I just got Issues 21-24 yesterday and put more of the bottom hull together. It's interesting that the corridor cover is all one piece instead of two like what came in the first package. The nice thing though is that the bottom edge of the hull plating on it has the notched (unlike the first corridor pieces). In this package also came another part to the jig that is suppose to support the bottom hull during assembly to keep the shape of it from warping while working on the upper levels. Looks like about half of the bottom hull is now done. One nice thing is that this shipment also includes one of the bottom hull panels that has visible damage. It's a long streak of damage however it looks more like someone scribbled with a magic marker and then sunk in the details. Will have to fix that before painting the hull at a later stage. Oh and for those that are posting here about other stuff, just remember this is my build log for this kit. There are other threads for posting pics and stuff of your own progress... thanks! 



Now something I highly recommend is getting yourself a small container for your screws and what-not. I found this nice little 6 compartment plastic box for beading at Wal-mart in the craft department. Its perfect for holding all the screws... here's what mine looks like:



Once I got the everything together that I could up to this issue, I noticed the weight of the whole thing. So I decided to see just how heavy just the lower hull has gotten so far. Was amazed to see that this thing is already almost 2 lbs so far (1.80 lbs)... this is without the recess, just the framing and the hull panels on the bottom so far. So the way I figure it, if this is about halfway thru the bottom half, without the center turret section, then when the whole bottom is together, I figure it'll weigh about 5 lbs (give or take a few ounces when it's all together).



Now I realize I have missed a few postings lately but don't worry. I've gotcha covered... I've watched other build logs and keep hearing people complain about the rings with the pads and how tired they were of putting them together... sure there are a lot of them. 9 total... each with 18 pads, making 182 pads total. That's a lot of pads, but here's what I did and did them all in about an hour. First I waited until I had all of them... makes it a lot easier when you have all of them together at once rather then doing them one at a time as they come in. First thing, I worked on each ring one at a time... removed all the pads from the sprue and didn't worry about sanding the sprue nubs yet.



I glued each pad on the ring...



and when dry, I sanded the nubs off to give the rings a more even look. Then I sanded the hard edges down to round them off a bit to give that look of a rounded pad.

 

In the end they came out looking pretty good, and couldn't help but take a few pics of them in place in the corridors to see how they look.

  

I haven't put the wall cushions on yet... am working on something special to create a couple of ripped up ones to see if I can make them look good. That's it for now. More to come later!

Lately I have been doing a lot of epoxy putty work lately and one thing I've discovered is that when you do putty work, you always end up with a little extra putty that if you don't do anything with it, it hardens and you end up throwing it away. Well being the frugal guy that I am, I found a good way of putting it to use. Now, needless to say I don't have many spare parts for making greeblies, so I figured why not just go ahead and use the extra putty to make some greeblies of my own. Here's what I made so far...



I'm sure I'll be able to find a place to put them somewhere in this build. I've been working on the interior walls and arches... I knew I had to cut out the long holes in the arches but I also wanted to put the ribbing in between the arch holes. After many failed attempts with styrene, I decided to use putty instead. Came out looking pretty good, but I also wanted to hollow out the inside of the arch to allow me to put some wires and greeblies. So using my Dremal, I cut a long trench on the outside all the way down to the bottom and sanded it out using needle files. I think they didn't come out too bad... what do you all think?

 

As you can see above I also cut out the holes in the side wall and intend to put some greeblies there as well. But since that came out so well, I figured I might tackle the wall behind the nav computer with putty and see how it comes out... I cut a couple of square holes out of it where I intend to greeble and here's the result.

 

Well that's where I'm at right now. As soon as I get some primer and paint on these I'm sure they will look really good. Lemme know what you all think!

I did come up with some new stickers for this puppy. The ones that come with the kit aren't very accurate and basically suck in the graphics department... here's comparision of the ones I've made to replace the ones in the kit. I am still working on a few other things for them, but all in all what I got came out pretty good.


If you'd like a copy of these, you can download them for free here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/es5y0pghay...ckers.pdf?dl=0

If you use them, please post pics and let everyone know where you got em, that's all I ask!

I've just been having way too much fun lately making various random greeblies for general use throughout the interior and various other uses. Can never have too many odds and ends greeblies. But here's what I've got so far... Whatcha all think?

Been working on a map of details for the interior... I think I have it mapped out pretty well for the hallway cushions and light sconces. Here's my map... I'm also gonna work on the details of the walls, etc.



The biggest problem I see is the one mentioned in the graphic above. They moved the entrance to the cockpit hallway about 2 feet down the hallway and in effect stretched out the whole cushion panel. It should also be noted that there should also be a cushion ring right next to it, I may have to fabricate one but not sure yet, but a happy compromise would be to cut the middle cushion in half to allow for those details to be placed in the proper place. If anyone else has a better idea, please let me know.

Here's another plan for the hallway damaged wall cushions I came up with.


