Y-Wing (Gold Leader) Build - Nice-N Model Designs

[Corellianexports]

After some slight modifications, here's the "mystery" part attached just above the switch:



After double checking the reference photos, I realized that the part was too tall and a little too wide, so I milled and sanded it down.
Since I've got the model upside down, I'll start tackling the remaining pipes next.

 

[Corellianexports]

I went through an entire package of Plastruct .1" styrene rods, so I picked up another package today. They were actually out of Plastruct, so I picked up some Evergreen rods, instead. These seem to bend a bit differently. Less heat is required.
By the way, using a simple lighter with these is better than using a candle. Here's a shot of the bottom:




This is the left side, upside down:



And the right side. I thought it was interesting how the ends of the pipes get hidden by the detail parts:



I'm going to double check the reference photos, but I believe the bottom of the model is done. I'm going to let the parts set up overnight and attack the top, neck area tomorrow.

 

[joberg]

Looking real F.A.B.

 

[Corellianexports]

I double checked the reference photos and low and behold, there's some pipes that I missed on the rear, right side. It's actually not surprising since there aren't a lot of reference photos for this are of the model. The pipes need to go between the two "gas tanks" here:



Two of the smallest sizes are used. I couldn't find the third pipe in my collection of spare parts, so I just used part of a paper clip:



Here's a shot of this area from the other side:



Next up, tackling the top side of the neck area.

 

[Corellianexports]

Well, the top area of the neck where it meets the forward fuselage is turning out to be a bit of challenge because there are some missing and possibly unidentified parts. One thing I did learn over the last week is that the rectangular "screen" in the shot below is from the Sea Lab model kit.
I'm going to start out simple, by adding the most easily recognizable part which is 1/16" diameter piece of pipe:




It simply goes in straight to the back of the forward fuselage.
Next up is the second piece of small pipe, which should be half the size of the first (1/32"). I don't have any plastic that small, so I'm just using part of a paperclip:




This one actually bends down and then straightens into the back of the forward fuselage between some detailing.
Here's where the fun begins. There appears to be an unidentified part on top of the rectangular screen. After scaling up the reference photo, I discovered that the long piece of piping is 1/16" thick, so I've added this to a small model kit part. It was the only one I could find that has a right angle to it:



After some trimming and gluing, here's the final product:



And here it is placed:

 

[Corellianexports]

Moving on with the rest of the pipping, I decided to start from the left side and work my way toward the right.
I've placed two pipes and one, small model part near the corner. It appears to go into the larger pipe, but it actually sits just below it:



Only two 1/4" diameter pipe (about 1 3/4" long) parts are needed for the kit, so I decided to simply use some round stock aluminum I happened to have handy.



After cutting them down and cleaning them up, I discovered that they're extremely light, so there's no need to hollow them out:



It took a good amount of trimming to get these to fit. There were a couple of "boxes" that had to be removed and the back of the forward fuselage had to be flattened a bit. Below is the first one in place (left side). On the opposite side, I've placed the #9 8RAD part that didn't happen to be included with the kit. It also took a good amount of trimming to get this one in place:



Here's a final shot of both 1/4" pipes in place:



Up next, placing the last pipe and researching one last model part that goes next to it.

 

[joberg]

Just incredible work

 

[Corellianexports]

While researching the placement of that last pipe, I discovered that I had a couple of parts missing within the neck area and worse of all, there wasn't enough room for them. Also, one of the parts was missing from the kit, so I spent several days trying to pinpoint the exact part. I got very lucky, but I had also become a little obsessed with finding it because I was hoping to contribute something useful to the group.

Here's both parts. The one on the left is the part that was missing from the kit. The one on the right was included with the kit:



The missing part turned out to be #9 from the 8RAD kit. There is also some other misc. goodies from that kit that are on the Y-Wing:



While fitting the 8RAD part (I had to carve into the panel detail), I discovered a problem with the inner section of the right panel. I double checked the instructions and realized that I did attach it correctly:



The problem is that it needs to be lowered about 1/8" to make room for both of the detail parts. Unfortunately, I had already carved into the inner panel to make room for the #9 part. Luckily, I found an extra "panel" part and used it to pull off the detail so that it could be added to the original:




So here it is, fixed like new:


I checked the reference photos, but it wasn't clear to me if the panel should stick out of the bottom of this part or not. To make fitting this piece easier, I simply removed 1/8" of material from the bottom of the panel and then re-attached it to the right-side piece:



It did take a little modification to get the panel to fit correctly, but once it did, all of the parts came together quickly:



And here it is with the last pipe in place:


Oddly enough, after looking through reference photo after reference photo, I discovered that this actually wasn't the last pipe. There's two more, smaller pipes that need to be added to the bottom of the right side, so that's next.

 

[Corellianexports]

Here's the right side, neck area:



Here it is with the added pipes:



That should be the last of the pipes.
Up next, finishing the last of the small details on the main fuselage and adding the domes to the engines.

 

[Corellianexports]

I took another look at the reference photos and realized that the pipes on the bottom are slightly angled. When I originally made mine, I followed the usual technique, thinking they were right angles. I wasn't happy with them, so I removed them and added the angle, basically changing them from right angles to something closer to 45 degrees. I also removed some material on one end so that they would angle up, toward the forward fuselage. Here's a before photo:



And after:


While attaching the forward fuselage a while back, I ran into a problem with a small detail that basically rests here, near the tail end on the top side. It's located in the space between the two, large round parts:



The problem is that the small, detail part doesn't have anything to rest on, so if any pressure is applied, the small bits on the front of it basically just break off. I came up with the idea of machining a spare piece of resin to create a block that it can sit on.
I used one of the spare panels as a base. It's about the right size:



I used an X-acto knife to create a notch for the "pin" at the bottom of the part to fit into:


Here's the final product:



Here's a side view of the block in place:


..and with the part in place:


Here's a top view of the part in place:

 

[Studio Kitbash]

Elegant solution -- nice!

