The Escape Pod Project

Hey Guys, I just so happen to have a few original KFC buckets I can pull some measurements from in order to contribute. I scored them from a lady in PA who was a "career" KFC employee from the 60s thru the 80s. She has since been a hard core KFC collector with literally a house full of related stuff. The buckets are marked 1969 and the style of recycle symbol matches the time period. She remembered they did not change the bucket style until the late 70s/early 80s, which should put these as a match for our time period. I'm off to work now, but will post again this evening when I get a chance to do some measurements.

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Since the buckets were in essence used as "molds" the important dimensions would be the insides.
 
Indeed Dave! There is also a flared "lip" at the top to account for. I have ordered some expanding urethane foam to go ahead and cast the inside of the bucket. I can then take more accurate measurements of the casting. I'll be sure to post the results!

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Awesome dude, that will save me having to buy one ;-) We definitely need the bottom diameter and the height. I should have saved a greasy bucket back in the day. Ah, if only I knew then, what we know now , LOL .
 
Hey Dave. M
Looking awesome! My understanding of the mechanical details on the sides are that they are actually Landing Gear. As noted in the concept & production drawings. Keep up the good work.
 
Moving forward with the paint. I mixed up a light grey using Tamiya acrylics as the base. It looks pretty light to the eye the subsequent washes should darken it down considerably. Over the base coat I airbrushed some panel line shading and other shading with some darker grey acrylics. The trapezoidal grey panels and yellow and black caution stripes were painted over chipping medium so I could come back and chip away some of the paint back to the base color. I know the stripes on the original didn't have the black diagonal lines but I like the industrial look of them. A coat of clear satin polyurethane was sprayed over the entire model to seal the acrylics for the next step, oil paint washes.

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Did you manage to cast the bucket and measure the results?

I have yet to get a good casting. Waiting on more foam to arrive. The first round I only ordered the sample and it was not quite enough to reach the top of the bucket. Gallon size casting foam is on it's way. I will start a new thread with the info and photos when it arrives so as to not hijack Dave's build thread. Paint job is looking great Dave!
 
Washing Up!

I applied an overall wash to accentuate the highlights and shade down the overall grey a bit. Prior to applying the wash the entire model was sealed with a water-based satin polyurethane varnish from Vallejo. This reduces the amount to which the wash "stains" the base paint. If I wanted even less staining I would have used a gloss varnish. The varnish was left to dry overnight before proceeding.

I use artist's oil paints (the kind that come in tubes) exclusively for my washes. The long drying time allows for the effect of the wash to be reduced by rubbing the surface with a solvent soaked rag. Before applying the wash the entire surface is brushed with clean paint thinner. Then a wash made of ivory black oil paint cut with turpentine is liberally brushed over the model as can be seen in the first picture. I prefer turpentine to paint thinner for oil based washes, it just seems to work better. Then I wipe off as much of the wash as possible with a clean rag. Further wash is removed with rags moistened with paint thinner. Generally I worked the rags in a linear fashion from top to bottom which makes for nice vertical streaking. If there are areas that are difficult to reach with the rag I used cotton swabs or a paint brush moistened with a little thinner. Again, the nice thing about artist's oil paints is that even after the solvent has evaporated they still take a few days to truly dry. This means I can continue to go back and remove or blend out the wash with paint thinner. It took about an hour or so to wipe off the wash to the point where I was satisfied with it.

Once this overall wash has dried completely I'll start in with spot weathering.

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This is all looking great! The final wash really nicely brings out all the greeblie detail.

I'm getting ready to paint a Partisan emblem on my Biker Scout helmet and would love to get exactly the weathered/worn paint look that you've achieved in the green area in upper center of the image here. Could you describe your technique for getting that worn look?

Thanks!

Dan
 
Dan, Thanks. (BTW, the detail parts are Nernies not Greeblies. But that's a subject for a different thread!)

The paint chipping is achieved using what's known as the Hair Spray Technique. I didn't invent it, it's something plastic kit modelers have been doing for years. However I'm using Vallejo's Chipping Medium instead of hairspray as I've found the results to be a bit more consistent.

1) Spray the model with whatever the base color is that you want to be revealed by the paint chips. I'n the case of the Escape Pod that was a light grey. I used Tamiya Acrylics for the base color. Let the base color dry for several days.