The top and bottom halves should be cut slightly smaller then the cushion to allow for detailing. A sheet of styrene glued behind the opening will allow it to appear sunken into the wall. The gray lines represent structural beams, the white lines pipes/wire lines, and the tan represents torn insulation.

Been doing more detail work on my Falcon... Around the edges of the holes in the main wall it appears as if it is framed with two separate frames the top having a bridge making it look like 3 different cutouts but there's only two. Here's what I've got so far.



I've also been working on some other details for the cockpit. Don't know why these little greeblies were never added to begin with... but there's also 2 more below the top ones on each panel that I'm going to put on as well.



I can only do greeblie per panel at a time... why? Because I have to let the putty dry totally before putting the next one on, otherwise with all the handling I'm doing while making them, if they aren't dry, I end up messing up the first one no matter how hard I try to keep from touching it. So I do one, and wait 5 hours, then do the next... makes things take so much longer then I wished. But lemme know what you think so far!

More work on the Falcon interior stuff. Been working on the bunk. I think I have figured out a way to make the oblong opening without having to do any major surgery. I cut out a thin sheet of styrene and cut a proper opening. I also discarded the included pads and used putty to create the pads.





I also used my references to make the bunk side wall. Still have a few greeblies to make for it, but all my greeblie practice with random stuff gave me enough skill to recreate it pretty accurately. Here's a put I'm working from...







More to come!

Did a bit more work tonight... I didn't like the frames I cut out of styrene... they seemed to thick and after trying another cutting with an xacto blade, I got fed up and broke out my putty... I think these frames look a lot better! What do you all think?



As soon as the putty dries I'll be able to sand them to look a bit more even. I also fixed my nav wall and added some greebling... it's not accurate but you really can't see much of this area very well so I fudged it and just put stuff in there to make it look good. What do you think?

Well I finally got around to making the pit box for my holes in the main wall. Using putty I attempted to create the details there as close as possible to the movie. Here's the scene I'm working with:



And here's what I came up with:



I also greebled out my nav wall and got it painted... I think I am finished with that one.



And just for reference, here is the scene I was working from... it's not perfect but I'm happy with it:



Also got around to painting the cockpit panels. They came out looking better then I expected!



More to come... lemme know what you think!

Been working on detailing out my nav console. Got most of the detail done, still trying to figure out a way to do the light cans on the console... but I think I got everything else in there. What do you think?

Well I think I just about got the nav console figured out and detailed out. My biggest problem was figuring out how to do the big view cans on it. So I tried something. I took a baboo skewer and put some putty on the pointed end. Made it as thin as possible and allowed it to harden. I ended up making a few of these. 



Picked out the best ones and trimmed them to size. Needless to say they fit the bill. Came out looking better then I had hoped. Here's a pic of the final outcome before painting.... 



and here's what it looks like after painting with a little dry brushing thrown on for effect. 

Completed painting the nav console.

What do you all think?

I'm not quite happy with my cockpit console... So I have been thinking of totally scratch building it. I started making some rocker switches and a button panel. Needless to say... they are extremely tiny!

Latest progress build... I finally finished the nav console and got all the fibers run. Just got to separate out the whites and blues and reds but took a test photo and it looks better then I thought it would... What do you all think?

I think I got my cockpit finished and fibered. I did all the details in putty that includes the nav shroud, the lever box, the light domes and all the little toggle switches. I used my custom sticker replacement for the graphic background. Made finding the holes for the fibers alot easier. I hooked up some LEDs to it temporarily and took some pics to see how it will look. Whatcha think?

Here's a tip for doing fibers... go on Ebay and get the AMT/Ertl Fiber Optic Lighting Kit. I dunno how much they go for anymore since they are getting harder to find. I first bought mine when they came out and they were only like $10 at the time. I picked another one off of Ebay a few years ago and it was only like $20, but it's got a great tool in it for doing fiber optics. It doesn't have but maybe 2-3 feet of fibers, but it has this nifty little battery drill with 2-3 drill bits. You gotta be careful with the bits thou because if you are too forceful you can break them easily... but I've had mine for about 20 years and the bits are still going strong! Come in real handy for drilling out tiny little holes for fibers. It also has a bunch of other things like reflective tape, and some bulbs cans and fiber holders (of which I haven't used yet but may on this build). Needless to say it comes in handy!

Oh... and for those that may be interested in how these replacement stickers look by themselves... I did manage to take a pic before I put any details on it just after I drilled the holes for the fibers (NOTE: The button placement on the sticker makes an awesome guide for fibers... really allows you to see where they go).

OK you merry peoples... here's the latest updates. I was looking at the floor in my cockpit and decided that it really needed to be fixed. But I really wanted to be able to maintain the tabs for the backwall. So I cut out a good size hole in the floor behind the front seats and decided to make my own flooring to look more like the floor of the actual cockpit. I cut out some pieces of sheet styrene and glued them all together and placed them in the hole and glued them in place. I think it's a pretty good compromise... what you all think?

