Pkf.85-T • Falke Trainer (two seater) with Service Mover

The Falke Trainer was built from early 2006, on and off, until the Fall of 2008. For the finished model, click here.

Initially conceived as a "heavy fighter" with a back seat gunner, I switched tracks early to the idea of this being a two-seater "trainer" vehicle, much like the Me163s design. I started with the 1/32nd P38 booms, S800 car, and a Yakult-like bottle. I figured that a second seat, staggered behind the pilot, would require a wider stance and would beef up the design considerably, so a fourth "antigravity" ping pong ball was also added to the underside. It looked much like this first photo below, when I took it to Portland Oregon to show Kow Yokoyama, on his first visit to the US. Kow gave it a look, and suggested that I beef the back end up (sketching what he envisioned on a scrap of paper). Well, that's all I needed to hear!

I then added some bulges to the back of the body, using large scale motorcycle tanks if I recall correctly.

Booms were filled with expanding foam to aid in their rigidity, and the putty work was all done with Apoxie Sculpt. This sucker is heavy!

I cut the booms where everyone else seems to, to make some stages of construction easier.

I switched back to a Yakult bottle.

Front intakes were changed to help further differentiate this from the standard Falke.

More bumps were added.

Puttied and put back together...

Here's something funny - if you look closely, you will see how asymmetrical the back two ping pong balls are, as well as the depth of the cut-ins between the main body and the P38 booms.

Here it is next to a regular Falke, to show how much wider and longer it is!

Body panels were scribed, and four dive brakes were added.

A pilot was made from the "Stumpy" character from Futch's Falke kit, and some additional parts from the Tamiya crew sets.

The "sensor package" was added in place of a mini gun. It's plastic tubing and putty to round the end off.

The Yakult engine got an Me262 engine assembly nested inside.

Sensor package parts were anchored to the body with hidden steel pins.

The boom fronts were sprayed with white primer, bottom was sprayed with blue, and the top was sprayed with two shades of tan/brown.

Engine and mechanical bits were finished in a gunmetal color.

As I started to add the decals, I decided to "quickly" build a tractor for the Falke. I used a "spare" 1/25th T-34 tank.

Decaling and weathering really brought the bottom to life. I had also used a couple layers of glazed Mr. Color paints at this stage.

It really excited me... the striping on the white bands were color matched to the "Wakaba" decals I had made.

Done! Zooooom!

Attentions turned to the tractor now... tick tock! I needed to finish this quickly, to send to Japan for an expo!

Yet another rare Porsche model gave its fenders to the cause.

Relocated the top engine detailing tot he back, to hopefully echo the Dollhouse. Plus, it made sense to keep it accessible even when a Falke was on top.

The figure was painted with Mr. Color paints. Practice practice practice!

Putty work!

I initially though "is he going to be smoking?". Then I decided to have his hold a remote for the tractor... then I decided he was on a lunch break.

Panel lines!

Mr. Surfacer!

Everything was coated with Mr. Surfacer 500, which hides all manner of model sins, and makes the whole thing look like it was "cast" from iron!

Painted in a bright-ish orange, tracks were added, and the whole thing was coated in Future Floor Polish for the decal step.

Decals!

One more coat of Future, Dullcote, and then powdered pigments.

It started looking pretty cool!

Lenses echoed the fronts of the booms.

A smart-ass decal.

For the finished model, click here.