X-wing Fighter 1/72 bandai on the kitchen table

Well it was going to be cumbersome to run those FO to the lower fuselage so I fanned it. also since mine will be a parked prep for take off and wings are fixed I decided to eliminate the wing front pivot plate from the inside, made it easier to house and run the FO, wires and the resistors. I'm sure glad I recently discovered the Chip, Nano and Pico LED's. I used the smallest, the Pico for the landing gear lights. The wires are thinner than .25mm FO but 2/3...and the LED itself is like a spec of fly poop but puts out the light. This opens up a whole new world in lighting, for me anyway. What was not possible before, now is. These little dudes will be playing big roles in my builds from now on. I got in a few hours yesterday, still much to do. got the color on it, a few of the decals, I won't use all though, in a lot of places it jacks with the panel lines. I tried to use the canopy decals but they looked like crap. I decided to use the artist markers I got a while back for doing small panel color variations on the Falcons where it would have been a lot of trouble to mask and air brush. That turned out really well on the canopy frame, which I taped off the window part inside and out and painted. Still waiting for my Shapeway's nozzles, they've never taken this long before. Also on this one, still have to wash, do some black and gray pastel work and shoot dull coat to seal it up. This is what I've got so far... xwing10.jpegxwing11.jpegxwing12.jpegxwing13.jpegxwing14.jpegxwing15.jpegxwing16.jpegxwing17.jpegxwing18.jpeg
 
Well it was going to be cumbersome to run those FO to the lower fuselage so I fanned it. also since mine will be a parked prep for take off and wings are fixed I decided to eliminate the wing front pivot plate from the inside, made it easier to house and run the FO, wires and the resistors. I'm sure glad I recently discovered the Chip, Nano and Pico LED's. I used the smallest, the Pico for the landing gear lights. The wires are thinner than .25mm FO but 2/3...and the LED itself is like a spec of fly poop but puts out the light. This opens up a whole new world in lighting, for me anyway. What was not possible before, now is. These little dudes will be playing big roles in my builds from now on. I got in a few hours yesterday, still much to do. got the color on it, a few of the decals, I won't use all though, in a lot of places it jacks with the panel lines. I tried to use the canopy decals but they looked like crap. I decided to use the artist markers I got a while back for doing small panel color variations on the Falcons where it would have been a lot of trouble to mask and air brush. That turned out really well on the canopy frame, which I taped off the window part inside and out and painted. Still waiting for my Shapeway's nozzles, they've never taken this long before. Also on this one, still have to wash, do some black and gray pastel work and shoot dull coat to seal it up. This is what I've got so far...View attachment 796740View attachment 796741View attachment 796742View attachment 796743View attachment 796744View attachment 796745View attachment 796746View attachment 796747View attachment 796748
Sweet! I really love to see it with landing gear out.. and your lights in the landing gear looks awesome! Turned out good.. I wanted to say why did you not paint r2 silver? But you already answered ;)

About the decals... I only used the ones for the red stripes all others I airbrush and with chipping effect.. I love that too be honest. You only should give it a mat lacquer card over the decals. (You can also chip the decals when they are just on and still wet as chipping effect with a razor).

Also love to see you lighted op the one little hole behind the seat... :)

But it turned out great so far... Waiting for the final weathering.. thats the killer always.

(Just something els... Be aware what the micro smd do get hotter then the normal ones)

Keep it up my friend!! :)

please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
Thanks my friend, I'm pleased with it so far, I think it will do nicely in the diorama. I did that as well, ripped on the decals while they were still wet, though I should have ripped a bit more. Thanks for the heads up on the micro LED's, that I didn't know. I was planning to use them more extensively in future builds.
Sweet! I really love to see it with landing gear out.. and your lights in the landing gear looks awesome! Turned out good.. I wanted to say why did you not paint r2 silver? But you already answered ;)

About the decals... I only used the ones for the red stripes all others I airbrush and with chipping effect.. I love that too be honest. You only should give it a mat lacquer card over the decals. (You can also chip the decals when they are just on and still wet as chipping effect with a razor).

Also love to see you lighted op the one little hole behind the seat... :)

But it turned out great so far... Waiting for the final weathering.. thats the killer always.

