Backlot SS TIE Bomber

[Mr Walker]

Or, my return to modelling.

I used to do a lot of modelling, mostly styrene kits, but a little resin here and there, but that was easily 10 years ago. Since then, I think the last model I've done is the 1/72 TIE fighter - anyone know when that was released?

Anyways, yesterday, whilst rooting around on what was my modelling desk, in my computer room/study/misc collecting crap room, I found a barely started on Backlot Studios SS TIE bomber, and I decided that I would like to finish it. After clearing a whole swathe of junk off my desk, it appears I still have the parts, albeit one of them broken, but it shouldn't be too hard to fix it.

The wings... oy vey! After years of having a whole mess of things sitting on top of them, they were warped up the proverbial creek and back again - massively warped, but a bit of hot water and clamping them to the edge of my table have yielded nice straight edges on them. No pictures of them warped, I'm afraid.

Here's a couple of pictures here. The rest of the parts are in the box (I think they all are - I did a quick inventory).

This is a very sharp resin kit, with great detail, albeit some of the parts are made of quite brittle resin. Take the wings - notice one one of the bits of framing has just... fallen off. Pity. I'll have to replace that with some thin brass rod.

Amazingly, after 10+ years, some of my paints are still liquid. I don't know how usable they are, but they're liquid.




I'm kicking myself that I sold my compressor and airbrush a few years back.

If I enjoy building this, I might buy some more.

I'll post progress piccies as I go along, but I'm time poor, so it might be a while before this girl flies....

 

[ralphee]

Blimey, there is a blast from the past. Rolando did a bang up job on this, so long ago, with much less ref than we have today too.

Tamiya Haze grey is your paint, shoot it from the rattle can, looking forward to your build!

lee

 

[Watson]

You said it Lee....That kit is still great

 

[ralphee]

You said it Lee....That kit is still great

Hope one day its creator will return, old school top blokey!

lee

 

[Mr Walker]

All parts have been trimmed down and sanded, main body has been painted up, cockpit has been finished. I didn't spend too much time on the pilot. Unless you shine a torch directly in there, he's next to invisible, sadly.

As usual, camera flash totally washes out any subtlety in the weathering of the cockpit front. And yes, you're right. There's nothing subtle about the pilot. He's hidden in shdow, so to be seen at all, I really gave him a drybrush in a very light (comparitively) shade.

Notice on the wing, the scuff marks... despite prepping the wings in soap and water, with a good scrubbing from a soft bristled toothbrush, the paint just won't stick enough to mask them. Not too much of a drama, it means I have to paint the black panels by hand, which shouldn't be too hard, just irritating. So easy to just mask them off.... *sigh*. I'll do it with acrylics. Over the enamel I should be able to clean up any overrun with some windex without affecting the rest of the paintjob.


I'll give the panel lines a real subtle wash, just a few shades darker than the haze grey, but she's coming along pretty nicely I think.

The only thing left to do now is assemble the "clips" that go around the missile tube. Unfortunately, most of those arrived broken, so they need to have repairs done to them.

Yes, I need to clean my work area.

 

[Mr Walker]

All the detail pieces lined up ready for primer.

A couple of pieces weren't as good as they could have been, but a quick sanding later, and smooth as a babys bum.

Wings in progress. It's good. The "reflector" part has a lip around it. I slap on the paint, wait until it dries, windex and cotton bud where I've coloured outside the lines, touch up the black, and it's quite effective.

One wing down, one to go. After that, time to weather them a little, just to give them a bit of "weight".

 

[tango]

Old School blast from the past. Have fun with the project!

 

[Mr Walker]

Almost done....

Just got to add a couple of greeblies and attach the wings now.

 

[atom]

That's a wonderful kit.

Your work is also splendid.
Looking forward for more!:thumbsup

 

[Mr Walker]

She's done!

I just have to touch up the grills on top of the model (bright lighting on my desk doesn't show that there's a couple of grills that are lacking in depth), attach her to the base, and away we go.

Here's a pic of the base.

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/starwars/tb_tieb_base.JPG

I'm thinking flat black, silver for the raised imperial symbol, and the lettering picked out in white.

 

[Hammer3246]

Nice job...i really like the stand.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Mr Walker]

Done.

I'm quite happy with the way the stand turned out, though the gloss "plaque" doesn't photograph well.

And the bomber herself.

Overall, a good fun kit, though not without a few fitting problems, notably the front prongs having their guide holes misaligned (bit of surgery fixed that right up) and a couple of the clips need to take up the same space as another body part, but good stuff. Quite pleased with how it turned out.

My model making appetite has been whetted. I'll have to find something else to do. Maybe something with lights....