SS Standard TIE

Although beaten to the punch by Darth Duck and his Hero TIE build which,if his past and current builds are any indication, is going to make me curse the maker for the hands he gave me, I present my Standard TIE.
I would call it anything but Standard though. Maybe "when I got the quote for Koolshade I had a small stroke" TIE kit:eek. It took a couple weeks for my eye to stop twitching,and my brain to realize I could not afford to go that route. I lost track of how much I spent building my SalzoV3 so even going 95% OOB is expensive.I battled daily with the price of the kit every day (after I bought it:rolleyes).
Regardless of my financial deficiencies,the kit,IMHO, is beyond any criticism,especially from the lowly likes of me:lol. It really is far beyond what I expected, and worth every penny. I have seen some pics and they don't do it justice. The kit is nearly flawless and I can't wait to dig in. After about 10 or 15 minutes of checking it out I have a pretty good idea of where everything goes. Clean up looks minimal. A couple pieces,the rear hatch and the main inner cockpit part are ever so slightly warped,and I mean ever so slightly. Mr Hairdryer will fix that right up. Even with flash and a couple warts the damn thing nearly fits together. It really is a testament to Steve's skills.I will probably have a majority of the cleanup on everything but the wings done by the end of the weekend.
Its too cold here in Denver to paint,but I have a feeling I'll work something out with my nemesis-the airbrush so I can get the interior done and get to the outside. I am going to paint it as accurately as I can (hint hint TIE experts:angel) but I will deviate from the filming model by adding "glass" and modifying the standing trooper supplied with the kit to sit in the cockpit (haven"t riddled out where all this stuff sits in relation to the the armature)I love the red lights in the back,but it will never face an observer unless I turn it around so no lights I don't think. I also want to make a small piece of Fakeshade from styrene for the back window as I believe I saw someone here do fairly recently Monsieur Tox maybe? I gotta get another panavise mount as it was so helpful durring my X-wing build.
I haven't taken any pics,but I will. If folks want to see the build in progress,let me know,otherwise I'll just post a few pics here and there Since Darth Duck is doing a Hero build. I must have tons of pics from my Red 5 build, I love seeing the process, even if I did it:$. After lurking here for a couple years this,really is the only way I can contribute to the boards so if people are interested please speak up.
Please forgive the long post I ramble.:lol
OK enough emoticons. Steve I am humbled by you skills. Please pull back on the Y, my wallet (and girlfriend) can't handle it! :cry

Was that another emoticon?!!?! Those guys are sneaky:ninja. Doh!

Great to see you starting on yours! Yes, an excellent kit and as a builder I can only smile when given something of this quality to work with.

Looking forward to seeing your progress and I guess we'll be keeping each other company so to speak.:cool

Thanks Darth! I have feeling I will be learning quite a bit from your build as this is only my second resin kit. Mikes V3 set the bar pretty high for my first kit. Steve did not disappoint I love my TIE:love. The casting is so clean for such tiny details.I wish I had the many attributes one needs to build up all that greeblietasticness myself.I also pine for the Kooshade,but perhaps that money could go towards some other kit....:love.I spent yesterday cleaning up the parts then washed them last night. I have the fueslage halves about perfect but I am going to need to add a little bit to the armature. For a tight fit I would need to remove more of the fuselage than I feel comfortable with and adding some sheet styrene will easily ( I hope ) fix her up.The wings are quite heavy so thankfully Steve included this or else I'd be at Home Depot today telling a plumber I need a length of pipe for my TIE fighter. They see me enough because of my R2 build and my house. Everything fits together very nicely now that its all cleaned up. I am not sure of placement of some of the little parts,but I think a little peak at my bookshelf should fix that. Any help on the interior from someone building or done is appreciated. I am putting off the wings for now as a couple teeny-tiny parts broke off and another is a little loose, so I will work those all in one swoop from cleanup to first primer to minimize handling. I want to attach them with magnets for storage and such. If I can figure out how the cockpit goes together I might actually start building that today. Till that's done I can't obsess over the fuselage too much. Any help on colors for this guy would be much appreciated. Its going to be a clean machine with very little weathering but it has been used, with a ding or two. Pics tomorrow.

