"Aliens" Dropship

Looking GOOD !

Bud

Here are a few more pics.  They are out of order but I don't think anyone cares.

The cockpit assembly didn't fit well at all.  Either it fit snug on the top of the fuselage or the bottom...not both.  So I chose to make it snug on top and do some serious filling and sanding on the bottom:

I was able to make it fit snugly on the top part of the fuselage but it still required some sanding and filling:

I had to make my own gear doors:

The kit wanted the rear skid "bay" to look like this...:

...but I cut the piece included in the kit...:

...and made like this in reference to the film:

I also touched up the rear strut leg and modified it to look more like an Oleo strut using styrene tubing:

Don't worry...still have more pics.

Very cool craft!! The Dropship was pretty rough and battle worn in the movie and this can be duplicated with paint tinting, heavy weathering and washes. This will probably look better than a lot of overscale panel lines in 1:72 scale.

There WAS an old issue that showed a build of this model..we're talking about back in the late 80's-90's. If you can find it it might help. If not, you are doing a great job and I cant wait to see the progress!

Thanks everyone.  The scale is 1/72.

I cut out a little piece of "flattened" sprue and made this probe:

Here it is with the first coat of olive drab paint.  I used Tamyia acryllic paint thinned 3:1:

I painted a grey primer coat on it first looking for flaws but I still missed a few spots that needed to be smoothed out after the first coat of OD:

\/ \/ Here it is with the second coat of OD.  I think I was holding my airbrush too far away because the paint had a real "dusty" texture to it.  I buffed it out with an old cotton cloth and applied another coat of paint.  Maybe someone could advise me on this?

This time I held the airbrush a little closer to the model which resulted in a smoother finish.  There's still a couple of spots that need to be evened out, though:

I filed down the ends of some clear sprue sticks, cut off the tips, and dipped them into Future to make landing light lenses:

I completed the forward weapons pods:

I also attached the skids to the struts.  The rear skid/strut was modified heavily.  Here you can see I used styrene tubing to create a more realistic piston look:

...and I added some thead to create some hydraulic lines:

The rear pod arms supplied with the kit come with wedges to be glued on the end of the arm where it attaches to the fuselage.  When attached it would be at this angle:

...but I filed down the "wedges" so that the arms weren't so steep, like the movie version:

Well, I've given it a third coat of OD and I've removed the masking.  I figure I can do minor touch-ups without screwing of the overall finish:

I also decided to paint the ramp in case I ever get the 1/72 APC:

This is where I'm at now.  I just touched up some various little mistakes in the red and white lines and gave it a coat of Future in preparation for decals and to protect the finish.  I still have to paint the skids and struts, mount the forward pods, attach the thrust nozzles, and weather and wash it.  Hopefully it'll be done in the next week or two.

Thanks.  I started this on Jan 1st and I've been working on it non stop until today (I've been on vacation).  Unfortunately I have to go back to work so that will slow things down, although, most of the hard stuff is finished.

I'm gonna be gone for a couple of days so I figure I'll put a thicker coat of future on it.  When I get back it'll be totally dry and I'll have avoided the temptation of playing with it while it's curing.

I need to weather those panel lines down a bit so they are not so bright.

If I had to guess right now I'd say that I've invested around 60 hours into it +/- 10 hours.  We're looking at about an average of 4-5 hours per day for about 14 days.  And it's still not finished!

I probably have another 15-20 hours left.  Maybe less?

I'll be back in few days.  Adios

Very nice work there! The only problem I see is you've reminded me I still need to get my hands on one of those...

I glued on all remaining parts, except for the landing lights/lenses and applied the decals.  I applied a couple of coats of Future before applying the decals which is why it looks shiny.  I don't think that I did very well with the Future.  The texture was a bit grainy.  These photos were taken right after I put the decals on so many of them haven't "set" yet:

Here's the rear skid completed and painted.  The flash on the camera makes the silver pistons difficult to see:

Almost done!  All I need to do now is oil wash the rear pods, dull coat it, weather it, and attach the landing lights.

Your project is looking great!

On that pebbly Future texture: I have used Future and not had this problem yet, but I have read on other forums of a possible fix. You can try spraying a very light "flash" coat of Windex on the model. The ammonia in the Windex will cause the Future to soften just enough to level out and stay glossy and smooth. Can't vouch for it on experience but it sounds good.

Like just about every finish applied by airbrush, Future is best applied "thinned" with a 50/50 thinner of ammonia/water. Experiment a little with this to get the feel for it. Also, in todays rush towards acrylics and Future gloss coats, dont forget the old tried and true enamels, probably best represented by Testors Model Master line of paint.

