1/72 TIE Defender buildup

Started "attacking" the resin with some of my favorite "weapons", a quick bore drill bit and then the ever trusty Dremel!

Hollowed out the ball until it is fairly uniform with less than an 1/8" thickness left to make room for some goodies.

Heres a shot showing that I went in from the backside and kept grinding until the "open" area of the cockpit was wafer thin and eventually popped out.

And so it goes.

To ready it for further goodies I drilled through each engine/wing pylon and then bored out the hub itself-

Here's a shot of the new rebuilt wingtip gun with FO run through the pylon and hub to a remote light source just for this test.

Making six new gun barels isn't hard but if you're like me you have your good days and your not so good days for putting things on straight. If you ever struggle to get a band wrapped around a barrel, just cut a sleeve to but your styrene up against as you lay/wrap it into place.

With the gun barrels made went ahead and made the fiber optic pathways for each wing. Some are shown with wire used as 'place holders' till everything is fitted together.

Then went ahead and made more room within the "ball" since I'll be fitting a full cockpit.

Using those lil photoetched "razor saws" really didn't do much damage or remove much material when I cut apart the wings. A lil bit of Milliput and some sanding smoothed over the "wounds" pretty well. Then I masked the 'wing panels' to save their fine pattern/details and shot em with some "thick primer". A lil block sanding, detail attention , maybe a repeat, and they'll be back to fine form I hope.

It was time for a really quick and easy effort at lighting up the three "thruster engines" upon the rear plate.

First drilled out the resin openings and then came in from behind with a larger bit until nearly reaching the opening. This gave enough room for some slightly modified 'micro-surface mount LEDS' which are merely pressed into the new receptacles. A lil bit of tempy wire and power and we have a light test.


And, that's a "regular" LED (the green one) along with a penny to guage the size of these parts.

Rounded out the arsenal by adding the chin guns in similar fashion from aluminum and brass.

darkwolf29a wrote:

Very nice build, man. :) Being a Star Wars Fan, I can't wait to see htis one finished. :)

And it's been a very fun build on a subject that holds alot of possibilities for "making it your own".

Thanks for the kind words.

A couple of things presented themselves after maikng my two halves whole.

One is the natural tendency of something pliable to resist maintaining it's shape when holes are cut into either end, like the ball does have. The other was how to mount my two pieces onto the engine pylon while still allowing easy disassembly?

 One answer, was to fabricate a "collar" that fit into the sphere halves and then the pylon mount. Did so with alumium and styrene (again!) and now it not only holds it's shape but will go in, or come apart as needed.

 With the "ball" mounting sorted out it was time to address what goes on the other side of the "pylon hub", call it the backplate if you will, with those three thrusters.
 Since I have an unfounded phobia about buttoning up electronics and not being able to reach them later I wanted something to simplify getting to those three LEDs I'd already sunk into place. Putting the common ground electrodes arranged to the 'outside' just happened to match up near the diameter of where it needs to mount to the pylon. So, using an old trick that I like, I simply put two "slip fit" pieces of brass tubing, cut with lil clearance grooves that when snapped together trap those electrodes. The two sandwhiched rings are now held in place by the electrodes themselves (which will only take one common ground wire soldered to the brass ring) and this in turn slips within another aluminum tube ring that is within the pylon hub. In this way wiring is simplified, mounting is accomplished and access is assured if needed.

The only thing/s glued to stage this shot was the wing/s to pylon/s. The FiberOptic from each was routed down through the tube to an eventual stand for the controls. But otherwise all the components were 'pressed' into place as described earlier. But I couldn't resist putting this into place to get an idea of what it will look like and IMHO this one sharp, sleek and menacing lil ship!

 I can't wait to move forward to see it get into paint!

Decided to go ahead and give it a working hatch as well as the lil windows within it.

TD4438 wrote:

Personally,I can't wait to see this one finished.Are you gonna include it in the Star Wars group build?

Um, I guess I wasn't aware of a GB for SW?

That might be fun though so thanks I'll look into it.

Here ya go.

/forums/1054473/ShowPost.aspx

TD4438 wrote:

Here ya go. /forums/1054473/ShowPost.aspx

I posted on that thread asking if I could join this late?

Thanks again!

Worked on the top hatch that I had freed from the "ball" to fabricate a 'lip and seal' which should look better and also help to 'light block' since the interior will be lit. Fashioned everything up with styrene strip and some half round then worked it down to the final sizes I wanted. In the end it sits just about no more "above" the surface than originally but should be nicer than just plopping the cut apart pieces back together with a hinge.

"Hollowed out" the solid clear cast canaopy and it looks like with a coat of Future it should work out.

Wanted a base that would pull styling cues from the subject so chose an octagon (like the cockpit glass) with panels that have framing like the wings and then atop a lil spoked hub like a pylon to wing mount.

And left two panels to be hinged which will open to expose the actual controls.

Looking very good, Squid-man!!!!

 I must admit, I'm a bit envious, at the moment. The base itself looks fantastic. I can only imagine what the overall look will be, once you're done. And...I can only wish to reach half of your skills, sir.

Lookin' awesome!  Love how that base looks, as well, Don.

DarkWolf,

 You've flattered me but don't ever limit yourself. It's usually just a matter of sticking to it until it starts to look like what you envisioned.

Griff,

 Well, since you are often a judge yourself- I hoped to offer something that would somehow "add" to the model ? Maybe help it sit upon a display table just a bit better than otherwise? And of course it should be fun to play with too.

And thank you kindly gents for the generous words.