 

[joberg]

^^
Indeed and it works

 

[Corellianexports]

The "leggs" domes went in quickly. The trick is to make sure that the detail is pointing inward:




Other side:


Full view:


Standing the model on its end, actually helps to keep the domes in place while drying.

Up next are the rear "guard rails". I had some trouble placing the left one due to the thickness of the detailed model kit part, so I removed it and milled/sanded it down a bit:



I thinned it out as much as possible:



Looking at the reference photos it's fairly clear that they used some "pins" of some sort to attach the pipes, so I'm going to use some small brads and a 1/16" drill bit to make holes in the pipes and on the model. I used the same technique on a BSG Viper Pilot helmet and some SW props in the past to help attach, small, resin parts:



It's tricky, but the pipes can be held in place with a standard, drilling clamp:




I used a belt sander to remove the heads off the brads. I suppose pieces of a large paper clip could also be used:




The narrow, model kit part gets put back with super glue and then I mark where the pipes need to go on the rear:



Other side:


With the brads in place on the ends of the guard rails, I double check where the holes need to be on the model. Once I know where to drill, I use a hole punch to create indentations:



I used a standard hand drill to make the holes on the model. The trick is to keep it level and as straight as possible:



The brads get super glued into the ends of the rear guard parts and then get installed:



I wasn't happy with my original guard rails, so I shortened them a bit so that they would align more with the details on the rear panel.

It's not difficult to remove the rear panel with the guards in place (and it probably won't get removed much, since its purpose is just to replace the battery), so I simply super glue them to the rear:



Up next, tacking the "T" rails and the engine thrusters.

 

[joberg]

Good eye regarding the thickness of those rear bars! I have a tendency to use real metal rods for things like these

 

[Corellianexports]

I'm using the standard "T"s from Plastruct. I had to order these direct from the company out of City of Industry in So Cal:



It turns out that the length of the "T"s are the same as the ones on Red Leader, so I'm going to use those directions for length and attachment. The length should be 34.6 centimeters from top edge to top edge.




The directions don't specify and exact measurement for the "notch" near the end where the T attaches to the steering assemblies. It could be because it may depend on how the detailed parts were put together, etc. Originally, I started out with 1/4", but it was too long, so I milled the notches at 3/16":



At this length, I got a good, right angle once attached:


I checked the reference photos but it's very hard to tell where the T ends and the steering assemblies begin, but more than likely they end somewhere just under the detailed part, if at all:



The attachment looks good on all 8 sections, so I milled the remaining T's:



The best advice I can give about cutting these parts down is to use a silver, or other light colored sharpie (or bright tape) with a X-acto knife to help mark where the cuts need to be made. Unfortunately, these parts do have "join" lines on them, so it can get confusing as to exactly where they need to be cut:



Next up, cleaning and fitting the T's on the engines, preparing for paint and assembling the "Death Star" Tile base.

 

[Corellianexports]

The Y-Wing is mostly prepped for painting, but I'm still waiting for the weather to clear up before doing any more painting. In the meantime, I'm working on the Death Star base.

Here's what I have so far:



The pattern is set up the same way as the Icons TIE Death Star base. I've added an additional row of squares to make it a little longer.

I'm measuring the length of the Y-Wing at about 27.5" with the mounting hole at about 15.5", so it should sit on the center square just behind the exhaust port:



I will probably just make a mounting square, similar to the Icons version.

 

[Corellianexports]

A local plastics place was able to cut out some grey acrylic for me within a day:



I'll use this to mount the squares on. It's the same thickness as the board Icon's used for their base.
I spent part of day, fitting the squares:



I have some "Magic-Sculpt" left over from my TIE pilot figure project. It's basically just resin clay, so I'm going to make a center mount square out of it:




I used one of the spare blocks by cutting it lengthwise. I'll save the detailed pieces to mount on the sides of the mounting square.
I used a piece of aluminum to slowly shape the square into a "roof" or pyramid shape.

It's left overnight to harden.
I use a mill to flatten off the top. It should be 2" by 2", so I mark it off with a sharpie:



Then it's back to the mill to cut the angles:

 

[Corellianexports]

Due to thickness of the mounting square, it actually took several days for it to solidify complete. I used some modeling putty to smooth the surfaces:


Now, on to the fun part.
Icons created their own details to add to their original mounting block. I thought this looked strange since the original Death Star modules use similar details throughout, so I re-used the details found on the square that I used as a base of the mounting block. It took some work, but here's the mounting block with the details glued on:

 

[Joseph C. Brown]

That is looking great!

I've been using Magic Sculpt since the late '90s, and I've only encountered really long curing times when there are colder temps in my workroom, and that, only rarely. I've found the thicker the Magic Sculpt is, the faster it cures - and, the older it is also seems to speed-up curing as well. Just my experience, and I stay with the original color mix. Tried the white mix once, and while it was alright, I'm back to the original color.

 

[Corellianexports]

Here's a progress pic of the base:



It took several coats of grey primer to cover all of the details, but once complete, I was really amazed at how good it turned out in comparison to the original Icons base. Unfortunately, there's plenty of "pin" holes all over the place, so I'm just now slowly going over the entire piece to fill them in, along with the connecting "gaps" or "key" holes along the edges.