REALLY great work on the x-wing!! Fantastic.

Yeah the X-Wing looks fantastic!

silentbob33

Looks better and better! I'll have to pick up some of that masking film the next time I'm at Hobby Lobby

me too. was at the LHS yesterday and noticed a number of different metal colors in VALLEJO AV. i think i will pick up a couple so i can have different colored panels. never done that before and it's that or try out my COMART gray washes airbrush set to get different colors.

Hi, guys! I bought a house in November so I've been crazy busy, but as of this evening I am back in business with a big new work space and looking forward to getting started. Just a few things to finish up and then I'll be ready to start on my Aliens APC!

All the builds look awesome so far!

Really looking forward to that APC Kaf...My and i'm sure most guys' favourite episode in the Alien legacy.

Hi all. I am finally ready to start on my build of the Battlestar Galactica. I've only recently come back to modelling and this will be my first build of a kit popped in the 21st century. Hopefully it goes together better than the two "vintage" 70s kits I've done so far.

I am planning to light the kit, which will be a first for me if I pull it off. I'll also be adding the Paragrafix photoetch and ACreations Aztek decals to the build.

I've started with adding hull inserts where the fighter bays retract into the hull. These have red lights when extended so I've cut some holes out to mount in some light through.

Then I began mounting the hull insert photoetch. The original kit part has no surface detail in this part and the hull inserts are designed to add some relief detail in here.

I had to also cut holes through the PE to allow the light through. Unfortunately the job wasn't done a cleanly as I would like. Can anyone recommend a way to cut/punch square holes about 0.5 cm or so square into a piece of thin brass?

I've also begun prepping the nose for lighting, by installing some white LEDs and then lining the lower part of the nose with metal foil.

Thanks all for the compliments. This project is complete. However, I'm only using the kit stand as a temporary holding device until I can find a better idea for a base. Suggestions?

Anyway, I hope you like the finished product.

Gorgeous XWing Beckyhead!! What a beauty....VERY well done, congrats!

Awesome X-Wing!  Love the weathering

Beautiful X-wing!

I do have a stand suggestion. Go to a craft store and get a floral arrangement Styrofoam base in the shape of a hemisphere. Paint it like the deathstar, glue it to a wood plaque painted black. Run a post through it to hold your excellent X-wing!

Bob's your uncle.    

Edit:

Like this:

Hey Rob very cool, I really like the PE for the interior of the fighter hangers.

BH: WOW, that's a fantastic job! I love the weathering!!!

Mach71: Very cool Leif Erikson! And love the planet base, great idea and it looks really good!

Wow, Mach, cool ship...what sorta scale or size is that? That hemisphere looks huge?

Wow Beckyhead.  Your X-wing is simply stunning to look at.

How did you chip the yellow paint on the nose?

Thanks Rob...Micro Mask applied with a toothpick after masking for the yellow stripe, airbrushed the Insignia Yellow, the simply removed the dried masking fluid when complete.

That is a great concept, but I am looking for something a little more subtle....

Beckyhead, the X-wing looks great!

Rob H, I'm looking forward to seeing more of the BG!

As for me...I've had to pack up my modeling stuff since we had company in town and what not but I'm still planning on finishing my X-wing on time.  It might be a while before I get my stuff back out.  Its kind of nice having a clean house again!

AMAZING WORK, BH!! That paint job is incredible. I hope my falcon looks that good.

Rob, very cool lighting work on the BG!

I've been so busy with my 10 week old kid that I haven't had time to do any updates, but I have a small update today.

Finally got all the lighting installed and glued down. She's ready to close up for good.

Checked for light leaks.

Then realized that I needed a 2.1mm plug connector between the gooseneck stand and the ship itself, or else I wouldn't be able to separate the ship from the base (which would be handy if I transport it). So I spliced in a connection and glued the female connecter inside the gun well.

Glued on the sidewalls, which pretty much means I'm glueing the model together for good. I hope those LEDs last a good long while and there are no short circuits!

Then realized that I'm missing a piece! E33. It goes here...

Looked high and low and it's nowhere to be found. So I decided to scratch it. Found some references and I'm currently working on that.

Time to mask some sections off and prime her up! Really looking forward to painting her.

Thanks for looking.

Wow, that MF is spectacular! The lighting really adds a lot to the kit.

Rob H, that PE looks great. What area of the ship is it? Where the hanger pods retract to?

Rob S, That is the R2/AMT re-release of the UFO mystery ship converted to the Lief Ericson.

The stated scale is 1/350 I think. The planet is 8 in across.

Mach71, you are right, its the part of the ship where the hanger pods pull in.  I am surprised Moebius left it so bare.

That's an impressive bit of electrical kit in the Falcon SenorModel.  I nope my BG wiring job will look half as tidy when I am done!

That Falcon looks fantastic SM, looking forward to each update.

Thanks, fellas. I'm prepping it for a coat of primer. Any suggestions on how/if I should clean it before I prime it. I washed all the parts at the start of the build, but I wonder if I should use some q-tips to go over everything. Any suggestions?

It couldn't hurt, considering the hard work you put into the lighting, i'm sure you'd want the best paint job possible. In addition, I always wear latex gloves when working to prevent any dirt, or oils from my hands that can mar the finish. Just do not bring out to the back yard and put a hose to it!

Keep up the awesome work!

I would use simple dish detergent and warm water, and wipe down with Q-tips and a small sponge. Don't saturate the sponge, just wet enough to apply and have control.

Yeah as BH said a little detergent and warm water is all I use. Though after rinsing I let the model dry overnight. You might want to be a little more careful there about getting water on the electronics you added though.

I ended up getting some isopropyl alcohol and q-tips and cleaning it that way. That seemed to work really well. The q-tips were dirty after I rubbed them on each section of the ship, so I think they pulled up a fair amount of deposits. Glad I did it.

Primed!

Looks good, you're coming right along!

More progress with the "Bucket".

I have been busy wiring up resistors and LEDs. I've forgone the investment in a commercial kit primarily because I think it should be simple enough to do myself. Also, because of all the money I've dropped on the aftermarket decals and PE sets, the kit is already far and away the most expensive I've ever put together.

At this point I am planning to install the following LEDs:

2 white in the nose for the mid-deck lights

2 white in each of the landing bays

3 red per side for where the fighter bays retract

1 blue in each of the four outboard engines

2 blue in the central hull engines

I've started to make modifications to the hull to accommodate running the wiring into the outboard engines. I've temporarily mounted half of each of the engine pods so that I could drill the holes for the wires to pass through.

I've also finished assembling the nose, which in hind-sight I should have kept in subassemblies until finished painting and applying the armour decals. I'll certainly go that route with the rest of the kit. Based on a suggestion I saw on another thread, I added a few needles to represent some of the missing antennae on the "chin" of the nose.

Looks good Rob! I've thought about lighting my classic Galactica but so far haven't gotten around to trying it.

I finally got some primer on this guy. Used Tamiya fine light grey.

Then pre-shaded with german grey.

Added the PE grills.

Then started base coating it with a mixture of flat white, gloss white, with a pinch of nuetral grey and brown.

Thanks for looking.

I applied the base coat to the falcon this week. Tried to keep the pre-shade effect very subtle.

Masked off all the red panels on the upper side. Sponged on some Humbrol masking liquid for the paint chips. Applied a custom mix of muted red tamiya paint.

I think the red panels came out a little too dark, so I'm going to give them a light sanding with fine grit sandpaper to beat them back a little. Then I'll sponge on a few nuetral gray paint chips.

Still have the bottom panels to do and then I'll attach the cockpit and start the weathering. 

Comments welcome. Thanks for looking!