Andy Moore

I've been thinking of picking up one of the X-Wing game models for a while. They do seem well detailed and a good canvas for repainting. I might get the Ghost when I see it for a decent price, as I love that ship. So, as I mentioned above somewhere, I wasn't really sure how I wanted to approach the detail painting on the SSD. Aztecting would look wrong at this scale, but I didn't want to leave the main hull in a plain colour since I thought it would look a bit dull against the heavily detailed superstructure. With no real end plan in mind, I masked off the centre of the hull with silly putty with the intention of spraying a shade coat around the inner edge of the hull panels to give them some subtle modulation. The shade coat was mixed from the same pale grey and black I used for the main finish, but with a little more black in the mix. It looks a bit weird here because the superstructure is still in the base colour, but that will be getting a wash later on and will end up darker. At this point, I didn't really know what to do with it next. The modulation shading kind of worked in adding a bit of tonality to the hull, but it wasn't doing much to help with the impression of scale. I left it for a couple of days while I though about how to proceed, then this morning though 'sod it' and took my usual approach of just trying something on a whim and hoping it would work. I wanted to get some kind of paneling effect, without anything as distinct as aztecing, and something that would hopefully accentuate rather than diminish the sense of a very big ship in a very small scale. In the end, I simply applied strips of masking tape across the hull at intervals from front to back. I then sprayed a very pale grey up to the tape strips, leaving a hard edge on one side and a feathered edge on the other. At the moment, I've only done the top side, but I'll do the same to the underside later on. I'm not sure at this stage whether I'll add any more masking. I quite like the effect as it is, but I'll see how it look when I've added a wash to the superstructure. I think, if you look at the model from a low angle, the banding does to some degree give the impression of viewing a very long ship, without looking too contrasty and distracting. Andy

Nice start on the AT-AT. I love the splinter camo you've used on the AT-ST and the chipping looks excellent. The yellow works really well too as an accent colour. Are you going to use a similar scheme for the AT-AT? Andy

I don't think Bandai have announced one (yet). Hasbro had an exclusive 6" Black Series one available at SDCC, and it's coming out as a standard release later. Having said that, the new figure may well be a Sith Trooper as troopers and droids are Bandai's usual subjects. I don't think we'll be getting a new droid unless it's D-0, but he'd need to be packaged with something else (BB-8?) since he's too small for an individual release. Not from Bandai. There's the old MPC release or a couple of newer versions from Revell, neither of which are astounding feats of plastic engineering. Hopefully Bandai will at least do one in the Vehicle Model range, if not a larger one. Andy

Lovely work Pete. The figure looks great - I must try some of CSM's figures at some point, they look to be nicely sculpted. Andy

Let's hope they're actually new and not more reissues or slight changes to existing kits. Andy

Yes, mine too. I borrowed the clear stand from my Tantive. I wish they'd included a clear one with the kit though, thye look much better than the black ones. That can be a problem if you're painting before assembly. I always find it best to mask off the contact areas first when pre-painting. It takes a lot longer, but it's worth it in the end. Andy

It's easy to over-analyse colours on film models. Ultimately, it's best to go with what feels right to you. Having said that, if I was painting the Tantive, I'd probably go with Gunze Russet or possibly Vallejo Cavalry Brown, both of which are deep, slightly muted reds. So, I left off with the engines connected to the upper hull. The lower hull then clips into place leaving just the upper superstructure to add. The superstructure is built up from several overlapping strips which create a very intricate layered effect. Some of these have to be placed in a specific order due to the way they overlap each other. The brief instruction on the box lid to point this out, but it's easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Like the rest of the kit, the detail on these strips is amazing. With the superstructure in place, the build is finished. There's less than an hours work to get to this point, although it took me longer due to pre-painting the engine section. On to paint then and, for now, I've just laid down a simple base coat of pale grey. I used Gunze FS 36622 with a tiny touch of black to darken it, and an even tinier touch of brown to lessen the monotone feel. I'm still debating how I'll approach the rest of the painting. The aztecing I used on the regular Star Destroyer would look out of scale here, but I might add some subtle modulation over the flat areas of the hull to help with the scale effect. I'll give it some thought over the next day or two. Andy

The standard Star Destroyer is about 11cm long and scales to around 1/14,500. There are more shots of it here, along with a link to the build. Regarding the colour of the SSD studio model, it was a fairly neutral pale grey. The colour of models on screen tends to vary due to the lighting used during filming and the film being duplicated during the compositing and fx stages. There are some shots of the studio model here. Andy

You'll find quite a few on ebay - just search for Bandai X-Wing decals. Blue squadron example here Andy

Okay, PC issues sorted, back to the build The rear hull extension is the first area to construct. The section with the engine bells clips onto part A1-4 (on the right in the photo), and partly overhangs some of the moulded detail. I gave those areas a coat of paint before connecting them in case they were hard to access later. Probably not necessary, but I hate seeing bits of unpainted plastic showing on a finished model. You might be able to see, particulary on the engine section on the left, that I've reamed out the holes where the parts connect (you can see a rough edge on the large hole in the tab at the end). I routinely do this with Bandai kits so I can dry fit the parts and still get them apart again. Everything is then glued together for final assembly. That area was also given a light wash with Vallejo rubber black thinned with glaze medium. Some of this will get covered again when I do the main paint work, so it's more of a security measure. The assembly, together with the remaining engines, was attached to the main upper hull. For anyone curious about the size, it's just short of 19 cm long. That scales out just about right in 1/100,000 as the 'real' one is about 19 km long. It's quite a bit larger than the previous box scale Star Destroyer, although much smaller in scale of course. More later. Andy

Lovely work. I'm still amazed at how Bandai mould such intricate detail on their kits. Andy

Thanks all I got a base coat on it last night and non of the detail was affected, so no problems in that regard. Sorry for the delay in updates. As mentioned above, the construction's finished and the painting has started. I'll post shots ASAP, but I''ve just replaced my old pc, and the new one doesn't have a built-in memory card reader, so I can't process any photos at the moment. I'll pick up an external one in the next day or two and we should be back on track. Andy

Bandai's latest addition to the Vehicle Model range, the Super Star Destroyer, at the somewhat eye watering scale of 1/100,000. I'll probably make a start on the build later tonight, but for now I'll post some sprue shots to show off Bandai's exceptional injection moulding skills. There are only two sprues for the SSD, along with a third for the standard Bandai stand (back in black again, rather than the more recent clear), with only 20 parts to make up the ship. The surface detail (here on the lower hull) is even finer than on the previous Star Destroyer. Lower engine section and aft hull extension. Upper half of the aft hull extension. Detailing on the upper hull. Slide moulded engines. The absolutely miniscule (about 3mm wide) bridge. That's it for now. The build (not that there's much to it) should begin later. Andy

Amazing work Simon. The water effects in particular are stunning. Andy

Thanks all, Thanks Simon. Great to see you on Britmodeller Andy