putting off my falcon even longer......1/72 tie fighter

[SirNedKingsly]

So stupid question - but how does the pilot get in???

 

[CessnaDriver]

So stupid question - but how does the pilot get in???

I think through the top hatch/window.

 

[astroboy]

So stupid question - but how does the pilot get in???

you can't see it very well but there's an elevator pad on the floor. Maybe I should fabricate it in an up position.....

 

[Alaneye]

The landing station looks really good. Great works there!

 

[SirNedKingsly]

you can't see it very well but there's an elevator pad on the floor. Maybe I should fabricate it in an up position.....

Is it that round circle thing towards the rear of the craft?

Now it makes sense - lol - it is a beautiful build but I was wondering if the Empire had started training their pilots in rope work just so they could GET to the flying bits - lol

Thanks for clarifying.




Sent from my iPhone5 using mind control!

 

[astroboy]

Is it that round circle thing towards the rear of the craft?

Now it makes sense - lol - it is a beautiful build but I was wondering if the Empire had started training their pilots in rope work just so they could GET to the flying bits - lol

Thanks for clarifying.




Sent from my iPhone5 using mind control!

Thanks.

I still haven't finished this. I need to do a railing around the circle pad for more clarification. Maybe a contril panel too.

But I have a 15 month old kid now...so everything is on the backburner

 

[Rats]

One of the reasons I did it that way is I heard a horror story that somebody who used just the FM masks soaked them and paint bled through them since the paper stock wasn't moisture proof (Tamiya tape on the otherhand is). But we didn't have the pre-cut canopy masks either.

I used the FM masks for mine and when I pulled them off, hours before a model comp., the paint had bled everywhere and the glass was all fogged up with a mixture of paint and mask glue and looked horrible! Needless to say, I didn't place :angry.

After I got it home, I scribed the edges of the glass, cut it all out and sanded the edges and now have a more 'studio' version with no glass, just frame. Looks good and wasn't too difficult. The 'frame' is strong enough to stand a bit of force.

I say go for it! BTW, Love your base idea. :thumbsup :thumbsup

 

[JMChladek]

Is it that round circle thing towards the rear of the craft?

That depends on which reference you read and what mood LFL is in. Naturally the TIE has hatch like sections all over the ball because they also serve as detachable covers for the animation rods. In the early days, somebody postulated that the rear hatch with the window was the main entry hatch for standard TIEs and the top hatch could also be used. So the Kenner toy used a top hatch while the MPC TIE Interceptor kit used a back hatch. Vader's TIE of course didn't have a back hatch, although the full size cockpit set did (as you can briefly see an exterior scene behind his head in ANH at one point). That seemed to work fine for TIEs up through the 1990s as even the cut scenes for TIE launches in the LucasArts game TIE Fighter showed the craft stored on hangar bays with a large grab claw from behind and hinted that pilots would climb into the rear hatch from an access port in the arm itself.

That seemed to suit things fine until about 1994-95 when somebody came up with this bright idea that the rear "hatch" was a "solar ionization reactor" and not a hatch (and the rear window conveniently got deleted). AMT/Ertl's TIE Fighter kit blanked the window and added a couple tiny toothpaste tube cap shaped nozzles in that area (which Revell also represented on their pocket sized TIE Interceptor). FineMolds didn't, but they didn't put a clear window in either (same for the big Revell TIE). So at that point, all references began to consistantly show that the only entry hatch was the top one.

 

[SirNedKingsly]

That depends on which reference you read and what mood LFL is in. Naturally the TIE has hatch like sections all over the ball because they also serve as detachable covers for the animation rods. In the early days, somebody postulated that the rear hatch with the window was the main entry hatch for standard TIEs and the top hatch could also be used. So the Kenner toy used a top hatch while the MPC TIE Interceptor kit used a back hatch. Vader's TIE of course didn't have a back hatch, although the full size cockpit set did (as you can briefly see an exterior scene behind his head in ANH at one point). That seemed to work fine for TIEs up through the 1990s as even the cut scenes for TIE launches in the LucasArts game TIE Fighter showed the craft stored on hangar bays with a large grab claw from behind and hinted that pilots would climb into the rear hatch from an access port in the arm itself.

That seemed to suit things fine until about 1994-95 when somebody came up with this bright idea that the rear "hatch" was a "solar ionization reactor" and not a hatch (and the rear window conveniently got deleted). AMT/Ertl's TIE Fighter kit blanked the window and added a couple tiny toothpaste tube cap shaped nozzles in that area (which Revell also represented on their pocket sized TIE Interceptor). FineMolds didn't, but they didn't put a clear window in either (same for the big Revell TIE). So at that point, all references began to consistantly show that the only entry hatch was the top one.

While I appreciate the "history" lesson (an maybe this was my fault for being ambiguous) but I was referring to how would the pilot get from the ground to the fighter - not how he would get into the fighter.

Any self-respecting kid can tell you how one enters a TIE fighter - lol

The builder answered my question an the circle bit I was talking about is the lift he made for the pilot.

That info is pretty interesting tho - didn't know all that - I always assumed that the only way in was at the top.



Sent from my iPhone5 using mind control!

 

[JMChladek]

LOL, no problem. Of course, if the Empire wouldn't have ended up purging all the force sentients in the galaxy, they could have taught their TIE pilots how to do a Force leap from the ground into the cockpit (and back out).

 

[Badgat]

A steady hand, a little bit of 3M masking tape, a few sharp razors, a small brush and a lot of patience. If it doesn't come out right, just paint the inside of the canopy black and from 3 ft. away, no one will notice.