Soooooooo...this new Hasbro 6" scale snowspeeder

[TazMan2000]

just received mine. First impressions are generally good. I can see why they did the milky canopy, but to me its just irritating. It desperately needs a repaint. Also, the forward part of the cannons needs to be replaced with a full tube.

TazMan2000

 

[Lear60man]

That's looking really good!! Did you take it apart to work on it or just tape it off? How did you keep the red lettering and stripes?

'Ancient Chinese Secret.......' I didnt take apart squat hahah. First thing I did was take a rag and some Acetone to the brown poo 'weathering'. Came off without a problem. Grabbed some leftover paints from my Deago Falcon build and lightly went over some panels with 'Close Enough' gray to give it some depth. A Q tip and black chalk replaced the dings on the edges with some flat black in the airbrush. Dabbed some thinned rust an a couple of areas and ran over the panel lines with a sharp pencil. Put some white chip marks here and there.

But no...I didnt do any invasive surgery and dont have a set of SS decals thus the light repaint. I lost my Dremel tool on the boat.....Ill dig it out tomorrow and properly grind up the factory edge dings and cut out the horrible windows. I have a Black Series Luke and display stand on its way. By then, I should have some more progress on this little girl and will take some shots in natural light as this is totally washed out.

The pictures of the actual model make it out to be really washed out color wise IE, not a lot of depth. Kind of boring in my book. Supposed to have crappy weather all weekend so Ill play with while it rains.

 

[sbaxter]

soooo.... anyone tried taking the bottom off this thing?
I wanted to install lighting into the cockpit and removed all the screws from underneath but its fastened really well somehow to the engine section at the back and i can't see how to get it off easily without breaking something. I imagine its a couple of tabs that clip in somewhere but can't figure where they are.

It could be that the parts are "ultrasonically welded" together. See Ultrasonic welding on Wikipedia. Lots of the toys I've fiddled with since at least the Phantom Menace days have had pegs welded into sockets inside the housing. These can be a real pain; you have to figure out exactly where these bonded pegs are located and then gain some sort of access to them. Sometimes removing the screws will allow prying the pieces apart enough to reach the bonds with a tool, provided you can locate them. The only way to separate them is to cut them. I've sometimes managed to do that with the slender hobby saws that fit into a #1 or #2 Xacto-type knife, and an on others with wire-cutting pliers. On some occasions, I've literally tried on and off for years to cut these things loose with a saw and then later discovered it didn't work (or it took forever to work) because there was a metal pin at the core of the bonded parts. One I really struggled with over a period of years was Obi-Wan's Delta 7 starfighter; that thing was a royal pain!

I wish there were more specialized tools for this sort of thing -- imagine the possibilities of a scaled-down, variable-speed reciprocating saw for work like this. Working on the afore-mentioned Delta 7, I could get the saw blade to the necessary pins eventually, but my ability to reach them and still apply the blade in a sawing motion was very difficult.

I see lots of people online that take toys like these and repaint them, but usually that is all they do to them. I always wonder why they don't at least fill the obvious seams, if nothing else .

I've collected lots of toys over the years since the TPM days, specifically when I think a decent-looking model might be produced from them. I just haven't been able to do any real work on them for the last 14 years or so due to lack of space. However, I am on the verge of building a 16x24 workshop for woodworking, and I will most definitely be reserving a corner for model-building. I want to work on my stuff while I am still able to do so, darn it!

I am finding this snowspeeder really difficult to resist. Actually, the truth is that I am attempting to find the right moment to pull the trigger on it; I am not really interested in resisting it!

SSB

 

[Jamesfett]

I took it apart. Lots of screws. The front few are showing but most those little hatches all around the bottom are covers for screws. Then you have to gently pry it apart from the front to get the entire one piece back engine part to pop off. It is a bit of a challenge but goes back together easy.

I also cut out those God Awful!!! windows. Since this is crappy plastic, so far is not filing or sanding easy. I dremeled the windows and then tried to clean them up with a box cutter. Next I will clean them more with a fresh xacto blade, remove the ugly weathering, add some paint detail and should be good to go.

