AMT 1/72 Razor Crest

[starks]

After much reading on other members builds and the excellent comparison between the Revell and AMT from Analyzer 1/72 RazorCrest - Revell vs AMT (Round2) (check it out if you haven't already), I decided on the AMT kit.
I want to display this as an in-flight model so the lack of an interior cargo hold was a non issue for me plus I can use that space to hide batteries.
I wanted to challenge myself a bit with this build and step up the lighting a notch. Now I am nothing special come electronics and am always blown away by what some of you guys achieve on here, building circuit boards and the way you can wire things and the hardware you make use of, writing software for sounds and flashing or flickering lights..... unfortunately these skills are far beyond me. I wouldn't even know where to start. Simple circuits though I do ok but wanted to push the fiber optics a bit more.
I wanted a decently lit cockpit, nose and engine navigation lights and of course engine lights.

I wanted to have the cockpit lit so you can see Mando and Grogu inside so started by making a replacement for the 3 lights above the door.


I also wanted fiber optics in the control panel so I made a couple of new pieces which I added to the instrument panel plus thought it would be really neat to have light up screens so I drilled the screens out of the control panel and put in little pieces of clear acrylic.


Sorry these are a little blurry but instrument panel painted, and I added the screen decals over the clear perspex.


Painting Mando, Grogu and the cockpit. Mando got the helmet decal and belt.





I knew the forward navigation lights would be an issue to wire once the cockpit was in place so ran 2 fiber optics back to a 3mm LED and fitted them to the forward panel.


The cockpit assembled and fiber optics (about 40) run and waiting to go into the body. I find this quite challenging. Running them is ok but gluing them sucks, and a few pulled through and I had left excess length, planning to cut them after, but found that trying to cut the excess length I had left to be a real problem. I got the job mostly done though.



And finally cockpit fitted to the body. It doesn't show in the pictures but in person you can see the back lit screen decals just fine. You can see the forward navigation light here also.





My plan is to work on the lighting for the engines now. Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Josh

 

[modelerdave]

I love it! I had something like 45 fiber optic lines in my cockpit. It was crazy. Yours looks great.

 

[Analyzer]

Great job with the lights. I might have to try something similar with the AMT kit.

The Revell kit I just stuck in an overhead light and called it a day since I was having that landed and opened up. Figured it would be powered down or at least in standby

Looks great with all the fibers though

Looking forward to the rest.

 

[Analyzer]

also, where did you get the parts for the three lights for above the door? Those look great

 

[starks]

I love it! I had something like 45 fiber optic lines in my cockpit. It was crazy. Yours looks great.

Thanks!
How did you go about attaching your fiber optics? How did you glue them?
It's funny how quickly the number of them adds up and you have something akin to a hedgehog with all these little quills going everywhere.

Great job with the lights. I might have to try something similar with the AMT kit.

The Revell kit I just stuck in an overhead light and called it a day since I was having that landed and opened up. Figured it would be powered down or at least in standby

Looks great with all the fibers though

Looking forward to the rest.

Much appreciated!
I found it a bit daunting starting for all the lighting but found once I was commited I quite enjoyed the process. I am glad I did things like the back lit screens especially, things you will actually see through the canopy.

I think for the Revell just a simple light is all that is needed, as you said, powered down when landed.

The 3 small lights and surrounds I cut on the laser cutter in 1mm acrylic. At such a small size it was a bit challenging setting the file up but they came out well enough in the end.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[modelerdave]

Thanks!
How did you go about attaching your fiber optics? How did you glue them?
It's funny how quickly the number of them adds up and you have something akin to a hedgehog with all these little quills going everywhere.

Elmer's Glue is the best for fiber optics. It will slide into the hole and secure them pretty well. Hot glue can melt them and CA will make them brittle and prone to breaking. Styrene glue just doesn't really hold them at all.

 

[Analyzer]

I have been using that Testors clear canopy glue. A few benefits. Dries clear and can be use to create the glass look for lighting fixtures

 

[starks]

Elmer's Glue is the best for fiber optics. It will slide into the hole and secure them pretty well. Hot glue can melt them and CA will make them brittle and prone to breaking. Styrene glue just doesn't really hold them at all.

I have been using that Testors clear canopy glue. A few benefits. Dries clear and can be use to create the glass look for lighting fixtures

I have been using PVA. I can try get both some Elmers glue and Testors and give a try, thanks for the advice.

I did have luck securing some areas with hot glue, but just at the point where the glue has started to flow, not gotten too hot.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

also, to keep the fibers in place while glue dries, or even in pace of glue, as well as double duty of light blocking, I use aluminum/metal tape (the kind you would use for ducts.

Sticks well to plastic, and great for light blocking/reflecting

 

[starks]

also, to keep the fibers in place while glue dries, or even in pace of glue, as well as double duty of light blocking, I use aluminum/metal tape (the kind you would use for ducts.

Sticks well to plastic, and great for light blocking/reflecting

I do use aluminium tape for light blocking but have not tried it for securing Fiber optics, I will have to remember that. Currently I have been putting a zip tie around bunches of fibers and that has worked well, would be an issue if in an area with very limited space though as the head of the zip tie is quite bulky. I had used these as I found regular sticky tape was working its way undone around the fibers.

In doing some research into the location of the navigation lights I found this webpage

20230104 Razor Crest Lighting: Navigation Lights - Piscean Works - The Whole Works

RED NAVIGATION LIGHTS One thing I did not realise until very much later is that the Razor Crest does have a set of red Navigation lights. There are no other Star Wars ships that I can think of which has these as standard. THE EXACT LOCATION I started to re-watch the Series and boy, there […]

chowfookcheong.com

It shows these images of the lighting location. You will need to zoom in on these.
Now interestingly, where I perceived the location to be does correlate to a small square with circle on top moulding on the engine body which would indicate to me that the navigation lights are moulded into the engines.






