Studio scale klingon bird of prey landing config mods and accurate paint

Thanks Mike J and DBHS. The reference images are great, I needed a decent shot of the belly for the next stage.
Tomorrow I will be changing the colour a fair bit with the next few passes over the beasty, hopefully to tone the blue down a little when seen in normal light, but still retain that high colour reflective quality when shot with a flash to get that intense money shot image going. Its a tricky balance keeping the pigments solid and vivid in a flash shot, but more subdued in sunlight. but its coming on as expected so far.
 
Please be careful using my screencaps as a color reference. I ran most of them through Photoshop to try to show more shadowy details. The colors may be off as a result. I'd recommend checking the photos from the auction as well.
 
Thanks Mike J.
I am aware that this bird isn't going to be an exact replica of the original colours, more of an interpretation of the colourful image the client loves, so a little brighter and more colourful than the original. Not super insane on the colours but a little more intense. I will definitely use he references you sent over for panel placement of colours, already I now know how im going to do the landing gear doors thanks to your images. Thanks again.
 
more done today. spot the difference !
f2.jpgf4.jpgf1.jpgf7.jpgf8.jpgf6.jpgso that's it for the day, just finalising the panels and adding some weathering and rust to let me know where to airbrush on the next pass over this monster bird. I finished off the rough blending of he neck and its panels and I started on the feet. I went for a more abstract foot design to bring the eye down to them once the model is reassembled, the landing gear bays now have a coat or 2 of the first colours. I wanted to keep the corrosion effect inside the panels rather than on them , unless it needed to be on the panel to match the reference, so I used tamia weathering pigments dissolved in cellulose thinners to run them down the edge of the panels where it was needed. They dry great and act as a guide for the weathering using the airbrush on the next steps. The main rust will be re-done on top of the airbrush weathering again in once its almost complete. Ok folks, thats it
 
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more done over the last day. I painted the central tank tracks which wrap around the body, tried to find the references for the whiter squares on the belt. weathered it back some with rust again. The wing guns are now painted up ready for weathering and some rust added to the wings as well. Ony rough at this stage but its coming on now. Almost ready for the main weathering now.
f1.jpgf2.jpgf3.jpgf4.jpgf6.jpgf7.jpg
I jus need to re do the kilingon logos on the guns and wings before the main weathering takes place.
That's it for today, more soon.
 
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Anyone know what these greeblies are?, as it looks as though they do not exist on the model I have here. Or maybe they were an addition or removed between The search for Spock and The voyage home ? any info would be great guys, otherwise I may just kitbash them as best I can
Cheers
new greeblies.jpgnew greeblies 1.jpg
 
The ones that were found are either on the kit or in it.. everything else is well your best guess.. there just isnt any good reference of the area at all.... this is what I did....
IMG_20140407_115029_742.jpgIMG_20140403_120459_136.jpg
and as far as paint sticking.. ive painted two and no issues and I use acrylic. Makes sure all parts are washed with warm soapy water and if your using masks make sure you seal the paint you are masking.... worked on mine... as far as problems with the resin wing parts separating.. you have to remove all grease on the aluminum ... rough the bottom of the wing and armature with a dremel or sanding disk to give the 5 min Epoxy something to grab onto.. use enough epoxy paying attention the edges are covered.

DSC_1057.jpgDSC_1144.jpgDSC_1053.jpgDSC_1095.jpgUntitled-2.jpgDSC_1085.jpgDSC_1187.jpg
 
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Epic stuff, thanks Steve.
Ive had no issues since I Superglued the edges down with lots of clamps. Ive cycled it in and out of the house in very cold conditions and they seem to be fine. I cant imagine anything happening to them from this point on. When you mentioned that you were making spares for this kit, were you also thinking of doing another run ?
Thanks again for the images
 
The BOP has always been available my friend... i just have to put the molds in storage cause they are so big and so many... fillls up the bed of my pick up.. I may do a Landing gear add on for the big bird.. seams folks like the landed version....
 