2) Spray the area where you'll be doing the paint chipping with hair spray or Vallejo Chipping Medium loaded in an airbrush. Like I said, I've done tests with both and prefer the Vallejo product. It's better to apply a couple flight coats instead of one heavy one. Let it dry throughly.

3) Spray on the top color with an airbrush. Here's the important part... YOU MUST USE A WATER BASED ACRYLIC FOR THE TOP COAT! This technique WILL NOT WORK with enamels or lacquers or anything sprayed out of a rattle can. Again build up the top coat with several light spray coats, not one heavy one. Allow to dry for 3 to 4 hours. If you wait too long the top coat will get too hard and it'll may be difficult or impossible to get it to chip.

4) Moisten the area to be chipped with clean water using a soft brush. This will 'activate' the hair spray or chipping medium. Basically the water soaks through the water-based top coat softening it and dissolving the chipping medium underneath. You can then carefully chip off the paint using a toothpick, your fingernail, an old toothbrush, Scotchbrite pad (my favorite), etc. Different tools will yield different results. After a few minutes the chipping medium will start to harden up again, you can rewet it at that point and continue until you've got the amount of chipping you are after. Actually, on the Escape Pod the paint on the grey panels chipped off more than i wanted, but that's okay, I still like the look. When you're happy with the results let the whole thing dry for a couple of days before doing other weathering.

5) Seal the finished area with a flat or satin water based polyurethane. This step is optional but I've found it to help preserve the look.

It's pretty simple to do but I'd recommend you practice first on a test peice to get the hang of it.

On the original Star Wars models the chipped paint look was achieved by stippling rubber cement over the base paint as a masking, then spraying it with the top coat and then rubbing the masked bits off. I've tried that, as well as using liquid latex as a removable masking but prefer the hairspray technique. I've found it to be more controllable and yield more realistic results. - Good luck!
 
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Going in now with some spot weathering and washes. Here on the tail end splotching in some Engine Grease (Mig Productions 502 Oil Paint) and Yellow Ochre (Winsor Newton Artists Oil Paint). The secret with using oil paints is to first moisten the surface to be weathered with a little paint thinner first. This allows the paint to blend out. Some of the more fragile detail parts broke off during the overall wash and rub down. I'll have to glue them back on.

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Makes it so StarWars for sure:cool

Thanks Joberg! The yellow ochre weathering is something you see repeated on the original Star Wars models. It doesn't make much sense (heck, neither does rust in space!) but it adds a really nice subtle hit of color to otherwise very monochromatic paint schemes.

Working on the finishing details. Not having four Sealabs at my disposal I decided to solder together some copper wire to make the cable harness that attached to the engine nozzles. I like that they are not all identical, makes it more realistic.

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Thanks Joberg! The yellow ochre weathering is something you see repeated on the original Star Wars models. It doesn't make much sense (heck, neither does rust in space!) but it adds a really nice subtle hit of color to otherwise very monochromatic paint schemes.

G’day DaveG ,

Just found this thread and wanted to say - Thanks for sharing your fantastic build , and tips / techniques along the way . There’s so much to learn and admire here on the RPF .

Re; the weathering stuff , is the escape pod retrievable i.e. reusable ? Asking cause a lot of you guys seem to know more about this universe than I do ( I’ve just been a fan since seeing Star Wars 40+ yrs ago - aged 11 ) .
If so , then maybe that could explain the damage / deterioration of the vehicles , especially the rebel ones . They’ve experienced / been exposed to ‘ damp ‘ atmospheric conditions during their travels .

Wouldn’t be surprised if some SD’s suffered from the same ( weathering ) after seeing one in atmosphere in Rogue One .

:cheersGed
 
According to Wookiepedia some escape pods were designed to fly into the atmosphere to be picked up by other ships. Of course, in ANH the escape pod lands (crashes) on Tatooine with R2-D2 and C3P0 aboard. Although the crashed pod filmed in the sand dunes was a spherical shape with a round door. I always thought that maybe the exterior we see dropping away held a spherical passenger compartment that could survive atmospheric re-entry. Given the limited resources of the Rebellion it would not be out of reason to see them using 2nd hand (3rd hand!) reused Escape Pods that had seen a good bit of action.
 
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