Studio Scale B-Wing Starfighter Build Thread

[greenmachines]

and if it is really small, there is this premade decking like on this titanic model

But it would have to be small enough to be between , and not include, the vertical cuts

 

[thibkaji]

What is it's dimensions?

It’s fairly small, like 3/8” wide x 7/16” high. The slats themselves are around 1/16” wide, which matches the Plastruct panel slats, so it could be cut from that.

I’m willing to bet I could also scribe the lines on a flat sheet and it’d be close enough…

 

[greenmachines]

It’s fairly small, like 3/8” wide x 7/16” high. The slats themselves are around 1/16” wide, which matches the Plastruct panel slats, so it could be cut from that.

I’m willing to bet I could also scribe the lines on a flat sheet and it’d be close enough…

I would agree. If you scribe them on a larger sheet you will have the material enough for several test cuts to get the final size. It looks to be double sided.

 

[thibkaji]

I gave scribing a go and it’s pretty close, so I’m going with it. If someone finds out different info I’ll adjust, but using this for now.

Thanks for chiming in greenmachines, appreciate the different options that could fulfill this.

 

[thibkaji]

Hinge assembly section part 2!

If you all saw the last few posts, I’ve been working on the hinge assembly section used to connect the wings to the main body. So let’s continue with that!

After the hinges were officially screwed on, I next chose to clad the fronts and tops with some thin styrene, .010” thick. The filming model has this styrene on the topside of the hinges, so I’m good there — also hides the horrible scrapes and sand marks on the aluminum!

I also thickened up beneath the hinges to give them more body — again, matching the filming model.

Next I added a protruding box to the backside section. This area sticks out to hold two Mörser Karl parts and one part from the F-14. I’m saving that last one for later, after the main wing is mounted.

With that done, I pushed on to the side vents that sit in between the hinges. These two vents are made up of the cutoff sides from the Ferrari 312T (I think that’s part of the engine block). Just snip em off and glue em on, along with a styrene strip (used .04” thick).

The more things I add, the better it gets!

Here’s that last MK part on the backside:

Now that I have most of this assembly done, I started working on the front section a bit more. There’s a section there that slants downward and is in line with the box in the backside. I just made it from styrene and ensured it was where it needed to be.

As you can see above, I connected one of the wing assemblies I started on a while back to see how things fit. Fit pretty nicely, and the wing is able to move up and down.

All of the above is fine and good and needed, but a lot is pretty hidden. The front mounting is really where it’s at! Let’s get to it!

This is what it should look like:

You can see above that the 312T parts have an extra ring extending out from the back, so I started with that. Cut the extensions out of an acrylic rod I had from the cockpit assembly — it was 1/2”!! — and drilled a 1/4” hole through the middle for the hinge pin.

Test fit them to the front of the hinge pins

Now the middle section, which is made of styrene, an MK part, and a 312T brake part, with the sides cut down.

Kit parts, Assemble!

As the last few posts showed, I ended up scratching the front slatted section by scribing the lines and using a file to widen/smooth over the edges. Same image again:

Fits perfectly!

If you look at the reference, you’ll notice that the top side of this front section is filled in, completely in-line with the top edge on each side. The bottom is not in-line with the edge but instead straight in. Added these sections, too. I also chose to wrap the acrylic sections with a piece of .005” stock, as I ended up having to extend those parts and wanted to hide the seams.

Reference to show the bottom where it’s not lined up with the bottom edge but cuts in instead.

And here it is fitted onto the front of the hinge section. Everything seems to line up, for the most part. I think it looks great!

Whew! Such a small section, but a ton of work! I need to work on running some wiring down there to install the lights (got some 3mm grain of wheat bulbs in the other day!), and then reassemble this back with the rest of the armature assembly.

Next I’ll be moving back up to above the engine housing to straighten out where the F-14 missiles get mounted. Then I can re-vac the modified bucks for above that and get most of the upper half of the ship squared away. Only 30 days til Wonderfest, so I need to get going!

TIL next time!

 

[greenmachines]

Hinge assembly section part 2!

If you all saw the last few posts, I’ve been working on the hinge assembly section used to connect the wings to the main body. So let’s continue with that!

After the hinges were officially screwed on, I next chose to clad the fronts and tops with some thin styrene, .010” thick. The filming model has this styrene on the topside of the hinges, so I’m good there — also hides the horrible scrapes and sand marks on the aluminum!
View attachment 1929312

I also thickened up beneath the hinges to give them more body — again, matching the filming model.

Next I added a protruding box to the backside section. This area sticks out to hold two Mörser Karl parts and one part from the F-14. I’m saving that last one for later, after the main wing is mounted.
View attachment 1929313View attachment 1929314View attachment 1929315

With that done, I pushed on to the side vents that sit in between the hinges. These two vents are made up of the cutoff sides from the Ferrari 312T (I think that’s part of the engine block). Just snip em off and glue em on, along with a styrene strip (used .04” thick).
View attachment 1929316View attachment 1929317

The more things I add, the better it gets!

