FINISHED!: Venator-class star destroyer - Revell 1/2256 w heavy mods - build log. (pic heavy)
- Thread starter Hoplitespear
- Start date
Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Your engines are incredible !
It’s a pity ( in many ways - as with most intricately detailed mods ) that once painted those obvious additions will be somewhat lost - though certainly not forgotten !
Fantastic.
Thank you! Yeah the detail will be lost, but it will have to blend in like that a bit, some of my work is crude. Also its just to make the flat pieces more interesting.
Thank you man! I hope it will be awesome!.
Thx! I'm trying. It is not that easy and I hardly have kitbash parts so trying to create most of it from styrene, which is totally new for me.
Ok so hey guys,
time for
click on the spoiler tag to see the pictures and progress
Part XI: Lower trench and bridge...s.
I continued my work by detailing the huge lower 'trench' area on the model. This is a really dull part originally. Also a LED was in the way... I wonder who put that there....
First of, making room for the LED:
Many hours and detailing later this is the result so far. I really wanted the detail to transition over to the back part. Came out pretty well in my opinion.
I also assembled the 'tail' which holds the 4 smaller engines. No detailing on that yet but I had some fitting issues and filling to do.
Following this was detail on the lower hull that encapsulates the engine. 95% won't be seen but it will break flat surface of the 5% visible.
In the first pic you can see that I placed some stuff on the support for the engine, second is the 95% invisible detail on the bottom.
Having had enough of engines and 'the back end' for a bit, focus was switched to the bridges and the lighting of them.
One thing my Venator won't have that most have is the triangular windows. I couldn't for the life find an easy or convenient way to get the famous radiator grill etch, and making them by hand resulted in irregular and ugly windows.
It is then that I decided to switch to measured 1mm holes. The result is neater and cleaner. Still no triangles but nevertheless happy with the result.
'Why didn't you keep the molded plastic then and drill holes in that?' you might ask. Well, the bottom is to thick and covers the back of the molded windows, so light can't get trough it. The bottom was cut off, replaced by thin styrene, the windows replaced by U-track drilled with 1mm holes for windows. The inside was lined with alu-tape for light bleed which was a huge problem in these parts.
few of my attempts at hand cutting triangles:
much nicer with drilled holes imo:
The new styrene bottom with LED installed and cutouts for the cables:
Glued them shut (yes I know paint, but it won't be a problem here, the holes are to small and even if some comes inside the LED is a good 1.5cm to the back.
Quick light test and my details so far, nothing that special, I'll have to learn to go even smaller with the styrene parts, but for now its fine.
I continued my work by detailing the huge lower 'trench' area on the model. This is a really dull part originally. Also a LED was in the way... I wonder who put that there....
First of, making room for the LED:
Many hours and detailing later this is the result so far. I really wanted the detail to transition over to the back part. Came out pretty well in my opinion.
I also assembled the 'tail' which holds the 4 smaller engines. No detailing on that yet but I had some fitting issues and filling to do.
Following this was detail on the lower hull that encapsulates the engine. 95% won't be seen but it will break flat surface of the 5% visible.
In the first pic you can see that I placed some stuff on the support for the engine, second is the 95% invisible detail on the bottom.
Having had enough of engines and 'the back end' for a bit, focus was switched to the bridges and the lighting of them.
One thing my Venator won't have that most have is the triangular windows. I couldn't for the life find an easy or convenient way to get the famous radiator grill etch, and making them by hand resulted in irregular and ugly windows.
It is then that I decided to switch to measured 1mm holes. The result is neater and cleaner. Still no triangles but nevertheless happy with the result.
'Why didn't you keep the molded plastic then and drill holes in that?' you might ask. Well, the bottom is to thick and covers the back of the molded windows, so light can't get trough it. The bottom was cut off, replaced by thin styrene, the windows replaced by U-track drilled with 1mm holes for windows. The inside was lined with alu-tape for light bleed which was a huge problem in these parts.
few of my attempts at hand cutting triangles:
much nicer with drilled holes imo:
The new styrene bottom with LED installed and cutouts for the cables:
Glued them shut (yes I know paint, but it won't be a problem here, the holes are to small and even if some comes inside the LED is a good 1.5cm to the back.
Quick light test and my details so far, nothing that special, I'll have to learn to go even smaller with the styrene parts, but for now its fine.
Hope you liked this update!
stay tuned for more.
-Hopli
edit: not going to spoiler tag the previous part because its on a different page.
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Hoplitespear
Sr Member
After a bit of a 'break' due to personal reasons, i started altering my round windows to the PE set you send me.
