The Madhatter

So, here I am with another update. The roof is finished - or finished enough for now. It's looking pretty good to me. It's hard trying to keep it all in scale but I think I am doing alright. A test fit of the bridge and neck was okay but I had to remove some stuff off the back left sidewall to allow the neck to slide all the way in. The fit is not the best - I'll be honest, I'm not sure if it's all me, or part me and part kit or just the kit itself. Either way, I'll have to think carefully about how the final construction is going to go. Well, that's me done for another couple of weeks I think. I'll be making a start on the lower level sidewalls tonight hopefully, then the main body which will be very time consuming I think. Till then Adios amigos Si

Nice one! Great to see one of these being built. I've been debating whether to get one of these or not. I think I will. The cockpit looks really nice. I bought 2 sets of RB Barrels once for a couple of GAU-8's but I couldn't get the barrels to fit inside the holes of the plates, so I gave up on them, then vowed never again to buy them again. I had thought that maybe I'd bought a bad batch for one of them but I struck the same issue on the other set. Maybe it was just me seeing as everyone else seems to have no issues with them Looking forward to seeing more of this as it comes along

Wish I'd known about those masks when I built mine - I might have done that scheme instead of the Czech version It's a great kit from Trumpeter - although I didn't get the step you had - that was just unfortunate for you but you recovered it nicely. Looking forward to the next update Si

I just can't get over how huge that kit is! Great progress Tom - really looking forward to the next update Si

I've always liked the looks of the ATR - it's such a sleek looking machine. Great job on what looks to be quite a challenging kit. Are you going to sell your engines as AM parts? You'd get a few takers I reckon

Hi again Thought I'd share some pics of the successful lighting test of the hangar bay. I'm very happy with how it's come out. The light's aren't too strong which is good. Not far from finishing the top section. The windows have all been drilled out and is now ready for the fun task of installing the fiber. Joy Thanks for looking

Thanks guys I'm hoping to install the hangar bay lighting this weekend so will have some pics of that soon. I'm also almost finished detailing the sides, then it's the roof, so once it's all done, I'll take some more pics then. Thanks for sticking around and commenting. I know it's an old thread that just won't die, but I'll get there eventually

Got more work done with the top layer 3/4 finished. I still have more surfacing to do but I'm hoping to knock out a fair bit tonight (if World of Warships doesn't interrupt me) I won't go to crazy on the roof though but you can see a clear difference between the kit surface and mine. Some might say that's not a good thing but I like it. Besides, once the paint goes on the busyness will disappear. I've glued on the sidewalls and then will drill out the remaining windows. The roof is just sitting on there until I have threaded through the fibers - a task I am not looking forward to. I still have to drill out that center bit on the nose of the lower layer. I'll run some piping into it to make it more interesting. That's all I have but thanks for looking Si

SMDs (micro LED) can be used as a source of light but its finding a way of securing it in place will be the biggest challenge. Ive used them before by cutting out a plastic backing plate to glue on the end of a tube, then drill out 2 very small holes to run the wires out the back and hot glue the SMD in place. You can then use some heat shrink tube ove the whole thing and lightly heat crimp one end so you can feed the fibers into it to the light. That way, the fibers will stay where they are and you light block the whole thing. If none of this makes any sense, tell me and I'll do up a photographical guide. Might be easier

Usually I get it from www.thefiberopticstore.com in 30 foot lengths. I currently have about 60 ft to install which may or may not be enough

Continuing along now with the painting and installation of the main hangar bay. It's been drilled out in places for lights and I'm waiting on delivery of my LED tape I've also started on the top layer of the superstructure - or wedding cake as it has been referred to by others. Test fitting of the neck shows there could be some issues ahead, but nothing insurmountable Anyway, that's the end of this update but I will post more pics soon enough Thanks for looking Si

Hey guys It's been a while since I last touched this but after numerous side projects (some successful some....not so much) I figure it was about time to get this going again and maybe even finish it this year - although being over half way through I doubt it. I'd just like to finish it all together really.. So, I have finished detailing the hangar bay and it is currently drying off the black base coat ready for the light strips to be attached. I am waiting on 2 new ones as I screwed up the first set by cutting it in the wrong place. I had the right number of LEDs for the amount of holes but the strip requires another 2 at the end for it to work properly, so the last 2 LEDs didn't light up. Good thing they're cheap! I'll have to black out the last 2 LEDs once I install the new set. As you can also see, there is a lot of artistic license going into this. None of this stuff is on the filming model but then I am building this for me and not a paying person so it's kind of irrelevant really The TIE hangar is installed and it actually works. Just need to tidy a few things up and then that's done. I had made a start on the side walls in Jan before I lost patience with it and they haven't moved since these pics were done I also painted (badly) the Blockade runner. This will need a lot of touching up before I'm happy with it Still a long way to go yet but hopefully I can keep up some momentum and get something done. I was looking at the photos I took of the Super Star destroyer and started to drool at the thought of starting it. Then I remembered it's resin and there is a fair amount of work to do on it and the drool dried up pretty quickly, but I will start it hopefully once this one's done - if I haven't over detailed myself out by then. Anyway, that's all I have for now but thanks for sticking around and having a look-see Cheers Si

