Zvezda Star Destroyer - My turn

Richard Baker

Richard Baker

Sr Member
This past weekend I got me Zvezda ISD model kit- a wonderful Christmas present from my best friend. I have been watching the online builds and trying to sort out what I intend to do with mine. I would love to give it a full lighting treatment, but I do not want the build to telescope int never never land since I cannot devote enough time to it.
I am going to do a partial lighted setup, with main engines and the various landing bays/alcoves. For the thousands of tiny window lights, instead of fiber-optic I plan on using UV paint instead. I have done this with capital ships in the past and the black light gives the hull a nice star-light glow.

Right now I am adding very tiny chips of styrene to the super structure sides and waistband pieces- that will take a while.

I do have one big question- does anybody know what these call outs say?


dCTfGuh.jpg
 
My thoughts too- I am just wondering what those in-universe functions are.

The model builders just built to look cool and a lot of function was retroed in by later thoughts. I think the side brim wall notches to be for hard docking at a station or another ISD.
The sensor globes on the main bridge tower (sometimes referred to as deflector globes) are another focal point int he design
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/towers.html#globes

I am just curious about the call outs given with these instructions- that is a full page of mystery and I hate to have to wait for April fo rhte Revell release of this kit (assuming they just translate and not make their own set of instructions...
 
Richard Baker said:
I hate to have to wait for April fo rhte Revell release of this kit (assuming they just translate and not make their own set of instructions...
Click to expand...

Has that been officially confirmed for distribution here in the States?

I'm glad that I was able to score a kit from a member here, rather than waiting until Revell has it available. I have a bad feeling that the price is going to be more than what it currently runs getting it from Russia given that Revell's reboxing of the FineMolds Falcon retails for $220. Even their 1/52 AT-AT is going for $110.

The plus of waiting to see if it will be resold under Revell in the States is that the risk factor of whether or not getting one in a timely fashion or getting ripped off from a seller in Russia is mitigated.

I am very glad to have one in-hand now - because the amount of time I am going to spend just in adding greeblies and preparing it for lighting is going to take some major time. This will be a pinnacle build for me, because I have wanted one of these in this scale since 1978.
 
That's great!

What is your opinion of those small rectangular 'hatches' - they appear on the Zvezda kit as recessed .175"x.3" areas wit a raised border and show up all over the side detail panels? They could be gun ports or point defense TIE launch bays- I would like to open a few up and add some greebly inside...

- - - Updated - - -

INVAR said:
Has that been officially confirmed for distribution here in the States?

I'm glad that I was able to score a kit from a member here, rather than waiting until Revell has it available. I have a bad feeling that the price is going to be more than what it currently runs getting it from Russia given that Revell's reboxing of the FineMolds Falcon retails for $220. Even their 1/52 AT-AT is going for $110.

The plus of waiting to see if it will be resold under Revell in the States is that the risk factor of whether or not getting one in a timely fashion or getting ripped off from a seller in Russia is mitigated.

I am very glad to have one in-hand now - because the amount of time I am going to spend just in adding greeblies and preparing it for lighting is going to take some major time. This will be a pinnacle build for me, because I have wanted one of these in this scale since 1978.
Click to expand...
It is pretty much official- Revell has shown the box with the correct scale printed on it. It will likely be expensive seeing how they jacked the prices on the reboxed Finemolds kits. The Zvezda is a magnificent kit and I am so glad to have it to work on now
 
Richard Baker said:
What is your opinion of those small rectangular 'hatches' - they appear on the Zvezda kit as recessed .175"x.3" areas wit a raised border and show up all over the side detail panels? They could be gun ports or point defense TIE launch bays- I would like to open a few up and add some greebly inside...
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the panels on the sides of the 'wedding cake' superstructure? I had not given any thought to those yet. I'm literally focusing most of my attention for the moment on what I need to do to accurately light the underside hangar bay ala the Avenger in the opening shot of Jedi, and side trench greebie details and aft engine greebie details.

I will be adding the garbage chute on the back neck and lighting that too. I am probably going to greebie this build up first before figuring out how to light it and drilling holes for FO. I am pretty sure I am not going to do as many FO holes as I have seen some do. I think I will add a couple of Pico LEDs on the side trenches immersed in greeblies to add the ambient glows that are depicted on the box att and in stills from ESB of the Avenger.

I would be very interested in seeing your take on opening those 'window bays' up and seeing what you do with those. You might inspire us to take a look at doing something similar.

For now, most of my inspiration on detail is from the actual Avenger model:

ESB: Star Destroyer Avenger

The user has set his photos that he took at the Montreal show in sections - so you can see high res pics of superstructure, engines, trenches, tower etc. on that drive. It is an incredible resource to have on hand and I marvel at the details the guys at ILM put into it.

I will not be able to match that level of detail on this scale - and not sure I would have the time or talent if it was an 8' model - but I'm going to add my own imaginings to approximate detail and perhaps create a slightly different SDII in the Emperor's fleet.
 
Get Google translate for your phone. It will translate the document in real time.

A few few weeks ago I translated the whole instruction manual. If I can find where I put the translated version, I'll post it.
 
Richard Baker said:
What is your opinion of those small rectangular 'hatches' - they appear on the Zvezda kit as recessed .175"x.3" areas wit a raised border and show up all over the side detail panels?
Click to expand...

Are you referencing the side trenches? I looked at the side trenches on the Avenger model and found these two areas on the model. If I had to guess, the blank plex there is translucent and possibly lit from behind to create those ambient lighting effects in the trench.

