Looks stellar, as always.
How long has the silver tape been on there? I never noticed it 'til now.
-Mike J.
Looks stellar, as always.
How long has the silver tape been on there? I never noticed it 'til now.
-Mike J.
On my model, probably a year, give or take a few months.Sith Sheriff Brody said:
It is quite clearly there on the original as it sits today. Question is if it was there when the model was filmed. It is very difficult to tell from reference pics.
I remember seeing it on some of the museum pics of the original, I just hadn't noticed it on yours. Guess I'm just slow
-Mike
I'm pursuing an avenue to try to determine if in fact the model bore silver strips during filming.Sith Sheriff Brody said:
I remember seeing it on some of the museum pics of the original, I just hadn't noticed it on yours. Guess I'm just slow
-Mike
If not, then my running theory is that the silver is the result of tape that remained on the model after completion, and during the filming process, but has since fallen off.
Reading about the History of this Prop since filming wrapped up, I would assume that what is present on the model now was also present on the model then, unless there was some 'restoration' done to it after it left ILM (not including the radardish that was lost and replaced). Since this model wasn't cared for and ended up junked, I wouldn't think that 'they' took the time to add new/more details after shooting was completed.PHArchivist said:
...But I could be wrong...
No new pics to post right now.
But note in this comp that the original has a slight but noticably higher degree of contrast (panels are a bit darker).
Good news is mine is being adjusted, and will be darker.
Bad news is it takes forever...
And when is the Kit coming outclutch said:
Which one is the real one?
That's due to the photography.PHArchivist said:
Love watching this build. Backing up to the beginning though, I have a 15" Christmas ornament that would be a great start. My questions are what size should both half's be cut down to, and what brand of grey did you use?
And I thought I was crazy.
Great damn job.
Steve
You don't know the half of it! What is really crazy is the process I am following now. Darkening each city block by hand-applying additional dots with pen and pencil.SteveNeill said:
And I thought I was crazy.
Great damn job.
Steve
BUT, it is looking much better.
I just now took a shot. Give me few to upload.vaderdarth said:
Show us man!!!!
I've said before - as tedious and time consuming as this is, it is totally worth it. I had no idea how light mine was, and how much it needed the additional contrast.
Stand by...
EDIT:Damn card reader is not reading the SD card
OK a reboot fixed it... Image is almost too big - at least for my 19". Save it and reduce it a bit on your machine.
Rob... I just found this thread for the time and I gotta say, this is freakin fantastic... althou I think your original estimate of construction time was a little off... paraphrasing your first post back on Nov 11th, 2008:
"However, I anticipate this to be a six to twelve month project. I suspect the physical construction should take a month or less, but the masking and painting will be considerably longer. Then the lights... Good god!"
First I'd like to say, after seeing the work you've done, I am majorly impressed at the detail and time you've put into this monster. I thought when I built the AMT Death Star and drilled a million tiny holes in it that I was crazy... I can't imagine your level of OCD!Simply amazing bro. The only thing I wish was that the images you posted at the beginning of this thread were still viewable. Don't know where you stored them online, but seems as if they have expired a couple of years back! Any chance at compiling all the photos you've taken over the years of the contruction of this and putting them all together for us? I'd be happy to host them on my server forever if you'd like! No charge!
Oh yeah skippy, you are nailing it. It never ceases to amaze me how you can make this monstrosity even more accurate every time you touch it. It's so incredibly collosal that you can't wrap your mind around it. I usually start out accurizing my kits then after a while I hit that "gotta finish it yesterday mode" and things get overlooked. With your DS, I expect to take a magnifying glass............look at one of the dots and see a microscopic DS Gunner waving back..........LOL
Almost! It does come down to crafting the placement of a few select dots.vaderdarth said:
But you can see - right - that the bottom (where I have darkened it) is now matching the top better?
In the image, the darkened areas on the bottom almost look a tad darker than the top, but in person, its all the same. Lighting, and the way it strikes the globe.
The top just went to its current shade more or less naturally. I was painting out larger dots (to make the grain pattern more fine) then filling back in the painted areas. And then added an overall speckling with pencil, and it ended up as you see it now.
But on the bottom, I think the initial speckling was a bit too sparse, so I am having to add a more comprehensive covering of dots with the pen and pencil. Or in other words, I am having to intentionally darken it.
But you can see how light, and low-contrast the lower dome is (where I haven't gone over it yet). I like the increased contrast a lot more.
The biggest challenge / risk with adding the dots is to get a grain pattern (density and size of dots) that matches the surrounding cityscapes, but at the same time is not too uniform.
There are certain already-darkened cityscapes that I will now need to go back (once again) and add a few white dots to break up the monotony of the black dots.
That is key...
When the majority of the dots (90% or more) are black, the cityscape goes flat, and looses "relief". It looks fake...
Oh and I've also been adding more lines to this area of the lower dome. On my first pass (with lines), I got skimpy, and lazy.
OK blathering away...
Looking at the trench, man that bugs me where it widens out.
Remember, the initial build resulted in a trench that was too wide (matched the original model in its present condition), and I added the strips of plastic to narrow it down.
That last 10% or so of the trench (and surface in general) was initially not going to be completed (not detailed), so I stopped the correction of the trench where I did.
And now I cannont complete it because I have no more base grey paint!
If I can get more paint some day (if Tamiya decides to sell it again), I may correct the trench.
Why not just go down to the nearest hardware store and have them color match a paint for ya? I know Ace does it as well as Walmart. You could get a good satin latex based paint, th8in it down with water and use it in an airbrush and not have to worry about ever running out of the color you used again... not to mention you could actually get a formula that you could share with the rest of us!PHArchivist said:
O'Reilly Auto Parts supposedly will custom mix auto laquers in the same way Rob. You take them the color you want and they create a custom match for you. Around $100/qt. Plus they might even mix it appropriately for an airbrush. I'm sure they can match it if you have something that is painted with it........because you want them to see both the color and the sheen of that paint.
Dave
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