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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
Submitted 2021.04.13 by Pat LeBlanc
Pat creates a Major Matt Mason scaled Starfighter from the Buck Rogers 1979/1980 TV series.
Pat writes:
2021.04.13
I've had these plans on my shop wall for about 10 years but never seemed to get around to doing anything with them. In early February I got laid off so I decided to do something with them. As usual, I take some artistic license in adapting things for the Major and his pals. This Starfighter is just under 23" long (making it about 1/16 scale compared to MMM's 1/12 scale).
It took about 3 weeks to create the masters and begin vacuum-forming. It took another 3 weeks to complete assembly and detail it.
I will be posting pictures of the process and the final result. |
| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
BUCK ROGERS STARFIGHTER DETAILS:
The engine and gun pods are integrated into the fuselage. Pieces of 0.5” and 0.75” PVC quarter round make up the top(bottom) halves with balsa wood transitions where the diameters change. The portion of the engine integral to the fuselage was turned on a drill press and split into two haves.
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
The fuselage master was too long to fit in the oven so it was cut in half. Therefore the fuselage copy is made in four pieces: top forward, top aft, bottom forward and bottom aft.
Interchangeable pieces are placed on the aft fuselage master for the top and bottom copies which are formed from 12” x 12” sheets of styrene.
A piece is placed on the forward fuselage master for the top copy (this is the cockpit control panel).
The bottom of the cockpit and canopy are formed separately from the fuselage. The masters were cut from 2x4’s. The copies are formed from 6” x 12” styrene sheets.
The final two masters are for the remaining portions of the engines and the gun tips. The masters were turned on the drill press. The copies are formed from 6” x 6” styrene sheets.
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
2021.04.14
BUCK ROGERS STARFIGHTER DETAILS
After the parts are vacuum-formed, the copies are trimmed and fit together. 1” and 1.5” wooden dowels are installed to align the top and bottom halves of the fuselage. The dowels are cored to reduce weight. The dowels also provide a structure to attach the wings and the ventral fins which are made from Plexiglas.
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
A Dremel is used to remove the styrene from the canopy for the windows. The forward portion of the canopy is separated to make it removable.
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
2021.04.14
BUCK ROGERS STARFIGHTER (for MMM):
Once painted, decals are added to simulate surface details and sealed with multiple coats of flat lacquer After that, windows are installed inside the canopy.
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
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| Pat LeBlanc's Buck Rogers Starfighter |
The final touch is the view screen in the cockpit. Two words: Wilma Deering (or Erin Gray)!
You can reach Pat LeBlanc on Facebook, he's also an active member of the MAJOR MATT MASON Facebook group.
Should anybody reading this have any similar information, additions or corrections, then we would very much appreciate hearing about them.
All Mattel images and captions are copyright Mattel and used without permission. All other content, including images and editorial, is Copyright © 1997-2024 John Eaton and/or contributors unless otherwise stated. If there are any comments or objections, please contact John Eaton.
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