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FlisKit's Interloper Detailing
Jim Flis' designs certainly don't need any tweaking. He's come up with some of the more innovative designs out there. I recently won four MMX kits on Ebay, the Interloper was one of them. This is a great design with plenty of detail. Sometimes I'll take a kit and play with the design. I thought ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 1 Parts
Here's almost all the parts for the FlisKits Interloper . The toothpicks (for the fin points) aren't in the shot. I'll substitute two of my own. This is one of four MicroMaxx kits I recently won on Ebay. If you go back to this post (click HERE ) you can see the slight design changes I'll be ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 2 Color Plan
I took the original drawing and started dropping in possible color combinations. This model will have three main colors - silver, orange and white. Black trim will be on all the toothpicks and at the rear of the main body tube. Because of the size of the model, masking would be difficult. I'll ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 3 Tube Scallops
Note: I used a longer piece of scrap BT -20 I had from my spare parts box. It will be easier to shape a longer piece of body tube then cut it down afterwards. The fin marking guide from the instruction sheet was used to mark the six scallop lines. A piece of paper was wrapped and a pencil line ...
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Fliskits Interloper Build Part 4 Scallops
When I got close to the pencil line I put the paper wrap on again. It's easier to see the depth of the scallops with the higher contrast of the paper wrap. Right now I've sanded about as far down as I should using the 220 grit sandpaper. You can see the tube edges are a little rough. Some thin CA ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 5 Fins
Both the long main tube and the shorter Bt-20 got thinned Carpenter's Wood Filler to eliminate the seams. This was sanded down with 400 grit sandpaper. If you look at the original drawing, I wanted the interior ram jet fins to extend out the back instead of being flush with the rear of the tubes. ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 6 Vanes and Fins Prep
The instructions give you three different suggestions for the fin shaping- a double taper, rounded or square leading and trailing edges. The fins feel thick for a model this size. I felt the double taper would look best but would be hard to sand a sharp bevel on such small fins. I chose a wedge ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 7 Toothpick Details
The toothpicks were sealed with two coats of sanding sealer, sanding between coats. I sealed six toothpicks to have extras, just in case. The six were cut in half and punched into cardboard for spraying. These will be cut to size after the black spray dries. These are the front guns to be glued ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 8 Black Trim Paint
The scalloped BT-20 piece had the interior colored black with a Sharpie pen. This would be a hard mask at this size. The Sharpie was just an easier way to go. I wanted the long main tube to be black at the rear. This black would give the white vanes a greater contrast on the lower engine end. TIP: ...
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FlisKits Interloper Part 9 Masking the Nose Cone
I had planned for the lower taper of the nose cone to be white. This would require a small mask. Normally the darker color would be second but the shape of the nose cone made me do the white after the orange. I cut a thin strip of clear Scotch tape and wrapped it around the widest part of the nose ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 10 Putting It Together
Here's all the parts set out ready for assembly. This was a different build for me. I don't remember ever pre -painting every part before gluing it together. First up are the vanes. The fin lines were marked and a thin line of paint was scraped off for better adhesion. The vanes were set in place ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 11 Fins
The four orange fins came next. You can see where the paint was scraped off down the fin line for gluing. These main fins were glued on the same as before, white glue and then thin CA. This time the thin CA drop was placed on the back of the root edge joint and allowed to run down the root edge. ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build Part 12 Fin Tips
The toothpick points are glued to the outside edges of the orange fins. Both the outside edge of the fin and the toothpick had paint removed for better adhesion. A small drop of super glue was set on the rear of the toothpick / fin joint and allowed to run up the seam. The end of the toothpick had ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build FINISHED!
The INTERLOPER is finished! In the end, I decided to leave off the forward "guns'. They just looked too big and clumsy. I'm still deciding which decals (if any) I'll be using. I didn't do a blog entry about attaching the streamer, it's a simple assembly. The Kevlar line wasn't attached to the ...
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FlisKits Interloper Build More FINISHED!
Looking over the model, it needed some black on the nose to visually balance out the amount of black on the tail end. I decided to add just a bit of black to the blunt tip of the nose cone. It'd be a pain to paint it, it's be easier to cut it out of electrical tape. That clear square is cut from ...
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