SGluedMyFingers
Well-Known Member
I'm usually somewhat private about my builds. One, because I tend to bounce from one project to the next and also because I just don't think that my work is all that good in comparison to a lot of what I see here. But I'm going to put myself out there for a handful of reasons: Firstly, I think that a public build will put a little fire under my arse to actually keep things moving. Secondly, I could really use a little help and advice now and again. Third, well... I hope maybe to share what I learn as I move along. Hopefully others may get some inspiration. Fourth, I just replaced my camera that a jealous ex-roommate ruined by dumping it in a pot of coffee (some people). Lastly, and this is a tad personal but kind of along the lines of why I am doing a public build, I've been sober from drugs and alcohol for 14 months now. Part of the recovery group that I'm involved in, SMART Recovery (anyone struggling with similar issues can get info at www.SMARTrecovery.org ), highly stresses lifestyle balance and a part of that being Vital Absorbing Critical Interests (VACI). I recently became certified as a SMART recover facilitator and began another group locally. I'm quite proud of that and it's become another VACI. Sorry to be so personal about all that but, again, that's a part of all of this and I guess I kind of want to get to know all you guys a little better and what better way than to share a little about me. I've lurked and contributed to many modeling sites over the years and this site is IMHO the most forgiving, reasonable, intellectual, helpful and sharing forum I've come across. So enough of all that. Onto real business.
I've been building Star Wars models, exclusively, as an adult since around 2002 but with sporadic progress and interest other than collecting a mountain of kits. As discussed above, my interest lately has been quite strong. I've hashed together a ton of Revell Snaps and have several projects going in various stages. One of the few that I actually put full effort into was a MPC Millennium Falcon that I built for a special friend. This also is my favorite subject and I plan to repeat the subject many times as I have just about every Falcon kit that's been produced along with most upgrades. So, this was attempt #1:
Casual observers were impressed. I think it's a disaster compared to work I see here and on other forums from those with more talent and experience. But with you guys' help we'll fix that. My main criticism is the paint. I am quite red-green color blind and I have a lot of trouble and stress quite a lot with paint. Lucky for me most Star Wars models fall into mainly shades of grey, but even that can give me trouble. Other colors and weathering is real challenge. I can't tell you exactly what is wrong with paint job but it just looks off to me - TOO colorful. It looks like a rainbow in my eye. I'm not sure if the weathering is to bright or what. The yellow panels seem way to bright, the red is off and the rust streaks... I dunno. Just OFF. I've definitely concluded that Camouflage Grey is not the best base coat. That may be the whole problem. Maybe you guys offer a little insight and constructive criticism is not only welcomed but strongly requested.
Of course, the real problem is the kit itself and we all are likely familiar with what those issues are, the main issue being the side walls. The only modifications that I made was to cut a little off of the cockpit tube and scratch built cockpit interior and gun well (both of which turned out quite nice for a newbie). You can see the mod to the cockpit tube in the pic above and here's a few of the gun well:
I didn't take any pics of the cockpit but they were a styrene and pasted printout hashup of Ozzy's files. It was OK and suitable for what I was wanting to accomplish then. But NOW... I want progress a little.
Falcon kits. I purchased this upgrade around '03-'04. Yes, it was a hassle. But it's a pretty nice representation of the 5 footer for the time, the 5 footer being my favorite.
I suspect that there may be better 5 footer upgrades out there now (Haystack) but this is what I have now. I have the Blue Moon upgrades but that is another, future build as the 3 footer.
Shapeways: We do love you, FZ6, and my wallet bows before you. I have the cast ups for the Hasbro and all of this is prelude and practice for what I hope to transform that beast into. I definitely want to accomplish a little more with this kit and Shapeways 308 parts are the way to go. For this project, I've decided not to go all out but to at least dip my feet in the pool. This is what I ordered:
I skipped out on the gun well because I was fairly satisfied with my last scratch build and you can barely see it anyway. Plus, I plan to display this piece mostly from the side and it really would be a waste. I wanted other parts, particularly the docking rings and more engine deck parts but I needed to cut costs and I'm not yet sure how far I want to go with the engine deck on this build. There will be future builds and, again, this will mostly be seen from the side. I'm thinking I will save the super detail for another build.
