HAHA, nice. So that's why Fin wanted to get away from his mates.
Studio scale klingon bird of prey landing config mods and accurate paint
- Thread starter Flyscriber
- Start date
Now we will see if the wings up "coming into land configuration" with bespoke undercarriage fitted will look better than "wings down attack position". Answers on a postcard! I know where my money will be placed! We will see once the pictures get posted. Be interested to hear everyone's thoughts/preferences
another day bashing at the bird !
I ground down the cooling fins to the right length to allow the wings to be in the maximum position. I was worried about this a bit as I didn't know how to attack the parts without removing them and cutting separately. After some trials I found they are made from some kind of Perspex material, and as I've done Perspex before I decided on the angle grinder with a coarse grit sanding disk. It worked a treat with no breakages and an easy grind. once the fins were done I needed to grind down the rear shoulder parts under the tank body. I had removed the porche engine lids to get a decent look at the angle. I did these with a hand rasp as the angle grinder could not reach into the corners, and after a couple of trials and regrinds I managed to get the edge of the wings to meet the main body.
then it was time for a quick reassembly and evaluation before final strip down and starting to remove any loose paint before the start of the re-spray, and I got this
I ground down the cooling fins to the right length to allow the wings to be in the maximum position. I was worried about this a bit as I didn't know how to attack the parts without removing them and cutting separately. After some trials I found they are made from some kind of Perspex material, and as I've done Perspex before I decided on the angle grinder with a coarse grit sanding disk. It worked a treat with no breakages and an easy grind. once the fins were done I needed to grind down the rear shoulder parts under the tank body. I had removed the porche engine lids to get a decent look at the angle. I did these with a hand rasp as the angle grinder could not reach into the corners, and after a couple of trials and regrinds I managed to get the edge of the wings to meet the main body.
then it was time for a quick reassembly and evaluation before final strip down and starting to remove any loose paint before the start of the re-spray, and I got this
so that's it for today. I love it with the wings up, even if the port wing is a little high ! The landing gear looks to be about right, just some more width on the spacing I think to bring them out a little. NOw for the strip down and paint job !!! ooooh fun times!!! More tomorrow. if you need a star wars fix Naxu, I'm more than happy to oblige
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=252346
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=254000
View attachment 602029so that's it for today. I love it with the wings up, even if the port wing is a little high ! The landing gear looks to be about right, just some more width on the spacing I think to bring them out a little. NOw for the strip down and paint job !!! ooooh fun times!!! More tomorrow.
if you need a star wars fix Naxu, I'm more than happy to oblige
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=252346
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=254000
Hahaha I'm ok, I was just posting for laughs [emoji1360]
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
No offence taken mate, I liked it.
Ok onto the last couple of days.
Ive stripped the lose paint off the wings and prepped them for painting. Wired the leds into the new stand and tested them. Stripped it down again for painting.
so this morning I had this
View attachment 604667
his is the reference photo im trying to match for some colour intensity as agreed with the client.
View attachment 604672
This is a full lit photo and I think it shows well all the colour pigments in the paint. Its over real in intensity but has a nice jewel like appearance to it which is something I will be trying to replicate.
so first it was a low light pass in all the recesses of the wings, allowing overspray to fall onto the top of each panel. I used a dark green matt tamia colour paint with cellulose thinners.
View attachment 604673
Then a second pass with a lighter green not on every edge, just random on top of the dark green.
View attachment 604674
Then a third pass with a brighter green again to lift the colour away from the main body, but again in a random way
View attachment 604675
Now were all fuzzy and horrible, its time to get some panels masked up.
I mask each panel separately in order that I can vary the colour intensity and shading on each panel to add some subtle difference to each.
It sounds like a long way to work, but it really is quite a speedy way to work and does minimal damage to the paint from the masking tape as it is only on the model for a matter of minutes instead of hours
Ok onto the last couple of days.
Ive stripped the lose paint off the wings and prepped them for painting. Wired the leds into the new stand and tested them. Stripped it down again for painting.
so this morning I had this
View attachment 604667
his is the reference photo im trying to match for some colour intensity as agreed with the client.
