Hi Gang,
UPDATES - Holes, Paint, Filler, Greeblies and a "giveaway" panel?
First, I have an extra armrest panel that I am willing to give away (- S&H). OR... I can finish it up with paint, pinstripes and tiles and it can be wall mounted... Interested? Shoot me a PM!
Panel - she needs a good home
UPDATES! Jessie spent several hours at the lab cutting a mess of greeblies - as always a HUGE Thanks to J!
These discs were cut from MDF to fill the holes in the instrument panel
Cover with glue, lightly tap into place and then remove the excess glue
The holes that are still open are now the "top" holes in the panel
Once the glue dried I added filler
Sand smooth, feel for any imperfections then add primer/filler
The primer/filler was key to smoothing this out - it took time for the filler to dry but it turned out perfect!
More and More sanding
Almost there...
Now we cut the new holes
I then flipped the console over and spread glue to the back of the panel where I cut the holes to help stiffen the MDF
We could now mark out the area for the lines of red LEDs
GREEBLIES! For ESB, the original designers changed the console greeblies so now I'm focusing on this design. First off, a new vent type panel for the console nose
Some kind of odd greeblie
1 of 8 vents cut
Basic layout - 1 MDF panel, 1 acrylic panel, 8 MDF vents and 2 acrylic donuts
Those yellow shapes will then bolt into position
Now we transfer the hole pattern to the secondary nose panel
Holes in the panel are now cut - I'll then cut a hole for an LED
Everything still fit?
Sanding the acrylic and prepping for paint
Primed the vents
I then adhered the two panels (MDF and acrylic) together and applied putty on the sides
Access panel
Sides sanded smooth - let's add some primer!
After the primer dried I sanded smooth then painted black
As I was wiping the dust off the brush was leaving a very cool weathered look to the panel
Time to paint the access panel
I applied another layer of the flat black and gently dusted getting a simple weathered effect then added satin clear
LOVE IT!
Showing where the LEDs will shine through
Paying a little homage to the first console I'm going to use these (or similar) for a secondary vent just in front of the LED
More misc greeblies - this is for one of the nose panels
New ESB Ext Panel greeblie found on Han's side
Basic setup
On the inside there is a recessed panel
Adhered
I then designed a donut to fit around the new LED holder/lenses. It will hide the paint imperfections but also black out a little of the LED light shinning through. But I think they need to be a bit thicker
They will be painted black
Jessie also cut this new center console greeblie
Primed
Painted
Sanded smooth and then added silver paint
I'm going to great lengths to make this console near perfect. Although the original was quickly put together, I wanted to give the impression this was all done using a machine. So, I'm creating a very solid and smooth throttle housing... more on this later
It was then time to address the console paint... I sanded the house paint smooth
The sprayed several coats of the flat black to match the armrest panel - the next cockpit will be painted the same way
Look at that! Nice...
After several coats of satin clear I put the "L" piece back on
Getting her ready for the next phase
Taped off and added the light grey
Slight touchup work needed
And that's where we are... WHEW... More to Follow!
