Deadman Disciple

Its finale time on the X-Wing. Started applying all the decals one-by-one on the top of the x-wing, once all done I Microsoled them & left them to dry. I then sealed them in Revell Matt Clear & once dried I started work on the weathering. I picked up a tip from another video on youtube about chipping with paint instead of the hairspray technique, whilst I couldnt really get the white to work on the red decals, the black, grey & silver paint I applied with a bit of sponge worked a treat. Undeterred, I tried scraping a little away here & there with one of my scribes & brushing away with a stipple brush & the patterns that formed were quite nice. I then started with the black & earthshade washes & whilst I went overboard a little, the wash has turned out really well. I made the mistake of putting some Humbrol Rust Wash on the nose area & it ruined it a little but I used some IPA to clean that off. I did the same inside the X part of the wings, but not as harsh with the washes & the same on the underneath & they both have turned out really well. Quaralane (Patrick) on youtube & SMA told me not to install the rear plate or rear piece, as R2 will not go in once installed, so I put R2 in first & then the plate & the rear panel afterwards. Talking out the rear plate, I didnt want to leave that blank in black, so I picked out some of the detail with silver, gun metal, grey, & brown to tart that up a bit. I then washed the guns on the sprues & sanded down the excess left & put the blue stripes & they curled around by themselves. I decided to use the non-windowed canopy & painted that in greyish blue & dabbed a little whit paint on & washed it. The stand I didnt do anything with, as I plan to hang this from my ceiling. Im really chuffed on how this has turned out, better than I expected. Cheers, Wayne.

Nice work so far Dermot. The weathering has really bought the Snow Speeder to life, can wait to see what you do with the rest of the diorama. Wayne.

Well its been a while since my last model, so im starting my next kit, this time the Star Wars 1/72 X-wing from Bandai. My wife bought me this along with the AT-ST last christmas for £16 each. I started with the rear wing assemblies, very easy to snap together, once both assembled I primered them. I then started on the cockpit area, again very easy to snap together, I painted the cockpit in Revell greyish blue, the seat in black. I then decided to primer the hull parts & once dried I sprayed the white primer hoping to get the shade of whiteish grey I did with my Battlestar Galactica. Unfortunately I went a couple of shades whiter than I wanted, but hopefully once weathered, im hoping they will come back down. Then came the very intricate painting of the Luke Skywalker pilot & R2-D2 figures. Painting the flight suit in orange, boots & gloves in black, vest in white, the chest contraption in blueish grey picking out the panels in various colours. I painted the helmet in white & put the 2 tiny rebel logos on either side along with the red stripe with the warning stripes on the middle of the helmet. Finishing off with orange for the goggles & flesh for the face. R2 was only painted with some silver for his dome, I left the rest of him in the sprue white, placed the tiny decals on him & washed him with black wash & earthshade washes. I then put the pilot inside the cockpit & put the dashboard in & put in all the cockpit instrument decals & washed the top of the dashboard to bring out the detail. Then I assembled the wings into place sandwiched in between the top & bottom halves of the hull along with the cockpit assembly. Finishing off with the various panelling pieces & nose, the X-Wing is all ready for decals & detailing. Cheers, Wayne.

I used Acreation's Aztecs on my STID Enterprise. You will have to cut right to the edges of the aztec section you are about to apply & also once in the water it only takes 10 secs for them to come off the paper & as they are of a film consistency as opposed to an actual decal, be careful they dont fold on you when applying them to the surface, as they can be a right pain to straighten out again. Microset went down great when placing them & Microsol also worked great around those raised/stepped sections. Once down on the surface, let them dry for at least 24 hours each time before Microsoling & sealing them. When it comes to sealing them, I found Humbrol Glosscote discolored the aztecs slightly & faded them away on the neck aztecs. But when I used Revell Aquacolor Clear Gloss it worked perfectly & didnt fade or discolor the aztecs. Hope this helps. Wayne.

