1/24 B-Wing kit modifications

Hey everyone,
I finally found some time to do some work to my 1/24 B-Wing kit. Overall it´s a nice kit but I like to do modify every kit to make it a bit more special (maybe just to compensate for my painting skills... ).
So far I modified:

cockpit: I added some useless bits and removed two ugly chunks of resin in the rear of the tub, for some reason it looks as if someone stuck a huge bit of putty in both rear corners so I removed them and covered the sides and rearwall with styrene sheet to cover the seam

I replaced the detail piece on the main gun pod as it is too big and should not sit in the middle (actually the proportions of the part I scratched are off, but this is because the whole gun pod should be wider as ref pics show so I had to make it fit)

I enlarged the open slot in the rear of the main wing as it is not symmetrical, one side is much deeper and I also cut deep into the wing to create a nice undercut. The detail piece supplied with the kit is useless now so I´ll have to do my own thing there.

I modified the intake by adding a 4mm styrene strip to make the protruding edge, then I cut the middle intake panel and added 4mm to the rear to make the panel stand out, and I cut two rectangles into the center plate as these openings are visible on the studio model.

engines: I sanded the back off each engine detail piece until I could see through it, as I´d like to add lighting although I have no clue how. The engine "cones" will be drilled out to either add some depth or make room for the bulbs.

Further I have plans to replace the two boxes with the grills on top which sit in the rear of each engine housing half, as they´re a bit off in size and detail. Maybe I´ll also replace the panel in front of it where the studio model seems to have mouting points. One of the panels is slightly open which I want to replicate, and the "air outlet" which sits on top should be shorter and have an opening in the back.

Unfortunately the gun arrangement of the main gun pod is wrong but I don´t think I´ll redo that.

And on the main wing all panel lines will have to be rescribed, some even filled as they´re in the wrong position.

Don´t expect any more updates too soon as I should now start learning for a machanics of materials exam. Maybe in summer I´ll have time to continue working on this...

Another post just for pics.

I'll be watching this thread closely. I too like to add detail to distract from my inadequate paint jobs.

großartig

Great, great, great stuff. Some very cool upgrades going on there, anything that can be done to improve this ship is well worth it. I really want to go to town on my next one with upgrades & smaller guns etc. More than anything I'm just so chuffed to see another B come together & you can B sure I'll be watching all the way. Ace stuff.

el loco, dankeschön!

Guy, glad you like it, actually it´s your paint job that convinced me to start the B-Wing and not the Salzo X-Wing first. And I can´t wait to see what you´ll do with your next one.

Did some small work today, drilled some holes for mounting the main gun pod and removed the whole area with the box with vents on top on each engine housing half as the detail is wrong and soft. The corners of the cutout should be round not actual corners, I replicated this with styrene and putty. And while being at it I removed the wrong paneling around this area to rebuild it correctly with more styrene and putty.
Next I´ll need to rebuild those box shapes with vents on top, anyone got an idea what to use for the vents? I´m afraid scribing some lines in styrene won´t look as clean as I want it to, and having some PE parts made might be a little expensive.

Small update....going very slow as I´m at home just every second weekend or so.
I finished enlarging and detailing the big opening and corrected the curvature of the recessed area on the main wing, modified the secondary gun "shell" and corrected the armor plating on the engine housings. Let me know what you guys think.

More pics...
The greeblies of the sec. guns are looking nice but are completely wrong, so I´ll completely scratch those parts.
I´m currently trying to find the necessary components for lighting the engines, and before I got all this figured out and wired up I can´t continue the build as I want to mount the ship on the engine housing which means I have to reinforce this area, but still keep enough space for the lighting stuff. Difficult build...

great stuff. Keep it up!!!

very inspirational stuff, cant wait to see it all primer'd up.

I didn't know you are building a B-wing.It looks very nice!

Looks great. Nice modifications.

Some small update...doesn´t look like much but it was quite a lot of work, especially removing so much resin. My lungs must be full of resin dust... Guess I won´t be around long enough to finish that model!

The big opening is for access to the lighting stuff, especially to change batteries. Don´t want to put all that into the base. The vents on the covers were scratched to create the opening in the rear, since this part is solid and cast into the housing in the kit.

The area between the exhausts was detailed because...I was bored.

The large vents on the outside of the engine housings will be photoetch parts, made by a very kind person I met at SSM, from graphics I´ve drawn.

On to the pics...

some more

Very nice indeed, keep em coming. Seriously improved bud.

Outstanding work!!!!

Thanks guys!

Guy, I was looking at your wonderful build (which "slightly" intimidates me) and wondered where you got the stand from? And how much did it cost? Might be useful...Thanks for any info!

Looks promising... This thing is huge!

This is looking rock solid mate & it is vastly improved on my build, I'll be using this on my next one. My stand is a regular panavise mount that I bought from ebay.com there's tons of em on the bay. Originally I had the B on the telescopic mount but felt that in the vertical position it was a bit unstable so I opted for a horizontal display only. The base was a left over part from my Probe Droid kit, it was a stroke of luck that it all fit together. Are you going to light the cockpit at all?

Thanks guy, I was looking on ebay for the panavise but they all just ship to the US. Found a smaller one though that might work, fortunately it´s not too expensive but it´s not the mount type I´d prefer.

No lighting for the cockpit intended, I have no clue of lighting yet and the engines are complicated enough, don´t want to mess around with FO. Also, I don´t think the ILM model´s cockpit was lit.

Next update. The chin guns provided in the kit are... umm...a "bad joke". I have no idea why Alfred Wong seems to have ignored almost every reference pic when doing those masters. There´s plenty of pics of the chin guns...but still they´re nothing as they should be. Sorry for the rant, but I´m getting tired of having to modify every part to make it look somewhat like it should.

Anyway...new chin guns made from 3, 4 and 5mm diameter brass tubing, cut with a saw and my dremel:

Very Very nice indeed, it makes a huge difference .

Just sent you a pm Mate, I'm in Vienna tomorrow & it would be great to catch up if your near by?