HI Steve. I thought there would be some interest in this mod as I think (as does the client) that this is the best pose for this model with its feet out looking like its about to catch a fish or something. If you do your mods on the existing model you may find it tricky to emulate the landing gear bays without chopping the bottom panels out of the body. I guess it could be done with a magnetic add on with so much detail that you don't really see it as just a surface dressing, or go for the whole hog and chop the hell out of it like I have been doing, which to be honest, would be a little scary to most model builders if they don't have the experience.
I didn't have a lot of time on the bird he last couple of days but here's what I managed to do. I've made up my greeblies and given them a quick green paint. Today I will be mostly starting to make it look really knackered.
a1.jpgq2.jpgq4.jpgq6.jpg
 
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More today on the first weathering pass with a 60 40 thinners and red brown/black mix. Starting to get the feel for the finish now, slowly building up the areas in intensity. There will be another pass or two after I've sorted out the decals. Big Thanks to SWPROPMAKER who's kindly sent over the illustrator files, I've printed my own onto some decal sheet now working on the positioning before fitting.
w1.jpgw2.jpgw4.jpgw5.jpgw6.jpg
also starting to fill in he areas of weathering on the neck area and completing the head.
w9.jpgw10.jpg
 
Today I worked on the decals, slightly resized and cut into separate letters so as to miss most of the relief details on the wing, as the film I have seems to be a little thick to mould over them nicely. All sealed up and ready for a matt clearcoat tomorrow.
ap klingon wing repaint left.jpgap klingon wing right side.jpg
Also added some detailing to the feet with some random letters and a couple of other decals
ap klingon bop feet 1.jpg
Then I decided the best way to get a grip on the weathering on this beauty was to try and replicate the head as best I could, as it has a lot of reference to work with, and doing it gives me a good idea how to freestyle the sections of the model where needed. So I've been doing more colour detailing with whites, reds etc. Then I started to get onto the last but one stage of the weathering, covering the existing rust with a thin layer of airbrushed Dark brown and black mix again, slightly darker than the last pass and fully masked off to pick out the detailing again which can end to get a little lost under each freehand pass over the model. All the streaks with this darker colour are masked off individually, then faded down from top to bottom. The resulting faded line is then hit with a freehand airbrush to thicken the top of the streak and give a more graphic feel. This gives a much sharper look and you can make some insanely thin streaks using this method. A must for a falcon build. Then some chipping to the panels based on the reference material so I don't over do it. rust detail again with a slightly different colour. blah blah .


head.jpgap klingon head side.jpgap klingon head repaint.jpg
so now im happier with the head and im always carefull that im not getting fixated on one area for to long, its time to move rearwards on the model. So im now building up the weathering on he rear of eh head and the neck section with paint chips etc.
ap klingong bop weathering head 1.jpgap klingon bop neck detail.jpg
 
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Stunning amount of detailing and work going into this, on every panel!!! The wings, the head, the neck, now I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the body to match. Attention to detail in every area is second to none as is a testament to each update photo.
 
More today on the body, undercarriage and other bits of weathering. Not much typing, no time tonight. Hope your all not getting bored reading the ramblings of a dude messing with paint ! :)
ap bird of prey.jpgap bird of preybody.jpgap bird of prey1.jpgap bird of prey feet 5.jpgap bird of prey feet 3.jpgap bird of prey feet 4.jpg
 
Yes im certainly looking to get this finished in a week or so, bar any developments. I can't stand having an unpainted model shouting at me every time I look at it :). Makes it easier for the client as well. Glad you like the detailing, its a bit anal I guess !, but it looks insane when you see it in the real. Looks brilliant from a distance, but the closer you get the better it looks, just how I like a model to be, especially at this scale and with such a beautiful kit to work on, I'm just loving the thinking, referencing and doing of the paintjob. Glad you like it dbhs.
 
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