What I want to accomplish: A really nice, lit, landed display. Most of my efforts will go into running lights, landing ramp and landing gear. I want to softly light the cockpit but I want it to be subtle. I plan to use lightsheet for it's soft glow and reasons to be discussed later. I want a "powered down" look to the cockpit. I think that lightsheet will really give me what I'm looking for.
OK. On to where I am now. The Falcon Kits sidewalls are in place:
There are a few gaps that I need to deal with but not a bad upgrade so far. The detail is a little soft and the resin is somewhat difficult but this is a pretty antiquated upgrade. Jack Smith did not have all the picture resources that we have now that the Falcon has been on display all over the world, so it's not incredibly accurate. However, it's quite suitable and will certainly do for this introductory venture. Again, it's 5 footer based whereas the Blue Moon is not. I have a strong interest in Haystack's upgrade for a future 5ft build and hopefully he can chime in about it's future availability. And I'm always curious about where some of the 3D projects that I see going on will go in the future for MPC upgrades in the 5 ft department.
You can see that I have, again, cut a little off of the cockpit tube. NOT screen accurate and doesn't solve the huge issue of the entire cockpit and tube being undersized, but I think it helps a little. The cockpit tube on the standard MPC is just obviously too long and this is a simple semi-solution.
The Shapeways cockpit would not quite fit, as is, so I had to route out the tube quite a bit. I found that an empty bottle of Testors Cement was just the right size so I glued a strip of sandpaper around it and twisted until my wrist gave out. Effective, but I think that it may have stretched the resin and styrene out a little. You can see the the Shapeways cockpit is a little too small now. I'm not real sure how this happened. I'm hoping that if I sand a little off the diameter of the bottom piece that it may squeeze it back together again. It's a minor detail but annoying at the moment. The main thing was that the new cockpit had to fit with a little wiggle room as I need the entire thing to be removable. Lightsheet is not known for it's longevity. At some point it will have to be replaced. I'm hoping that I can come up with some sort of gig to hold the cockpit on with some strong magnets so I can get back in there in the future. We'll see. In addition to wanting a soft glow, Lightsheet will allow me to light the side panels of the cockpit. There is simply no way that I can think of to get any lighting in the side of the cockpit be it fiber optic or mini LED. It's just too tight.
Regardless, the cockpit is going to look awesome. However it comes out. I haven't decided whether I'm going to try to paint the cockpit or come up with a decal solution. I'm not sure how well Ozzy's files correspond with the Shapeways cockpit. To be determined.
The Falcon Kits comes with some photo etch for the engine deck but no inserts. I found that water bottle tops can produce a nice start for inserts. A little scratch detail and those should come out well enough.
The Blue Moon kit came with engine deck replacements (Panzer or Panther? Can't remember). There's no comparing these to the Shapeways part but I may use them on this kit as I don't intend to go all out on the deck for this project and it will be mostly side viewed. It seems foolish to waste them and I can use use the expensive Shapeways part on a future build where more emphasis will on the engine deck. I'm still deciding on this. One thing is for certain, either is a huge improvement over what is offered. The Blue Moon part has been sanded down significantly. It was quite thick.
The Falcon Kits came with landing gear bays and a pretty elaborate landing gear upgrade with aluminum piping, resin parts and photo etch. Complicated but really awesome. Very superior to the Blue Moon landing gear. I'm going to have to create some kind of gig to hold all of the piping together but it's coming along nicely. The landing gear bays will be well lit and with all of the running lights and the lit landing ramp, the underside will be the focal point of this display. This is where most of my energy will be going. I'm very happy with where this is headed.
I've run into a little trouble finding a good pattern for the docking ring plates. This is a pattern that I picked up years ago. I can't credit the creator and the instructions are in Spanish, I believe. The curvature is off. I'm thinking that maybe I can increase the print size a little and shave a few mm off of the ends. That may work. I could swear that I saw a past build where someone had acquired another pattern from one of the RPF members, maybe Jaitea ? If anyone knows anything about that, I'd appreciate any information. What I saw looked to be much better. I could really use that pattern if i can get my hands on it.
I really want to make a lot of progress with paint and weathering on this kit. Given that I will display the piece at eye level (side view) and lighting will draw the eye to the underside, I figure I have a the opportunity to be forgiving with myself if I'm not completely satisfied with the paint job. This kit is another practice job. I want to get the technique down for future projects but I'm not planning on getting it right this time. Practice makes perfect.
