Star Wars GB Episode II CLOSED

I was 8 in 1977 when Star Wars hit the local theater.  It was $1.10 (kids matinee was $0.90) to get in and popcorn and candy was still a $1 or less.  This was the first movie I went to see in a theater more than once.  I went 22 TIMES!!!!  Not bad for an 8 year old, but the owner new my father and let me sit in the back for free a few times.  I was totally over the top for the original movie!  After that it was get any SW toy I could get my little hands on for years.  

TODAY I bought my 14 month old son his first Star Wars jammies:

Rob S. - TOO FUNNY...I read most of my stuff with friends in our fort!!!!! Thanks for the memory!

Next post, I intend to start posting pics for the actual build, but may not be this weekend.

I find my lack of time to build disturbing!!!!

Nice, I like that. I have a grandson due in a few months and already have a couple of Star wars baby grows lined up. Got to get him off on the right foot.

Definitely  Bish!!!  I should have mentioned his name is James T.  K(last initial, and no, our last name is not Kirk).  I just hope that I don't cause a Star Wars/Star Trek matter/anti-matter opposing fandom space rift of some kind when he wears them!!!!

Ye, you need to be careful. He could get sucked into a worm hole and end up in an alternative universe where you get him a Star Trek outfit and his name is Luke S.

just picked up one of these snap kits Star Wars Kit Fisto's Jedi Starfighter for a 40% off. have an interesting paint scheme in  mind

So is that a second entry wayne.

So, I'm off and running with my TIE Fighters. Step 1 constructs the pilots and their basic seats. The figures were simple, but, I'm going to say, well detailed for this old kit. I oversprayed them with Vallejo black, did a grey drybrush on the clothing parts then painted all 'plastisteel' (SW geekdom term) parts gloss black and highlighted the belt and control panel. That's it for tonight, cockpit(s) construction start tomorrow. 

Nice work, Rob. They look really good.

Ye, like those figures Rob, that's some fine detail work on those and the seats.

Great start Rob!

Rob, those pilots look great! Nice detail!

@Rob, great work and a great start for the group.  Hope to join  you soon :)

Made some great progress today. Guys, this kit is engineered so well that it's literally 'falling' together. I have NOT had to use any filler and my sanding has been VERY light. The cockpits were sprayed a medium grey and then drybrushed to bring up the high features, then, some colour added for interest and then a final wash:

Easy assembly of the components:

Got more done, but, I don't want to flood the thread, so, I'll post more tomorrow. Thanks for lookin'!!

Liking the look of those pits. Glad to here the kit builds nice and it good to see how much can be done with these. Some really nice detail painting there.

Thanks Bish, it's really flyin' together. Here are the fuselages fused with cockpits inside. It just took a clamp on each end and the seam line took care of itself. I didn't expect that, I suspected I'd have to fill and sand, but, happily, no:

Here is installed the ship's namesake: TIE - Twin Ion Engine:

Test fit of the 'wings'. These are going to be a challenge to paint. I will have to paint the solar collectors black first, mask off ALL the black and then the hull colour - the famous 'Stormy Sea Blue'. All references I can find state it's simply XF-66 Light Grey with XF-8 Flat Blue, BUT, I can't find anywhere the quantity of blue, so, this may take some testing compared to the expert builder I am using as a reference. Anyway, here's the test fit wings:

I normally mask with Bare Metal Foil for all my aircraft canopies. Because the clear plastic is glued to the frame of the windscreen, it is very recessed. I fear that the BMF would be difficult to remove, so, I opted to go with painting masking tape cut out with a new blade:

Gotta mask the second one and then off to painting the wings.

Holy cow, that's coming on really quick. Looking great.

That's really nice work, Rob! Love this build.

Stupid question....are my pics upside down??? They are upside down on my IPad.

I almost thought that was a wind up and was going to say you should turn your ipad the other way round. But of course, the pic moves doesn't it. (I don't have one but the Mrs does and I hate the damn thing). But no, they are fine on here.

Great..thought u guys would think I was nuts!!

Rob S.

Great..thought u guys would think I was nuts!!

You mean your not. damn, that's me on my own again.

Bish

Rob S.

Great..thought u guys would think I was nuts!!

You mean your not. damn, that's me on my own again.

Speaking of nuts, here's how I spent my Sunday. First, I went 'nuts' painting and masking the 4 x solar panels for the two TIEs.I prepainted with Vallejo black then masked the surface for the grey/blue. I was skeptacle  that the paint was going to survive masking with painting tape, so, I did a test...and it passed (thank goodness).

ONE of four solar panel wings:

The fuselages received a quick preshade prior to principle painting:

Fuselages pained with XF-66 Light Grey with a few drops of XF-8 Flat Blue. The two fuselages below are...the front painted with RLM Grey highlights, the rear one, yet to be done:

Both painted and highlighted with a light drybrush of Gunmetal:

Gloss coat applied, grey pinwash done and wings fitted permanently with CA glue:

AND, his wingman done!!

With the fighters close to completion, I need to set them aside for paint to set. I will dull coat them later tonight and remove the masks tomorrow. In the meantime, I painted the massive baseplate with a Tamiya flat black spraybomb:

That's it for now. Will carry on this evening and post results tomorrow. These are going together quickly due to the low part count and excellent engineering. VERY happy with the kit thus far.

Quick update, did an unmasking on one of the TIEs:

Wow that was fast! And they look great too!

Rob... Holy Crap! Those could be used in filming right now with no changes needed! Outstanding work!

Thanks guys. I was going to wait until tomorrow to mount the TIEs, but, everything was dry so, I went for it. I'm going to declare myself done with this build.....I will take neutral background pics later, but, yeah, this build is pretty much done. Spent probably close to 20 hrs on this project, but, as I 'have NO life', LOL, I had the entire weekend to myself, so, I 'binge' built. PLUS, the kit has a very low piece count and everything pretty much fell together. If nobody objects, I'll take that sexy badge!!!

I even had energy enough to get a good start on my automotive GB!! Thanks for the positive comments and I'll post the pics with a blue background soon!!

Here's the best I can do to get a DONE shot. This kit is huge, so, it takes up the whole surface. Thanks all!!

Wow that was fast Rob, but super awesome work!!!  Great job.  I hope my destroyer is worthy for them to land in :)  

Rob, you do know this isn't the weekend madness GB don't you.

Well, we have our first completion already. And what a start. Those are brilliant. The detail you have put in their has really set these off. Well don't on the masking as well. That a tedious job by its self.

Bloody brilliant. I will put the pic on the front page tonight.