PKF.85Bis Griffon

The Griffon is a variation on probably the most iconic Ma.K vehicle of all time: the Falke. If you know of Ma.K you probably have seen the Falke - the Griffon adds some slight changes, most notably some extra armor around the front, a laser gun instead of the usual chain gun, a little sensor on the cockpit, and slightly differently shaped stabilizers. 

The lineage of the Falke kitbash is readily apparent: if you are at all familiar with WW2 aircraft, the booms are easily identifiable as P-38 engines. The engine was originally the container for a yogurt drink called Yakult. On this build, I believe I had been been using the KvltWorx moniker for long enough that I decided to put a "K" as the marking. The only difficult part of the build was making sure the very large seam between the top and bottom fuselage halves was filled and cleaned.

The kit actually has quite a detailed cockpit and a full body pilot however not much of it is easily photographed once the kit is assembled.

I tried my best to keep the paint and weathering "directional" to give the appearance of an aircraft that would move with some speed. One of the best moments of my creative life came when I showed this model at Ma.K Tamagawa meeting and Mr. Yokoyama himself commented on how he enjoyed the paint job on this kit. I was nearly beside myself that the creator of Ma.K thought I did his design justice! A very humbling experience that I will remember forever.

The cockpit bulge lent itself to a bit of fun with the hand painted cyclopean skull. The "Killer Bee" emblem comes from the decal sheet included with the Ma.K Falke Profile book. They are actually nicer than the somewhat thick Hasegawa decals.

The extremely detailed underside with the ping pong ball antigravity pods clearly visible.

Not much else to say other than, it's a pretty cool if minor variation on the most well known Ma.K flying machine of all time. Lots of big smooth lines and shapes that are loads of fun to paint - in fact I'm contemplating making one in a camo finish now...