Looking good so far & those mods you have made are paying off. Nice work. Wayne

To be only bettered by the Keaton 89 Batmobile. Holy gasoline fumes Batman! This build is class, im glad it comes with the Batman & Robin figures to go inside. Wayne.

Cheers Shaun, Im looking into getting the Williams FW16-later to make use of the Rothmans decals I got with the B&H logos. Wayne.

Ive bought these from modeltrains website above:- http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/bl-214f.html $2.25 each & comes with a built in resistor. http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/snco.html $2.75 each & comes with an on/off switch. I bought 2 of the 3mm warm white leds & 1 battery /w switch & all told its cost me $11.75 & thats with intl shipping inc, so thats about £9. Thanks again guys for all your help. Wayne.

I have a 1/72 Airfix RNLI Severn Class Lifeboat in my stash which I picked from last november's Telford model fair for a tenner. I saw one of these built up on one of the display tables & I asked the chap who built it if he put lighting inside the cabin(s), to which he responded "No I didnt, but I wished I had have done now" as you cant see inside the cabin once all closed up. Im looking to put a couple of lights in the cabin, but as i've never worked with lighting before, im wondering if any of you guys knew of any sites that stock a cheap "starter kit" with a couple of led lights, a on/off switch & battery holder with some wiring attached & instructions. I managed to pick a soldering iron set for Lidl for £8 a couple of months ago, which was a real bargain, so no worries about picking up one of those. My work has a small stock of 3mm white leds as specials for a customer (who now cancelled their order) & have been sitting in their bin location for a number of months & they sell 9V battery clips with 2 wires attached about 10cm long, I tried them, but after a few secs the leds pins started to get a little hot, so im assuming they will have to wrapped in some insulation tape, but unfortunately they dont sell an on/off switch. Ive found a few UK websites, but they only list the parts seperately & not as a kit, but I did come across this:- http://www.captainjacksmodels.co.uk/ourshop/prod_3542886-3mm-x4-Warm-White-Value-Set-9v-Clip.html That would be great, but there is no on/off switch included, so I would have to keep on connecting & unplugging the battery to switch it on, as opposed to flicking a discreetly concealed switch. I also have seen where people have been light blocking with a few layers of paint, they used silver, then black & then im assuming the last layer of paint would be inside wall color of the lifeboat, but would I have to the same on the outer wall too. Sorry to be asking, but I simply havent a clue about lighting. Cheers in advance, Wayne.

A great job on that. I wonder how this would look with some classic Skoda WRC Livery aftermarket decals, from years back mid to late 2000's, if I could get them. Wayne.

