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Phil Lewis

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  1. Phil Lewis
    I've just discovered that I'm in the same boat missing SAMI and AM from November and December last year respectively to the present. I've just sent an email to Mark as advised so I'll let you know how I get on. Phil
  2. Phil Lewis
    I forgot to post. This model got a second in class at the IPMS Birmingham 2016 show
  3. Phil Lewis
    Another post updated where Photobucket did the dirty on me.
  4. Phil Lewis
    I noticed that Photobucket finally pulled the trigger so I've re-uploaded the original pics from Flickr now. Hope you can all see them again.
  5. Phil Lewis
    Another old thread fixed replacing old Photobucket hosted images with Flickr ones. Should be visible to all
  6. Phil Lewis
    I know this is an old post but after the Photobucket debacle I decided to use some of my recuperating time to re-upload the images from Flickr. Hopefully you can all see the pics ok Cheers Phil 👍
  7. Phil Lewis
    Just caught up with this Jon, all I can say is WOW! Inspirational stuff Phil
  8. Phil Lewis
    Fantastic job. It really is a lovely kit isn't it
  9. Phil Lewis
    I don't know about brave Jeff, more obstinate and blindly determined. I know this will never be truly accurate as there are significant and insurmountable shape issues which I shall make absolutely no attempt to correct. However, when I start a kit, I am always determined to make the best of it so, with this in mind I obtained a photo-etch set for it from White Ensign models when at the IPMS model world show at Telford. Hangar doors added And also chopped out the AA mount floors as the kit had them moulded as platforms instead of walled enclosures. Aft And forward Plus the etch for the bridge 'wings' 'Before' picture in insert Etch added to the funnel Added etch platform to funnel Fire directors cleaned up and one missing end replaced with a scratch item and etch radar grids added... looking a lot better Etch catapult and aircraft handling tracks added I then turned my attention to the (distinctly NOT ROUND) main guns, making them actually round and drilling out the ends. I also added a little more detail to the turrets including the director covers and an attempt at the small, sliding port covers on the front face of the turrets. And that's it for now. More insanity to come... polishing a for fun Phil the mad
  10. Phil Lewis
    Wow! it's really been over 2 years since I did anything on this? Well, I have picked it up again recently and got busy again... here's a teaser Yep. There's etch. I'll post more soon. Phil
  11. Phil Lewis
    Finished! This post essentially covers the reassembly and painting of the B-Wing. Circumstances prevented me from posting the ongoing build at the time it was happening but here's the process. Masked the canopy and primed everything with UMP black primer. Here you can see the main wing, cockpit module and engine pod shell assembled along with the brass mounting rod and power leads installed ready for connecting. Some seam issues have been addressed... And re-primed Base coat of XF-2 Flat White and a little deck tan to warm it applied Masked off and applied the blue-grey panels. Decided to change the blue-grey mix to the one recommended in the Bandai Kit instructions Added a little detail to the port on the rear of the cockpit module. This was a main wheel from the Airfix 1/72 Vampire kit cut thin and with the tyre bulge sanded flat After a coat of Tamiya rattle can clear I applied some spurious stencil decals from random decal sheets in the spares box followed by a sealer coat and a judicious application of Tamiya Dark Brown panel line wash. Engines connected up to the power leads and brass tube used to created the nose mounted guns. Further streaks and smears applied using powders etc and all sealed under a matt coat. Unfortunately I cannot post a lot of the pictures as they show a shop card for another forum I post to. And finally mounted on it's MDF base with a heavily processed image of Home 1 to keep it company. Battery pack connected up and set into the underside of the base (temporarily held in with masking tape. So that's it for this build Apologies that things got away from me so we didn't get a blow by blow account. Thanks for looking in Phil
  12. Phil Lewis
