CHIPPY HO!

Another really outstanding effort by Keith! Here's a description he provided of this great little egg:

When I built the Chippy Ho F-18 I used decals from the 1/100 scale metal F-18 by Testors. They were modified to fit the Egg Plane. Decals setting solution and my Exacto were my best friends when it came to applying the decals. I mixed in some of the Hasegawa decals because they worked better. The Chippy Ho stripe down the fuselage had to be shortened considerably to fit. The eagle's head had to be split at the top of the intakes to fit. The eagle decal was too thick because of the multicolor process and was extremely difficult to get conformed to the radical curve of the nose on the Egg Plane. The tail decals are a combination of the Hasegawa and Testors decals cut down to fit.

I chose to build with the landing gear removed and filled in the spaces on the bottom and smoothed them down. When preparing to show it in flight, I add a small piece of plastic tube inside the fuselage and reinforced it to accept the metal stand from the Phantom Boy kit. The stand will eventually be a golf course with a flag and possible a figure. I added drop tanks from an A-6 Egg Plane that were cast in resin and modified to accurately resemble the real ones. The entire plane was airbrushed two-tone gray. The pilot was built standard. The helmet, which is difficult to see in the pictures, has a green helmet matching the Chippy Ho stripes and his visor is gold Bare Metal Foil. It was a fun project!

My next project will be an F-14 Black Bunny Egg Plane. It is built and basically needs paint and decals applied. It will be landing gear up, no drop tanks, and full afterburners.