S5 modeller

Oh wow! Excellent job!!

Postman delivered me this, a couple of weeks ago... Got myself a jj 'prise, just need to sort out the Aztec design. Been looking for decals or paint masks, and to be honest, what I'm finding is going to cost more than I paid for the kit. Matt

Pete, I did reinforce the seam at the tail end. It was giving me trouble, it kept popping open, so I glued some scrap sprue pieces along it. It helped immensely, and it is remaining shut. The primer has been left overnight to dry, and it revealed this.... Still some work required. images upload Due to the mismatch in the fuselage halves, I've had to glue a scrap of styrene in. This now allows the canopy to fit fairly closely, without a major gap. I'm wondering how good I need to get the seams, as I don't think I can get them perfect. Just how much could I pass off as battle damage, and general wear and tear, after all it is quite a battered ship! Matt

Would have loved to pick up some of those unboxed kits! Genuine ones seem to go for a fair price, when they become available. Just a small update today. Gave the body a squirt of primer, just to see how my filling looked. Not so good. As you can see I've had to do some more filling, just gave it another blast, and will see how it looks when it's dry. Matt

Nice work. It's looking like a nice little kit, we'll worth the price you paid for it. The only other kit I've seen of this subject was a horrendously expensive resin kit. I think it will look cool in a little diorama. Looking forward to more. Matt

Thanks for all the input guys. Andy and smd70, those are some beautiful builds there, don't think mine will turn out any where near as good. Mike, this is the same reason why I've avoided builds like this, the weathering scares me to death. I'll look into the reccomended paints, to see if I have anything similar, as with the current situation I can't get any more. Dermot, I don't know about the holes, but I will find out in due course. Second round of filling and sanding done. I've been having trouble with this last seam, on the top of the tail, due to the lack of support under it it kept popping open. Due to this I decided to add the section on the underside to add some strength. This of course came with it's own problems. As per the rest of this kit, it fits where it touches. Had to use loads of tape to close it up the best I can. This is the best I could get it. The second picture shows the worst of the gaps. Also I had to shim the sides of the loading ramp, due to poor fit. I glued it shut as I'm not bothered about having it opening. I've attached the two side panels, and the wing pivot axle, to the base plate. I've sprayed it with poundlands finest Matt silver, ready for top coats and weathering. Matt

There is indeed some green in there @HoolioPaulio. Going to use olive drab I think. Not sure if I should use enamel or acrylic to paint this kit. Going to use my airbrush, hopefully, but not tried spraying enamel before. This is going to be my first attempt at weathering and chipping, never tried either before. Got a pan, in my mind, to use masking fluid over a base coat of silver, to simulate bare metal exposed under the paint. I can see it working in my head, but don't know if I can pull it off practically.

Just popped over to your threads @Pete in Lincs. That's some very nice work you've done there, much better use of the kit. On a side note, has anyone got any clue about what colours to use? The instructions only call out brick red, silver and black. Sanding away at the filler at the moment. Will put some pictures up later. Matt

Thanks Paul, that's a very admirable action taken by your company, I hope you all make it through. My company side lined me with the excuse of my asthma, putting me in an at risk group. Funny really, but it didn't concern them the week before. Back to the build in hand. Started with the filling today. Slapped on copious ammounts of perfect plastic putty, with quite a lot on the rear section. Back filled the rear of the skirt with squadron green putty. Just need to sand this lot back now. Matt

Thanks Mike and Tom. The work situation isn't too bad as I will still get 80% of my full pay, just to sit at home doing nowt. Started building, and boy this is going to be fun, like Chris said earlier it's going to be a filler queen for sure. Decided to ignore the instructions, up to a point, as I want to assemble the main body of the ship. Hopefully this will help in the painting process. I started at the nose end. I removed the location pins as well, because I was struggling to get the two halves aligned. You can see the problem here, this is the best I could align them, and you can see the mis-match in the canopy surround. I thought it would be better to have the error here, as it is easier to deal with. Another issue here,part distortion. I think one half of the body was bent out of shape. Cured with a bit of masking tape. As you can see here, the kit kind of fits, where it touches. Started cleaning up the seams, ready for the filler. Matt

Thanks for the warm welcome back @Pete in Lincs, @Hunter Rose, @spruecutter96. As promised here are the sprue shots... This is how it was all packed in the box, everything in one bag, with the clear parts just floating around loose. Main hull halves. Lovely raised panel lines everywhere. Cockpit insert. Nice details on the base plate. Rear, for want of a better word, skirt. More raised panel lines. Front skirt, complete with sink marks, which seems to be a feature of this kit. Ahh, a cute little Boba. Assorted loose parts that have become detached in the bag. The canopy, which is nice and clear, but has some distortion to it. We even get a little han solo frozen in Carbonite. Why he's molded in clear I don't know. We even get a stand, which is nice, will help to display this awkward shaped ship! upload image online Very basic instructions, apparently there are only 3 colour call outs for this kit, me thinks some references will be required. Work has started, and I will post some work up later. Matt

Hi chaps. It's been a long time since I posted on here. As I've just been laid off work, for at least the next month due to coronavirus, I have decided to throw myself into my modeling again. This kit has been in my stash for about 3 years, I picked it up at the huddersfield show. It's an old airfix kit of slave 1. There's no scale on the box, but I seem to remember reading it was something weird like 1:83! As you can see the box has seen better days. Have made a start, and will post up the obligatory sprue shots tomorrow. Matt

I thought this too. I've got a bit of orange peel, but it's in the gloss I think. I'm pretty sure there wasn't any in the colour coat. I've left the imperfections in the base coat, as I got caught up in the moment, and applied the gloss coat..

I like your way of thinking @RODH2 Matt

Morning chaps. I know it's been a while since I last updated this build, but you know how it is. Got a paint question. The body shell is sitting on my tamiya paint stand, in it's final colour coat, but I'm having trouble with the engine cover. I thought this would be the final layer of paint. On closer inspection I noticed 4 small blemishes, on the left hand side of this picture, in the paint. They are barely visible, but I know they are there. Is it worth wet sanding to get them out, or should I just leave them in there? To my eye they stick out like a sore thumb, and I would love to remove them, but is it worth the effort? Overall I'm happy with the rest of the paint work, and the body came out lovely. Can't understand how the blemishes ended up in the paint, as I made sure everything was clean before painting. What's everyone's thoughts on it? Here's how the rest of the paint looks. Matt