After a bit of mucking around with getting lighting in the engines this week... somehow having an LED to one of the navigation FO die and having to pry the engine back open to rectify it, I have the body assembled. The engine navigation lights all run directly on 1mm FO to their own LED. I did not have enough 1mm FO cable in my stock pile to run 2 lines back to a single LED. I don't have a picture but effectively I have robbed the 9LED circuit board out of a small torch and put it about 3/4 inch back from the rear of the engine. I have piggy backed the 2 LEDs for navigation off of that LED board and run the wires out through the mounting area.
To get the engine colour, I scotch brite sanded the provided clear engine component to diffuse the light (plus I didnt like looking through the exit assembley and seeing glossy plastic). Then I glued quite a few layers of transparent orange cellophane over the back of the clear disc (as in used for gift wrapping).

The FO are protruding out the engines in these shots, they will be masked and pushed back inside once painted.




One thing I forgot to do was light block the top side of the cockpit. Hopefully I can get enough coverage on the outside to stop any light bleed.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

Did the same research a while back and I found a few pics of lighting locations as well

Looks like you got the right spots

You may have already seen them, but for further confirmation if not...

 

[starks]

Did the same research a while back and I found a few pics of lighting locations as well

Looks like you got the right spots

You may have already seen them, but for further confirmation if not...

View attachment 1930324
View attachment 1930325


View attachment 1930326

Thanks for sharing those. It does confirm I have the right places and will be a good reference for others. I've noticed a few builds where the lights are randomly placed so that information is fantastic!


Cheers,
Josh

 

[Antsnest]

I had a similar hunt when doing the Revell versions - I settled on this location here Revell Razor Crest Lighting WIP

 

[starks]

I had a similar hunt when doing the Revell versions - I settled on this location here Revell Razor Crest Lighting WIP

You did a fantastic job with yours. The ability to 3D print definitely steps up ones game. Lovely work!

So after assembly got her masked and painted. Gloss black down and I ended up painting the metal effect using a product we buy from Porsche called Cetalon (effectively as I grabbed some from work and it was free). It's used for interior pieces and some wheels on high end European cars.




From here I fitted the stripe decals to keep things easy, they went on reasonably well, not perfect but good enough, and I gloss cleared the whole ship. I gave it a dark dirty brown wash with acrylic then gave the whole thing a good scuff with a grey scouring pad.

I thought I would try something new with the further weathering, I had Abteilung 502 oil paints here but had never had any success with them not softening the existing finish but figured I would give them a go here and boy was I impressed. I have predominantly used 'starship filth' around everything and some 'smoke' in a few recesses and right behind the engine.
Coming into winter here the sunlight becomes a bit odd for photography and it's rained fairly regularly lately so pictures are not the best lighting wise. Also I have to finalise getting a battery pack to sit inside the ship and magnet the rear door on.
I really like the fact that the lights in the cockpit reflect off the blue floor and give the cockpit a blue hue as is the studio model.

cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

Great metallic effect and weathering!

Love the lighting as well

 

[starks]

Great metallic effect and weathering!

Love the lighting as well

Thanks!
In person the effect with the oils is really cool. The thing I don't like about them is that they have such a long dry time if doing any more than a filter. That said though they blend amazingly over clear coat and give that perfect oily engine gunk appearance that I have never been able to quite achieve with acrylics or enamels.
I would highly recommend them to anyone that hasn't used them before.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[modelerdave]

Thanks!
In person the effect with the oils is really cool. The thing I don't like about them is that they have such a long dry time if doing any more than a filter. That said though they blend amazingly over clear coat and give that perfect oily engine gunk appearance that I have never been able to quite achieve with acrylics or enamels.
I would highly recommend them to anyone that hasn't used them before.

Cheers,
Josh

I LOVE oils and used them extensively in my own Razor Crest build. They're easy to use, a little goes a long way, and just wipe off if you don't like the result.

 

[starks]

I LOVE oils and used them extensively in my own Razor Crest build. They're easy to use, a little goes a long way, and just wipe off if you don't like the result.

Yeah that was a great point to, the ability to just wipe them off. It really helps when working into recesses also.

I bought them years ago and at the time they reacted with the enamel I had applied and I never went back to them until now... I wish I had earlier but atleast I have finally come around to them.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

Yeah that was a great point to, the ability to just wipe them off. It really helps when working into recesses also.

I bought them years ago and at the time they reacted with the enamel I had applied and I never went back to them until now... I wish I had earlier but atleast I have finally come around to them.

Cheers,
Josh

That makes sense that they could react with enamels, especially depending on what thinner is used since enamel paints are oil based as well

Acrylic paint is a lot more resistant to stuff that would normally be used to thin oils and I actually will use oils directly on the acrylic without doing a gloss coat mainly because I want that "staining effect" you get vs a cleaner look when wiping off of a gloss coat

You definitely need a varnish over enamels

At any rate, oils are my go to for weathering, panel lining, and fading

 

[starks]

That makes sense that they could react with enamels, especially depending on what thinner is used since enamel paints are oil based as well

Acrylic paint is a lot more resistant to stuff that would normally be used to thin oils and I actually will use oils directly on the acrylic without doing a gloss coat mainly because I want that "staining effect" you get vs a cleaner look when wiping off of a gloss coat

You definitely need a varnish over enamels

At any rate, oils are my go to for weathering, panel lining, and fading

I'm curious as to which acrylics you're using Analyzer? Tamiya?

It hadn't actually occured to me at the time that some enamels reduce with turpentine so yes of course it would react.
Need to better know the composition of your paints before inter layering!

Cheers,
Josh