AMT/ERTL N1 and Droid fighters 1/48

[starks]

Well, more down time so may as well keep the model building going while the enthusiasm is there. I've been doing some minor detailing to my Falcon and rebuilding the base for my At-At but these are again, minor or I'm waiting to buy things like PVA.

So time to pull these out, the AMT Naboo fighter and Droid fighters. I wanted to do a 1/72 Naboo fighter and if I can manage to get my hands on a Fine Molds one, I'll be a happy boy. I was looking at buying and converting a Jazwares N1 but figured I have these already and at least the 1/48 scales go together.






The kits are very simple... I guess they are skill level 1. There is a little bit of flashing to clean up but overall are nicely moulded.
The droid fighters are laughably only 4 parts to assemble, an upper and lower and 2 wings. Ill assemble the body, paint then attach the wings I think.



I would be interested in 2 things:
1) does anyone have any good reference pictures of the paint scheme on the Droid fighters? I'm struggling to find much

2) I'm unsure I like these pre chromed panels supplied for the Naboo fighter, seem a bit leary for this scale. Where do people sit on painting these? I was wondering about putting an adhesion promoter on them and clear coating them to keep the metallic look but tone it down. Or should it be left alone?

Cheers,
Josh

 

[jake88]

If it were me I would paint the silver area gloss black and then airbrush some Spaz Stix chrome paint over it. This creates a fantastic chrome look.

 

[Analyzer]

tiIf it were me I would paint the silver area gloss black and then airbrush some Spaz Stix chrome paint over it. This creates a fantastic chrome look.

That is basically what I did, although I used regular black primer instead of gloss black, and used the Spray Can version of the SpazStix mirror chrome. The gloss does get it a little more "mirror like", but even with a matte base, it still comes out a very nice metallic effect.

I have not seen the chrome on this kit in person, it may be worth just trying to weather it

As far as the Yellow, I used Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow ( it is a gloss or semi-gloss ) pretty much straight from the bottle ( I forget since it was so long ago, but I also might have have added just a tiny drop of red and a pre-shade layer that was just a tiny bit a bit of hull red mixed in )
The finish was definitely a glossy or at least semi-glossy finish for the yellow which I think looks better than a matte yellow would

Then weathered with a filter/wash of burnt umber and burnt sienna wash for the panel lines

 

[starks]

If it were me I would paint the silver area gloss black and then airbrush some Spaz Stix chrome paint over it. This creates a fantastic chrome look.

That is basically what I did, although I used regular black primer instead of gloss black, and used the Spray Can version of the SpazStix mirror chrome. The gloss does get it a little more "mirror like", but even with a matte base, it still comes out a very nice metallic effect.

I have not seen the chrome on this kit in person, it may be worth just trying to weather it
View attachment 1913174

As far as the Yellow, I used Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow ( it is a gloss or semi-gloss ) pretty much straight from the bottle ( I forget since it was so long ago, but I also might have have added just a tiny drop of red and a pre-shade layer that was just a tiny bit a bit of hull red mixed in )
The finish was definitely a glossy or at least semi-glossy finish for the yellow which I think looks better than a matte yellow would

Then weathered with a filter/wash of burnt umber and burnt sienna wash for the panel lines

I have not heard of Spaz Stix chrome but will definitely be looking into it.
Perhaps you're right Analyzer, perhaps just a weathering down would be sufficient. But typically of any chromed plastic it has that particular look.

Thanks for the colour tips!
That yellow ILM uses definetely flips a lot and has strong metamerism, it flips very red in some light sources.

I have to admit I'm a bit crazy here, it felt a bit too simple of a model kit so I think Im going to light the engines. I can stuff 4 5mm blue LEDs in each engine and should give that light pushing out look you see on film. Only thing is I only had 4 LEDs so have ordered some more. For the time being I am going to make preperations to mount them and fit wires in the wings.
It will be tight but worth a shot.
Why do I do these things to myself?

Cheers,
Josh

 

[starks]

Had a bit of time to muck around with beginning to run the wiring and play with mounting the rear engine extensions, well, that's what I'm calling them at least.

This is beginning the basic assembly. the extensions piece together then slot into the engine housing. the slots won't allow light past so I have dremeled them out and using some brass pipe through their center, fixed a clear disc to the front of the extension. The rear tail of the extensions I have filled the joins and given a coat of Tamiya white primer.
The clear disc on the extension assembly, I have then glued into the upper wing portion doing my best to center them.


