Dan's Gold Leader Y-Wing (WIP)

3DImpact · May 15, 2020

I've had this Gold Leader Y-Wing kit from Mike Salzo since November 2017 and it sat in its shipping box intimidating me all this time. Well, no more - I decided to finally start cleaning up parts a couple weeks ago and one thing led to another!

Oddly, the first things I managed to finish were the rear thruster assemblies. I started cleaning those parts first and as I was looking at reference photos to make sure I was trimming away casting flashing and not actual greeblie bits I started finally getting more familiar with the parts so I just went with it and assembled.

Dan

3DImpact · May 15, 2020

My cockpit is missing the canopy. I don't know how or why I missed that during my initial survey when I first opened the box when I received it, but here I am.

Does anyone know where I might get a nice clean casting or 3D print of a studio-scale Gold Leader Y-Wing canopy and guns?

Dan

3DImpact · May 15, 2020

Cleaned up the main central body and cockpit.

I decided to use a wooden central support rod, as it was easier for me to do the cutting and drilling I needed in order to get the 1/4-20 mount thread in there.

I've decided that I want to light my engines and run some fiber for a minimal cockpit lights setup.

Dan

3DImpact · May 15, 2020

Time for assembly of the main central body with the wing bar. Everything is bonded with J-B Weld at this stage so it's all good and solid.

And now the wing panels are bonded as well, along with a fit check with the engine pods.

I'm holding off on bonding the engine pods down for now until I've fit checked a few other things. Mainly, I now need to make sure the front domes are trimmed and sanded to fit as flush as I can make them and then think through the assembly and paint order for the rear engine nozzles - looking at reference photos of the original ILM model I can see that there are some 'internal' painted details that might best be painted before I make my final assembly...

Dan

Jkirkon · May 15, 2020

I believe Falcon 3D has a canopy. There are shareware .stl files from DaveG that have the canopy as well.

Hammer3246 · May 15, 2020

3DImpact said:
My cockpit is missing the canopy. I don't know how or why I missed that during my initial survey when I first opened the box when I received it, but here I am.

View attachment 1298951

Does anyone know where I might get a nice clean casting or 3D print of a studio-scale Gold Leader Y-Wing canopy and guns?

Dan

Can't help with the guns, but I'll send you a canopy.

PM me with your details.

Cheers!

Studio Kitbash · May 16, 2020

Dan,

Do you need the top-of-canopy turret guns, or the chin guns? I have a mold of the top-of-canopy guns I can send you casting from, but the chin guns you typically make yourself from concentric tubing.

Also, FWIW, I'm not sure if the DaveG .stl file canopy is a match for the Neisen body forward fuselage, as they were two different designs. I've never tried it, or compared them, so they might be close enough to be "not noticeable" but it's a possible mismatch, about which you may be annoyed.

Hammer3246 · May 16, 2020

Studio Kitbash said:
Dan,

Do you need the top-of-canopy turret guns, or the chin guns? I have a mold of the top-of-canopy guns I can send you casting from, but the chin guns you typically make yourself from concentric tubing.

Also, FWIW, I'm not sure if the DaveG .stl file canopy is a match for the Neisen body forward fuselage, as they were two different designs. I've never tried it, or compared them, so they might be close enough to be "not noticeable" but it's a possible mismatch, about which you may be annoyed.

The canopy I have is from this kit, so no need to print.

3DImpact · May 16, 2020

Wow - thanks guys! I love this place!

I did check Falcon 3D - they have a cockpit but not the canopy itself. I did order a nice pilot there though and will likely replace my astromech droid as well.

Thanks Hammer3246! PM inbound...

Thanks Studio Kitbash! I’ll take you up on the canopy guns. PM inbound...

I kinda figured the chin guns were custom made from tubing - they have that look - but I wasn’t sure. I’ll fashion those from scratch then.

Thanks again guys!

Dan

jontom · May 20, 2020

Looking great!

