Break the Big Leg (Area 88)
The finished model:
The scene:
When the Area 88 base is threatened by the “Grand Slam” an underground tunnelling war machine, it’s up to Saki and his B-1 to save the day. After Shin marks the target with a flare launched from a F-4E Phantom II, Saki must hit a large column of rock, known as “The Big Leg” in just the right spot in just the right spot to drop it in the path of the Grand Slam and stop it in its tracks.
Check out the original manga scene from Chapter 047 “88 Desperate Situations” here:
The story:
This story is really the payoff that you just KNEW was coming after Saki returns to Area 88 on the wings of his awesome white “winged death’s head” B-1A Lancer… but it’s a payoff I waited a very long time to collect on. The reason for that was that the original Area 88 manga series translated by Viz was abruptly cancelled shortly after Saki’s return. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that Area 88 had enjoyed a short revival as part of Viz’s anthology magazine, Animerica. It took even longer to track down all the issues and piece together the remaining officially translated chapters – but it was worth the effort.
The final few chapters bring to a close the story of the arms dealer Farina’s massive attack on Area 88 via the Land Carrier (like and naval aircraft carrier, only on tank treads instead). And one of the main plot points is the launch of the Grand Slam burrowing cruise missile, and the B-1 bombing run to “break the Big Leg” and stop the missile in its tracks.
Suffice it to say, it was on my list of cool moments from the Area 88 manga that I wanted to build in 1/144 scale.
The kits:
- B-1B Bomber by Academy
- F-4E Phantom II by Platz
The build:
This was one of the most start/stop builds I’ve ever done. The main reason for that was probably because of how enamoured I am with the B-1 bomber – I really wanted to get this one right.
The F-4E portion of the build was pretty straightforward. There are MANY 1/144 choices for an F-4E, but Platz/F-Toys seems to have the best offer in town. The only really strange thing was that since the kit is really a Platz re-boxing of the “mostly already assembled and painted” F-Toys gashapon (“trading item”) box, the sprues are a bit strange. You can really see which ones were designed to be “behind the scenes” and already assembled before being shown in public. The other slight problem was the “sort of snap together” aspects. They’re really designed to be already mostly assembled toys that people can buy (and trade to “collect them all!”), so they’re made to got together easily… if not quite as well as a scale modeller would hope. Still, despite it’s faults, the detailing really does make this the best F-4E Phantom II you can get your hands on in 1/144 scale.
The B-1 on the other hand, didn’t have a lot of options – there are basically four. The first, which I found the most easily, is the Lindberg kit. It’s… sufficient, but it won’t capture your heart and soul. In fact I bought the kit with this project in mind, changed my mind and repurposed it for a Tintin 1/72 project build, and the repurposed it back – after having cut it up. I built it, but I was never really happy with it.
I did run across a Minicraft offering, but it’s purported to be no better, so I gave it a pass. Then, I got my hands on the Panda box (which Dragon updated a bit). That kit is pretty good, but it had a few fit issues. I probably would’ve overlooked them, but as luck would have, just after I started the build – Academy announced a brand new tooling of a B-1B in 1/144 scale. That news more or less started the build in its tracks. I vowed to “take a look” at the new Academy kit once it was available, and then decide which way to turn.
Then, as luck would have it, I got the opportunity to grab a pre-release boxing of the B-1B at the Academy table at the Hobby Fair 2019 in Seoul. Truth be told, I didn’t really blink twice – caught up in the excitement of getting my hands on something “early” , I made the purchase and shelved (well, bagged) the Panda kit without so much as a second glance.
The Academy kit was all it was promised to be. Well-designed and engineered, the fit is seamless and allows you to paint the damn swing wings separately and assembled them after the fact. It comes with a die-cut set of canopy masks and more bombs than you can shake a stick at. The build more or less just rolled down hill – probably the fastest build from start to finish I’ve ever done (although I did have a little help by repurposing the crew figures and the internal electronic components from the Panda build… waste not, want not, right?).
i think, all in all, it turned out all right, but feel free to tell me how you feel.