Again a big thanks for this!!! I'll be posting pictures soon.
Thank you!
So soon updates again!
-Hopli
Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Hey everyone,
It took a bit longer for this update, but I wanted to show more than just a few additions. Also my apologies for the long break. the personal problems are getting fixed and I'm feeling better again to continue my Venator.
So taking of from last time:
Hope you liked the update!
-Hopli
It took a bit longer for this update, but I wanted to show more than just a few additions. Also my apologies for the long break. the personal problems are getting fixed and I'm feeling better again to continue my Venator.
So taking of from last time:
Part XII: Window replacements from down under and more LED's!
Few weeks ago the famous 'radiator grill PE sheet' that Madhatter has send me arrived in the mail.
First of, another great thanks to Madhatter for sending me these parts!!!!
Having them in my hands I got to work removing my 'makeshift' circular bridge windows. And cut two rows from the PE sheet (very difficult to cut, took me a while to find a way to get a row removed from the sheet).
I don't have pictures from the removal process, but I do have a nice closeup after installation!
Wanting to finish the electronic part of the bridge tower, I started cutting out the other windows on both sides:
the large ones needed styrene strips to support the PE windows.
I found myself looking at the bridge tower assembly for a long time. I wasn't sure at all how to tackle lighting these windows.
First option was to create boxes like with my hanger to place a LED in. But the inner walls of this tower has the most weird shape, cutting out boxes for this would of been a hell.
After being stuck on this for a while, and holding a LED behind the windows in the dark and moving it etc a solution presented itself.
In short, I hung up 4 3mm blue LED's like chandeliers in a position where from the outside you couldn't see the LED trough the windows but they still had a nice coverage.
To help with the spreading, a center styrene board was added lined with alu-tape. Then two more on the sides for the big windows. This was followed by strips of tape and cover plates and more strips to stop light bleed and so on....
I then cut out the top of the Hull where the tower goes, to make room for the cover plates and feed the cables. (in hindsight two holes for the cables would have sufficed)
This was the finished result, the tower with an alu-tape cover at the bottom and two bundle of cables.
I glued the tower on the hull, yeah I know.... I haven't seen a single Venator builder do that so soon, but I wanted to fix the light bleed now.
And my other reason is because detailing the tower would follow and I wanted to flow from the tower to the hull to unify the two parts.
These two being stuck together wouldn't be any problem, if a LED dies I'm screwed anyway. (lets hope they don't).
This resulted in my first full light test of the bridge tower assembly.
One in bigger resolution (I like this pic):
I am extremely pleased with the result.
As a bonus! detailing of the bridge necks and tower has begun. Especially the back sides, for some reason no detail is present at all.
That is it for now!!
The plan is to finish the complete bridge tower and then move on to either the hull or trenches.
Few weeks ago the famous 'radiator grill PE sheet' that Madhatter has send me arrived in the mail.
First of, another great thanks to Madhatter for sending me these parts!!!!
Having them in my hands I got to work removing my 'makeshift' circular bridge windows. And cut two rows from the PE sheet (very difficult to cut, took me a while to find a way to get a row removed from the sheet).
I don't have pictures from the removal process, but I do have a nice closeup after installation!
Wanting to finish the electronic part of the bridge tower, I started cutting out the other windows on both sides:
the large ones needed styrene strips to support the PE windows.
I found myself looking at the bridge tower assembly for a long time. I wasn't sure at all how to tackle lighting these windows.
First option was to create boxes like with my hanger to place a LED in. But the inner walls of this tower has the most weird shape, cutting out boxes for this would of been a hell.
After being stuck on this for a while, and holding a LED behind the windows in the dark and moving it etc a solution presented itself.
In short, I hung up 4 3mm blue LED's like chandeliers in a position where from the outside you couldn't see the LED trough the windows but they still had a nice coverage.
To help with the spreading, a center styrene board was added lined with alu-tape. Then two more on the sides for the big windows. This was followed by strips of tape and cover plates and more strips to stop light bleed and so on....
I then cut out the top of the Hull where the tower goes, to make room for the cover plates and feed the cables. (in hindsight two holes for the cables would have sufficed)
This was the finished result, the tower with an alu-tape cover at the bottom and two bundle of cables.
I glued the tower on the hull, yeah I know.... I haven't seen a single Venator builder do that so soon, but I wanted to fix the light bleed now.
And my other reason is because detailing the tower would follow and I wanted to flow from the tower to the hull to unify the two parts.
These two being stuck together wouldn't be any problem, if a LED dies I'm screwed anyway. (lets hope they don't).