Flipping the wing over I have engraved two trenches into the under side of the wings and glued some thin wire in place.
This I have then filled over, made some new panel lines for the flaps and given a coat of primer.



Hanging out for my LEDs, probably won't see them arrive until next week but I will do as much as I can otherwise.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[starks]

So I got a bit excited this afternoon and thought I would share.
My LEDs arrived so made a quick jig to place them in and solder them together and got them tucked into the engines. I ended up liking the intensity of the 3mm LEDs I received over the 5mm so I put 4 in each engine.


And woohoo!! just look at that glow!
These actually appear in person as a much stronger blue but are very intense and give that on screen effect of light pouring out of the engines.
Cheers,
Josh

 

[jake88]

Engines and lights are looking gooood!

 

[Analyzer]

That lighting color and effect is perfect!

 

[Analyzer]

Also surprised (although not really I guess given it is an older AMT kit) how misaligned and gap filled those engine end caps things are. Great work on smoothing that out

 

[starks]

Engines and lights are looking gooood!

Thanks! I'm trying to come up with a few more crazy ideas now.

Also surprised (although not really I guess given it is an older AMT kit) how misaligned and gap filled those engine end caps things are. Great work on smoothing that out

Yeah theyre not really true either, these should have been a complete length 2 peice mould. Also the engines are a little more oval than round. Doesn't matter when just pieced together but when you want an open circle for light it makes a difference. I rectified the illusion through opening up things a bit with the dremel until I was satisfied.
The other big gap is the one where the wing clips onto the fuselage.
I'll post some photo's yet but I spent half an hour yesterday and filled this gap and engine sides and gave it all a coat of Tamiya white primer.

I always dislike painting yellow, it has no opacity and the ground coat effects the final tone so much.

With a bit of luck, I will get some colour sprayed today.

Analyzer, did I read you comment you had diffused LEDs by sanding the lense?

Cheers,
Josh

 

[starks]

So I did manage to get the yellow on today.
First pic, filled in the wing and engine seams and primed. I didn't blend the filler well enough on the wing seam unfortunately and you can see a slight dip in the join but by the time there is blaster soot and some weathering I doubt anyone would notice. Here the primer has had a 1200 wet rub before painting.



And the Yellow. Following Analyzers advice on mixing red in, I didn't go and buy Tamiya paints...which I normally use, I really find them top notch for modelling. I had some sunny yellow acrylic left from the front end I painted on a Corvette, and put a drop of orange in that flips quite red.
And some clear coat. In person it looks quite good.
I'm not used to painting models to look pristine. It is definitely more effort to have a new gloss look rather than multiple colours and heavy weathering.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Duncanator]

If you are looking for the correct yellow paint, we used Floquil Railbox Yellow as the color with a clear gloss coat. For the larger models and set pieces, we had a company match it in a gloss automotive paint.

 

[starks]

If you are looking for the correct yellow paint, we used Floquil Railbox Yellow as the color with a clear gloss coat. For the larger models and set pieces, we had a company match it in a gloss automotive paint.

Thanks for that! That is very much appreciated.
Having a look around, I knew some sellers on places like Ebay were selling old Floquil paints. I found one seller shipping here to Australia and it would be a grand total of $70. A lot of sea shells for a small amount of paint. I haven't applied decals yet so I will continue to look a little more. Failing that, the colour I have certainly isn't too bad, it would be very cool to use THE colour though.

Well, I said I was trying to be a little more crazy. The cockpit is fairly basic but using a pin vice I drilled out the instrument panel, painted it in XF55 and went in 3 fiber optics.



I tried and tried but couldn't manage to get a clean mask on R2 so have done my best to brush paint him in, he also got a nice red fiber optic.
The pilot is supposed to be Anakin but I painted him more in a Naboo fighter pilot colour scheme. I made some belts but then got side tracked and put the canopy on before I fitted them, some days you just feel like a peanut. anyways....



At this stage I have gone with just using the chrome supplied panels. They had a bit of a tarnished look to them, perhaps their age, and I figured it toned them down a bit. More pics will eventually follow but wanted to show the engine lights and cockpit lights now things are a bit more together.