    Where does time go? Wow, I haven't touched this since January 2017. I have been working on other things and I found myself struggling to decide where to go with this old bird. Fast forward to Sept 2018 and a packaged drops through the door all the way from Japan containing one of my grail kits, an accurate, standard scale B-Wing from BanDai. Do I rush to build this beauty?... nope, I look at the exquisitely detailed parts on the trees and realise I can now correct some of the issues with the old kit. I hate to give up on an old model so here we are with a new round of updates. Lighting Drilled out the engines to accept 3mm yellow LEDs with 200ohm resisters on the positive lead of each led. This is to power them with 2x 2032 coin batteries in a switched carrier. Wired the LEDs together in parallel, insulated and light blocked with Tulip. Gave all the interior and exterior surfaces a good coat of UMP Black primer to provide additional light blocking. Nose Job The nose of the MPC B-Wing was particularly underwhelming in the detail stakes so I set to with drill, scalpel, files and plasticard and arrived precisely here More to follow... I hope Phil
  13. Phil Lewis
    Actually finished the stain on the base some time ago but forgot to post it here so here's the finished article. Thanks for looking in Phil
  14. Phil Lewis
    Just caught up with this thread. Another cracking build there Johnny. Love how you take those little hiccups, punch them in the eye and while they're staggering around blinking smack them over the head with an ingenious solution
  15. Phil Lewis
    At least you've got a pristine one to work with as opposed to my pre-mutilated one
  16. Phil Lewis
    Thanks Dermo I used 1.4mm dia. brass tube for the core barrels and then matched up the plastic tubes by eye until everything looked about right. I also put additional smaller plastic centering tubes inside each end of the larger plastic tubes to hold the brass central. The largest diameter plastic tubes are 5mm dia. and the ones that telescope inside are around 3.5mm dia. Hope that helps
  17. Phil Lewis
    It's not over yet Weathering proper began with a light dusting of Tamiya Rubber Black misted on in the areas indicated as having the greatest buildup of grime. I also tried a new technique of masking individual panels and markings and misting the rubber black at the edges in an uneven patchy manner. This gave me the following result. I then washed some Flory Grime and Black washes into the relevant spots that needed highlighting and also covered myself in fine glass fibres by using an fibreglass abrasive pen that's normally used for cleaning up circuit boards ready for soldering. The effect is subtle but it tones back the airbrushed grime layer and helps to highlight some of the raised details. I'll use gloves and a bit of protective clothing next time though. That stuff gets itchy Attention turned to Biggs' astromech droid who's designation (according to references) is R2-Q2 and is Grey with white and black highlights. Dome is partially airbrushed and masked for the white line but the details were hand-painted so don't stand up to the closest scrutiny. Macro is very unforgiving. I ran out of steam so the body detail will be done later. Flat clear applied, canopy masking removed and R2-Q2 nestled (temporarily) in his droid slot. So, aside from one semi painted droid and some details which I'll deal with as I notice them, this is almost, nearly, soon to be done I'll do a final update when I'm happy with the finishing touches and then post some better pics in an RFI Thanks for looking in Phil
  18. Phil Lewis
    Mask, Paint, Chip, Repeat Not a massive amount to say other than the pictures say it all. Lots of masking, spraying, Chipping and so forth. Masked for the lime green bits. Masked and painted the dark yellowy sand areas (uesd Tamiy XF-59 with some Flat yellow added) Light blue bits done. Wing markings masked (that was a bit more complicated than I expected) and the fuselage stripe (which wasn't complicated at all) Paint goes on... Masks come off... mostly... not the canopy... yet Need to chip the red bits now and then do a bit of detail and stencil painting. Weathering rapidly looming. That's yer lot fer now Thanks for looking in Phil the Mask
  19. Phil Lewis
    A pleasure to meet you on Sunday. I eventually found and had a look at this fabulous build in the metal (so to speak) and I was not disappointed. As everyone else has already said, all those awards are richly deserved.