Alright all you happy peoples... got a big update for everyone. Have been working on scratch building the nav chairs. I got out my reference photos and set to work with my putty and began working on the first frame.

 

My first task was get some kind of measurements. As far as I can tell from the photo the top of the nav chair is a head and a half taller then the front seats, but I also had to factor in the fact that the floor is also dropped a bit lower then then one the front seat is on (hence the reason for the lowered floor in the cockpit). So I took a stick and placed the front seat in place and eyeballed the measurement on the stick. I used that measurement to figure out the rest of my build. Using that measurement I pulled out some putty and started shaping it. I placed a couple of strips of styrene down to give a better ridge to it. Here's the result...



Althou it didn't come out too bad, I realized I was gonna have to repeat this process 2 more times and frankly, getting the putty to this point took about 2 hours. Didn't like it... so I basically started over again with styrene and think it came out looking better then the putty. I also have some styrene tubing that I thought would make the look a lot nicer, so using the thickness of the tubing, I figured out the width of the framing... Came out looking alot cleaner and straight-edged.



I needed to encase the tubing inside the frame but I also had to make two 90 degree tubes along the side that kinda of protruded thru the framing in the bottom of the top hole of the frame and the second to bottom hole. I used my dremel to make some concave cuts in the end of the tubing and then cut 6 little pieces to glue onto the tube in the proper places. I had to fit them into the holes to make sure I had them in the right places. I painted them black, glued two strips to the sides and then glued them onto the backs of the frames.



So far not looking too bad. I cut out the seats and backs and the back tops. I glued one together and I started thinking that maybe these frames were too big, so I placed them next to the provided seats to compare them and I guess not. Looks like I'm right on track.





More to come!

Now comes the fun part. The seat topper. This thing is completely wacky to try to build from scratch. Hard to make a template for it as well because you have to glue, let dry and shape and round and fix, then glue another piece, let dry and sand and shape, ad nausea... but I got one done. Here's how it looks...



Looks about right to me. So I glued it in place and started working on the line cushions... this time I turned to my trusty putty. Doesn't look too bad... Whatcha think?



Two more toppers to go... then the arms rests, the side greeblies, and the supports and I can start painting! Really starting to come together.

Wow, that's incredible! I can't even seem to finish a 1/48th aircraft and you and Eagle are doing stuff like this!

It's coming along nicely LS8!  You are definitely handy with that sculpt putty!  I like how you solved some of the problems and your control panel in the cockpit is a vast improvement over the stock one in the kit.

Gamera

Wow, that's incredible! I can't even seem to finish a 1/48th aircraft and you and Eagle are doing stuff like this!

I am no where near Eagle's level... thanks for that thou!

Heavens Eagle

It's coming along nicely LS8!  You are definitely handy with that sculpt putty!  I like how you solved some of the problems and your control panel in the cockpit is a vast improvement over the stock one in the kit.

When I discovered I couldn't get the awesome 3D printed parts, I had to do something.  That sticker just didn't cut it!  RIght now I'm trying to do the greeblies on the nav chairs.  One will probably be super detailed for the lounge area... the other two not so much because you won't see them as clearly.  But am getting there slowly... just taking longer then I want! :)  THanks for the compliment bro!  Your work is amazing!

Ok all... big update... I realize that I should update daily, but work keeps me too busy to do so, so I update at least weekly if possible. So... on with the progress...

I know I wanted to greeble out the hell of this sucker, so I finally found some really good refrerences online... I believe they were by Maruska if I'm not mistaken... but they helped me get a lot of the details that I needed to put into this. Here's a couple of reference pics I used for my detailing.



With those pics I was able to at least get close to the detail I needed and I set to work on the details. The hardest part was getting the toppers right... I think I did but on with the pics.



One thing you have to remember is that I had to do this 3 times... but I realized that I wanted the chair in the lounge to look the best so I made it my hero chair. Its also a but taller with a few more added greeblies that I will add later. Note the top is hollow just like the real chair.



And here is all the pics of the chairs with all the detailing done before painting (don't worry, they are coming up next).









More to come...

And now the completely painted and finished chairs (except for the Lounge chair... still gotta add more greeblies to that).













I even drilled out the holes in the topper so that light shines thru properly. I hope you all enjoy this... let me know what you think! I really do enjoy reading your comments!

Very nice work.  Yet another WIP that I must follow.  Keep up the good work!

Steve

Bakster

Very nice work.  Yet another WIP that I must follow.  Keep up the good work!

Steve

Thanks Steve... Truly appreciate it... am done with the nav chairs now... Finished my hero chair for the lounge... Added the radar dish to the top, and made a set of headphone/microphones out of a piece of beading wire that I hammered flat and then carved the "speaker" end with my Dremel. I also added all the rivets... wish I could have gotten them more uniform but at this scale even using a needle doesn't work consistently. So on with the pics and lemme know what you think!