danimalmagic

Hi all, its been a while, i did finally manage to get this done for myself in between commission work, a fun kit to build with my own take on the dull grey black interior. Thanks for Looking Danny

Thanks guys, just spent the day packaging for shipping, that's the last hurdle

It's is not for me, a commission project.

Yes, i do not recall seeing anything quite like it either and needless to say i will not be doing another, that was a long road.

And you thought it was the Aircraft Carrier, Suckers!!! Hi all, it’s been a while since I posted last but with good reason, for the last 14 weeks I have been working at this 1/350 Diorama and it has been quite a challenge but it is now finally done. The basics of the project were a bespoke internally lighted back box with a star field effect, 2 x 1/350 Klingon Birds of Prey (KBOP’s) and of course the rather huge 1/350 Enterprise Re Fit with a shuttle coming into land. I started out with the Back Box, this is made from 2 sheets of Aluminium Sheet 2.5mm thick x 610mm wide x 2250mm long separated with an internal wooden frame to create the cavity for the lighting. I needed redundancy here so 2 x SMD Light Strips have been used, in the even one fails the DC supply jack can just be switched to the back-up rig. On top of this I have designed the ships so that they be removed from the Light Box at any time and the front of the Light box can be removed if it is ever required to change both LED strips. This was the initial test of the light box, I have drilled various size holes and some have coloured clear filters on the inside so some of the starts are different colours, red, Blue etc. Next up was the two KBOP, I have used varying lighting kits over the years and I tend to use Starling Technologies now whenever possible. He does a plug and play set for the KBOP which has really good light effects and a sound card with optional remote control FOB. I needed both KBOP to work off one remote FOB and after a few chats with Stan at Starling Technologies he had a simple solution for this, both kits are basically pre wired plug and play, there is some minimal soldering needed but for the most part they are ready to go, awesome. Lots of paint filters, washes and dry brushing to make the KBOP look a bit rusty and beaten up. First test of lights and RC. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hDspaNRG39XQxzk- Next up was by far the biggest task, the Enterprise, I have built one of these before and lighting a kit adds all sorts of issues. To make the build as expedient as possible I used the pre wired Trek Modeller Kit as this quite simply saves a massive amount of time in wiring and soldering, the kit was excellent but had one snag no working weapons, sounds effects and RC Unit. I needed sounds and effects to match the KBOP’s to create the battle effects so it was back to Stan at Starling. The easiest way around this was to install Stans Gen 3 Re Fit kit in the saucer and use that to just supply the 4 x working Lasers, the Photon Torpedo Launchers the Sound effects, Lighting effects for the Shuttle Bay,Impulse Engines, linked Impulse Crystal, Impulse Engines and the Warp Nacelles. This would basically also give me some additional lighting redundancy but is primarily for the various light and sound effects, the Trek Modeller kit would supply the internally lighting and Shuttle Bay etc. Shuttle Bay LIghts https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEdZoTmC8el1bxol Enterprise Weapons Test https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hEvPRvxIhK8ZkajM The Astek decals for the Kit are a nice touch, very thin and delicate much like Cartograf quality just much bigger, the standard kit decals had some issues with breaking up, I had to get some spares from Polar Lights. My advice to anyone who builds this kit cover the standard kit decals with Microscale Liquid Decal Film first, it will save you some grief, I got the tip off a friend and it worked really well. I have had this issues with most of the standard Polar Lights kit decals i have used. With that all done it was just getting it all connected and mounted then final testing. Lights off and action. https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aqom4v1uZi83hXOtNvsAOUFmlMNg I know its not everybody's favourite subject but i have to say i enjoyed this project. Thanks for Looking Danny

Yes, the initial set we're undersized, I emailed and they we're replaced no problem, moulding shrink etc.

Sounds very logical, if you look at the Hercs at Miramar you see a mixture, I just worked from the specific images of the Bird I had chosen and they we're all flaps up. I get the logic though, good info and good luck with the Commando II. Google maps  MCAS Miramar Hurcs 32.877076,-117.124618

Yes Dave, no problem, nice decals mate, a little softener and they pulled down perfectly, I had to do a bit of cutting to get the bund numbers I needed but that was just the specifics of the paint scheme, 511 is Hawk but if you ever make new batch another Hawk or two would be great. Regards Danny

Thanks guys Danny

Glad to have got it done, good job they dont make em in 1/32 Regards Danny

Arghh, i will try again, time for Imgur

Seems to open up ok my end. Danny

Hi all, it's been a while, I started this project back in February 2017 and managed to get 6 weeks done before commission work took over. By that time most of the hard work was done which just left the painting to do, well for the most part. I was working to copy VMGR-352 QB-6762 as I wanted to make sure I was working to an existing Harvest Hawk, I managed in the end to find some good reference material for 762 and I like the colour scheme so that was the final choice. I have had a bit of free time between commissions so the last two weeks I have got stuck in again. To recap, all the raised panel lines have been re scribed (Never Again, seriously!!) and I have used the Attack Squadron Harvest Hawk Conversion set which covers the AN-AAQ-30 Targeting Pod and the Hellfire Rack. I ended up using the Eduard AGM-114 Hellfire set as this was far more accurate. The Attack Squadron parts also included some very nice wheels, fuel pod, sponsons and most importantly replacement engines to correct the grim kit ones. I was tempted to use the rather nice Attack Squadron flap set but unless I was doing an inflight diorama or a maintenance diorama it was pretty pointless as the flaps would be level in reality so that idea was quickly scraped. There were a fair number of other modifications including the port parachute door which needed two launch tubes for the GBU-44 Viper Strike and GBU-176 Griffin Missiles, various windows have been filled and re positioned and the addition of the FCS Optics module either side of the parachute doors. Decals are a mixture of the kit decals and the Flying Leatherneck set, this with a little work gave me all the required numbers for the airframe in question. The walkway decals were the wrong colour and way to wide so I have masked and sprayed them on. Finished up yesterday. Thanks for Looking Danny

Thanks, badass, I like that

Thanks guys. Danny