I'm waiting for the 1st to order some 5mm and 3mm LEDs for running lights ect. I thought I had enough but I don't. I pretty much have all the rest of the electronics that I need. I don't plan on lighting the engines for this one. It's landed and powered down. Just the running/warning lights, headlights, landing gear bays, entry ramp and soft cockpit lighting. That should be a model full of wires as it is.
Well I'm off to put together landing gear and detail engine inserts. More later. If anyone has a heads up on that docking ring panel pattern, please let me know.
Thanks for looking. Ideas, thoughts, criticisms, encouragements, cheers, jeers all welcomed.
I've been building Star Wars models, exclusively, as an adult since around 2002 but with sporadic progress and interest other than collecting a mountain of kits. As discussed above, my interest lately has been quite strong. I've hashed together a ton of Revell Snaps and have several projects going in various stages. One of the few that I actually put full effort into was a MPC Millennium Falcon that I built for a special friend. This also is my favorite subject and I plan to repeat the subject many times as I have just about every Falcon kit that's been produced along with most upgrades. So, this was attempt #1:
Casual observers were impressed. I think it's a disaster compared to work I see here and on other forums from those with more talent and experience. But with you guys' help we'll fix that. My main criticism is the paint. I am quite red-green color blind and I have a lot of trouble and stress quite a lot with paint. Lucky for me most Star Wars models fall into mainly shades of grey, but even that can give me trouble. Other colors and weathering is real challenge. I can't tell you exactly what is wrong with paint job but it just looks off to me - TOO colorful. It looks like a rainbow in my eye. I'm not sure if the weathering is to bright or what. The yellow panels seem way to bright, the red is off and the rust streaks... I dunno. Just OFF. I've definitely concluded that Camouflage Grey is not the best base coat. That may be the whole problem. Maybe you guys offer a little insight and constructive criticism is not only welcomed but strongly requested.
Of course, the real problem is the kit itself and we all are likely familiar with what those issues are, the main issue being the side walls. The only modifications that I made was to cut a little off of the cockpit tube and scratch built cockpit interior and gun well (both of which turned out quite nice for a newbie). You can see the mod to the cockpit tube in the pic above and here's a few of the gun well:
I didn't take any pics of the cockpit but they were a styrene and pasted printout hashup of Ozzy's files. It was OK and suitable for what I was wanting to accomplish then. But NOW... I want progress a little.
Falcon kits. I purchased this upgrade around '03-'04. Yes, it was a hassle. But it's a pretty nice representation of the 5 footer for the time, the 5 footer being my favorite.
I suspect that there may be better 5 footer upgrades out there now (Haystack) but this is what I have now. I have the Blue Moon upgrades but that is another, future build as the 3 footer.
Shapeways: We do love you, FZ6, and my wallet bows before you. I have the cast ups for the Hasbro and all of this is prelude and practice for what I hope to transform that beast into. I definitely want to accomplish a little more with this kit and Shapeways 308 parts are the way to go. For this project, I've decided not to go all out but to at least dip my feet in the pool. This is what I ordered:
I skipped out on the gun well because I was fairly satisfied with my last scratch build and you can barely see it anyway. Plus, I plan to display this piece mostly from the side and it really would be a waste. I wanted other parts, particularly the docking rings and more engine deck parts but I needed to cut costs and I'm not yet sure how far I want to go with the engine deck on this build. There will be future builds and, again, this will mostly be seen from the side. I'm thinking I will save the super detail for another build.
What I want to accomplish: A really nice, lit, landed display. Most of my efforts will go into running lights, landing ramp and landing gear. I want to softly light the cockpit but I want it to be subtle. I plan to use lightsheet for it's soft glow and reasons to be discussed later. I want a "powered down" look to the cockpit. I think that lightsheet will really give me what I'm looking for.
OK. On to where I am now. The Falcon Kits sidewalls are in place:
There are a few gaps that I need to deal with but not a bad upgrade so far. The detail is a little soft and the resin is somewhat difficult but this is a pretty antiquated upgrade. Jack Smith did not have all the picture resources that we have now that the Falcon has been on display all over the world, so it's not incredibly accurate. However, it's quite suitable and will certainly do for this introductory venture. Again, it's 5 footer based whereas the Blue Moon is not. I have a strong interest in Haystack's upgrade for a future 5ft build and hopefully he can chime in about it's future availability. And I'm always curious about where some of the 3D projects that I see going on will go in the future for MPC upgrades in the 5 ft department.
