1/144 Blockade Runner scratch build

Thanks, joberg, StevenBill, Attirex and Toadmeister. I agree that the TROS's blockade runner is off-scale. I did a size comparison in the attached photos by placing a 1/144 figure next to my 1/144 blockade runner. You can see from the screen capture that the TROS runner is about ~ 1/2 - 2/3 the size of the right runner size.

Toadmeister, I am a totally serious continuity-preserving modeler = no pin-up in the bridge! I may put up this picture of a baby mudhorn though...

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That's a fun photo. Is it a screengrab from the film?

It's like it's a photo of Daisy Ridley intently examining one of those fictitious "blueprints" books or something. "Wait a minute, guys! This is just like the Millennium Falcon problem. I'm looking at this diagram, and there's just no way that those corridors could possibly fit inside the full-sized ship!"
 
That's a fun photo. Is it a screengrab from the film?

It's like it's a photo of Daisy Ridley intently examining one of those fictitious "blueprints" books or something. "Wait a minute, guys! This is just like the Millennium Falcon problem. I'm looking at this diagram, and there's just no way that those corridors could possibly fit inside the full-sized ship!"
"Yeah, better contact the RPF; they'll know what to do":p(y)
 
Joberg and nkg,

The two of you are too funny. The photo was just a screen grab from the movie. Rey was consulting jedi sacred texts. I appreciate that they used the runner in the background. Though, this is one instance where i didn’t appreciate them using a practical effect. If they had used cgi, the scale would not be off. I appreciate the fact that the mandolorian is much more respectful of continuity.
 
Analyzer posted this on my Hammerhead thread. I am moving it here to better organize things:

That is one of the most impressive builds I have seen

Bauble said:
Toadmeister, I agree straight red would not work. I have seen good realistic coloring by using mostly brown with just a little red added. It will take some experiments to get the exact right shade for the blockade runner. The task is made even more complicated by the off white foundation color already on the runner.

If you can get Tamiya Hull Red ( it is like a brick red) and mix in your remaining flat red that might be good enough

I also find if I lay down a tan or ochre base before the red it really helps reduce the layers of red you have to lay down to cover properly over white or especially over a black primer. It should also help save the amount of red you need
 
I have been using my spare time this past few days getting the 11 engines cleaned up and assembled. I thought this would be a good time to post some pictures related to this part of the build. Here is how the block of engines looks right now. I still have to clean up some imperfections (lots of sanding !!!!) and spot airbrush some spots, but I am 80% happy with the block right now.

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The exhaust vents took a while to assemble too. It was also a struggle against monotony. I glued them together. Then, I fitted each with a spacer, and sand each standoff until it is level with the spacer. Yes, a lot of work, but it is the best way to get each vent leveled well. The last step was to glue the grill to the back of each vent. I could have made one and resin casted the rest, but the complexity of the shape led me to do it the old fashion way.
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After priming and painting, I was ready to assemble them. There are 11 engines (!), and I knew the fit will be off if I don't approach the assembly with some strategy. I made a fitting pad where the location of each engine was cut out. By finely maneuvering the engines, I was able to get a reasonable placement of each engine. I then used milliputt and superglue to fill in the gaps. You can see this in action in the pictures. The top picture shows the gaps. The bottom picture shows the filled gaps.
To be clear, I know this step was necessary from the get-go. Styrene has a lot of flex. No matter how well my silhouette cut the original shapes, the flex in response to various tensions and compressions in the model was going to lead to this type of gap errors. I was actually pleasantly surprised that the biggest gap was only 2 mm - easily addressed with putty.
As I used milliputt here and then superglued the surface, the joints are good and strong. I put them to some stress test and am glad no cracks appeared.
Next step was a whole lot of careful sanding with 400 and then 800 sandpaper to flush the joints.
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I made the engine block in 3 pieces. This is so that I can paint each surface carefully before the final assembly. To create the best fit, I used some milliputt to 'imprint' the right fit. You can see the milliput lumps on the left. The next step is the most stressful. I will be supergluing the block together. Once I do that, I would lose my easy access to the interior surfaces. The next week or so is just going to be a whole bunch of obsessing over each surface and each greeblie to make sure I am fully happy with their paint job, before I do the gluing. There is no going back after that!
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Beautiful, inspiring work! Thanks for sharing the details - amazing what can be done from scratch by a talented artist and model maker. So well done!

Dan
 
Monotony:rolleyes:? You should've seen me cutting 240 windows for my 2001 Space Station:p Alright, your engine block looks crazy beautiful despite the repetition of parts/greeblies/nernies and wiggets(y)(y):cool::cool:
 
Thanks, Analyzer, 3DImpact and joberg. I just found joberg's build. It is AMAZING!!! The patience that went into that thing... And it looks fantastic!
Here is a link to it for those wondering what we are talking about (I also just bumped it up the queue in case you are reading this fresh):


Analyzer, comparing this to the Hammerhead, this build is much more tedious because of the 11 engines (= monotony). It is definitely more suited to my pandemic lockdown situation though. It gave me lots of engineering challenges both small and large.

My current problem is I don't know what to build at the 1/144 scale next... so I am hunting for my next scratch build project.
 
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Thanks, Analyzer, 3DImpact and joberg. I just found joberg's build. It is AMAZING!!! The patience that went into that thing... And it looks fantastic!
Here is a link to it for those wondering what we are talking about (I also just bumped it up the queue in case you are reading this fresh):


Analyzer, comparing this to the Hammerhead, this build is much more tedious because of the 11 engines (= monotony). It is definitely more suited to my pandemic lockdown situation though. It gave me lots of engineering challenges both small and large.

My current problem is I don't know what to build at the 1/144 scale next... so I am hunting for my next scratch build project.
Thanks Bauble...I have to give you the sad news that the model has been destroyed completely (in the garbage) I'm in process of moving elsewhere for work (and house) and I couldn't transport this huge Behemoth :( And yes, DaveG inspired me to start it...I'm still waiting for Dave to do his; I'm sure that it'll be great!
 

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