Harblar
New Member
Hello all!
So, first a bit of background before I get to the pictures. This is the first model kit I've attempted to assemble in 15 years. It is the first one I've actually finished in probably more than 20! I've always had the really bad habit of deciding I was going to mod the hell out of a kit, add lights, extra details, etc... Only to end up getting in to deep and eventually shelving the project, never to be finished. Case in point, I have a an old light and sound AMT/ERTL Proshop Xwing that I've had in the box, cut to pieces and completely unfinished for 15 years. Was going to add leds, fiber optics, cockpit details, brass laser cannons, etc... Never got it done.
Fast forward to the present. 2 years ago I started collecting my monthly set of parts for the Deago Falcon. I got my last shipment a month ago. I also ended up preordering the Revell Zvezda reboxed Star Destroyer at Celebration. That just arrived a couple weeks ago, as well. Some really great kits, that I really want to finish and not screw up... but I also want to do custom lighting, sounds, etc for both.
I started on the star destroyer and assembled all of the various main sections and primed everything in black to start. Just got to drill a few thousand little holes and run a few miles worth of fiber before I can start putting that together. In the meantime, I started working on the old proshop xwing, As a means of getting back in the right headspace. I decided to mostly just get the dang thing together and not worry about most of the crap I had planned for it. Really, all I'm going to do is add an arduiono and some neopixels to run the engines and and a bit of fiber. I'm going to let the original board handle the audio and motors (since I'm still new to arduino, and don't want to get too complicated and/or spendy on it. I plan to take what I learn there and use a more complex version to drive a bunch of neopixels and for the Star Destroyer, and then eventually do a full over haul on the Deago Falcon to have full lighting, motor, and sound control. To that end, I'm slowly planning each kit and building myself up to it.
As I've been getting my parts together and getting back into the swing, I grabbed a Bandai TIE Interceptor at the local hobby lobby and thought it'd be a fun way to get back into the swing. In building this kit, I ended up doing a lot of things I usually never had the patience for or knowledge of in the past. Using a sprue cutter, trimming flash, sanding/test fitting joints etc... simple things, but I forced myself not to rush this time. lol Credit to Bandai, the kits are really well built and the snap stuff holds really tight. Even so, I ended up gluing just about everything. In addition, this was the first time I've EVER used an airbrush. I'm still learning, but this really blows the old brush out of the water!
I also descided I wasn't going to go for screen accurate. I just wanted to get ball park and representitive.
The only two mods I've done to the kit were to add lights and make a custom base (with my 3d Printer) for it to sit on (and provide enough room for the batteries). I didn't end up taking any in progress shots, so I'll just briefly explain what I did. I ended up using 3 x 3mm red leds to provide all the light. 2 of them I mounted in the wing pylons and ran a short length of .75mm fiber from each, along with the wires from each, through the cockpit ball and out the back. I painted them all to look like greeblie tubes that are just part of how the cockpit looks. The third led I mounted between the pilots legs, aiming up. I put a little bit bigger resistor on that one to tone down the glare a bit, and I think it came out pretty nicely. All the led wires got tied together in parallel on the back side of the cockpit ball and then two thin wires were run through the rear display mounting points. Some small holes and creative wire fishing and it is nearly impossible to tell where the wiring goes. In the base a rigged up a small momentary switch that I was able to blend into the death star panel base as a plant on detail. Underneath, I wired it up to a momentary to latching converter board I had lying around and tied it all to 2 AA batteries, which then got velcroed on to the bottom. I designed and printed out a base than had matching protrusions for for the notches on the DS panel. Fit so niceley I didn't even bother gluing it! I also printed out a nice little name plague to finish it off, though Next time I'd just get a laser cut/etched plate to mount there as it would look a lot cleaner..
Anyway, enough rambling! Here's some pics from the bench with the unfinished printed base and then a few completed shots sitting on my desk.
For paint I used a mix of different paints and brands. Istarted by painting everything flat black. I then painted the solar panels a gunmetal metallic. I then added a layer of German Steel metallic, and then finally a layer of a flat black/ steel metallic mix. I then masked of the panels and applied a coat of a dark gray. For the final coat I took a testors light gull gray and added a few drops of Iridescent Deep Blue India Ink. I've never been overly crazy about the blue gray the TIE's appear in the movies and just wanted the barest hint of blue for mine. I think it came out really good. I hit it with a coat or two of Vallejo Satin sealer and then did a very light wash of water thinned black acryllic. the happy accident was that when I wiped the wash off with a bit of thinner it popped out the iridescent blue just a bit. Impossible to see in the pics, but if you hit it at just the right angle you get just a metallic like flake/sheen here or there. Hard to explain, but it looks really nice.
Ignore the unpainted bit on the display stand. I had a minor mishap and hadn't got it repainted post superglue.
For all the secondary details I used a combination of a darkened up German Steel metallic, or metallic sharpies (which work really good for small raised details)
And the finished shots
The Death Star panel was painted flat black, gray, and then lightly airbrushed with insignia white. I sealed it and then applied a wash (my test bed before doing the same to the TIE) lol. The 3D base I sprayed with a gray primer and then a metallic black. The lettering was then done with a silver sharpie.