Cheers,
Josh

 

[Duncanator]

I think the color you made looks pretty spot on! I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Analyzer]

Looks great. I like the color

Not sure if I specifically commented about sanding the LEDs, but I have done that in the past

Other ways I have diffused them is sanding clear plastic that they get filtered by or use some cotton stuffed in there as well

 

[starks]

I think the color you made looks pretty spot on! I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks! That makes me feel a bit more comfortable now. In the back of my mind I was questioning if the colour was close enough.

Looks great. I like the color

Not sure if I specifically commented about sanding the LEDs, but I have done that in the past

Other ways I have diffused them is sanding clear plastic that they get filtered by or use some cotton stuffed in there as well

I wanted to diffuse the light travelling through the fiber optics into the cockpit and sanding the LED is what I did do in the end. It worked to tone the brightness down quite a bit.

I suppose my next point of call now will be to fit the transfers, re clear and apply weathering.

Cheers,
Josh

 

[starks]

I decided to play a game. It's called spill your decal solution all over your decals and apply them as fast as you can
But luckily I managed to get them all on ok

After the decals were on I realised they do not supply the stripe and arrow shape seen on the side of the engines so I painted those in.
I have done some weathering in the blaster soot and engine sooting. I airbrushed a browned out black then gave a dry brush of some rust coloured weathering powder to give the edges a bit of a burnt look.




For the wiring, I was concerned it may arc out on the chrome effect so I drilled out two bits of rod and fed the 0.5mm wire through these, through the base. I will be able to neatly finish these as I wish when comes to final mounting for display. I ran them either side of the display stand hole so they can be run with the mount. This way it only takes 2 very thin wires that can be almost invisibly fixed to a stand to carry power. I wish I had thought of this when doing my Bandai Y wing.



And onto the next part of this project, the droid fighters.
Now it would be a bit boring wouldn't it, if the N1 has lighting but not the droid fighters so I've been playing with lighting on those. 3 fighters come in the kit and this is me playing with the first one, it has had a thin coat of Tamiya primer then a coat of black to help with light blocking, and this is what we have....

Cheers,
Josh

 

[Analyzer]

Fantastic!

The kits chrome effect actually looks way better than I thought it would. Good call leaving it

 

[starks]

Fantastic!

The kits chrome effect actually looks way better than I thought it would. Good call leaving it

I was concerned the chrome, and even gloss paint, would be too leary at that scale. But it actually doesnt look too out of place.
Cheers,
Josh

 

[starks]

I had an early finish yesterday and everyone was busy at home so I spent quite a few hours on the Vulture droids. I appreciate they're not everyone's favourite subject (certainly no TIE fighter) but go along with the N1 none the less.

I gave them a coat of a match for XF62 Olive Drab then masked off those parts where I wanted, then effectively just added ochre to the drab to yellow/whiten it out. This gave me a colour scheme fairly close to what is on the box art. From there I painted the guns/ machinery in Alclad dark aluminium and added some chipping.

I couldn't find any real good images from Episode 1 of how the fighters are painted. After plenty of time image searching which effectively bring up loads of toys with all different masking and colour schemes I tried to paint 1 close to how I think it should look and the other 2 I just had fun with.
All the wings I have masked and painted Identically as that is the one masking scheme that seems to be repeated on all the images I found.



Next, going by the box art, they should have an oxidised faded look. They look a bit to shiney and new. So my secondary light olive colour had a drop of white, brown and blue and a lot of thinners to make a 'faded' filter. I picked out a few panels here and there and added some extra fade to give some variation.
A faded example next to a non faded


In these shots showing the underside you can see the magic of lighting the eyes. I have masked off the eye area leaving it bare plastic and have drilled a small hole and pushed a 3mm LED into the base, the light bleeds through the plastic. The eyes are really shallow moulded, they're incredibly hard to pick out. All 3 faded and flat cleared with Tamiya aerosol.




I don't really plan on using these stands for the Vulture Droids or the N1 but to display what point I am up to these work. I ran out of thin wire rod so have just used some lengths of solder to do a quick, lighted display. One of the droids eyes does not light quite so well, LED seems ok, have even replaced it but perhaps the plastic is a bit thicker on this one or some such issue.
These things are tiny, very small compared to the N1 which has made working on them difficult. Overall (apart from the shallow eyes) I actually enjoyed doing these and am quite happy with the result. While not accurate and a completely made up scheme I actually like the tiger striped one the best.
Thanks for looking!,
Josh