(Just something els... Be aware what the micro smd do get hotter then the normal ones)

Keep it up my friend!! :)

please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
View attachment 797094View attachment 797095View attachment 797096View attachment 797097all that's left are the skewers and the nozzles on their way from Shapeways
Looks really good!!
But a little point of critic. I should use doe decal softener.. because on the wing it really shows your have decals on... There is a air bubble around the block that on the wing... But that's it. But your did a good job on the weathering! Looks awesome :)

please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
yeah, I was concerned about that, Doe Softener huh? I'll have to see if my local shop has such a thing. I thought if nothing else I'd wet those areas and further scrap the decal off. I tried to get them flat, but I'm not so good with that process. never a better time than the present. Thanks Socrates, I appreciate the advice :thumbsup
Looks really good!!
But a little point of critic. I should use doe decal softener.. because on the wing it really shows your have decals on... There is a air bubble around the block that on the wing... But that's it. But your did a good job on the weathering! Looks awesome :)

please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
View attachment 797094View attachment 797095View attachment 797096View attachment 797097all that's left are the skewers and the nozzles on their way from Shapeways

Hey Ross ,

Mate that’s looking sooo sweet ! Love how you’ve finished the ‘ droid ‘ strip - not sure I’ve ever seen it lit up that way , but it sure looks cool , and as Socrates11 said - lighting can direct the eye to points of interest .

Are you planning to use his suggestion of disguising the wiring as fuel hoses ? It’s a good idea . I’d add that you should have them ( if possible ) running off to either side of the ship and away from the engines - like how it’s seen now connected to the battery . Wouldn’t want any explosions ! :lol

Great updates , and look forward to seeing how it ends up .

As always , thanks for sharing ,

:cheersGed
 
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Well thanks Ged, very kind of you. I plan to address the decal issue that Socrates mentioned, I was aware of it but hadn't decided what to do. he suggested a decal softening product that I'm going to seek out, or...just rip and tear of the bumps they didn't adhere to so well. As far as the wires, I haven't decided yet. I figure there has to be an image somewhere of some sort of equipment in the hangar that I could scratch up and run them to that, then have it's connection to the diorama power in or under that. I'm going to scratch one of those maintenance scaffold things to sit over the nose, and I saw somewhere a group of "relaxed" pilots to place around it also. It'll all work out though. it's just for me anyway, and for the occasional guest in the house to look at. The Echo base hangar scenes are some of my favorites. Socrates lit his R2 in his also, more effectively too. I was really happy that I was able to figure out how to light the landing gear, pico LED's with micro wire and extra small resistors is the bomb. I plan to use many more of those in future projects. my Falcon builds thus far have been an ugly mess of lighting and FO, but the more I do this, I find better and cleaner ways to approach those things, and much of that is learned by seeing what these other clever guys are doing here on the RPF! :thumbsup
Hey Ross ,

Mate that’s looking sooo sweet ! Love how you’ve finished the ‘ droid ‘ strip - not sure I’ve ever seen it lit up that way , but it sure looks cool , and as @Socrates11 said - lighting can direct the eye to points of interest .

Are you planning to use his suggestion of disguising the wiring as fuel hoses ? It’s a good idea . I’d add that you should have them ( if possible ) running off to either side of the ship and away from the engines - like how it’s seen now connected to the battery . Wouldn’t want any explosions ! :lol

Great updates , and look forward to seeing how it ends up .

As always , thanks for sharing ,

:cheersGed
 
yeah, I was concerned about that, Doe Softener huh? I'll have to see if my local shop has such a thing. I thought if nothing else I'd wet those areas and further scrap the decal off. I tried to get them flat, but I'm not so good with that process. never a better time than the present. Thanks Socrates, I appreciate the advice :thumbsup
I have no real experience myself I think I have only put 5 decals on in my life.... LoL.. but I just bought this (see pic) and I noticed a big difference.. I have to put it on multiple times but it helpt how it soften and makes it bent more. And after is attached the light way I put lacquer on (see pic) I have read this is one of the best I have nothing to compare it with but seriously you don't see anything after putting it on.. I love it!
ae3794a8b7aa805b3fd9e0f9f3389af4.jpg


