by Phil Gruver

Suppose the SDF-1 had landed in Roswell, New Mexico on July 4th, 1947 instead of Macross Island. How would an infusion of Robotechnology have influenced aircraft designs at the Lockheed Skunk Works? What would this result have done to the balance of power between the US and the Soviet Union? Would the Cold War have continued into the 1980's, or would the impending threat of the Zentradi Army's Vrlitwhai Fleet have brought Earthly squabbles to a decisive end?

The Model

This Revell-Monogram 1/72 scale SR-71 Blackbird model was first constructed more than 10 years ago by a coworker. Last week, he kindly asked me to refurbish it for him yet gave me no instructions whatsoever. So I did.

The model configuration is representative of the GERWALK (Ground Effective Reinforcement of Winged Armament with Locomotive Knee-joint) mode. I used leftover parts and decals from several Bandai 1/72 scale VF-1 Valkyrie kits. All landing gear that came stock with the SR-71 kit were removed. The forward landing gear was replaced with a VF-1S head unit. The rear landing gear were replaced with the VF-1 variable geometry leg/engines. To attach the legs, I first removed the top half of the fuselage, drilled two holes where the langing gear struts used to be and inserted two roofing nails which were epoxied in place. The fuselage was then reinstalled. The "thighs" were actually upper arms that where trimmed to fit inside the narrower knee joint. Plastruct tubing was fitted inside the thigh and the volume around the tubing filled in with more Plastruct. The roofing nails were then inserted into the tubing. The arms were attached to the SR-71 engine housing by cutting two ¼" long channels into the housing and gluing the upper flange of the arm assembly into the channels.

Since the original model was never painted, it was only necessary to clean with a white cotton cloth soaked in IPA. All completed subassemblies were then airbrushed with Floquil gray primer. The enamel painting scheme is typical of Macross fighters. I used a mixture of Tester's flat red and flat sea blue to get a deep purple for the main color. All seams/panels were post-shaded with a slightly darker color of the mixture. The blue detailing was flat sky blue. Model Master Exhaust Metallizer was used on the head unit guns and engine "feet". The head unit visor was hand-painted with Testors' silver. The rauncher (machine gun) was painted with Gun Metal and details with Testors red and yellow gloss paints. The SR-71 engine exhausts were first painted with Testors' silver and then Tamiya clear yellow acrylic. The "U.N. SPACY" and Macross insignia were created in PowerPoint and adhered with double-sticky back tape.

Image: Head and shoulders

Image: Rear quarter view