Supersonic Goddess (Area 88)

The finished model:

The video

The scene:

It’s time for the great escape!

After spending weeks undercover in occupied neighbouring Brasia, Sera and Kim, with the help of the Brasian resistance movement, is finally ready to attempt a daring move to recruit the remnants of the Brasian air force to join Area 88.

After invading and occupying the country, the Project 4 troops disarm the Brasian F-5E Tiger II jets and decide to use them – and their pilots – for a little target practice. However, unbeknownst to them, one of the birds still has a bite. Sera and Kim, flying in a ramshackle F-4E Phantom recovered and armed by the the resistance, join the fray and prove their worth by taking out the three MiG-21’s  that were shooting down the unarmed pilots. Commander of the Brasian air forces, Captain Bam Assam orders his planes to fall in behind their savior – this strange supersonic goddess – in the hopes she will lead them out of hell.

But when Project 4 reinforcements arrive… will any of them survive?

Check out the original manga scene from Mission 122 “Supersonic Goddess” here:

The story:

“Supersonic Goddess”

Man, what a name for the chapter. I just love saying that.

Finally Sera (and Kim) get their moment to shine. Sera has pulled some crazy stunts before – including her daring escape from Area 88 as an enemy combatant in a T-38 Talon, and an even more daring return in a stolen West German Air Force F-104G Starfighter – but she really proves herself in battle this time.

I really wanted to include this scene in my 1/144 Area 88 project. First, it gives me a chance to revisit the AWESOME F-5E Tiger II that Shin flew for much too short a time, and it also gives me a chance to add another F-4E Phantom to the mix. You can’t have too many.

“Supersonic Goddess” it just kinda just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? 🙂

The kit(s):

• F-4E Phantom II by Platz
• F-5E/N Tiger II x2 by Platz

The build:

This build was neat. I have to admit it wasn’t that challenging… no explosions, nothing really fancy in terms of the electronics, but it was still fun, and that’s what counts.

On the one hand, getting to build another Platz F-4E was like meeting an old friend. I’ve already built this kit as part of the Break the Big Leg project, where Shin scouts ahead in an F-4E while Saki’s B-1 Bomber prepares to deliver the big boom. I also plan to highlight it in the scene where Shin’s Draken shoots down “Phoenix” Charlie’s F-4E, so the more practice I get, the better.

What was interesting, though was to see another good take on the F-5E Tiger II. I already built one of these as part of the A Close Save project, and modified another as part of my The Olive Grove Pickup project. However, both of those were boxings of the very nice and finely detailed Revell kit. This time out though, I thought I’d see what Platz had to offer. On the whole, I think the Revell kit is probably a little bit superior, likely due to the Platz/F-Toys relationship. The Platz offerings that come from F-Toys (which are basically gashapon or “capsule toys”) betray their snap together origins. Still, as supporting players in this particular project, I think they hold up really well.

The main challenge with them was the LED light placement. Unlike the Revell kit, there was very little room to maneuver inside the fuselage, so I simply couldn’t fit two separate LEDs in there. Instead I had to settle for one with a bit of a diffuser to help the light come out both afterburners.

As I did in my Steinberger ’76 project, I also placed the homemade main marking decals under the primary fuselage coat of paint and masked over them. This allows them to be placed properly over a darker background by printing them on a white backing and then masking and blending the paint to match as best as possible. I think it worked reasonably well.

All in all though, I pretty satisfied with the result, but feel free to tell me what you think.