It's insanely amazing work that you do! I really envy you fellas that can do this 3D printing How are you going to put the interior in with the body closed up like that? Is the bottom removable or will you just slide it all in through the rear as one piece?

thanks guys. I've started the new(ish) Tamiya NSX which I will be using the same method except with Clear Blue instead of Red. Although I am also warming to the idea of using Clear Smoke too.

Hi guys This is the latest machine off my work bench - Revell's BMW DTM done as a street machine. It's a hard to find now kit and I'm sure a few hard core car nuts have groaned at what I've done to it, but I like it. Its Tamiya Clear Red over Alclad Stainless Steel. I love the look myself but I leave it for you to decide. [/url Next car up will be Tamiya's new NSX with LB Worx Body Kit (once I've built it that is) Thanks for looking Si

Super impressive build going on here I must say! The only thing I would suggest is having a removable building plate where a mounting pole can go. Not every modeller will want to destroy some ground work to be able to install a mounting pole. Personally I think it would be a selling point to be able to remove a plug rather than have to rebuild some of those details. Looking forward to the next update

thanks guys! It's not perfect but I do like the scheme

Hi guys This is my second to last project for a while before I take a much needed modelling break. I've had this in the unfinished pile for ages and decided to get it done. It was originally going to be in the RAF 20th Anniversary scheme but I got tired of looking at BOG, so I decided to liven it up somewhat into this. I went with the Landor scheme as I thought it would suit it nicely. I used a custom mix of paints and the decals are a mix of Draw Decals for the BA writing, 26 Decals fir the windows and a friend of mine did up the tail logo from an image I found. Kit very kindly offered to do it for me, however, my other friend jumped in and completed them for me I had to do the doors myself using a custom mask based on the dimensions of the 26 set (British Caledonia). They aren't the best but they'll do Anyways, enough talking, here it is - my Landor VC-10: That's it for now, but thanks for looking Si

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the canopy. I should've fixed it up before I posted pics but I just wanted it off my bench. I'll go back and fix it another day I went with the wings in that configuration as I wanted the "raptor" look; as if it were attacking with wings out spread like that. I know I mean :)

hey guys I have been playing around with this F-35 for a few weeks now in between another project I have been tinkering on which will also soon be finished. I've often thought the F-35 was pretty ugly and so decided that I may have to do something about that. I'm not sure it's as pretty as it could be, but I am happy with it I've reversed the wings and made them out of sheet styrene. I added some canards because canards are cool and reversed the tail fins I also added some body panels which you can't really see under the paint. The decals are from an F-15 kit I had lying around except the roundels which I painted on It was just a fun project to help try lift my stymied modelling mood of late. Anyways, tell me what you think - good or bad thanks for looking guys Si

Despite it being a crap kit, you've done an awesome job on it! I love those colours

That looks fantastic John! Im most impressed that you stuck with it and finished it. Everyone is their own worst critic, including myself, but from where I sit, I can't see anything wrong with it. Its been awesome watching you bring this build to life. Thanks so much for keeping going and posting the updates. Si

Very nicely done indeed! I have the Airfix version in the pile but I just can't bring myself to do all the rescribing required or get the AM parts to bring it up to spec. I'll wait for the Modelcollect one to be released I think. I'm going to borrow your window tinting idea, though, for which ever version I get.

Thanks Bryan The paint is just Tamiya black straight from a rattle can Cheers Si

Hi guys As a side project to my Star Destroyer, I have been building Revell's C-7R for a bit of a change. However, I didn't go down the yellow road, I went down the black road. Thankfully, I didn't have any issues getting my body to fit on or have any interference in the engine and the hood areas. I am painfully aware of the paint bleed at the rear and the other finish issues it has - I will try to fix that up soon. The rear wing is also slightly off which is of course something I fixed AFTER I took the photos. Opps. I took a couple of shots to show the interior before it went in as you don't get to see it all now Well, that's it. It was a fun little side project and I'm glad I did it. It looks like a Corvette and to me, that's what matters Thanks for looking Si