View attachment 604672
This is a full lit photo and I think it shows well all the colour pigments in the paint. Its over real in intensity but has a nice jewel like appearance to it which is something I will be trying to replicate.
so first it was a low light pass in all the recesses of the wings, allowing overspray to fall onto the top of each panel. I used a dark green matt tamia colour paint with cellulose thinners.
View attachment 604673
Then a second pass with a lighter green not on every edge, just random on top of the dark green.
View attachment 604674
Then a third pass with a brighter green again to lift the colour away from the main body, but again in a random way
View attachment 604675
Now were all fuzzy and horrible, its time to get some panels masked up.
I mask each panel separately in order that I can vary the colour intensity and shading on each panel to add some subtle difference to each.
It sounds like a long way to work, but it really is quite a speedy way to work and does minimal damage to the paint from the masking tape as it is only on the model for a matter of minutes instead of hours
im having issues with posting images,
So after a few passes with colour the wings are coming together nicely.
So that's it for today.
Im pretty confident that I have the starboard wing 90 percent accurate for panel colour placement, but I don't have any decent reference for the port wing. I know there are a few guys out there who may have some reference of the top of the port wing, if you know them , or are them, please post it on here. Thanks guys
So after a few passes with colour the wings are coming together nicely.
So that's it for today.
Im pretty confident that I have the starboard wing 90 percent accurate for panel colour placement, but I don't have any decent reference for the port wing. I know there are a few guys out there who may have some reference of the top of the port wing, if you know them , or are them, please post it on here. Thanks guys
HI Rick, I've no idea what is going on with the paint on this model. In some areas it has taken really well to the surface, and in others it just pops off with masking tape. As I didn't make build this model from the kit I don't really know if there is any difference in the resin castings from place to place. but it would appear to me that the wings are more like a Plastrut material which can be problematic with paint some times. The wing panel surfaces are beautifully smooth and a credit to the kit makers, in fact they could be to smooth. I removed as much loose material from the wings as I could with masking tape, then simply popped anything else off with my finger nails. I hit it then with 800 grit paper trying not to sand down any nice relief detailing. I primed it with automotive grey and then tested it again for adhesion. I found a little plucking from some of the panels still, but I would put that down to missing a bit with the 800 grit paper. 99 percent of it was well enough adhered to mask off the panels for painting. I would ask moffeaton if he would be kind enough to see if the wing panels of this kit fell different to the body section of this kit. This may indicate that a plastic primer could be used on the wings to etch into the surface a little. So far I've had no issues with the primer and tamia colour with celly mix. But I'm not finished yet and more could come to light.
So after another day sorting bits out, ive finished the first layer of paint on the top of the wings.
Now onto the bottoms. There is a lot more light colouring to the recesses on the lower wing, so I've added some sand/olive colourationto lift the colour of the wing a little
top wing overviews.
So after another day sorting bits out, ive finished the first layer of paint on the top of the wings.
Now onto the bottoms. There is a lot more light colouring to the recesses on the lower wing, so I've added some sand/olive colourationto lift the colour of the wing a little
top wing overviews.
Now started to paint the red panels on the lower side of the wings.
I started with a tamia flat red to see what the result looked like. After the first few panels I found that it was drying with some kind of bloom to it, as if the whiter pigments in the colour were migrating to the surface of he paint as it dried. Maybe someone could shed light on this for me. so I switched to an automotive paint for the other panels. The tamia flat red can be seen as the light red, pinky panels in this image. I will be sorting these out as I get through the undersides after the weekend.
All the red panels are slightly different in colour as I add some with blues and others with yellows to vary the intensity of the red colours, as well as introducing some streaking to each panel with the airbrush allowing the lower colours to bleed through a little.
That's it for now.
I started with a tamia flat red to see what the result looked like. After the first few panels I found that it was drying with some kind of bloom to it, as if the whiter pigments in the colour were migrating to the surface of he paint as it dried. Maybe someone could shed light on this for me. so I switched to an automotive paint for the other panels. The tamia flat red can be seen as the light red, pinky panels in this image. I will be sorting these out as I get through the undersides after the weekend.
All the red panels are slightly different in colour as I add some with blues and others with yellows to vary the intensity of the red colours, as well as introducing some streaking to each panel with the airbrush allowing the lower colours to bleed through a little.