Their gloss enamel gives good results and is easily thinned with mineral spirit.

WOW Now that's a GREAT Build

2 \

Bud

Thanks for the replies and compliments.

About the Future...I did try thinning it 3:1 with 91% Alcohol and I ran it at about 25-30 PSI.  I think the regulator on my compressor is shot, though, becuase the PSI fluctuatated alot.  I definitely should have experimented on an old model first.

I cut out a piece of cotton cloth an sprayed Windex and a little water on it to dilute it out a bit.  Then I "buffed" out the areas that looked the worst..but that was before the decals.  Can I spay the windex on it now without destroying the decals?  Will dullcoat hide the grainyness?

Can I spray the windex on it now without destroying the decals? 

I wouldnt risk it.

Will dullcoat hide the grainyness?

Yes, to some degree.

Can I spray the Windex on it now without destroying the decals? 

I wouldnt risk it.

Will dullcoat hide the grainyness?

Yes, to some degree. I am finally convinced of the value of a pressure surge/buffer tank on an airbrush air source. For the longest time I used an oiless flapper type compressor, hoping the large regulator/water trap would do the job. It doesn't it well enough, IMHO. I am on the prowel now, in fact, for a vessel I can use as a tank.

DO consider using an enamel gloss coat next time, too.

Ya know,  I thought about using the enamel gloss coat before I used the Future but I opted to try the Future just to see how well it worked.  But in the back of my mind I thought it would be a good idea to use something that was different than the base coat.  Now whatever I use to remove the Future will remove the acryllic paint, as well.  I kinda screwed myself.

We'll see how it turns out.  I should be finished by tomorrow (Friday).

Finally got to stop by a 'Net cafe this morning where I could see these.  Excellent work thus far!  Can't wait to see this one finished.  I think your modifications are going to make this one really stand out from the others. 

Thank you.

I washed the rear weapons pods today and applied a little dullcoat to the front fuselage just to see how it would look.  The dullcoat really diminished the grainy Future so it should look pretty good after I do the entire model.  I took some pics but I'm not at home right now so I'll post 'em later.

The "wash" in the pods was my first real attempt at a wash.  It adds quite a bit of depth and I think it turned out pretty good.  I used Black and Burnt Umber oil paint thinned with turpentine.  The cockpit wash was kind of experimental so I wouldn't count it as my first real attempt.

Some of the decals silvered a little bit so I'll have to fit that as well.

Ok, here's the Dropship with the pods washed and dullcoat applied.  I had to touch up the wash after these pics were taken.  It might be a little hard to see in the pics but the dullcoat pretty much fixed the Future:

Here are some before and after shots showing the grainy Future then the dullcoat:

One thing I've noticed here is that the flash on the camera really brings out any flaws in the decals/paint.  Some of the errors I see in the pictures are hardly noticable in normal light.

It does Matt, thanks. I thin the Future, but I use a minor ratio of thinner to Future, something around 20:80 or even less.

After using Future for a long time, I believe I will go back to enamel gloss coats thinned to the same ratio's, but with a "hot" thinner like laquer thinner. Using a wide tip on the A/B, with light coats, I expect to get a smooth, thinly lain gloss.

Oh, and dont forget to use a "dust booth" when applying gloss coats. I used to use a plastic dry cleaning bag - or nowadays a large, clear trash bag. Drape this over a 24" frame and suspend it, then paint and allow the gloss to cure inside it... to minimize dust building up on your models.

Well here it is.  For all intents and purposes its done.  But as I was glueing in the landing light lense covers I realized they don't fit at all.  It won't be a hard fix but I have to go to work tonight and I'll be gone for a few days.  The weathering doesn't show up very well in the pics...but its there.

Ah man, I just noticed I forgot to put the little minigun barrel on the end of the gun under the nose.  That should be easy, though.

Superbly executed sir!

THat is VERRRRRRY nice. THe hitng looks lethal and insect-like.

Now comes the best part - watching the movie and adding the weathering! As I recall, the ship in the movie was weathered and battered. I mean, dropping in from low orbit must be tough on the thing.

Even modern aircraft, with all their high tech features, can look a little tired after a few years in service.

So haul out the DVD and pop some corn - it's time to review the references (this may be the best part of Sci-Fi modeling...the references are movies or story books!)

Ok, here's the official "I'm done" pics.  I finally put on the light lenses and did some additional weathering:

Not perfect, of course, but I think I did ok considering this was my first build in 14 years.  I'm glad its over, though.  I was ready to move on to something else.

This should be the link for the entire album.  I posted about 120 pics in there:

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k206/Fly-n-hi/Aliens%20Dropship/?start=all