Back again with the next project, this time the Revell 1/24 Jordan EJ10 from the 2000 Formula 1 season. As there is only 2 & a bit sprues to this kit, I decided to primer & with my Halford glass black & Humbrol No.69 Yellow spray the parts whilst they were still on the sprues. Firstly I started on the rear wing assembly, by glueing in all the wings onto the one side of the end plate & let it dry & then lining up the wings into their holes on the other end plate was very difficult indeed, but I got there in the end. Touching up a little where the glue had ran the paint a little with my yellow & black by hand, I then started on the rear wing decals. Using the Bensons & Hedges sheet I got off ebay, as all the places I tried for the aftermarket sheet which was the same sheet as the kit Buzzin & Hornets sheet but with the B&H logos instead was either Discontinued or out of stock with a long re-order time wait, so these had to do. Going down onto the wing really well, I noticed that no 2 Bensons letter decals were the same size (as these are for 1/18,1/24 & 1/48 scales), I had to use the Buzzin decals for the rear of the main wing, as I had only one Benson decal to fit the main wing. Once those were dry & sealed, I started on the suspension rods that attach to the front of the rear wing assembly & unlike the Newman-Haas they were really easy to put together. Then came the chassis & sidebody, glueing those panels into place was really easy & I also painted the sidepods vents in steel metallic, after that I then glued in the rear wing & suspension assembly onto the completed chassis & started on the front assembly. Glueing the front suspension rods into the front bottom part of the nose was easy, but glueing the front brakes assemble was quite difficult, as I had 3 separate rods to glue onto one brake & the ballpeins were making it very difficult to snap into the mounting holes. Once the front section was done I then glued that onto the chassis & then came the monocoque. A lot easier than the Newman-Haas to mount, but I had to manoeuvre some panels into place, but once they slotted in, the clamps did a really good job in holding all that together whilst the glue dried. Once all that dried, I started on the decalling. The hornets on the side of the nose had been pre-cut where they sit underneath & around the steering/suspension rods, but I had to cut the decal in half as I couldn't manoeuvre the whole decal around those rods, but managed to match the 2 halves really nice & the microsol got to work. I then started on the main nose sponsor decals & then the Bensons decal, but the aftermarket Bensons decal was too small, so I had to use the large italic font benson decal with the "S" borrowed from the hedges part & those blended together really well, the "B" from the Bensons I had to cut in half to place on the top & bottom of the raised rear facing camera & I painted some black paint on to complete the "B". The rest of the sponsor decals went down great too, but the Bensons & Hedges decals for the sidepods were also too small & again I didn't have two the same size, so I went with the kit Buzzin & Hornets sidepod decal & left that to dry. Around the rear engine pods & cover, I placed the exhausts cover curved pointed stripes & Honda stripes & on the plans, its stated there should be no yellow gap in between them, but looking at photos of the EJ10 on the internet there is a yellow gap, so that's what I did when placing that. Underneath the Buzzin & Hornets sidepod decal, I placed a sponsor stripe decal & to the rear of that I placed a 3 striped pointed decal. To finish off the rear wing, I placed a 3 sponsor decal, along with a number 5 decal on the endplate & those covered up the wing mounting pins up really nice. The tyres were next, the OZ yellow circle decals had to be cut up into quarters, as the whole decal just wouldn't sit around the rim whole & I patched those up the best I could & then place the Bridgestone & Potenza decals on to the tyre sidewalls with a coat of Revell Glosscote to get them to sit & sealed them after. Into the final stages of construction with the front wing, I placed my aftermarket B&H hornets above the Playstation logos & the Benson & Hedges decals along with the German post decals on either side on the endplates, I sealed those & using the glue n glaze I mounted the clear parts onto top on the already sealed German post decals. Once dry, I glued the front wing into place, glued the complete tyres onto the brakes, but weirdly one of the front tyres wouldn't mount properly & is slightly wonky. Last but not least, the top intake along with the camera mount was glued into place & then the side pod mirrors were glued into place & it's all complete. Even though its a slight variant to the original with Buzzin & Hornets mixed with the Benson & Hedges, I'm really happy on how the Jordan F1 car had turned out. Cheers, Wayne.

Thats a big 10-4 there. A cracking finale there, even the multiple number plates on the front bumper, along with all the warning decals. Even the Duck radiator cap & RD Trucking decals too. Do all those decals come with the kit or are they aftermarket? Wayne.

Looks great. Did the rollcage play you up when installing the bodyshell over it. On the Fiesta it was a pain to get the shell over the rollcage. Im hoping Belkits will make a Hyundai & DS3 to go with the Polo & Fiesta. Nice work, Wayne.

Great job on the Texaco car, looks fantastic next to the Quaker State car. Wayne.

The Havoline bonnets decals look great, dont beat yourself up too hard about it. The Quaker State car looks fantastic, if the rest of the cars turn out as good as that, this is gonna be a great finale. Awesome work so far. Wayne.

Thanks guys, As the Enterprise is now complete, im ok now. But will keep those great tips in mind for future reference. Wayne.

All there is are the 3 small clear parts & the bridge dome that are painted in the blue clear. Cheers for the kind comments. Wayne.