  20. Phil Lewis
    Only just caught up with this build. You're making an old girl look absolutely stunning. I'd break out the popcorn but apparently it's bad for me. Won't stop me following the build though
  21. Phil Lewis
    Hairspray and Greeblies Applied a nice coat of cheap hairspray which made the model and the room smell like a hairdressing boutique. After this had dried overnight I then airbrushed on a nice coat of the X-Wing /starship white mix consisting of an entire new jar of Tamiya XF-2 White with about twenty drops of Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan. I then spotted that the cut-outs on the insides of the s-foils were completely devoid of detail and the inner ones even had cavernous voids revealing the bits of a model that shouldn't be seen . Using references I had a fine time replicating the details (within reason) Wings look much better now. That's enough for tonight Thanks for looking in Phil the incredibly tired
  22. Phil Lewis
    The Cunning Plan and the Astro Droid Despite using brass tube down the center of the blasters running into the main blaster pods a couple were still a tiny bit loose and I was finding it difficult to keep them all lined up. I struck upon the idea of finding some brass tube that would slot down the inside of the existing cannon tubes and, if drilled and glued in the exact center of the cannon pod rear extending proud of the front of the pods, would provide the perfect guide to slide the main rod over them and into the pod centering the rod at the aft end of the pod too. Worked like a charm I love it when a plan comes together (where have I heard that before?) It now forces the blasters to sit correctly on the pods keeping them all in line.... as long as the pods are lined up correctly on the wings... which they are *phew* Any misalignments are now due to the slightly rickety condition of the wings.. well it is an old kit Whole thing now undercoated with German Grey ready for a blast over with hairspray in preparation for some chipping work. R2 unit also received some extra detail after a rub down in preparation for me to apply the correct colour scheme for Red 3's droid Before.. ..and after That's it for tonight Thanks for looking in. Phil
  23. Phil Lewis
    Scribing, Sanding and Tinting After a slightly later than expected start I checked the work so far and decided I really didn't like the look of the raised panel lines, especially as some had disappeared with sanding and needed to be restored anyway. Spent the next few hours scribing the panel lines following the (admittedly inaccurate) provided panel lines. Corrected the slips with Mr Dissolved putty. Left some of the less accessible lines and then gave the whole thing a wet sand to get rid of the unwanted raised lines. Also addressed some of the more prominent seam lines such as on the rear engine elements, again, not going for perfection, just tidying up. Tinted the interior of the canopy with Tamiya Smoke. Had a bad moment when it looked like it was going to be pretty much opaque and blotchy but I held fire and waited for it to dry properly and it dried evenly... phew! Cheated a bit and, to add detail to the cockpit, used the unused stickers from the BanDai 1/48th scale kit to give the console some interest. (I test fitted the canopy and it's all but invisible anyway... ah well) Airbrushed all the shaded and difficult to get to bits a nice shade of Rubber Black in preparation for temporarily attaching and masking the canopy. Next up will be masking, undercoat, chipping fluid.... lots to do Thanks for looking in. Phil
  24. Phil Lewis
    A Tale of Two Angles Some years back the canopy had been drilled to accept a piece of copper wire that looped around the back forming a rudimentary hinge. This was not entirely successful. It had also been crudely brush painted with Tamiya Clear Blue to represent a tint. This also was not entirely successful. Blue tint (mostly) removed with Mr Hobby self levelling thinner and the canopy was polished where I could and dipped in clear. Once dry the Hinge was removed, the remains of which can be seen to the right of the canopy. The MPC canopy is not truly accurate as it does not represent the change in angle under the last fifth of the front edge. Filed and sanded in a representation of the upturn, not massively accurate but certainly an improvement. The cockpit surround also needed to be modified to accept the new canopy shape so this was built up with assorted shapes and thicknesses of plasticard and sanded to shape. Before After The slots in the canopy frame that had been originally filed to make room for the wire hinge were filled with plastruct square section rod and filled with dissolved plastic. Canopy test fitted to ensure everything lined up nicely That's all for tonight folks Thanks for looking in Phil
  25. Phil Lewis
    Having a Blast(er) Small update. I went for it and fashioned some replacement blaster cannon from various sizes of plastic tube and brass tube down the center for strength. Took most of the evening, measuring, cutting, measuring, swearing, re-measuring, cutting new pieces... you know how it goes. Sanded and shaped the tapered rings that sit behind the curved emitters (they were built up of 3 different diameter rings cut from the same plastic tubes that made up the main cannon). These are the resulting pieces. Top of picture shows two of the original pieces, next down are 3 of the assembled blasters and at the bottom I left one unassembled so you can see the components. Diameters were selected by eyeball and chosen for the fact that they fit together nicely And the blasters dry fit to the wings. I'll leave them off for now to ease painting and fix them in place once painting mostly complete. Pretty happy with how they came out. That's it for tonight folks Thanks for looking in. Phil
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