Something a little different...Red 9

EvanW

Well-Known Member
I picked up a Salzo V3 from a member here last Christmas. (2010). This was to be my 10th resin kit purchase, but my FIRST resin build. I got to work on this in January with the intention of building a Red 5. I took a look around and saw A LOT of Red 5's. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just saw myself being too critical of details to building something screen accurate. So I decided to build a studio scale sized version of what I though Red 9 would look like. I researched probably all of the builds on this site and borrowed a little artistic value from each. First off I started with the pilot. At this time it was going to be Red 5 but I didn't like the head that came with the kit. This was my first resin build remember. I loped of the head of a POTF Luke action figure and married it up with the kit body. The head was about 1.5 mm larger than the kit one. I felt the size diff was negligible. I pictured myself going bonkers with all the small decal details on a helmet this size! Here he is beside his drilled out cockpit and targeting computer.


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Here is a shot of the painted cockpit as I added the fiber optics. Various sizes of guitar string made up the hoses and such.

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I figured 47 lights for the cockpit was enough...

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Next I moved onto the engines and was really inspired by a builder her who had added brass tube to his for a more real looking effect. I tried a variation and included some Tamiya tank parts too.

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I also removed the kit engine inserts and replaced them with cleaner screen accurate ones.

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A light test on all engines looked good to my eye anyway. The inside of the engine cans were lined with alum foil tape to maximize the light output. Lights were supplied by Voodoo FX and I was grateful for the soldering help. He applied the resistors and a couple of lights to get me started. This was also my first wired kit.

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From here this build gets sketchy as I would go at it for marathon sessions and forget to take pictures. Doh! Here she is with the holes drilled in the side after assembling the top and bottom.

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Now came the fun part. I suck at painting. Unless it is a rattle can primer coat. I have that down pat somewhat! I was not going to wreck this with a bad paint job, so I called Apophis to once again again bail my sorry ass out of another mess. I gave him some ideas and left the rest to his "artistic license and discretion". This is what was returned to be 8 weeks later just before Christmas:

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I was extremely pleased with the paint work. Once again Jerry had out did himself! I had placed the circuit board and wiring in the rear hollow and rigged up a switch to be covered by the rear plate. The droid strip would be affixed by magnets so I could swap out the battery when needed. Now the wings and cannons had to be mounted so I could finish it up.

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Finally all finished! A year later ( I have 4 kids, a wife, and numerous pets that seem to want ALL my attention ALL the time! LOL!). I am actually going to miss working on it. I learned a lot from the other members here. You all inspired me to try different things. A big shout out to the guys who helped break my cherry on this: Randy from Voodoo FX for the numerous emails and finally a phone call to help me through the soldering process! Mike for producing my dream kit to start with, Jerry for the awesome paint job. Jason E for the decals, and everyone else here who has documented their build so I could dive into mine.

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Now I just need to find an awesome display base for it. Already have a plaque from gatorbait.

Thanks for looking,

Evan
 
Been toying with doing this too, making up a new paint scheme but staying absolutely in the style of ILM artisans, or even doing a jam session of my fave areas of various models. The results here are impressive. Full marks for the tone relationship between the red and the 'white', by the way.
 
Ditto! Have seen other speculative schemes on SS X-wings, often nicely implemented but this one is downright *terrific*. Props to you and Jerry!
 
Very nice build! I too was tired of seeing (well not really) nothing but Red 5's. That's why I did Blue Leader. Yours is a much welcome addition to the world of SS X-Wings! Congrats on a beautiful model.
 
It looks fantastic, very refreshing to see a build like this. Not to diminish the hard work that goes into the exacting work of those that do the faithful ILM paintjobs, but it's nice to see different techniques employed on these.
mike
 
I will add one critique that was leveled at my Blue Leader. Your Astromech is too clean looking. I weathered the heck out of my Blue Leader but forgot to weather the droid, it was too clean. I would suggest dirtying him down a little bit. Other than that, it looks fantastic.
 
Thanks for all the kind words guys. Yeah, Jerry really made the paint "pop" as it were. And yes, R2 is little too clean. He sits a bit too high for my eye too. He is from a Revell Jedi Starfighter with a little resin from the kit R2 to make him higher. Seems like I went a little too high. And he needs to be dirtied up a bit. A question though. Does anyone know of a sealer that plays well with Tamiya brush on weathering? Jerry tried Testors Dullcoat and then promptly had to redo a whack of it because of undesirable results.

Thanks,

Evan
 
On my X-Wing I used a lot of pastels. I used regular Krylon clear flat to seal all my work. I just built up the coverage with very light mist coats. The trick is you don't want to get the powder wet from the paint. Misted from a good distance allows the paint to dry before hitting the model but still sticking to it. That keeps the pastels from getting wet and ruining the effect. But also remember that any clear coat over pastels will effect their color, making them more vibrant.

I like how you used the Revel R2. That's what I did for mine. I built up the bottom with sheet stryene to get the right height.
 
I'll give the Krylon a shot!

Thanks!

On my X-Wing I used a lot of pastels. I used regular Krylon clear flat to seal all my work. I just built up the coverage with very light mist coats. The trick is you don't want to get the powder wet from the paint. Misted from a good distance allows the paint to dry before hitting the model but still sticking to it. That keeps the pastels from getting wet and ruining the effect. But also remember that any clear coat over pastels will effect their color, making them more vibrant.

I like how you used the Revel R2. That's what I did for mine. I built up the bottom with sheet stryene to get the right height.
 
I love ANYTHING that shows creativity in this section, but hey, it helps that this is really good, too - bravo!!!!
 
Love the paint job on this! I've never had the patience to do fibre optics, but it really adds another level to the model :)
 
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