1/72 Hoth Echo Base Hangar diorama

[gt350pony66]

Yes, I used to watch that show

Doing that to the locator pins is not a bad idea

Also, the gun well looks great

Thanks brother! yeah, I figure at some point something is going to crap out and it would be a shame not to be able to get back in there and fix it without destroying anything. Too much money wrapped up in this one!

 

[gt350pony66]

Well, latest update...since I've entered the ranks of the unemployed (hopefully a temporary thing) I've managed some table time in between hunting for work.
The first pic is what I had to chop out of the upper hull to accommodate the wiring and FO for the cockpit and corridor. It seems to all fit fine though there will be some hacking required on the lower at the place where the cockpit tube attaches to make room for the bit of hall way and the wad of FO. I don't foresee any difficulties. pic 5 is a short piece of tubing I added to house yet another LED to give the gun wells some ambient lighting. I had planned an entire tube to go from well to well but getting a measurement will be tricky, but not impossible. The last pic is with the slightly modded mandibles in place. I wrapped fine sandpaper on regular and thick markers and spun them inside the locators of the mandibles so they would be more easy to pry off in the even that future repairs are required.
Tomorrow is casting day as well...I've got a Taun Taun to cast up for a good friend that I've been taking too long to get done. No brother...I didn't forget

 

[gt350pony66]

oh, and I installed a mini male pigtail to the lower and a female to the upper with about 6 or 7 inches of slack on either side to plug in the upper when final assembly takes place. the entire lighting for the upper is self contained and only needs to be plugged in to the lower

 

[korben44]

Looks awesome brother!

 

[Darth Humorous]

gt,

I am so sorry that you have lost your job. I am praying for you. And great work you are doing too!

Mark

 

[gt350pony66]

Here's a slew of stuff over the past few days. Laser Bond came in quite handy when securing the fan screens. I discovered that the slots in the fan base for the alternate screens wasn't going to fly. Found some disc type do-dad's in some 1/35 scale WW2 German troop stuff, it works. Not using the alternate plastic screens gets you a gap around the edges, testing shows light leak. I used some scrap black wire stuffed into the gap, two layers actually, to fill it and secured with lazer bond. Image 6 and 7 shows how I've connected the upper and lower hull electrics. #8 is my tunnel extension with the white LED for the bright ambient light seen in the tunnel. It's a tad too thick so I've been gently working it down with a file as to not disturb anything. I'm thinking I'll get within 1/8 inch. I'd suppose the gun wells would have mated without the extension anyway so I should have taken a different approach, but it should be fine. The rest of the pics are with everything connected and powered up. I'm really happy with it so far. I decided not to press the upper and lower hulls together yet. Best to finish the decals which I started on Sunday afternoon...slow going operation, then I suppose touch up the areas where decal water took off the wash. Snip the fat FO and set the low clearance light fittings. Light clear coat, then on to the weathering. I used pastel powders which works for me. Then once all that is done, clear coat the weathering and press it all together. I'm going to do a display base for it but not a full on dio. I have a couple or a few of the Hoth ground lights left so I think on a piece of raised plywood I'll do the snow again, I think I go some of that left over also. Plant my Bandai Han, Chewy and one of the extra Hoth Lea's close to the ramp...and call it good.

 

[Analyzer]

The amount of lighting stuff you fit in there is pretty impressive!

Engine grilles look great as well

 

[korben44]

Looking killer brother!

 

[gt350pony66]

It was finally time to tackle this part of the build. Decals are done for the most part as well. These Shapeways hazard light fixtures are tiny as most of you know. light transfer from inside is extremely weak. I had originally thought to install 1.8mm red led's however when I looked at actually doing it that way it didn't seem the way to go. I used .75mm FO as Korban did. The light transfer issues were, well...they sucked. So I scraped the inside of them with the hobby blade, washed a second time with rubbing alcohol, painted the base and tried it. Very dull pink...not acceptable. So I then placed each one on the end of a toothpick and got the dremmel polishing tip and tried to clean the outside as best I could...still a lame pink. So now with them as clean as they can get, I decided since they send you 36 of these, I would try some red Sharpie to the outside and see what that did. All things considered I think they came out as well as they could. If these were printed in a red material, then using a white LED with the FO, they'd be better...or probably a better way would be in a more clear material and using a red LED with the FO, they would be much better for effect.

 

[Analyzer]

They look to be a good shade of red from what I can tell in those pics

 

[FZ6]

Really awesome lighting and final job!!! Congratulations!!!
When I was 14 I've ever wanted that my MPC Falcon looked like yours!!! With lights like on the life size Falcon.

 

[gt350pony66]

Really awesome lighting and final job!!! Congratulations!!!
When I was 14 I've ever wanted that my MPC Falcon looked like yours!!! With lights like on the life size Falcon.

Well thanks, there are better ones on the RPF, modelers with far superior skills to mine. Although in the past couple of years watching these other masters here do their stuff, I've improved exponentially. You can do quite a bit with a ratty old MPC kit...just a matter of getting the right upgrade parts from Shapeways (308 bits shop) I've built 5 so far and each better than the last. I think there are 3 more in the closet

 

[gt350pony66]

the first few pics are my testing on an MPC hull, and the stuff I used. The last pics are the actual PG. I took a scrap of the light dif acrylic and sliced some slits in it and used the pastel powders with a stubby old paint brush and the green applicators. I'm sure someone has taken this approach before but it seemed to work really well. I can see through the acrylic so I can be sure the lines are straight. after I swab some on, I use an old tooth brush in the direction of the streak and the excess kind of washes out to the sided giving it a great effect. I think this is the extent of the weathering I'm going to do on this one. I like it the way, at the level it is.

 

[korben44]

Looks awesome! Great job, man!

 

[Analyzer]

I think the effect looks pretty convincing

 

[Nornicle]

Wow ambitious project but crazier is the falcon wiring is like a rats nest! I’m worried about my out of the box lights!!

 

[gt350pony66]

Wow ambitious project but crazier is the falcon wiring is like a rats nest! I’m worried about my out of the box lights!!

LOL, yeah, it does look like a rats nest! it was done in layers of course and much of it is easily accessible if I need to fix something. I really need to take a page from the book of our friend Escape068. He's really good at keeping all his wiring and FO neat and tidy.

 

[gt350pony66]

going off of pics of other builds I printed for reference a while back, this is what I got so far on the weathering. A good look is more important to me than accuracy. I think I've got the spirit of it captured though

 

[babar79]

I think you have done a great job of it. Weathering is an art and not a science, so if you like it and it satisfies your eye then that's what is important.

The project looks great in my mind.

 

[Analyzer]

going off of pics of other builds I printed for reference a while back, this is what I got so far on the weathering. A good look is more important to me than accuracy. I think I've got the spirit of it captured though

Definitely!