Here’s that last MK part on the backside:
View attachment 1929318

Now that I have most of this assembly done, I started working on the front section a bit more. There’s a section there that slants downward and is in line with the box in the backside. I just made it from styrene and ensured it was where it needed to be.
View attachment 1929319

As you can see above, I connected one of the wing assemblies I started on a while back to see how things fit. Fit pretty nicely, and the wing is able to move up and down.

View attachment 1929320

All of the above is fine and good and needed, but a lot is pretty hidden. The front mounting is really where it’s at! Let’s get to it!

This is what it should look like:
View attachment 1929336
View attachment 1929337

You can see above that the 312T parts have an extra ring extending out from the back, so I started with that. Cut the extensions out of an acrylic rod I had from the cockpit assembly — it was 1/2”!! — and drilled a 1/4” hole through the middle for the hinge pin.
View attachment 1929321View attachment 1929322

Test fit them to the front of the hinge pins
View attachment 1929323

Now the middle section, which is made of styrene, an MK part, and a 312T brake part, with the sides cut down.
View attachment 1929324

Kit parts, Assemble!
View attachment 1929325

As the last few posts showed, I ended up scratching the front slatted section by scribing the lines and using a file to widen/smooth over the edges. Same image again:
View attachment 1929326

Fits perfectly!
View attachment 1929327

If you look at the reference, you’ll notice that the top side of this front section is filled in, completely in-line with the top edge on each side. The bottom is not in-line with the edge but instead straight in. Added these sections, too. I also chose to wrap the acrylic sections with a piece of .005” stock, as I ended up having to extend those parts and wanted to hide the seams.
View attachment 1929328View attachment 1929329View attachment 1929330View attachment 1929331View attachment 1929332

Reference to show the bottom where it’s not lined up with the bottom edge but cuts in instead.
View attachment 1929342

And here it is fitted onto the front of the hinge section. Everything seems to line up, for the most part. I think it looks great!
View attachment 1929333View attachment 1929334View attachment 1929335

Whew! Such a small section, but a ton of work! I need to work on running some wiring down there to install the lights (got some 3mm grain of wheat bulbs in the other day!), and then reassemble this back with the rest of the armature assembly.

Next I’ll be moving back up to above the engine housing to straighten out where the F-14 missiles get mounted. Then I can re-vac the modified bucks for above that and get most of the upper half of the ship squared away. Only 30 days til Wonderfest, so I need to get going!

TIL next time!

wonderful detail at such a scale as this, loving the progress pics

 

[joberg]

Scratch-building at its best

 

[thibkaji]

Moving along on this build. I mentioned before I wasn’t happy with the neck vac pulls so I redid them — well, doing that meant that the “collars” or whatever they are below the neck and above the missile pods were now too wide. So, I redid those, too!

Left is the old one and right is the new. Newer one is a bit narrower and fits the neck and mounting block better.

And a comparison of the collar notched out and on the mounting block. You can see in the first image the gap between the collar and block, but much smaller in the second. This smaller size works great and I’m running with it.

Armored up!

I also connected the engines permanently to the engine plate and wired them together. Still a bit more wiring needed before I close up the engine housing for good, and I hope to do that this week sometime.

I also extended the front of the top armature block to the proper size.

And I added some magnets so I can close up the top/bottom access panels to the mounting block.

I’ve decided to just work my way up from here and get everything set for when I do close up the engine housing. So next is the missile pods.

These pod are made from the large missiles from the F-14 Tomcat. I’ll be showing off my work on the starboard side, but port side is nearly the same.

From all the references, it looks like there’s an underlying structure supporting this, and the missile has a huge section cut out the middle.

My first go at the missile mount section:

Test fit:

Figuring out where to cut some more to mount the missile in the right orientation:

Found that the front bottom of the missile is either sanded flat or the housing has a hole cut in it to allow for the missile to sink below the housing surface. I found some references pointing to the latter, so I cut a hole for that edge to sink into.

More test fitting…

The references show that there is some mounting from underneath that supports the missile, and so I modified the existing mounting to extend it down into the body.

And the missile back in again. I also added that small cover plate to help hide the gap, just like the filming model did.

Once again I couldn’t ID any specific kit part or Plastruct sheet for the horizontal slats, so I made my own with a knife and scribe:

And in place:

And that’s where I’ve left off. Next up is doing the port side, added armor plating, wiring up some lights and connectors so I can close up the engine housing and continue up the neck.

 

[joberg]

Love it to bits; keep up the great work

 

[Boxcar Bret]

Damn you! How did I miss this?! Sure I've seen your posts on the Facebook groups but I missed this thread all together. Build documentation like this is what gets me in trouble. Now I want to make one!

Beautiful work as always!

 

[thibkaji]

Damn you! How did I miss this?! Sure I've seen your posts on the Facebook groups but I missed this thread all together. Build documentation like this is what gets me in trouble. Now I want to make one!

Beautiful work as always!

It’s definitely a challenging build, though a lot of fun! You should totally build one, after you wrap up that Escape Pod!

 

[thibkaji]

Progress update — feels like a lot has happened over the last week. Took care of a few odds and ends, sealed up the housing, did some wiring, some plating, and some neck work. Lets dive in at where I am now.