3DImpact · May 26, 2020

Time to get the domes mounted to the engines. Before bonding them on I wanted to be sure the T bars that extend to the thrust vanes are mounted along the engines nice and true and on a perfect 45-degree box relative to the horizontal defined by the central aluminum wing spar. So I made up a simple leveling 'jig' to let the engine rest level as it will on the actual spar. I then used a 45-degree guide to mark across the center of the engine (which I carefully marked out in overlain tape ahead of time) to mark the mount lines.

Nice and vertical!

And then bond the domes. That was an intimidating step since the castings of both the engine cylinders and the domes were a bit wonky and out of round all over. So I could tell it was going to take a lot of work to get them to fit. But with a bit of sanding here and there and a bunch of pressing along the joins as I spot-glued with CA I got everything to fit all around the circumference with nice flush seams. Only one slight overhang on one of them but I worked that to be a kinda hidden spot on the inside of the starboard dome where it's least visible.

I'm happy and relieved!

Dan

3DImpact · May 26, 2020

Some minor greeblie clean up here and there, replacing some of the cast bits with actual found parts.

Dan

3DImpact · May 26, 2020

I always intended to light the cockpit on this model - a bit of a departure from a 'true' replica of Gold Leader, but I figured I might as well make it a pretty model while I'm at it. It's my model, I can do what I want!

Got the fiber run - my first-ever fiber optic work. I didn't want to try to go overboard with too much, but tried to roughly match the pattern of where certain major lights are in the on-screen cockpit.

Just the first steps getting ready for painting the cockpit. I'll get it primed and painted next and then cut and tint the ends of the fiber to the proper color to match the on-screen light colors and pull them and glue into place...

Dan

3DImpact · May 26, 2020

And, as long as I was going to make that departure from the original model I might as well add a nice Gold Leader pilot. I purchased a printed pilot from Falcon 3D and cleaned him up a bit...

Time to paint!

Dan

3DImpact · May 26, 2020

But, not quite done yet - time for the world's smallest impromptu vac-forming job! The buck is a side mirror from the AMT Kenworth T600A - perfect size and curvature! Mounted it on a popsicle stick to work with.

Scrounged the house and found some good thermoplastic on a pack of dental floss. Easy enough to form from the heat of a hair drier while pulling across the buck with a pair of needle nose pliers.

A little yellow tint with some Tamiya clear yellow paint and we're ready to fly!

I figure this is good enough to hint at some cockpit detail - it'll all be hidden inside by a lot of structure and shadow anyway.

Dan

xingshen · May 26, 2020

Looking really good!

3DImpact · May 27, 2020

Worked the cockpit today. I primed and painted, trimmed and tinted the fiber and pulled it through and glued in place. Painted various bits here and there to suggest panel detail, ran a few additional pipes, and used guitar string for the corrugated hoses.

It looks much better in person - nice rich color in the lights and of course all the imperfections that you see in such close-up images blend and disappear. Once the canopy is on and everything is finished the overall effect will be to suggest some interesting detail in there.

Dan

Studio Kitbash · May 27, 2020

Guitar string is a brilliant hack -- thanks!

3DImpact · Jun 2, 2020

Had a lot of work still to do to tidy up the fiber bundles 'under the hood'. So I spent today gathering everything together and tying the fiber runs in place. I used waxed dental floss to make slip-free ties in a few spots and then tacked down the bundles in spots with short loops of heat shrink tubing and epoxy. I made a light-tight mount for the illumination end of the fiber bundle from a 1.5-inch-long bit of 1/4-inch Plastruct tube - the fiber bundle inserts into one end with the warm white LED in the other. With the illumination end of the fiber bundle cut flush the ends nicely glowed a bit from the 'back illumination' of the exposed ends of the cockpit lights. The whole light assembly was then enclosed in heat shrink tubing and tacked into place with some epoxy. A few splashes of flat black primer around the places where the fibers exit the cockpit into the interior took care of any light leaks. Even in a dark room there is not a hint of any light showing through - just the nice glow from the cockpit lights themselves.