1/42 AMT T-65BR 'Recon X'

Gallery Article by Benjo on June 28 2011

 

          The basic kit was the a recent reboxing of the old kit by AMT.  There is alot of work involved in making this kit look like a convincing X-wing, but it does have some good points. It's large, with good proportions and has engraved panel lines.  A good start, but there is not one part of this kit that hasn't been reworked, modified, or even replaced.  The kit comes pretty bare, so I went to my spare room, Benjo's plastic boneyard for parts.  Old and dead 1/48 tomcat cockpit parts, 1/32 FW190D-9 engine parts, 1/35 M1A1 parts were cut, rearranged, and used in the cockpit.  I did the same with 1/48 F-14 undercarriage parts, rearranged, shortened with the X-wing feet added. Main landing gear wells were detailed with various spare 1/32 German fighter weaponry.  Belly cargo bay was opened and also detailed with pretty much anything, mainly 1/700 battleship parts and 1/35 armor parts. 

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           I have always been partial to the recon version of the X-wing, drawn in the X-wing comics and described in the X-wing novels. Any data found on this fighter is conflicting and even drawn slightly different from frame to frame in the comics.  Which is good for me, I made all the changes I liked most about this fighter, and added some of my own touches.  Artistic license!  These parts also donated from the plastic boneyard.  Apart from the obvious differences in paintwork, there is an AWACS style of nose, some kind of underwing bulges or pylons, overwing fairings to facilitate the towed sensor array which deploys much like the marine Tu-142 Bears.  My favourite part of the mod is the cargo bay with recce equipment.  Other differences that don't make any change to the build are that the S-foils are locked shut, and they are meant to be unnarmed to save weight and precious power. So I can only assume the cannons are dummys to disguise this fighter as a standard model in the heat of combat.
 

         This took a year to build, on and off.  Interestingly, I picked up this kit at SCALE ACT 2010 swap and sell, and completed the model for entry the night before SCALE ACT 2011.  It won the 'Best painted model' at the show!  A test of my abilities, but I can stand back at the finished model and be think, I am okay with that!

Benjo

Photos and text © by Benjo