You can see that I have, again, cut a little off of the cockpit tube. NOT screen accurate and doesn't solve the huge issue of the entire cockpit and tube being undersized, but I think it helps a little. The cockpit tube on the standard MPC is just obviously too long and this is a simple semi-solution.
The Shapeways cockpit would not quite fit, as is, so I had to route out the tube quite a bit. I found that an empty bottle of Testors Cement was just the right size so I glued a strip of sandpaper around it and twisted until my wrist gave out. Effective, but I think that it may have stretched the resin and styrene out a little. You can see the the Shapeways cockpit is a little too small now. I'm not real sure how this happened. I'm hoping that if I sand a little off the diameter of the bottom piece that it may squeeze it back together again. It's a minor detail but annoying at the moment. The main thing was that the new cockpit had to fit with a little wiggle room as I need the entire thing to be removable. Lightsheet is not known for it's longevity. At some point it will have to be replaced. I'm hoping that I can come up with some sort of gig to hold the cockpit on with some strong magnets so I can get back in there in the future. We'll see. In addition to wanting a soft glow, Lightsheet will allow me to light the side panels of the cockpit. There is simply no way that I can think of to get any lighting in the side of the cockpit be it fiber optic or mini LED. It's just too tight.
Regardless, the cockpit is going to look awesome. However it comes out. I haven't decided whether I'm going to try to paint the cockpit or come up with a decal solution. I'm not sure how well Ozzy's files correspond with the Shapeways cockpit. To be determined.
The Falcon Kits comes with some photo etch for the engine deck but no inserts. I found that water bottle tops can produce a nice start for inserts. A little scratch detail and those should come out well enough.
The Blue Moon kit came with engine deck replacements (Panzer or Panther? Can't remember). There's no comparing these to the Shapeways part but I may use them on this kit as I don't intend to go all out on the deck for this project and it will be mostly side viewed. It seems foolish to waste them and I can use use the expensive Shapeways part on a future build where more emphasis will on the engine deck. I'm still deciding on this. One thing is for certain, either is a huge improvement over what is offered. The Blue Moon part has been sanded down significantly. It was quite thick.
The Falcon Kits came with landing gear bays and a pretty elaborate landing gear upgrade with aluminum piping, resin parts and photo etch. Complicated but really awesome. Very superior to the Blue Moon landing gear. I'm going to have to create some kind of gig to hold all of the piping together but it's coming along nicely. The landing gear bays will be well lit and with all of the running lights and the lit landing ramp, the underside will be the focal point of this display. This is where most of my energy will be going. I'm very happy with where this is headed.
I've run into a little trouble finding a good pattern for the docking ring plates. This is a pattern that I picked up years ago. I can't credit the creator and the instructions are in Spanish, I believe. The curvature is off. I'm thinking that maybe I can increase the print size a little and shave a few mm off of the ends. That may work. I could swear that I saw a past build where someone had acquired another pattern from one of the RPF members, maybe Jaitea ? If anyone knows anything about that, I'd appreciate any information. What I saw looked to be much better. I could really use that pattern if i can get my hands on it.
I really want to make a lot of progress with paint and weathering on this kit. Given that I will display the piece at eye level (side view) and lighting will draw the eye to the underside, I figure I have a the opportunity to be forgiving with myself if I'm not completely satisfied with the paint job. This kit is another practice job. I want to get the technique down for future projects but I'm not planning on getting it right this time. Practice makes perfect.
I'm waiting for the 1st to order some 5mm and 3mm LEDs for running lights ect. I thought I had enough but I don't. I pretty much have all the rest of the electronics that I need. I don't plan on lighting the engines for this one. It's landed and powered down. Just the running/warning lights, headlights, landing gear bays, entry ramp and soft cockpit lighting. That should be a model full of wires as it is.
Well I'm off to put together landing gear and detail engine inserts. More later. If anyone has a heads up on that docking ring panel pattern, please let me know.
Thanks for looking. Ideas, thoughts, criticisms, encouragements, cheers, jeers all welcomed.
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You have to make some compromises - even if it is hard.