I always primer with Halfords Primer & I painted on top of that, whether by hand or rattle can. Ive never had paint come away from using any tape that ive used to mask. When I used Holts Primer, lots & lots of paint came away when I masked. Wayne.

Its finale time on the Enterprise. I started by finishing off the nacelles by applying the various markings on top of the aztecs. At the front I applied the very thin line markings, being very gentle so they wouldnt tear, especially around the curves sections & down the side of the nacelle. In between the vent decals were some rectangular markings that had to go on top of a raised section & the microsol sucked those into place. After those there were some more line decals to go around the edge lip of the upper parts of the nacelles which (to my surprise) went down really easy when drawing them off the backing paper. Some small stripes below the vents & then the registry markings & finally the fin decals. Once dry I Microsol'd & sealed them & it was finally time to start on the top half of the saucer. I started with the pre-painting of the T sections & the little square decals as I did before on the bottom half along with those little black & yellow house shape sections on the edges along with the blue lights on the spine. Once all those were dry & sealed, I started on the aztecs. The same as before (section by section) I worked my way around applying them, but this time I had a lot more raised sections to deal with. Once the aztecs had dried I applied the microset a couple of times to the areas of aztecs sitting on top of the raised sections & once dried they had sucked right into those offending raised sections. I then applied the Microsol to the rest of the aztecs & let those dry & then sealed them with some Revell Aquacolor clear gloss. Once all dry, I then started work of the inner ring & bridge area. Applying the ring aztec, then the upper ring aztec marking along with the grey & red stripe aztec markings. While the grey & red stripes was drying, the red stripe's ink started to come away & break up, so I removed them & waited for the rest of the ring aztecs to dry. Once dried I Microsol'd those & let them dry & sealed them. Once all dry, I used my Tamiya curve tape & masked off the section to paint grey, I let that dry & applied the kit marking red stripe. I then applied the aztec marking for the grey section around the bridge dome, but again to my dismay that also decided to break up, fade & change color to a greenish grey whilst drying, so again I had to remove the decal & mask off & paint that with the grey paint. Once that dried, I sealed that & worked my way down the back of the bridge section & onto the spine. Applying the small "USS Enterprise" lettering kit decal, along with a small red circle & some small grey square decals, I started on the spine. Applying the spine aztec & I had to trim it slightly as it was a little too long for the channel it was applied to, then came the rear section. Applying the aztec onto the curved rectangular section & the little c sections on the outer part, I discovered there was a gap, so I filled that it in with the spare bit of aztec I had from the nacelles & it patched it up real nice. I then turned the enterprise around & put down the red vent aztec markings on the rear of the saucer, but again the ink on that also decided to break up, so luckily the yellow option went down with no problems & the microsol sucked those into the little dimples really nice too. Also the marking between the yellow vents & a couple of little grey markings went down great too. Then finally back again on the top of the saucer, I applied the thin circle kit stripe, which took a while to get to go as circular as I could & the Microsol took care of that into the channel in sat on top of. The "USS Enterprise" lettering & the registry kit markings then were applied with no problems at all. Then to finish off the saucer, I started on the rim stripes. Firstly the left & right stripes from the rear were applied & once Microsol'd & sealed I worked my way around with the 2 sets of front stripes which all were applied in sections of 3 stripes which took 5 days to finish. Once all that was done, all I had to do was finish off the deflector dish & apply a blue & black stripe above the dish & the Enterprise was done. I then assembled the stand & filled in the hollow base with some household filler to make the stand more heavier & sturdy to prevent the weight of the enterprise from tipping over. I then glued the neck & the base together, primered & painted the the base in Humbrol Brass Metallic & the neck & the lower lip of the base in Revell Aquacolor Silver. Mounting the Enterprise to the base was quite easy, but I do have a concern out the mounting notches into the belly, but if left alone on my shelf, it should be ok. Anyways, I have enjoyed building the Enterprise & for the most part glad I bought the aztecs & apart from the few frustrating bits here & there, the aztecs have really brought the model too life. Cheers, Wayne.