Pics coming.

 

[David3]

Thanks for your insights, sbaxter . Usually don't have a problem figuring out how things come apart but this is a first with a hasbro toy, so a little stumped on the best way round it without cutting into it.
Jamesfett I thought the engine section should just pop off. Mine's on there pretty tight so will give it another go with a bit more confidence. I assume this is vinyl plastic so very flexible and not easily repaired if i do any damage so will take it easy. cheers.

 

[Laspector]

Thanks! I've been waiting for some useful info on taking this thing apart. Probably going to wait for even more.

 

[Jamesfett]

Thanks for your insights, sbaxter . Usually don't have a problem figuring out how things come apart but this is a first with a hasbro toy, so a little stumped on the best way round it without cutting into it.
Jamesfett I thought the engine section should just pop off. Mine's on there pretty tight so will give it another go with a bit more confidence. I assume this is vinyl plastic so very flexible and not easily repaired if i do any damage so will take it easy. cheers.

Go slow and gentle. I was actually gently prying it up to see what was still holding it together and it popped off. I thought I broke something.

I will pics posted today.

 

[Jamesfett]

Here ya go. Try to pull off/pry the engine section as you pry the entire speeder from the front. I included a pic of a piece, two actually, that popped off when it came apart. Took me a while to figure out where it went and how it went in there.

Obviously more work is needed on the windows.

 

[Jamesfett]

 

[Jamesfett]

 

[Jamesfett]

 

[David3]

Your canopy's looking good.

 

[Jamesfett]

Since I had it apart I wanted to work on the rear canopy piece as that is harder when it's together. Filing, and using a brand new exacto knife. Still not great but a little better.

 

[Laspector]

What did you actually use to pop off all those little screw covers on the bottom? I find even my smallest screwdriver is too big and I've already broken two exacto blades trying to pry one off.

 

[Jamesfett]

What did you actually use to pop off all those little screw covers on the bottom? I find even my smallest screwdriver is too big and I've already broken two exacto blades trying to pry one off.

Tiny flat head screwdriver, and yes some got damaged doing it. Taking this thing apart is a real pain so only do it if you must.

 

[Jamesfett]

Okay this is temporary using an old piece of scratched acrylic and a wood base. It's too small and eventually will be on a larger mirror /wood base but you get the idea.

Also I tried acetone for the horrible smears and it did not work. Looking at the AMAZING totally new mold Snowspeeder Hasbro did a few years back and the Master Replicas, various Studio Scale versions, etc. I think an entire repaint is in order.

Although Hasbro really dropped the ball on some features I still love this thing and am thrilled I have it. A steal at the price in my humble opinion.

 

[Jamesfett]

I hate the canopy. I don't think I will ever get it looking like it should.

**************MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITY****************

If someone wanted to 3d print the canopy I am sure many would buy it. I know I would.

I really don't get how the same company can make the all new version of the 3.75" Snowspeeder, The huge Falcon, the Sail barge, say they want to target this line to adult collectors and drop the ball so badly on the plastic quality, the canopy windows, and God awful smear job.

Still love it though.

The Canopy should look like this:

 

[computergeek]

I'm sure someone else will beat me to it, but I've been planning on modeling and printing a new cockpit since they announced this thing. Still waiting on my order to be fulfilled from bigbadtoystore though

 

[Laspector]

I'm assuming you are talking about the cockpit canopy, yes? You will need to print not only the front part of the cockpit, we will also need that back part, too. It's also got crappy windows.

 

[Padawan311]

Here ya go. Try to pull off/pry the engine section as you pry the entire speeder from the front. I included a pic of a piece, two actually, that popped off when it came apart. Took me a while to figure out where it went and how it went in there.

Obviously more work is needed on the windows.

View attachment 1333316

What kind of mount did you use here for the stand? Where did you get it? Thanks! Great work!