Star Wars GB Episode II CLOSED

Okay, I am about 75% done with the weathering. I spend some time with Tamiya's weathering kits and also some chalk pastels to get her acceptable battle hardened and worn, but not too much so. I have some Flory washs to do yet and seal it in, build R2-D2 and then final assembly. 

BK

The Screamin kits are okay, they are the only ones I am aware of that are this large. The company has long since been gone and the only way I know of getting them is off of ebay. They have also done some horror figures, Freddie, Pinhead, Elvira and the like.

Bish, I have found that expanding foam in a can works well and is not as heavy. Keeps the shape of the figure too.

Getting the engines looking how I wanted is a big boost to the build for certain. I have to say that the kit is very good and the fit is great if not a tad tight in spots. The quality is very good and the detail level built in is quite good also. Don't get me wrong about the build, I do like this kit and find it one of the higher quality kits I've worked with. I am just forcing myself to get it built so I can have it out of my stash. What I really want to be building is my prop planes. So, I've put a self imposed duty of getting this one done and this is not helping me feel motivated about building it. On any other day/week/month I most likely would be very interested in detailing this one up. It's a worthy kit for sure.

BK

Falcon, AT-ST, lots of activity! I don't feel so alone anymore. :-)

BK, I know how you feel--just happens with a build sometimes, your enthusiasm flags and you have to push through. :-( Regardless, the engines turned out really nice. Maybe that little victory will be enough to keep you going? 

The X-Wing in general is a conundrum; the level of weathering for the X-Wing builds I've seen online seem to be all over the place, whereas the Y-Wing has more recognizable baseline of dirty. Not sure why.

And problems with decals duly noted. I had already planned to paint the stripes, so your experience is confirmation.

Wasn't aware of the Screamin' kits! Time to do some Googling. Sounds like they produced larger figures only, no ships?

As for my Y, getting down to the nitty-gritty of weathering and main assembly, with still more pipes to install (and, yes, I broke three of them). I won't post any more pics until she's done, since I'm close to the end. Maybe another week or so.

Cheers!

PB

Whaaaat?! Can't get into an X-wing build. This boggles the mind. Well, it is looking very good none the less. I am one of the purists that you spoke of, however, I can see your point and it does look good. Carry on BK, carry on!

I managed to complete the engines today as well. I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. Once the painting was done I used FLory wash black and rust to dirty them up a bit and then rubbed in some Tamiya Burnt orange and blue from their weathering kit. A quick buff with a soft cloth and another gloss clear and this is the result. I managed to get the color changed of heated metal I was trying to achieve and it's a nice motivator to have something new come out as you had hoped.

BK

Another update:

Spent some time deciding what direction I wanted to go with the engines on this kit and I have to say that I have never cared for the look of the white or off white engines that the movies or other modelers have done with them. That said keep in mind I spent my years in the Air Force working with Jet engines and I have always believed that, although in space, these engines resembled jet engines. That said I decided I wanted to make the engines look how I feel they should have always looked. So, I went ahead and started the process to make them look the way I want, not the way the movies or others have portrayed them.

Sorry to the purists out there, but I like the look better this way.

So, what I did was I painted the engines with Mr Metal Color 212 and 215, Iron and Dark Iron. The main body is Iron and the exhaust is Dark Iron, ever so slightly darker. These two colors are buffable paints and go on VERY dark. But once you hit them with a cotton bud and rub them a bit they begin to shine and brighten up; giving the surface a metal appearance. Now they need to be cleared because these metal colors come off VERY easy so handling them is a NO NO !! . Clear them and then continue to work with them. I will do more with rust and some blue and orange tones to bring out the burnt metal look later.

I also got all the decals on and I have to say, next time I'll paint them all on. Two reasons, one, they are a PITA to work with as they stick almost insantly and won't slide around, even with Micorset and water, and two, they just don't want to lay down over the surfaces. It would have turned out better to paint them on. 

My kit came with Millenium Falcon instructions which aren't very helpful here so I had to download some off the web and the images are poor. So, some of my decals are mis-placed for position, but it's too late now. UGH !! Oh well, moving along. 

One last thing before I go. I can't explain it but my heart just isn't in this kit. I could be spending much more time detailing it up and filling in seams and what ever but I just don't want to. So, I'll make it look decent but it's not by best effort for sure.