This resulted in my first full light test of the bridge tower assembly.
One in bigger resolution (I like this pic):
I am extremely pleased with the result.
As a bonus! detailing of the bridge necks and tower has begun. Especially the back sides, for some reason no detail is present at all.
That is it for now!!
The plan is to finish the complete bridge tower and then move on to either the hull or trenches.
Hope you liked the update!
-Hopli
Attachments
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Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Thank you Analyzer!
Hey everyone,
first of all my apologies for the long wait! This project is still going!!!
I have been busy with allot of personal stuff atm. But the last few days I got some progress in, mainly putting chips and details on the command tower and back of the Venator. I also primed the engines black and glued in the LED modules I made.
The plan is to prime the engine bay..?? gray so I can permanently install the engines.
The pictures won't be that impressive its just some detailing but nevertheless they should show some progress.
So here we go.
Part XIII: Detailing the back end...
No comments, just pictures...
I also went and glued + painted the engines:
Some test fitting to see what surfaces need detail and which ones don't.
I also went and glued + painted the engines:
Some test fitting to see what surfaces need detail and which ones don't.
That is it for now. I know its not much but there should be much more to come and on a much faster pace aswell.
Cya!
-Hopli
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gedmac66
Sr Member
Terrific build update, with all the additional work you’ve painstakingly included !
It’s looking sweet !
I have to ask, these ‘modifications’ - are they ‘screen’ seen or is it just your personal interpretation of ‘ what if ‘ ( because of the kit lacking detail in areas ) ?
Either way, it’s very impressive and inspiring.
Can’t wait to see what happens next. Thanks for sharing Hopli .
Ged
It’s looking sweet !
I have to ask, these ‘modifications’ - are they ‘screen’ seen or is it just your personal interpretation of ‘ what if ‘ ( because of the kit lacking detail in areas ) ?
Either way, it’s very impressive and inspiring.
Can’t wait to see what happens next. Thanks for sharing Hopli .
Ged
Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Thanks! Its not screen accurate, its an interpretation mainly aimed at making all the flat area's more interesting. The engines and Command tower are very very dull, some area's didn't even have any detailing, not a single panel line!
So my main goal is to add lights, and make the dull surfaces more interesting. The Venators are 3D models either in ep III and in 'the Clone Wars' so there isn't really a 'hero' to replicate. I could go and look at stills from the intro of EP III, but its not my goal to make this exact.
Example of empty surfaces are these at the back (look at the 4 vertical surfaces left and right, no detail at all):
BEFORE
AFTER:
-Hopli
Madhatter
Sr Member
Mate, that is looking awesome! Love the job you did on the bridges.
If I make only 1 suggestion, its this: try using thinner stretched sprue on the piping. It'll be better to help keep the sense of scale, otherwise it can make it look smaller rather than bigger.
Other than that, I have nothing else to offer as what you're doing is amazing. Everything ties in together nicely
I'm looking forward to the next update and I hope you continue to feel better .
See you next time
Si
If I make only 1 suggestion, its this: try using thinner stretched sprue on the piping. It'll be better to help keep the sense of scale, otherwise it can make it look smaller rather than bigger.
Other than that, I have nothing else to offer as what you're doing is amazing. Everything ties in together nicely
I'm looking forward to the next update and I hope you continue to feel better .
See you next time
Si
Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Thanks! This was the smallest styrene tubing I could find in our hobby shop. I have some wire but its a pain to straighten. I didn't think of stretched sprue tho. I'm going to give that a go.
I wasn't planning on putting the styrene tubing anywhere on the hull mind you. My thought progress was... big engines -> big pipes. I'm going to try out stretched sprue for the hull!
Thank you again for all your help m8!
-Hopli
EDIT:
Ok, after looking this up and trying for a few minutes i got this:
I guess that is what you where referring to Madhatter? Thanks for pointing this out, its straight, easy to glue (better than metal wire) and its waaay thinner!
I'm gonna leave the big ones on the back since they are near the engines but I'm going to use this for the hull details!!!!!!
This project is going to learn me allot. The further I get the better the detail becomes. Guess I'll have to tackle a second one after this one.
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Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Ok,
Quick reply to myself here. In the interest of learning from the masters I tore down all the styrene piping at the back end and replaced it with stretched sprew (my newly discovered method/skill).
Thank you again MH for teaching me some of this!
Here are the results:
The difference is quite an impact:
-Hopli
Quick reply to myself here. In the interest of learning from the masters I tore down all the styrene piping at the back end and replaced it with stretched sprew (my newly discovered method/skill).