Guys,

Thanks for the compliments on the TIE kit.. you are right on track with removing material from the upper and lower hulls to get the fit to snug up to the armeture. Ive seen folks put the extra styrene on and thats a good fit but flat sanding the bottom of the hull works also. I measured the armeture and its the same as the master pattern so no shrinking there. The only thing I can think of it the hull "floated" a bit causing them to be thicker than the master by less than .05mm this is causing the mating problems. Also dont be bashful when glueing them to the armeture.. you can push them into place and secure with CA glue... there not going anywhere. Watching these threds with much interest.

Steve

I wanna see the build in progress. I'm forced to get my TIE kicks vicariously...

This is my build I finished a few months ago.
http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=70234

I added .20 styrene around the armature, sanding the hulls too much would have created problems when fitting the canopy and rear hatch which would have reduce the diameter



GFollano

Ouch.I should have looked around for that thread. I kept sanding to get it to fit and yeah, now the rear hatch and window are a tad big. I could sand down the inner of the window and hatch hole,but I think I will add the styrene and fill the giant gaps I created for myself:rolleyes. Thanks for pointing ,me to your thread! I will check it out before I forge any further ahead.

I can get replacement hulls out to you on Monday if you want.. lemme kown.. being familiar with the kit helps... should of said sand slow and test the fit often....

Steve

QUOTE=Fett_Ish;1105869]Ouch.I should have looked around for that thread. I kept sanding to get it to fit and yeah, now the rear hatch and window are a tad big. I could sand down the inner of the window and hatch hole,but I think I will add the styrene and fill the giant gaps I created for myself:rolleyes. Thanks for pointing ,me to your thread! I will check it out before I forge any further ahead.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, there are tabs on the underside of the hull pieces that fit into the similarly shaped slots on the armature. They should have 90 degree corners, due to casting they aren't exact, so just file the inside corners to remove the blurbs and they should fit pretty darn flush on your armatures. There will always be a little sanding on these pieces, but they won't be off much.

You will only have to sand/file the hull pieces if using a metal armature, but you may have to do the armature pieces as well if your armature is resin.

Steve I emailed you personally,but so everyone knows, I should have caught this. I did catch it and although I listened to Steve and sanded away, I make my own decisions so live and learn! You work hard to make a great kit Steve, it goes together like a dream and I screwed it up. You should not pay for my mistake.

I did finally make it fit the armature,but as suspected only at the top and bottom, there still was a gap on the front/back. I then came to check the RPF again and saw GFs (correct member?) reply and thread,and did what I should have from the start and added styrene to the armature as he did, I even had the exact same size in my supply cache:rolleyes
I now have a gap around the equator (sit down everyone:sick) about an 8th of an inch. That said it fits properly all the way around and would have with little cleanup at the fuselage halves. A trip to the Hobby Shop and some strip styrene will fix me right up. Part of all this mess will be covered by other parts anyway and I had already been wondering how I was going to get those wonderfully sharp edges where the halves meet,so this is just a small speed bump. Which,frankly is good. I love a finished model,but its the process that I love,or else I would by EFX,or MR stuff. So again its all good.


Steve, sweet kit,no worries. Finish the damn Y so I can screw that up too!:lol
Your kit will be brought back up to sweetness. I will post pics after I fix the mess. Also let this be a lesson to folks with a closet full of kits (or even just a kit) sitting around for fear of messing it up. For me it is patience and tools that are key.Patience failed me this time, but the end product will be be no worse for this mistake. As a matter of fact it may be better. I guess I say that as I know there are more models being built than posted so show your stuff!

Steve,

Don't forget about me, I still need those pieces, the tie can't fly without a pilot:lol even in the SW universe!

GFollano

I have not... Your Interceptor will contain those parts.. thanks for helping folks with thier TIE builds!

Steve

First I want to thank GF for his post. Thanks!
I added styrene to the resin armature and I added strip styrene to the hulls to make up what I foolishly sanded away. I spent a majority of last night sanding down what I add to get as tight a fit as I can. Would have been done already if I hadn't sanded the hulls down. I added some little greeblies to the cockpit but I didn't want to change it too much so nothing big and when its closed up you can barely see in there anyway. I toyed with the idea of "super detailing the cockpit but since I am not lighting it (my X is not lit so just trying to keep them consistent) there is no need. I am going to have to do a little filling where the fuse meets the armature,havent quiote figured how I am going to do that as the space is tight and round (TWSS:lol).

Now I think I might try to go the direction of the paint job on the RI thread that GF linked to. I have the base coat Haze Gray. Can someone tell me what the other colors on the detail pieces are? I bought battleship gray from Tamiya as it looks pretty dark but not black. I like the window frame almost black but I haven't committed yet. I also like the way he did his guns in the front so I may have to ruin some LEDs. Any input is appreciated.

