AP's Studio Scale TIE Fighter (2020)

[madebyap]

Greetings prop and model makers!

Last year I found a studio scale TIE fighter on eBay, as the story goes, it was sitting in the seller's garage for the past ten years and he never got to it. He says it was a Nice-N model that was miscast, so he got it really cheap. I posted pictures and video on the Starship Modeller Facebook Group and Steve Neisen confirmed that it was one of his earlier kits (but called out that it did have some upgraded parts from his later casts). That being said it could be original Nice-N, and it could be a recast. Regardless, I own it now and I'm putting it together!

Here's my "unboxing" video from back in March... yes, I'm just now getting to work on this (7 month old and a 2.5 year old... so we're busy).

As you can see from that (and the pic below) there's a lot of work that needs to be done to this. Mostly on the wings, which are a bit warped, lots of clean up that needs to happen. Broken pieces that need to be rebuilt.

I've never worked on a studio scale kit or with resin so I'm in for an education for sure! There's some great inspiration on this forum though, I'll be borrowing a lot of tips and tricks from Corellianexports (he has an amazing build thread here).

Alright, here we go...

 

[PeetL]

Excellent find. Enjoy the process.
Building resin kits is one of the most rewarding experiences insofar as learning and building one's modelling skill set.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you need any help or pointers with the process, especially as I have a lot of background knowledge and experience with the studio scale Tie.

 

[JLinNY]

Very cool, I am following!! One of these decades I am going to build mine . . .

 

[madebyap]

Excellent find. Enjoy the process.
Building resin kits is one of the most rewarding experiences insofar as learning and building one's modelling skill set.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you need any help or pointers with the process, especially as I have a lot of background knowledge and experience with the studio scale Tie.

I really appreciate that and absolutely will reach out!

I also just picked up a studio scale X-Wing on eBay (link to the listing here). I'm getting a little addicted and I haven't even finished the TIE yet haha.

 

[madebyap]

Very cool, I am following!! One of these decades I am going to build mine . . .

Hopefully yours is in a bit better condition, I'm having to rebuild bits of the wing. Not fun.

 

[JLinNY]

I bought mine quite a few years ago, but it is the grey resin like some of your parts are. I am guessing those are the newer parts. The funny thing is I had originally wanted the solid wings, but Steve sent me the frame parts, or stars accidentally. I brought this up but never got the solid wings. Steve ended up making it right by sending me enough of the new style coolshade to make two wings. In the end I am happy he did this, those solid wings look heavy as hell!!

 

[madebyap]

So first fix... rebuilding parts of the wing with styrene...

Pretty much replacing all of these as they have just snapped off. Even the slightest bump against them and they came undone. So I'm going to tackle this with a piece of styrene I have left over from... well gosh I don't remember what project that was for - ah well.

I'm just tracing the old piece, cutting out with an Xacto and then gluing on with CA glue and zip kicker.

The thing that stinks about this is that I'm not going to be able to re-create, easily, that little ridge on the original. Maybe I'll carve it out somehow... hrm...

So far the CA and zip kicker are holding nicely. I've replaced almost all of them. It's okay. I'm learning new things!

 

[madebyap]

I bought mine quite a few years ago, but it is the grey resin like some of your parts are. I am guessing those are the newer parts. The funny thing is I had originally wanted the solid wings, but Steve sent me the frame parts, or stars accidentally. I brought this up but never got the solid wings. Steve ended up making it right by sending me enough of the new style coolshade to make two wings. In the end I am happy he did this, those solid wings look heavy as hell!!

That is awesome! Yes, the solid wings are pretty heavy (for a model I guess), I'd put them at 4 - 5 pounds each? I'm basing this solely off my wife's little 2.5lb free weights. Maybe I'll take them on the scale with me tomorrow to get an accurate number haha.

 

[TazMan2000]

So first fix... rebuilding parts of the wing with styrene...

View attachment 1339442

Pretty much replacing all of these as they have just snapped off. Even the slightest bump against them and they came undone. So I'm going to tackle this with a piece of styrene I have left over from... well gosh I don't remember what project that was for - ah well.

I'm just tracing the old piece, cutting out with an Xacto and then gluing on with CA glue and zip kicker.

View attachment 1339457

View attachment 1339458

The thing that stinks about this is that I'm not going to be able to re-create, easily, that little ridge on the original. Maybe I'll carve it out somehow... hrm...

So far the CA and zip kicker are holding nicely. I've replaced almost all of them. It's okay. I'm learning new things!

Go to your hobby store and see if they have a full selection of Evergreen styrene products or/and Plastruct. I’m sure you can find something to replace it. ILM used it in building several models.

TazMan2000

 

[JLinNY]

Man that is heavy! You did a very nice job repairing those ends.

 

[skahtul]

Following this for sure looks like a challenging build!

 

[TazMan2000]

Before you repair the wings, ensure you straighten them first. Use hot water or hot air.

TazMan2000

 

[madebyap]

Before you repair the wings, ensure you straighten them first. Use hot water or hot air.

TazMan2000

Thank you!

 

[madebyap]

Man that is heavy! You did a very nice job repairing those ends.

Okay so clearly my "best guess weight judging" skills are way off. The wings are like 2lbs a piece lol. Yeah way off. But still, all together, it's a good 5lb model.

 

[madebyap]

Go to your hobby store and see if they have a full selection of Evergreen styrene products or/and Plastruct. I’m sure you can find something to replace it. ILM used it in building several models.

TazMan2000

Oof, I wish my hobby store was open. I'll check out some of the online places, I've been picking up stuff from ScaleHobbyist.com and a couple other places. Thanks for the tip!

 

[madebyap]

I'll post some pics tomorrow for my latest wing-fix-adventure. It required a lot of bondo...

Question for the pros - I have a ton of Vallejo surface primer, which is what I typically use for my plastic kits. Is that a decent primer for a resin kit? I was going to get some Tamiya but on Amazon it's stupid expensive and doesn't qualify for prime, on some of the smaller hobby sites, it's a good price, but not in stock or back-ordered.

So will Vallejo suffice or should I wait for Tamiya or try something else.

Thanks all!

 

[Jkirkon]

I use Stynylrez.

 

[PeetL]

I'll post some pics tomorrow for my latest wing-fix-adventure. It required a lot of bondo...

Question for the pros - I have a ton of Vallejo surface primer, which is what I typically use for my plastic kits. Is that a decent primer for a resin kit? I was going to get some Tamiya but on Amazon it's stupid expensive and doesn't qualify for prime, on some of the smaller hobby sites, it's a good price, but not in stock or back-ordered.

So will Vallejo suffice or should I wait for Tamiya or try something else.

Thanks all!

Use Mr Finishing Surface 1500 Black.
You can buy it in a spray can.
It may be more expensive than Vallejo or Stynylrez primers but unlike those others this primer levels perfectly and is incredibly resistant to being scratched off.

 

[swgeek]

Any good primer should work. Just make sure you clean the parts really well with soap and water. I use Bondo brand rattle can primer.

 

[JLinNY]

Haha its ok. 2 is better than 5!!. If you need photos of any of the parts let me know