BK

That was me, but it was the MPC kit.

BK- That is looking nice. I did not realize how big the model is.

Bish - My Screamin collection is missing Han, Yoda and Luke. Luke is the hard one to find.

Got word that my next DeAgostini shipment was sent.  I hope to have some updates soon.

Porkbits

Oooo, this is going to be good! How dirty are you going for, BK? 

And thanks for the info, Stephen. I was not aware of the Screamin' kit.

 

Right now it is still pretty pristene. I plan to make it look well used and battle hardened. The painting and detail work on this one are taking all the time. The assembly is very simple and can be done start to finish in about and hour or less. So, to make this look truly good I will have to spend all my time weathering it up.

BK

Entering my ATST build that I've been chipping away at. It's going to be mounted on a base covered in overgrowth as it had been sitting for decades. I've taken inspiration from WW2 tanks and aircraft found in jungles and forrests.

Here is a quick pict of it and a link to my build log.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/6/t/165653.aspx

Oooo, this is going to be good! How dirty are you going for, BK? 

And thanks for the info, Stephen. I was not aware of the Screamin' kit.

Update on the X-Wing.

I finally got all the major parts painted to match without running out of my custom mix grey. Once that was complete I thinned down Tamiya X-2 White about 70% thinner and sprayed the whole kit with a light mist of white to brighten up the grey, still make the white appear dirty. I think it came out pretty good. I then began to paint the mismatched panels with tow different darker greys, both Tamiya. I then hit two more panels with Tamiya x-3 yellow green and very lightly painted them to make them appear faded. 

I also painted (as an experiment) the exhaust. I began with Alclad straight over the styrene followed by Tamiya clear Orange and then by MM clear red. The attempt was to give the engines a "lit" look as this will be posed in flight. Not as good as I had hoped, but it will have to do.

Now all the major painting is done I have to clear it and begin the finer detail work. Once the bulk of that is done I can begin to assemble the kit. Now that I have worked on this for a while I can say it is easier to handle and paint in pieces rather than whole. I should make good progess this week. Thanks for looking.

BK

Thanks Bish, sorry to tease about Chewie. I guess, like the new movie, we will have to wait.

Porkbits - This is Screamin's quarter scale vinyl kit, circa 1993. Bandai's kit is 1/3 the size and has the shiny plating. It replicates 3PO's metal very well, I hear. 

Nice, Stephen! Is that the Bandai kit?

Here is C3PO. Quick pics from my tablet.

Sorry, but you will have to wait on Chewie.

BK and Porkbits, Nice work going on there. Those will be fine additions to the rebel fleet.

As for me, Chewie was completed this weekend. I just need to get some good pics of him to post. Also, I made a lot of progress on C3PO. Again I need to get some pics to show you guys. Will do that ASAIC.

-Stephen

Recently got a Star Wars Biker Scout complete with his vehicle from Bandai. If this is still going I will include it or depending what I do start a build thread.

Great preshading, BK. Looking forward to seeing more.

Note to self: paint wings before assembly.

Here is an update on my X-wing. After having spent some time looking it over and paying attention to the assembly instructions, it became clear early on that painting this in a mostly assembled state just isn't gonna happen. There are just too many places you can't get to with the wings installed. For example, the wing configuation can only be painted with them in a exagerated open position. They simply cannot be painted once installed. 

Then I looked over the fuselage and noticed that it too had areas that simply can't be reached to paint once the wings are installed. SO, that said I have taken the task of painting this in stages of assembly.

I first primed the unit with Tamiya grey primer, decanted and applied with my Iwata at about 10 PSI. I then thinned Tamiya XF-1 flat black and pre-shaded all the panel lines. Once this was done I mixed up some Tamiya X-2 white with several drops of XF-1 flat black and a dash of XF-19 Sky Grey. I wanted a grey that was just slightly darker than the styrene it is moled in and I like how this is going so far. It should look nicely dirty once the weathering and such are applied.

I sprayed each and every panel individually with the grey leaving the pre-shading showing up rather well. Once all the panel were filled in I applied the color over the whole the surface to bring down the pre-shading to show the panel lines like I wanted. I am very pleased so far with the look, but I have a LONG way to go. 

So, without further chatter. This is where I am at thus far. I will update more later this week. 

BK