That's it for now.
Another day into this wing refurb. More paints bought to vary the red a little, as if I continue to merge the base colours too much the model will become more flat to the eye. So after buying another 4 types of red I continued with the bottom of the wings. I left the tamia flat red in the end, as I liked the different finishes and variation of the colours. there were some problematic paint areas which plucked off with the masking tape, so there is a litte touch up here and there, but nothing which will remain visible after the weathering.
So this is it with its first preliminary shot of colour on the nose. I will try to work with the existing paint job as much as I can, but some areas will need a complete cover to bring the colours into line with the "money shot " image.
More soon.
The body and other surfaces are now getting covered in the base colours, these will provide a colour base for the weathering and other shading when I get to it.
I have carefully removed the nose gun housing to repaint the small panels on there, also ive remade the gun with a smaller circuit gear from an od video camera ad a super glue top !
that's it for now guys.
I have carefully removed the nose gun housing to repaint the small panels on there, also ive remade the gun with a smaller circuit gear from an od video camera ad a super glue top !
that's it for now guys.
A buddy and I just pulled all the molds out of storage for this Studio Scale BOP beastie to find some molds to do some replacement parts.. Man I forgot how many there are and how freaking HEAVY everything is! Your doing an bang up job.... are you planning on toning down the Turquoise color? The colors on that shot you are referring to reads very bright.... Ont he studio model from ST III ISFS there is a hint of Turquoise but not as pronounced... any how my 2 cents..... looking awesome!
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks swpropmaker.
Im doing my best on this one to make it a real jewel. The turquoise colour will be toned down for sure as the passes go on with the shading and weathering. Im trying to get the major key points on the paint as accurate as I can without going mental over it all. I tend to knock back the vivid panels with thin coats of clear and tiny amounts of hand mixed colours, I find these passes make for a complex and more varied surface colour and add detail. Also in the brief with the client it was decided that it should be more like the reference image which I think didn't post for some reason.
so were going bright on this bad boy
Ive done more today on the body and head with other colours.
I worked on the neck areas to introduce some detail and shading and to get the transition areas from the neck to the body visualised. More blues mixed to add the more red/blue colour seen to the rear of the neck on the ref image above.
and some highlighting of panels etc.
top of the head is coming on nicely a well.
I couldn't resist doing something on the turquoise section so I knocked it back a little and added some chipping to see how far away from the reference I was. I think its coming on nicely, still a long way to go though.
The camera is picking the turquoise out really well, as ive noticed in real life its a couple of shades lighter. Ill try another camera or reset my white balance next time.
that's it for today
Im doing my best on this one to make it a real jewel. The turquoise colour will be toned down for sure as the passes go on with the shading and weathering. Im trying to get the major key points on the paint as accurate as I can without going mental over it all. I tend to knock back the vivid panels with thin coats of clear and tiny amounts of hand mixed colours, I find these passes make for a complex and more varied surface colour and add detail. Also in the brief with the client it was decided that it should be more like the reference image which I think didn't post for some reason.
so were going bright on this bad boy Ive done more today on the body and head with other colours.
I worked on the neck areas to introduce some detail and shading and to get the transition areas from the neck to the body visualised. More blues mixed to add the more red/blue colour seen to the rear of the neck on the ref image above.
and some highlighting of panels etc.top of the head is coming on nicely a well.
I couldn't resist doing something on the turquoise section so I knocked it back a little and added some chipping to see how far away from the reference I was. I think its coming on nicely, still a long way to go though.
The camera is picking the turquoise out really well, as ive noticed in real life its a couple of shades lighter. Ill try another camera or reset my white balance next time.
that's it for today
Tatooinetako
Member
Very cool!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Mike J.
Master Member
I compiled a few reference photos & screencaps at my blog a while ago. I doubt it's anything you don't have, but here they are anyway: https://gndn.wordpress.com/?s=klingon
It is the beauty shot which this Bird of Prey is being based upon by the looks of it. To me, it is much more vibrant and beautiful looking in this shot. The colours are vivid and makes the model really come to life. this is what makes this project very interesting and so many others are the green base colour scheme as seen in the movie and so this is a little different. thanks for sharing the excellent ref links.