please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
Not the best picture but to show how the decal softener works.. it totally bends over all the plastic bits and Peace's I have put on there. The laborer also helps to remove the transparent shiny outsides of the decal to it totally blends in.
75de3ffea359c906aef46f803caf5b7d.jpg


please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
Found some of that stuff, will put it to use. thanks for the tip, brother. Still waiting on the nozzles from Shapeways...got the skewers on but figured I'd wait to post more pics till it was all done. Got my 1/72 snow speeder from the UK yesterday, resin kits...not a big fan really. No way to light this thing, and, several of the parts have sprue "bleed over". have to do very careful surgery to remove the sprue, then shape the parts as to not lose any of what's supposed to be ON the part itself :facepalm but, this being the ONLY 1/72 available, what else can one do :confused
Not the best picture but to show how the decal softener works.. it totally bends over all the plastic bits and Peace's I have put on there. The laborer also helps to remove the transparent shiny outsides of the decal to it totally blends in.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180220/75de3ffea359c906aef46f803caf5b7d.jpg

please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
Hey Ross ,

If you’re really not happy with the snowspeeder , check out the ‘ Bandai release schedule ‘ thread , post #5048 blakeh1 showing some 1/72 Star Wars vehicles for size comparison . A snowspeeders amongst them . Maybe he can help you out with info on a decent one !?

Ged
 
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thanks Ged, last I looked on their site there was only the 1/144 and 1/48...is there something I don't know about?
Hey Ross ,

If you’re really not happy with the snowspeeder , check out the ‘ Bandai release schedule ‘ thread , post #5048 @blakeh1 showing some 1/72 Star Wars vehicles for size comparison . A snowspeeders amongst them . Maybe he can help you out with info on a decent one !?

Ged

- - - Updated - - -

I'll have to get really creative, but I'll look at it more. I started my scratch build on the maintenance scaffold last night, I think it's going to turn out well :thumbsup
Also the resin speeder you can light... There is always a way ;)


please don't take me serious I'm crazy :)
 
I checked again, no 1/72 snow speeder...the last time I checked though, I did email them asking...of course I got no reply. oh well. I'll make this work some how. if nothing else, I drill through the belly to the cockpit for a chip LED. The main hull is all one piece solid cast. It'll be in the diorama, on a higher shelf anyway, so if I have a glow from the cockpit, that'll do
Hey Ross ,

If you’re really not happy with the snowspeeder , check out the ‘ Bandai release schedule ‘ thread , post #5048 @blakeh1 showing some 1/72 Star Wars vehicles for size comparison . A snowspeeders amongst them . Maybe he can help you out with info on a decent one !?

Ged
 
The lighting looks really cool!


As far as the Snowspeeder mentioned, it is the RetroSF one. They also have a group of Rebel Pilots in what looks like the heavier Hoth gear

The kit, despite the spillover flash is quite an amazing kit with very nice details. It does take some work to build it though

I believe your only other option for 1/72 is the die cast DiAgostini one. It is nearly identical in size to the resin RetroSF one. Of course the problem is it is metal, and you would have to cut the windows out and scratch your own cockpit.

As to lighting the RetroSF one, if you are doing them as a rebel base hangar dio, you could run wires up through the bottom, or even diguise them as power cables for charging or something
 
thanks Ged, last I looked on their site there was only the 1/144 and 1/48...is there something I don't know about?

Umm ... not sure what you’re referring to there ? . What I mentioned re ; the 1/72 snowspeeder when you said you weren’t too happy about the one received , was that @blakeh1 had one on display over on the other thread he’d posted on , and that he might offer help ( as he’s done above ) regarding them . He’s pretty knowledgeable about 1/72 Star Wars figures & vehicles IMO .

Hope that makes sense mate !?

:thumbsupGed
 
xwing26.jpegxwing27.jpegxwing28.jpegxwing29.jpegxwing30.jpegstill need to apply some of the decal softener that Socrates suggested, but it finished. I did have a bit of trouble with the nozzles, paint went on real screwy so I had to gently scrape it off and do it again. the second time I mixed acrylic dark gray and metalizer additive and brushed it on. a bit darker than I would have liked but it'll do. Hade to brush in flat black to the insides as well. the 3D stuff is extremely translucent and bleed light easily if not covered well.
 
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