Thank you again MH for teaching me some of this!
Here are the results:
The difference is quite an impact:
-Hopli
stevielewis
Sr Member
Excellent re-work using the stretched sprew. Definitely looks more in scale now.
Hoplitespear
Sr Member
Hey guys,
I didn't quit this project!!!! I have been in a bad spot career wise, and its getting fixed. It is not yet what it should be but I'm on the right track.
This aside, I finally found time and joy in continuing the Venator project.
Part XIV: Turbo laser wells.
So the work I have been doing is finishing up the detail on the bridge towers and detailing the turbo laser wells. You can also see the start of holes I'm drilling for optics in the vertical walls behind the wells.
Quick note on the lvl of detail I'm aiming at. I'm not going for super super detail (read: lots and lots of styrene chips) like others, just breaking up the flat surfaces. For a first project this is enough for me.
I didn't like how the barrels of the turob lasers looked. They where a bit too thick. So I cut them off, drilled a hole. Then I inserted a styrene rod, to get the effect of a thicker nozzle I very briefly held a flame near the tip to get a 'mushroom' like tip to the barrels.
Original on the right.
Don't worry I cut all these to the same lenght.
I also did this to the two turbo lasers in the trench but i can't seem to find the picture I took of that.
That is it for now.
I also have a question for you guys concerning the LED color for the various parts.
As it stands now I have:
Engines: White
Bridge: Blue (can NOT be changed anymore)
Lower hangar: White
Side hangar: Blue
Trench lights (except for the red and white ones near the side hanger doors) : Blue.
I'm having issues with the lower and side hangar being a different color... what are your thoughts? The side one always has the blue force field in the movie/clone wars. And bottom hangars seem to be white most of the time.
Best regards
-Hopli
PS: sorry for lack of updates.
I didn't quit this project!!!! I have been in a bad spot career wise, and its getting fixed. It is not yet what it should be but I'm on the right track.
This aside, I finally found time and joy in continuing the Venator project.
Part XIV: Turbo laser wells.
So the work I have been doing is finishing up the detail on the bridge towers and detailing the turbo laser wells. You can also see the start of holes I'm drilling for optics in the vertical walls behind the wells.
Quick note on the lvl of detail I'm aiming at. I'm not going for super super detail (read: lots and lots of styrene chips) like others, just breaking up the flat surfaces. For a first project this is enough for me.
I didn't like how the barrels of the turob lasers looked. They where a bit too thick. So I cut them off, drilled a hole. Then I inserted a styrene rod, to get the effect of a thicker nozzle I very briefly held a flame near the tip to get a 'mushroom' like tip to the barrels.
Original on the right.
Don't worry I cut all these to the same lenght.
I also did this to the two turbo lasers in the trench but i can't seem to find the picture I took of that.
That is it for now.
I also have a question for you guys concerning the LED color for the various parts.
As it stands now I have:
Engines: White
Bridge: Blue (can NOT be changed anymore)
Lower hangar: White
Side hangar: Blue
Trench lights (except for the red and white ones near the side hanger doors) : Blue.
I'm having issues with the lower and side hangar being a different color... what are your thoughts? The side one always has the blue force field in the movie/clone wars. And bottom hangars seem to be white most of the time.
Best regards
-Hopli
PS: sorry for lack of updates.
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Madhatter
Sr Member
Great to see you back at this, despite your current work issues. Glad to hear they're slowly sorting themselves out.
In regards to the lights, I think you're right using the colours as you listed them. If I were to redo this ship, I'd be using ice blue and warm white coloured LEDs for the sidewalls and bridge and keep the rest as you've stated before. My personal rule is "Never use cool white LEDs for internal lighting". Warm white inside, cool white outside.
In regards to the lights, I think you're right using the colours as you listed them. If I were to redo this ship, I'd be using ice blue and warm white coloured LEDs for the sidewalls and bridge and keep the rest as you've stated before. My personal rule is "Never use cool white LEDs for internal lighting". Warm white inside, cool white outside.
Dingbat
New Member
I like the added detail and the mods you've done. That's alot of work and it's really paying off! I have one of these kits in the stash too and hope to get to it one of these days.
Do you know who makes the photo etch you used for the windows? I've seen it used before, but never saw the brand. 1/12 or 1/24 motorcycle grill?
Do you know who makes the photo etch you used for the windows? I've seen it used before, but never saw the brand. 1/12 or 1/24 motorcycle grill?
gt350pony66
Master Member
it certainly looks as though you and Invar hatched from the same egg
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