Fett_Ish said:

First I want to thank GF for his post. Thanks!
I added styrene to the resin armature and I added strip styrene to the hulls to make up what I foolishly sanded away. I spent a majority of last night sanding down what I add to get as tight a fit as I can. Would have been done already if I hadn't sanded the hulls down. I added some little greeblies to the cockpit but I didn't want to change it too much so nothing big and when its closed up you can barely see in there anyway. I toyed with the idea of "super detailing the cockpit but since I am not lighting it (my X is not lit so just trying to keep them consistent) there is no need. I am going to have to do a little filling where the fuse meets the armature,havent quiote figured how I am going to do that as the space is tight and round (TWSS:lol).

Now I think I might try to go the direction of the paint job on the RI thread that GF linked to. I have the base coat Haze Gray. Can someone tell me what the other colors on the detail pieces are? I bought battleship gray from Tamiya as it looks pretty dark but not black. I like the window frame almost black but I haven't committed yet. I also like the way he did his guns in the front so I may have to ruin some LEDs. Any input is appreciated.

Click to expand...

Hello Fett_tish

For the dark grey window frame I used krylon grey primer, it's the correct shade to my eyes and just dark enough, the inner cockpit and the details on each side of the window frame should be lighter, I think used Model Master gunship grey but I have to double check.

BTW the Tamiya haze grey has a semi gloss finish you need a dull coat, I also used the tamiya dull coat, it needed 2 coats to really make the finish dull. I was very impressed by the quality of tamiya spray paints.

GFollano

OK fellas I really hosed this build,but have spent alot of time (more to come) to get the final product so that my errors would only be picked up by "guys like us" in the same room with the model. I dont want to post any pics till I have her done so the finished product can be seen before all the screw ups.

I do need some help though-2 questions regarding the wings. 1-how would you guys recomend cleaning them.On the rest of the parts I used warm water,a toothbrush and some comet,followed by warm water and dish soap,then a warm rinse. I hesitate to use comet on the wings as the Koolshade cast is fragile and allready has a ton of breaks due to how thin they are. 2-do I need to add some sort of t-track to the wing stars that connect to the little u-shaped guys at the start of the star at the hexagon? I saw an Icons for sale in the junkyard,and although I think this kit looks better,it did see m to have a thin "fin" running on the star. Thanks for the help I am sure you experts will give.

I think I have about 1 or 2 more weekends of cleanup.mostly on the wings before she is ready for primer and then I will see how much more cleanup I need. All the corners of my wings flared out so I had to sand them down flush and straight,which of course opened up voids in the resin. For the most part the wings are fine. They are warped here and there in places that are either unnoticeable unless you are looking for it(the hexagons in the center and where the "Koolshade meets the borders) or unfix-able (one side of the very thin edge of the outer border is warped).The fuselage is all built and filled and sanded and the wings are removable via a nut and bolts system. I stole GFs idea of mounting a washer in the wing,but instead of a wood screw,I drilled into the armeture flush mounting a nut at the end,so I can use a bolt to hold it on there. Works awesome and looks great.

I can't wait to see it next to my Salzo V3 (and someday R2,poor guys dome is done and he has to sit on the floor and look at his incomplete body in pieces!:cry)

As always any tips,suggestions, are greatly appreciated. And if anyone is working on this kit (or afraid to start) LMK and I will be happy to document any of the problems I had that are completely avoidable,but not always apparent until too late. For the record (again and still) this kit is sweet

Glad I remembered to write this before I hit post;any problems,complaints or otherwise below is not a reflection on anyone involved with this VERY NICE KIT. I am completely happy with the quality and any issues with the build I am doing,I believe,come with the territory. Again GREAT KIT:love


