Resurecting an old weathered friend

Built this one back around 1984 and recently pulled it out of mothballs. Much of the dirt was brushed on graphite. I painted the panel lines with a rapidograph ink pen then used my finger to smear ink "towards the rear" to simulate leaks. The wing laser strikes were done by planting a magnifying glass in the ground and letting the hot afternoon sun over Texas do the work for me. Also did a pin point strike on the side near the cockpit. Used ink and graphite on both strikes to amplify the burned look. Sealed with Dullcoat.

Simply planning to reattaching broken off parts and putting it back on the shelf unless any of you guys might suggest ways it could be improved upon...?

Regards,
Matt

I always thought the AMT kits were really good, built a few myself back in the day.

If you're sticking with red five you could add some of the colored panels here and there that can be found in all of the reference material available on the web.

Never thought about using a magnifying glass. Thats brilliant. More control than a soldering iron thats for sure.

There are production used AMT kits from ROTJ in worse shape than yours.

For being almost 30 years old it looks pretty good. The panel lines are a little stark. Maybe flow some grey paint in them to tone them done. Add a few colored panels, Seal it with another coat of dullcoat. That will seal the cracking and pealing red stripe decals on the fuselage, which now look great!