Troy Molitor Posted October 4, 2019 Share Posted October 4, 2019 Go Vaughn go! spacewolf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 17 hours ago, Dave Williams said: Looking good! My first impression on looking at the kit is, how am I going to paint all the parts without accidentally filling in all of those tiny pinholes for the lights to shine through? Good question. The holes are reasonable size.. we shall see what happens when I get to that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 8 hours ago, ringleheim said: It looks like a great kit and it really captures the look of the "real" ship from the movies...but why did they have to make it so small! I wish all of these Bandai Star Wars kits were presented in larger scales. Has Bandai mentioned doing a really big Star Destroyer? Even the Zvezda kit is too small. I agree that I'd love to see bigger scale stuff from them.. a B-wing in 1/32 please !! That being said these are being produced mostly for the Japanese market and sizes traditionally are in tiny scale (with the odd exception.. Yamato 2199 in 1/500)... albeit with stunning detail. I was actually surprised and VERY pleased when they announced this kit. I wouldn't hold my breath for anything much bigger but I'm VERY willing to be surprised again !! Vandy 1 VX 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 8 hours ago, Out2gtcha said: Wow, great stuff Vaughn! I just got the kit in hand myself and am also very impressed. I see the most detailed sheet with explanation of the lighting setup is in all Japanese! Yup.. but with a bit of work you can 'sus out' whats needed. I had no issues doing it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 4 hours ago, Troy Molitor said: Go Vaughn go! ok... OK... I'm a goin'...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 Back to the build !! Did I say this thing goes together fast ?!! Next issue... the battery box/ bridge shield set up... a plug in tower and three lights for the bridge... The two rear tabs fit into slots... These front tabs fit under the side tabs to hold everything in place.. And here in lays the big issue for me.. not just to change the batteries but just to turn the lights on or off you have to remove the super structure and light shield.... this shield takes a bit of fiddling to get into place.. I can see the forward tabs getting worn quickly. jimbo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 The superstructure is a jig saw puzzle.. but typically goes together painlessly and looks amazing. Again, they give you stickers to block light bleed.. I used black paint instead. I was thinking about those red lights we see in close up shots.. came up with an idea of how to do it... stretched clear sprue pulled through from the inside till it jams... Nipped off and Tamyia clear red dabbed on the inside bit... Backlit by my bench lamp... jimbo, LSP_Kevin and Uilleann 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 The seams on the bridge need help.. lots of seams that just are not tight. pin hole at the rear of the bridge structure.. The neck... However, these are far from deal breakers... Stretched sprue to the rescue !! Nip off the length needed, lay into or onto the offending seam and dab with extra thin glue with a fine tip brush... Any protruding plastic or mess from the glue blends into the surrounding detail... Uilleann, LSP_Kevin, Out2gtcha and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 5, 2019 Author Share Posted October 5, 2019 (edited) A neat bit of trivia... you will notice the port side super structure is highly detailed... Whilst the stbd side is bare... Fear not !! This was not a mistake.. this kit is faithful to the filming miniature .. they simply didn't shoot closeups from the stbd side, only using it for distance shots so they simply did not waste time detailing something that would never be seen on screen. There was some light bleed around the base.. Strips from thin sheet and more stretched sprue fixed that. For the side walls I clamped everything and ran extra thin into the upper seams.. area's were there were gaps were filled with more stretched sprue. The extra work paid off big time !! A few pesky pin holes here.. they will get the same treatment.. but now I gotta think about a base for this thing.... Came up for a name for the display... 'Shadow of the Empire'... but now I gotta think about a base for this thing !! Edited October 5, 2019 by spacewolf Uilleann, Christoffer Lindelav, Gazzas and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Molitor Posted October 5, 2019 Share Posted October 5, 2019 Great update. I wonder if someone will ever put some opposing magnets in place and keep the Star Destroyer hovering over the city? The light display on the Star Destroyer really looks the part. Way cool. Love this venture Vaughn. Thanks for showing us the way forward. spacewolf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 On 10/4/2019 at 11:48 PM, Troy Molitor said: Great update. I wonder if someone will ever put some opposing magnets in place and keep the Star Destroyer hovering over the city? The light display on the Star Destroyer really looks the part. Way cool. Love this venture Vaughn. Thanks for showing us the way forward. I'm afraid the model is too heavy for that, though if someone could figure out a way to do it it would look awesome. The lights are very convincing and subtle, not overpowering like fiber optics. Glad you are enjoying !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 So... it's back to that base.... Time to break out the sheet plastic !! A 12 X 8 in sheet was cut, then framing with 1 inch edging. Angle supports added and edge sheeting.... Edges were sanded and another 12 X 8 sheet added to the bottom to stiffen everything up. Test fitting with the City... For the mount, a hole was drilled and then supports added for the rod.. sorry for the crappy picture, didn't realize till too late how blurry it was. Final fitting.. It looks pretty good ! You can see the rod is on an angle to get things looking right. And this shot was what I was looking for ! Just about perfect !! Gazzas, TorbenD, Trak-Tor and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 6, 2019 Author Share Posted October 6, 2019 Painting... "we hates it precious !!".... but it must be done. A swirl of blues. purples and white for the base edges... Vallejo desert yellow and dark brown in a swirl pattern for the flat base. A name plate using a font I found on line, backed with blue, printed on photo paper, glued onto plastic and a raised edge from 1/16 strip added. Chrome silver from a Molowtow ink pen. One of my figure painting friends said I should add weathering/ staining to the walls of the city... I have some issues seeing slight color shifts so I did a bit but tried not to over do it. The city on the base... jimbo, Uilleann and LSP_Kevin 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 7, 2019 Author Share Posted October 7, 2019 The ship.... I figured it would take weeks. I've seen and read of people driving themselves nuts trying to get the look right. I didn't quite know what I was going to do but jumped in and started. First, a wash of Tamyia flat black with a drop of dish soap to cut the surface tension. No effort to be neat or tidy, just slopping it on. Next a few panels were cleaned off.. nothing consistent, totally random. Many of the raised square details were cleaned off as well. Vallejo Air white was layered on a bit at a time... I just went with it, more white in places, less in others. The black wash gave the thin white a greyish tone. I was extremely pleased and surprised at what I was getting from this... It was better than I'd hoped for... and I was done in one sitting.. I was gobsmacked ! The colors are subtle and hard to photograph but look amazing in person. jgrease, LSP_Kevin, Christoffer Lindelav and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacewolf Posted October 7, 2019 Author Share Posted October 7, 2019 Finally it's complete !! The lights are subdued as they would be in daylight over the city...but they show up. Low light shots show off the lights... A final beauty shot... The kit is great, just needs a bit more care than normal. It was a fun, fast build and came out much better than I'd hoped. Thanks for looking in !! Cheers Vaughn LSP_Kevin, Christoffer Lindelav, Out2gtcha and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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