Trenches24a.jpg

Trenches23a.jpg

MaxxBuild Avenger6.jpg
 
No, these rectangular detail pieces appear on the superstructure- IIRC they face all four directions. For me it is a toss up- they appear too often to be random greebly, they are large enough to hold three TIEs side by side, but a TIE can easily fly over to where these are from the ventral bays. If there are doors for some point defense guns they they are over sized and why do they not appear on the brim trench? If they are some sort of armored cargo hatches why do they appear so often?

I really want to open a few of these up, I just need to grok out their function so I can do it right...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=B9FE...FDBC!1289&parId=B9FE0AEBDC25FDBC!1213&o=OneUp

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=B9FE...FDBC!1293&parId=B9FE0AEBDC25FDBC!1213&o=OneUp

I don't have my kit with me at work but here are some shots (above) from that wonderful ISD reference link. They look to be a slightly different shape and have some surface detail on the Avenger
 
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Richard Baker said:
No, these rectangular detail pieces appear on the superstructure- IIRC they face all four directions. For me it is a toss up- they appear too often to be random greebly, they are large enough to hold three TIEs side by side, but a TIE can easily fly over to where these are from the ventral bays. If there are doors for some point defense guns they they are over sized and why do they not appear on the brim trench? If they are some sort of armored cargo hatches why do they appear so often?

I really want to open a few of these up, I just need to grok out their function so I can do it right...
Click to expand...

I don't see why not, unless you want to be married to the Avenger filming model. I do not see why modding those areas into 'bays' for troop transports or cargo isn't an option to pursue. Most large aircraft carriers and destroyers have door bays for cargo that are different than bays for holding fighters and weapons emplacements. I do not see why SDIIs wouldn't have them either. Would be an interesting exposition in putting those ungreeblied areas to functional use for an ISD of a different name. SDII is a class of Destroyer and I see no reason why different destroyers would not have different greeblies, bays, and other areas customized for each ship depending on the needs of the commission for the ship.

For me, since I am opening up the garbage chute and spending a good amount of effort on the landing bays on the bottom - I will probably go with how that second ISD link showcases those 'hatches'. But I will be delighted to see how some creative folks make use of those areas for some imaginative practical usage detail.
 
INVAR said:
Are you referencing the side trenches? I looked at the side trenches on the Avenger model and found these two areas on the model. If I had to guess, the blank plex there is translucent and possibly lit from behind to create those ambient lighting effects in the trench.

View attachment 710463

View attachment 710462

View attachment 710461
Click to expand...

Well I'll be damned - Zvezda didn't neglect those little walls, there's actually nothing there. Huh!
 
I figure that even in the US Navy there are yard changes and distinct upgrades to every ship that makes them unique within the overall class.
I want to get the Avenger look and feel but I am not going to rivet count.

There are plenty of people striving to make an exact replica to the filming model, I wanna have fun.
 
Richard Baker said:
I figure that even in the US Navy there are yard changes and distinct upgrades to every ship that makes them unique within the overall class.
I want to get the Avenger look and feel but I am not going to rivet count.

There are plenty of people striving to make an exact replica to the filming model, I wanna have fun.
Click to expand...

Oh, we absolutely should. I do not think rivet counting for something as greeblie-intensive as an ESB ISD-II is necessary. Not even the guys who made the originals will notice a missing pipe or kit-bashed navy cruiser parapet. I think that Shipyard changes and upgrades to each ship (as mentioned in Catalyst) does indeed give us license to customize and still remain within canon and class.

I'll be eager to see what you do with those upper deck bays.
 
I have decided to do 'all of the above' for the upper deck bays.
I figure that directly out of the shipyard those are multipurpose box like openings which can be customized according to the vessels mission. I plan on opening up about 5-7 and have TIE racks, BFGs and perhaps some unidentifiable greebly in them.

Somebody had on one of the Zvezda build threads some images of scaled TIE fighters I cannot find that photo/link now, anybody remember it?

We need a consolidated sticky thread for these kit upgrades- so much is coming out and we have yet to hear from the photoetch companies yet...
 
There was a guy on FB that scratched a whole Tie hanger bay on each side, plus scratched the control room in the main underside hanger. I think that was on the Zvezda Star Destroyer Builders Group. Great FB group, if your on FB look it up and join.

I'll second the notion of a sticky for the builds and aftermarket. Plus, once the kit hits Euro and US legally I expect even more builds to pop up.
 
I'm definitely going to grab Niart's Shapeways radar domes as far as After Market parts for my Zvezda. I've ordered a bunch of styrene in different rods and sheets because I intend to greeblie up the build where it's a bit shallow in detail in the trenches and rear engine areas. I may also do a bit for the bridge tower as well.

I do plan on attempting to carve out the concave recessed lighting areas at the top of the main hangar bay for some LED strip lighting to shine across the top of the hangar and also carve out the control rooms in both the forward and main hangar bays.

I'm very interested to see what you craft in terms of those bay openings Richard. I might mimic one if the FO and LED lighting does not prohibit. I am thinking along the lines of powering this internally so I can hang it from wire from the ceiling rather than a rod base. Have no idea what battery power to use yet. I am thinking the engines will all be on one power cell and the FO lighting on another, though with an inclusion of an LED strip to light the top of the main hangar bay I may need to add another. That leads to the problem of figuring out how to switch it all on.

I think Robiwon mentioned using magnets to hold the top lid on the wedding cake down. I may look into that, which would allow me to keep all the switches to power the model on inside and permit battery changes. Someone also brought up remote control lighting - but that may be waaaay over my pay-grade of just having lit my first model in the last month.
 
I hope to open up some of the upper deck bays tonight and start building some alcoves/hangars/ordinance bays. This is the real fun part of the build for me- taking the ship off the big screen and viewing it with the mind's eye.
I looked around on Shapeways and I cannot find those 1:2700 TIEs that appeared on one of the older posts. I would love to get a set!
 
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