Firstly, I cut off a section at the bottom of the lower mounting block, as this section sits on top of the lower collar. This cut will allow that.

Did some wiring — connected lights to the front of the hinge section and connected up the engines and lights to some female DC barrel connectors. I know ILM used Molex connectors, but I didn’t want to use those, so…

Also added some details to bottom of the collar:

No pics of sealing up the housing, but you all have seen plenty of shots of it taped together and it’s the same without the tape! LOL

Before I can add the missile sections for reals, I have to add some details that go in-between them. There are some pipes that are mounted in front and back that I haven’t been able to ID, so I’m using some styrene tubing that I’m heating and bending. It’s close enough for me!

And that will go here above this small curved part. Added some mounting pegs to better secure it.:

I cleaned up and installed all the front grills, too. The center section is removable for internal access if needed.

On the back above the engines there is a small split that is connected with a strip of styrene on the original filming model — and on mine, as well.

And that angled connector shape in the back:

First missile pod is going in — armor paneled and all — plus the pipes that mount over the missile in the rear. Again, just bent styrene tubing.

And the other side:

Adding some wire details on the missile pods:

With that done, it’s on to finalizing the upper neck section. Fitting the top edge to the cockpit assembly, running wiring up to the cockpit, and then surface details. Here’s some general images of about where I am in that process:

It’s just over two weeks to Wonderfest — def not finishing this, so I’m gonna slow it down a bit and just make sure I do it right. Started work on some other needed parts, too:

Hoping to have wiring for the cockpit and the neck done by this weekend, and then it’s getting the bucks ready for the main wing and gun housing. If I’m lucky I’ll have a crude main wing done for WonderFest, but if that’s looking unlikely I’ll switch to the S-foil wings, instead.

Til next time!

 

[joberg]

Wow...it's amazing to discover so many little details near those missiles (pipes, boxes and paneling)

 

[thibkaji]

Wow...it's amazing to discover so many little details near those missiles (pipes, boxes and paneling)

There are so many small details you don’t see until you have to build one. Ads to the realism of the ship at this scale!

 

[thibkaji]

OK, back at it with a lot of work done on the neck, some wing work, and detailing. Was trying to nail a lot more than this before Wonderfest, but where this post ends is where I managed to get to. Let’s get to it!

Added inside details to the cockpit from the Airfix Ark Royal and Tamiya Enterprise kits. Other pages list those gray parts as coming from the Revell 1/542 Midway, but those are WAY too big! Def from one of the 1/700 Tamiya waterline kits.

There’s a rounded cylinder that’s also supposed to go in there but I haven’t ID’d that part yet, if anyone has any ideas…

And now more neck work. Got those boxes that mount to the sides and attach to the Saturn V section. Won’t lie, these took several tries to build and I still don’t have them 100% right, but really close. The tape here is holding the two halves together after gluing.

Also added a small detail panel right under the Sat V part:

Here are some more shots with other detail panels and wiring/tubing added, not to mention those upper shield guards that go around the treaded area.

Also added the wiring detail in the upper neck collar:

I ended up modifying the buck (again) for the collar section as it should have been a bit narrower toward the back end. Pulled a set to use for the lower collar and started to work on the small missing panel exposing the details beneath.

Sketched out where it should go on the form, and assembled the parts needed and roughly arranged them.

I was going to create a sub-assembly and then install it into the colllar, but realized that this section looks like it was built right into the opening, so I did that instead. The following shows the build-up of parts.

And the finished product:

And this is what it should look like:

Looks really close to me!

I’d done a little work on the wing fronts a while back, using Airfix Shuttle booster rockets for the front curved panels of the wings. They fit really well!

Exposed detail section 1:

Section 2:

And with those done I felt good about sealing up the two halves. I had already scribed in new details into the top half of the wing to match the reference:

And the scribing on the bottom:

Adding details to the top. I made castings of some the more expensive parts so I didn’t have to get multiple 312T kits!

Bottom details:

And installed. The hinge pin is removable for adjustments, and I still have to make the rear pin cap.

I also added some wiring details. It needs more further down the wing, but can’t do that until I get the wing gun shrouds installed and cover plates added.

To install the bottom collar I had to modify the bottom ABS block, as the sunken pit section was hitting up against it. This cuttings enough to allow clearance:

And that’s where I am. I mounted this to a piece of plywood for display/working purposes and that’s how it’s going to WonderFest. Enjoy the following shots of where this ship is right now:

That’s all for now. If you’re at WonderFest, be sure to come by and say “Hi!” If not, I’ll update next in a few weeks after I get back from WF and a work trip to Chicago again. TIL next time!

 

[swgeek]

Looking forward to seeing your B-Wing, and meeting you this weekend.

 

[stevielewis]

Looking fantastic! Have a great time at WF.

 

[joberg]

The details are just terrific

 

[thibkaji]

Looking forward to seeing your B-Wing, and meeting you this weekend.

As am I with your TIE Advanced and meeting you! Safe travels!

 

[thibkaji]

Looking fantastic! Have a great time at WF.

Thanks, looking forward to it!