for the nozzels, but not too sure on how to accomplish this so that a novice model builder/assembler could get the right look after bending each feather correctly and attaching it to the next to form the nozzel. This should give all a better idea of my intentions..
Best regards,
William

about 1996 or so I talked to a gentleman that as a kid had actually talked to the original studio that made the effects miniatures, Apogee. The guys at the shop were so enthralled that someone had contacted them. they sent him a set of studio drawings..this is the short version of this story ..Anyway, I found contact with this guy and he agreed to send me a set of these drawings. There were nine drawings detailing every aspect of the plane, including the detailed turkey feather patterns for the engine nozzles. The drawings provided development patterns for the nozzle itself. Then there were the McDonnell Douglas Phantom F4-E landing gear drawings, and a ducted fan placement and wing rib drawings for the radio control flying model fox's made for the film. The most important drawing of all to me, was a close up of the nose showing the faceted shape of the plane (this is where all models replicas have gone wrong to date) top view, front view, and side view. Then, on separate drawing, there was the side detail elevation of the plane drawn a a smaller scale including all intakes, landing gear and undercarriage. another drawing sheet had the landing gear bay doors with the double panel and detailed inserts.

Click to expand...

Hehehe... YOU'RE WELCOME.

Wow, your going to unveil it a Wondefest huh? Damn, now I've GOT to get down there... What kinda beer do you like?

Heh, 1983 was a very good year. Big SPFX studios back then, just weren't used to fanboys calling them up out of the blue to mooch things like this. :lol
My mom was so sure that they'd just blow me off to get rid of me, that we made a bet to see who had to pay for that long distance call if the blueprints actually showed up... guess who won? B)

-Sarge

This thing is a thing of beauty.... I love the MiG-31. Obviously I'm new to RPF....been lurking for a while though. Is there a group for this model and will it be available to others? Very interested, Sorry if these are Noob questions.

Chris

was playing a bit today...... tried running the cockpit instrument panel with a piece of cardboard to see how it will do at this scale...judging by the details this will work great. I laser cut this using different power settings to see what it would do to the carboard layering wise...pretty effective. While not being the final piece it gives me an idea of how it will work out ..the drawing is good to go

then there's the turkey feathers that make up the engine nozzels. I laser cut these in gold foil. Looks like it's gonna work fine...well back to work!

William

Howdy,
seeing how they look on a cone(nozzel) thse aren't the final version but neat to look at all the same!
Thanks for looking
William

:eek WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE??????????...........

Holy @#$%..... I remember one time when I was coming home on leave from Germany in 1985 (I could be wrong on that date) and I stopped at Heathrow in England and had some layover time and I found a copy of FireFox and the terminal booknook.

I couldn't put it down the whole flight to JFK.

I would love to have a replica of that plane in my display case.

Cheers.

Howdy,
gotta be pateint, building the masters right now to offer a privately commissioned kit or build up. It will be worth the wait.. To get an idea of what I have left to do ,take a look at this 1 of a kind(my personal collection) photo of the 63" filming model underside. It's one of the busiest panel patterns I've ever seen...please don't copy this pic for placement elsewhere on the net without my permission, thank you.

William

Busy doesn't even begin to describe that.. Patiently but anctiously awaitng your word.

Chris

was playing a bit today...... tried running the cockpit instrument panel with a piece of cardboard to see how it will do at this scale...judging by the details this will work great. I laser cut this using different power settings to see what it would do to the carboard layering wise...pretty effective. While not being the final piece it gives me an idea of how it will work out ..the drawing is good to go

Click to expand...

You... magnificent... *******... :eek

-Sarge

updated pics of patterns





There ya go for now..she's coming along......

OOOOOOOOHHHHOOO...., OHHHHH. AHHHH...........oh no......sorry........got to go change my shorts.

:$2

LOVE THAT THING......

Can't wait for word on the ordering.

different angles to show nose and profile...enjoy!

VERY,VEERY SWEEET..

Or, in the word of Mr. Burns,


EXCCCCCCCCCEEEELLLLLEEEENNNTTTTT...


SO, when do we get to SIGN UP for one of these
babies ?????????? B)

WOW :eek
The talent on this board is truly amazing...
Very very nice.............

Kenny

wow, firefox was on bbc one last night- i'm guessing most of you folks are from across the pond so wouldn't have seen it, its certainly been ages since i saw it. what a plane.

'lets see what this baby can do.'

sharpened the nose contours a bit to make the edges "pop" .
Whachall think.

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck12s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck14s.jpg[/image]

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[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck16s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck17s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck18s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck19s.jpg[/image]

Here's a few more.........

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck21s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck22s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck23s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck24s.jpg[/image]

[image]http://www.wackychimp.com/uploads/buck25s.jpg[/image]

Its simply a thing of beauty and obviously in the right hands. You may as well take all my money now...