Firefly Serenity Resin kit (Shiny) WIP

Sigma-LS

Sr Member
Thanks to a tip from a great guy here through PM, I was able to acquire one of these beauties in an auction recently.

Great quality kit, just needs a lot of sanding to smooth out the printing lines. Going to take me awhile with some 1000 grit and spot putty to get that done. So excited to work on this beast. Will update as she comes along.

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Thanks. Also thought I would post a pic of the printing lines real quick as I haven't seen them pictured in any other build threads of the model.

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Watching this build.
I started to pick up a good sized resin kit a while back but didn't.
I knew I couldn't paint it correctly and make it look good so I didn't waste my money on it!

Every man has got to know his limitations and I know mine!!

Good luck!!
Kenny
 
I'm actually more comfortable with resin than styrene and abs models from working with regular props and garage kit minis for so long. Guess it's more about knowing the nature of the materials. Big military style injection hollow kits scare me now that I haven't assembled one in over a decade.

Anyway, small amount of progress. Mostly working on the cockpit piece. Had to add lots of panel lines, which was actually the first time for me using an actual scribing blade. Tried not to screw it up too bad. Also added a new nose and the primary buffer panels because honestly is she really the Serenity without that detail?

I'll heat the crown to straighten out the prongs and then I'll give her a shot of primer and see what other bits need a little more love.

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Oh, cargo hold is smoothed out. Just realized I needed to scribe new panels on it though.:facepalm

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Further Update. Cockpit complete, cleaned, and attached to body. Some spines on the crown broke off and were replaced with copper wire. Main section has its first coat of primer after initial sanding and cleanup. This model requires so much sanding it's not even close to funny.

EDIT: Still need to buy me a pack of rivets for detailing though.

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Morning edit, why did I spend all night fiddling with this and marathoning Lexx? Well,good thing I got a solid supply of chicory coffee.

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Looks good so far. Resin kits seem so much easier than injection molded hollow ones. I'm really surprised that no normal kits of these were made when the show was super popular, it would have sold well.
 
Bautiful ship, I seen one at Wonderfest a couple of years back , and was busted by the time I discovered it was for sale, I wanted to give back a few items ,I had already purchased......lol.....it broke my heart when I had to leave without it .....awesome ship
 
I'm actually more comfortable with resin than styrene and abs models from working with regular props and garage kit minis for so long. Guess it's more about knowing the nature of the materials...
I know what you mean, except I'm the opposite--I much prefer styrene over resin (or vinyl, which I seriously dislike as a modeling medium) because I've been building styrene kits since the late 60s so it's the medium I'm most familiar with.

...Resin kits seem so much easier than injection molded hollow ones...
Resin, styrene, and vinyl each have their own pros and cons, you just have to learn what they are and how to deal with them.

...I'm really surprised that no normal kits of these were made when the show was super popular, it would have sold well.
People who build models as a hobby tend to think just about any subject would sell well in model kit form, but the companies that produce injection molded kits would probably say that's not a particularly realistic opinion. Car and military kit subjects have almost always sold well, but science fiction kits are very hit-and-miss unless the subject is extremely popular like the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek. And, unfortunately, it seems Baby Boomers (like me) are largely responsible for keeping the hobby alive these days. Each subsequent generation seems to show less interest in building models simply because there are a lot more ways to spend their free time now than there were 40 years ago.

That said, I'd love to see Moebius or Pegasus Hobbies produce a good Serenity kit, but that doesn't seem likely in the foreseeable future.

Returning to the main topic, I'm really interested in seeing your continued progress Sigma!
 
Thanks for the extra references. I've been rewatching Firefly and I still can't quite figure out how the hydraulic braces control the engines when they are vertical. Seems they almost always hide the angle that would show it in the show. Maybe I need to check out the re-entry sequence again at the beginning of Serenity.

As to the rarity, I'm still giddy I got ahold of this gal. I've been on the prowl for one for about a year, really since I found out Tony even had made them. Even with as much cash as I forked over, it still is just a tiny fraction of what it would've cost for the 3 inch bigger Big Damn Replica. And she scales with my 10mm stuff very well.

I've been working on the right engine. It's really not that worthy of an update as it's only minor pinning and lots of sanding. The sanding on the engines is really the worst of the entire kit. 7 hours on that one bit so far and I'm just now joining the separate bits and getting ready to putty the seams before sanding and primer coat number 3.The engine can still extend and rotate and whatnot.

Also fixed a panel mistake on the cockpit. All parts but the cockpit/fuselage and right engine assembly are still dry fit at this point.

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I'd have gone insane after all that sanding on the engine alone. It looks really good. I should really try watching the show as I've never seen an episode.
 
Definitely worth watching Wes, the movie almost caps it off like a high budget 3-parter. Great great show, or I wouldn't be sinking so much cash and love into this bird.

After getting absolutely sick of engine sanding (which is still at maybe 65% completed) I decided to take a break and work on the bracers. Made new ones from steel and aluminum tubing, beveled the edges, and drilled holes on the wing mounts to make them work. Leaving them loose for final installation later.

Thanks to darthviper for the help in that department. Watching Serenity again gave me the details.

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Thanks guys. A little more progress. I accidentally snapped a fin off an engine so I had to make a new one. Also started modding the bracers to be a tad more accurate. Mostly just did more sanding work on the body.

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