Finally some pics! I have just about gotten this guy ready for primer. You can see in my pics how much extra I sanded down trying to get it to fit around the armature. Then I realized I had been correct to think that adding to the armature, rather than taking away from the fuselage,was the way to go. So it was shim and check,shim and check. I had to rebuild those nice sharp edges. I think one on the front is a little flat near the ball and one on the back a little round in in the middle,but I cant fix them till after I primer to see whats up. After paint and parts go on I don't think it will look bad. One thing I have been trying is two part putty for my big gaps and then go back over after I sand it down with green putty to highlight problem areas before primer. Even after adding sheet styrene,there were still some gaps between the armature and the fuse so I filled those. When I put the end pieces on I set them in the slots and was more concerned they were in the slots than whether or not they were in the correct position. They weren't,too close to the fuse. I fixed it in front and back as best I could. Only you guys will notice.
One of my wings sat at a very large angle from top to bottom and front to back. I shimmed and check,shimmed and checked, now it is nice and straight. I included a picture that shows the angle (going in the opposite direction before fix,but same angle) if I rotate the wing 180.There is a closeup in there that shows some parts I needed to scratch. Not perfect but I can live with it. I didn't know what size T-Track and everywhere I went was out of the size I thought I needed,so I bought I beams cut and sanded them as I thought looked good. It may need to come down some. I have done alot of sanding and filling and adding of styrene to get nice sharp corners and edges. I also sunk some nuts flush into the ends of the armature so I can remove the wings if I need to. Perhaps to make hero wings someday:love . More likely for shipping or storage. I put little magnets in the parts that cover the the center of the wing for access.
I used magnets I had lying around to attach the back just in case I decide to light it later,and I didn't want to have to glue it on after paint.

One wing is a little higher than the other. I can't lower it as the detail pieces are in the way. Scary surgery is about to happen as I am going to remove those details,fix the wing and re-apply:wacko

Although I have gotten further faster (even with my 1 step forward 5 steps back approach) here than on my SalzoV3 build, this kit has seemed a bit more difficult. Perhaps because I have at least 5 MPC/ERTL/Revell X-wings and never a TIE:confused. I really can't wait to see it done next to my Red5. NERDVANA WILL SOON BE MINE.

Mr. Ish, or may I call you Fett?

I understand you initial dilemma and while we all make "mistakes" it's perseverance and recovery that matter! She's looking the part now and with your determination I'm sure you'll have a display piece to be proud of soon enough.
Thanks for sharing your progress, "Warts and all", since that's what really helps others when they approach theirs and that includes me!

How's this one coming along now?

We are doing ours at the same time and just as an FYI you won't see much of mine as I move inside for various electrical functions.

Hey DD,your build is looking good.I wasted a good chunk of the weekend on my build. So the shower in the basement still leaks:$.

Here are a couple of picks of the painted Cockpit ball. Not sure I am crazy about the color on the details on either side of the front and back.It is easy enough for me to change them. I looked at what GF had done and gave it a shot. I used the same color for the body and the others I got close. I painted my cockpit the same color as the body,which I know is wrong,but at the time it was the least of my problems (see pics in post above:eek). Overall she came out pretty straight and clean. There are a couple of minor spots to either fix or use as minor little bits of wear,a scratch and a ding.I am optimistic that a Tie actually made it back from a mission now and then.I could never build one off the assembly line. If I could, TMP 1701 would be done. I need to mask the details and give her another mist of base coat,then flat coats.

I am pretty happy so far. I may paint those side details darker,but right or wrong it is growing on me. Has a 70's vibe to me like seeing my mop-top self wearing my classic Darth Vader T in some old Polaroid. I get the same feeling when I look at my R2 dome. ( I just thought of someone wearing plaid slacks and a white belt,big 'ole 'stache going on,probably an uncle:lol)

I am going to scratch up a little seat-back and control stick for my pilot,who I already rendered legless,but am in no hurry as the cockpit window frame sits tight enough without glue. I am going to do his little hoses up and get some decals for his helmet.

The wings are almost done,but I know they are going to need some more TLC after I get the primer down on them.
I have a plan for the cast Kooshade, let me know what you think. I am going to paint it flat black,and then spraying only in one direction with a semigloss or perhaps even a satin would be better, as to keep the paint on the upper edges. If that makes sense. Hopefully it would give some contrast to that area without killing my back, eyes, neck, fingers, relationship,job-there are a lot of ridges in there.


If anyone has any thoughts as to the colors I got going on,please let me know. The main color is staying but I am not married to the details.Yet. I could even repaint the cockpit without much trouble.

Fett-Ish,
Great to see your progress! I won't be the one to make a call on colors. LOL
But I will throw this out about the wings since I've played with paint a lot over the years.
Similar to what you've said but what if your clear coat included a lil bit of pearl or even a prismatic shift additive? Would definitely catch the light and high lite the texture?
If you'd like to PM me on that idea I can share some brands and sources with you before any decisions get made to share online? I've been doing custom auto paint for 35 years and not everything I use comes from a hobby shop.