Those Quaker State decals have gone down a treat. Ive had old decals in the past with a milky residue, I just ran my brush to clean some off & used a damp cloth to dab off the excess. Great progress indeed. Wayne

No such luck in Wolverhampton's Hobbycraft. Their model range is dwindling by the minute, everything is thrown everywhere & just dumped on the shelf with no regard at all. Ive been in there many times & none of the staff have a clue. This one time a chap brought his son in & asked one of the staff a couple of questions about revell paint & they simply hadnt got a clue. I was in the next ailse & I had to step in. Wayne.

Thats some awesome progress indeed. Especially with the rollcages & from previous experience they aint easy. Nice work, keep it going. Wayne.

This part is now solely about the warp nacelles. I started getting them ready for primer by masking off all the clear parts. Using normal household masking tape for the domes, making sure every nook & cranny was sealed so no primer could get inside. Then I masked off the side blue parts with electrical tape with some Klear around the edges to make a better edge seal. After that I used some maskol on the blue clear running lights & finally sealing off the exhausts with some white tack & filled in the exhausts, as I couldnt get the tape to work. I then started spraying on the primer bottom first, letting them dry & turning them over & spraying the sides & top. Once primered, I then rinsed & repeated with the white spray & again let them dry. Finishing off with some Citadel Purity Seal & it was time to to mount them to the rest of the Enterprise. Once I peeled off the masking tape with great results, I mounted them into the holes on the struts with relative ease & let gravity dry the glue. But, I found that when I mounted the nacelles, the whole model was back heavy, so I had to weigh it down on the top of the saucer to stop it tipping backwards. Once the glue dried, I turned the enterprise over & using my tall charcoal pot & some sponge to support the back, I started on the aztecing. From the underneath, I worked my way across & down each nacelle, a couple of the aztecs did fold on me, but no-where near the trouble I had with the first part of the neck of the secondary hull. A few creases have popped up here & there, but with a couple of applications of microset, they have disappeared more & more between each coat. Using a combination of the kit markings & the markings that came with the aztecs, they went down really well, apart from a couple of the aztec markings wanting to fade & break up on me whilst trying to apply them, so I had to resort using the kit markings. This happenend the first time on the belly with a little yellow circle marking, then on the curved markings that go on the bottom of the struts onto the secondary hull, so again I had to use the kit markings. Once I finished the bottom of the nacelles, I then applied the strut aztecs on the outside, along with the black stripes & turned the enterprise over. I then started first with the back & the insides of the struts. Aztecs first on the struts & then the back spine, sealed those & the inside stripes & neck spine marking & sealed those. Then came the top of the nacelles. I started with the stripe section with mounts around the running light, it filled a gap which I was concerned about between the front & back aztecs of the bottom of the nacelle, but I noticed a small gap between the stripe & one of the lower back aztec edges. I started applying the aztecs on the forward part of the top of the nacelles & noticed that there were 4 aztecs for the vents, but I decided to use the kit marking vent grid decals so those small aztecs were spare. I ten decided to fill the gap on the side of the nacelle with a small peice cut off the spares to fill that gap in & another gap around the curved parts by the running lights & they have blended really well. The fin aztecs went down really well too & now the aztecing of the nacelles is finished, Ive just got to microsol them & seal them & then I can start of the markings. Cheers, Wayne.

£20 & £6, not bad at all. I was expecting you to say £30-£50+ each. Looking forward to this.

Just out of interest, how much did you pay for the kits you have so far? I bet they wernt cheap. Do you have any plans of putting driver figures inside? I was thinking about doing a couple of Nascar kits, but the new ones. What I was thinking was Cole Trickle had made a comeback for Daytona & he got City Chevrolet to re-sponsor him. Watching this build & looking forward to your progress.