The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project - NOW OPEN SOURCE!!!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

I Wood buy the Panther because it's used all over the place, If you buy one, mold and cast the parts, you'll be able to detail more than 50% of the turret.

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Thanks for the info, Panther kit is on it's way from EBay!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

DaveG said:

Thanks for the info, Panther kit is on it's way from EBay!

Click to expand...

You did yourself a great favor and will found all these parts (and much more used on the laser turret !) :

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Hey Julien, I tried to PM you with a Y Wing question but your mailbox is full.

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Sorry Dave, it's always full
You can ask here

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Two questions: (sorry for going off topic on my own thread!)

I'm going to start a Studio Scale Y-Wing. As with my Laser Tower project I'm not going to worry about being 100% accurate with all the kit parts, just concentrate on some of the major ones which were common to all the variants. I'm not modeling a particular version. (Maybe I'll call mine Blue Leader!)

Which is the correct 1/144 Saturn for the Engines, V, 1B, Airfix, Revell, Re-Issue, Vintage, does it matter?

What are these parts from? (I did look everywhere for parts maps, couldn't find any.)



You can PM me with the answers if you'd like.

Thanks!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Its Saturn V for the engines,parts in circle from Bandai Messerchmitt,Tamiya Panzer III and Dragon Kettenkrad Dave.

Don

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

The engine nacelles are vintage Airfix 1/144 Saturn 5.
The part in your pic is actually made up from 3 parts...being the Tamiya 1/35 Panzer lll, Bandai 1/24 Me109 & 1/9 Esci/DML/Revell Kettenkrad. Used on the 5 foot Falcon too!.

Haha beaten to the post

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Yeah vintage Airfix Sat V. White and yellow boxes work. The smithonian issue too. Don't get the retooled red box.

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Are you referring to: Tamiya Models Pzkpfw III Ausf L Tank TM35215?

thanks!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

No, vintage Tamiya 1/35 Panzer III M/N.

This is the one you want :



As you can notice when typing the ref you gave about the kit in google, the first link that shows up said the #35215 kit was released in 1997 so it was obviously not around for A New Hope.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/103419-tamiya-35215-panzerkampfwagen-iii-ausf-l-sd-kfz-141-1

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Does anyone have a parts map for the top of the turret? Thanks!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

DaveG said:

Here's the manufacturer's website:

http://www.richwoodind.com/index.php/polybak

They have list of distributors. It is a commercial product and you are unlikely to find an online source unless you want to buy a pallet of the stuff! I found a local lumber and sheet goods supplier in Anaheim, CA that would sell single sheets (4'x8').

Northeastern Scale Models was selling it but you had to be a "manufacturer" (whatever that means) and buy a pack of 25 12"x24" sheets that they marked up at an 800% profit. No thanks!

Click to expand...

Great model. I would love to see how you would do the Rebel Ion Cannon from the battle of Hoth.
What is the name of the wood supplier in Anaheim, CA?
I'm up in Burbank so Anaheim is I can get to on occasions.

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Thanks! I've always wanted to build the Hoth Ion Canon, maybe someday!

I think the distributor was Royal Plywood in Cerritos,

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Pretty much all the details are on and I'm ready to start painting. For the top I ended up just free-styling the details and not worrying too much about matching the original. I really didn't want to take the time and money to track down more kits (I recently spent $40 for a kit on ebay which yielded only a single small part!) and besides, the top of the tower will be about 9 feet off the ground when on display so not too many will ever see it!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

DaveG said:

the top of the tower will be about 9 feet off the ground when on display

Click to expand...

Whoa ...

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Painting Time! There are still a few details missing here and there but I can always add them later... or not.

First step is a good solid coat of primer. For this project I used spray can Rustoleum Primer Sealer. It works particularly well on the MDF since it has a higher solids content. I was going to load up a spray gun with auto lacquer primer for the all plastic laser canons but once I got rolling with the rattle can I just went ahead and used it for everything. Worked great.





There was a little bit of over spray (we're having a particularly warm weekend) so I went over the whole thing with an extra fine scotch bright pad to knock off the dusty bits. The next step was to "pre-shade" all the panel lines and around some of the detail features with flat black Tamiya acrylic sprayed with an airbrush. It's okay that the pre-shading is a little rough and sloppy, it actually looks a little better in the end not being to consistent. ** POST COMPLETION NOTE - Were I to do the pre-shading again, I would have used an off-black color, like Tamiya's NATO Black or Rubber Black, and sprayed the lines a little narrower. In the end they showed through the top coat a little too much. **





Next was an overall base coat of Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Grey sprayed on with an airbrush. I thinned the paint almost 1:1 and built up the opacity with subsequent coats until I had the amount of pre-shading showing through that I wanted. The thinned paint dries more transparent so it usually takes more coats than you originally think. The end result is a subtle dark shading around the edges of the panels. The effect will be further reduced with the washes and other weathering yet to come.







I next did a little fine overspray with a darker grey, it doesn't really show up in pictures but does add a bit of variety to the surface. Then the whole thing was sealed with a coat of Pledge Liquid Floor Finish, which is just basically a water based clear varnish. This will prevent the wash coming next from "staining" too much.

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

I love the creatively added to an already pretty accurate build. It looks awesome! Great build!

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Wow , this is going to be some center attraction , what scale is it ? Have you matching craft . Thanks for sharing

Re: The (Uber) Death Star Laser Tower Project

Really sharp once again Dave. Thanks for the tuto about the shading; looks really good from where I stand!