Movie retro shot! lol
Pictured alongside my Fantasy flight Ghost. Eagle eyes might noticed that it's signed by all the actors of the ghost crew. ;-)
And there you have it, for better or worse! There's a few things I probably could have done better, but overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. On to the proshop Xwing next (while I continue to drill little holes in my Star Destroyer.) lol
So, first a bit of background before I get to the pictures. This is the first model kit I've attempted to assemble in 15 years. It is the first one I've actually finished in probably more than 20! I've always had the really bad habit of deciding I was going to mod the hell out of a kit, add lights, extra details, etc... Only to end up getting in to deep and eventually shelving the project, never to be finished. Case in point, I have a an old light and sound AMT/ERTL Proshop Xwing that I've had in the box, cut to pieces and completely unfinished for 15 years. Was going to add leds, fiber optics, cockpit details, brass laser cannons, etc... Never got it done.
Fast forward to the present. 2 years ago I started collecting my monthly set of parts for the Deago Falcon. I got my last shipment a month ago. I also ended up preordering the Revell Zvezda reboxed Star Destroyer at Celebration. That just arrived a couple weeks ago, as well. Some really great kits, that I really want to finish and not screw up... but I also want to do custom lighting, sounds, etc for both.
I started on the star destroyer and assembled all of the various main sections and primed everything in black to start. Just got to drill a few thousand little holes and run a few miles worth of fiber before I can start putting that together. In the meantime, I started working on the old proshop xwing, As a means of getting back in the right headspace. I decided to mostly just get the dang thing together and not worry about most of the crap I had planned for it. Really, all I'm going to do is add an arduiono and some neopixels to run the engines and and a bit of fiber. I'm going to let the original board handle the audio and motors (since I'm still new to arduino, and don't want to get too complicated and/or spendy on it. I plan to take what I learn there and use a more complex version to drive a bunch of neopixels and for the Star Destroyer, and then eventually do a full over haul on the Deago Falcon to have full lighting, motor, and sound control. To that end, I'm slowly planning each kit and building myself up to it.
As I've been getting my parts together and getting back into the swing, I grabbed a Bandai TIE Interceptor at the local hobby lobby and thought it'd be a fun way to get back into the swing. In building this kit, I ended up doing a lot of things I usually never had the patience for or knowledge of in the past. Using a sprue cutter, trimming flash, sanding/test fitting joints etc... simple things, but I forced myself not to rush this time. lol Credit to Bandai, the kits are really well built and the snap stuff holds really tight. Even so, I ended up gluing just about everything. In addition, this was the first time I've EVER used an airbrush. I'm still learning, but this really blows the old brush out of the water!
I also descided I wasn't going to go for screen accurate. I just wanted to get ball park and representitive.The only two mods I've done to the kit were to add lights and make a custom base (with my 3d Printer) for it to sit on (and provide enough room for the batteries). I didn't end up taking any in progress shots, so I'll just briefly explain what I did. I ended up using 3 x 3mm red leds to provide all the light. 2 of them I mounted in the wing pylons and ran a short length of .75mm fiber from each, along with the wires from each, through the cockpit ball and out the back. I painted them all to look like greeblie tubes that are just part of how the cockpit looks. The third led I mounted between the pilots legs, aiming up. I put a little bit bigger resistor on that one to tone down the glare a bit, and I think it came out pretty nicely. All the led wires got tied together in parallel on the back side of the cockpit ball and then two thin wires were run through the rear display mounting points. Some small holes and creative wire fishing and it is nearly impossible to tell where the wiring goes. In the base a rigged up a small momentary switch that I was able to blend into the death star panel base as a plant on detail. Underneath, I wired it up to a momentary to latching converter board I had lying around and tied it all to 2 AA batteries, which then got velcroed on to the bottom. I designed and printed out a base than had matching protrusions for for the notches on the DS panel. Fit so niceley I didn't even bother gluing it! I also printed out a nice little name plague to finish it off, though Next time I'd just get a laser cut/etched plate to mount there as it would look a lot cleaner..
Anyway, enough rambling! Here's some pics from the bench with the unfinished printed base and then a few completed shots sitting on my desk.
For paint I used a mix of different paints and brands. Istarted by painting everything flat black. I then painted the solar panels a gunmetal metallic. I then added a layer of German Steel metallic, and then finally a layer of a flat black/ steel metallic mix. I then masked of the panels and applied a coat of a dark gray. For the final coat I took a testors light gull gray and added a few drops of Iridescent Deep Blue India Ink. I've never been overly crazy about the blue gray the TIE's appear in the movies and just wanted the barest hint of blue for mine. I think it came out really good. I hit it with a coat or two of Vallejo Satin sealer and then did a very light wash of water thinned black acryllic. the happy accident was that when I wiped the wash off with a bit of thinner it popped out the iridescent blue just a bit. Impossible to see in the pics, but if you hit it at just the right angle you get just a metallic like flake/sheen here or there. Hard to explain, but it looks really nice.
Ignore the unpainted bit on the display stand. I had a minor mishap and hadn't got it repainted post superglue.
For all the secondary details I used a combination of a darkened up German Steel metallic, or metallic sharpies (which work really good for small raised details)
And the finished shots
The Death Star panel was painted flat black, gray, and then lightly airbrushed with insignia white. I sealed it and then applied a wash (my test bed before doing the same to the TIE) lol. The 3D base I sprayed with a gray primer and then a metallic black. The lettering was then done with a silver sharpie.
Movie retro shot! lol
Pictured alongside my Fantasy flight Ghost. Eagle eyes might noticed that it's signed by all the actors of the ghost crew. ;-)
And there you have it, for better or worse! There's a few things I probably could have done better, but overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. On to the proshop Xwing next (while I continue to drill little holes in my Star Destroyer.) lol
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