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MPC Snowspeeder


Alain Gadbois

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Hi all!

Sometimes you have a kit that's started and then gets put back in the box for some reason. Then one day, you open the box and the interest suddenly picks up again.

This cycle has repeated itself a few times in this project, mainly because there are so many things to do to improve this kit that I would get bored after doing some difficult part.

 

Anyway here it is. Purchased around 1989 or 1990.

 

yIl1jfB.jpg 

 

A bit of a descriptin of what was done then: First step was getting rid of the raised details and recribe with the best references in various books. Some styrene has yelllowed with age!

FSmkuRN.jpg

 

Replaced guns with aluminium tubing.umv6aAD.jpg

 

The canopy framing is too thick, so is reduced and I will need to finish the job on the rear windows.

RL7Wczv.jpg

 

The infamous gnomes! Compared to a 1/20 scale Tamiya F1 pilot body, which can fit nicely in the cockpit (see lower) and could give an idea of the actual scale of the kit.

IZNZw3S.jpg

 

Engaving of the underside, done about 5 years ago. Central part to be completed.

TUaEYaM.jpg

 

The much too shallow floor can be lowered by getting rid of the tub supplied and lower the bottom fuselage section, that has been modified (compare to the instruction sheet).

9yhLtzm.jpg

 

The resulting underside, no glue yet. As you can tell, this part had been glued in place before I decided to improve the kit, necessitating ripping it out later. 

2OLhEH5.jpg

 

The engine section had also been glued in place until I couldn't live with the extra thick (cooling?) fins on the engine. Managed to chop nearly half out before putting the kit away one more time! 

9Ohyn0i.jpg

 

And thus it had remained for the last few years until last week...

 

bye for now!

 

Alain

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4 minutes ago, LSP_K2 said:

Looking good. I love these old kits. At one time I had a bunch of AMT and MPC stuff.

The nice thing about the Snowspeeder is the size, and the much better newer kits are quite small in comparison. I got a few MPC X-wings and a bunch of quite good AMT (?) Tie fighters donated by a friend in variously started condition many years ago. Started to check those recently and might get to build them after the Snowspeeder.

 

Alain

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I managed to finish removing all the kit fins with the help of Dremel,cutters, sanding stick and sharp X-Acto. The engine section has been glued back on and the three types of fins in progress is shown.

 

whuk2qf.jpg

 

The finished larger fin is shown in place temporarily. Note it is a sandwich of three parts.

 

u5xag7h.jpg

 

Alain

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3 hours ago, LSP_Mike said:

Keep going on this! Looks good.

Thanks!

Great stuff to show you all today!

First, I have started casting the larger central engine fins. I need eleven in total and I am much to lazy to cut and shape all these pieces.

 

7pahv8P.jpg

 

And I have just received the Falcon 3D printed cockpit set for the MPC kit. Beautifully printed parts, and very well packaged.Here is the link for those curious. 

 

https://www.falcon3dparts.com/products/cockpit-set-for-amt-ertl-snowspeeder 

 

Here are some pics of the parts, and they appear to be very accurate. They are a straight replacement for the kit parts.

 

zN34vah.jpg

 

Front

Stn92db.jpg

 

Rear

lS8s8Oj.jpg

 

Clear part for rear cockpit screen

OqKRsiu.jpg

 

MPC vs 3D parts!

YwgrSuY.jpg

 

Seats

MC8gsbO.jpg

 

Pilots and clear visors

l5RuKqa.jpg

 

 

Harnesses. Actually only two of them are necessary.

djtUo6f.jpg

 

The casting base is very easy to remove, the cutters not really necessary.

pFQ5ug6.jpg

 

Very good fit!

2EQs03g.jpg

 

Very exciting to check over the parts. Scratch building all this would have been quite time consuming so this set was very welcome when I discovered it very recently. 

One major reason to work on the kit again.

 

Bye for now!

Alain

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10 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

That cockpit is certainly a major improvement!

 

Kev

Light and day!

 

9 hours ago, LSP_Ray said:

An understatement! Huge improvement!

It would have been a huge amount of work to acheive this by scratch building, with all the rectangular frames and recesses.

 

9 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

 

I just noticed the price, too, which is also huge!

 

Kev

I know, but considering the price vs the amount of work to get the same result by hand, it seemed to be very much worth the price.

 

2 hours ago, The Madhatter said:

That is a very nice update set. I had a good laugh at the kit supplied "pilot" figure. Wonder what drugs whoever sculpted that was on? I almost feel sorry for it :D Did it come with arms at least?

 

The sculptors did not understand the very reclined position of the pilots in the Snowspeeder, hence the compressed torso. And they do get arms in the kit. Still quite a horrible figure!

 

4 hours ago, Model_Monkey said:

Brilliant.

Thanks!

 

Alain

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