Gemini 8

Thanks for your advises. I think I will "prime" the car body with the Tamiya TS-14 Gloss Black Spray Can. According to my tests it is very smooth and colors are sticking better than on pure platsic. I don't have Silver but it seems that Vallejo Duraluminium and Silver are very similar. At the moment I am testing everything on a very cheap car model I bought only for this purpose. Sorry for more questions. How thick are your wires on the back (red/blue) and inside the passenger compartment. I have to make an order but i am not sure how thick the cables should be. Yours is looking perfectly right. Your Time Machine is already looking good. I am looking forward to see it finished.

Hi, after a year I finished the Star Wars Bandai 1/12 Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper and turned it into some kind of diorama including the Second Death Star. I had some problems taking pictures in my tiny photo booth, but I am happy how everything turned out. Here is the WIP Thread: I hope you like it.

Looking good so far. I really like how the back part with the details is coming together. This will also be my next model (Part 1 without Mr Fusion) and I tested dozens of metal colors for the right stainless steel. I startet with Vallejo Metal Colors to Alclad and Mr Metal Colors and many others. Back to Vallejo I think I will be using 77.702 Duraluminium, but I am still not sure. I bought all the stainless steel I could find plus some light steel colors, but I think most aluminium variations are more convincing. What is your main body color? Thanks.

Making slow progress on the second death star. Lord Vader is not pleased. The reason is, the whole production lies only in the hands of this lonely trooper. The progress. Adding the shell with some huge gaps: Closing the gaps and protecting the core from the upcoming primer and colours: Primed DS: Airbrushed colours at the background and at the single panels: Adding details on construction sites and startet painting some variation on the panels: Adding some missing construction elements

Thanks a lot. At first I didn't like the moulded plant on the tree. But with these threedimensional elements I am very happy with the result. The Trooper with more weathering and less dirt on the boots. It is still very hard to take photos with my camera without loosing all details on the outshining armor. I thought now I am almost done and there are only some finishing touches to do, but there's a space station under construction in the sky, that I try to comine with this set. I am not sure if that will work. Maybe in some specific angles.

The progress to the finished terrain:

Thanks Stephen. The Bike is almost finished. I added some mud and a few more scratches. I decided to make the flaps half open, so I cut the connector to a 40° angle and filled the gap with plastic. The bag turned out to be a head-scratcher. I experimented for hours. At first I tried to stamp the pattern from a real cloth, then I tried to paint a pattern with directionally alternating rough brushes. After that I searched unsuccessfully for real cloth I can use. I ended up using a bandage as an airbrush template. It's not perfect but I like it. I also started with the terrain and some vegatation (ferns). Next I will alternate between the terrain and more weathering on the trooper.

Thanks a lot. The brown body parts are almost entirely weathered with oil paints, which takes weeks to dry. I give it a little bit more time before I assemble it. I also almost forgot the decals. I added some containing texts. Also on the metallic parts I have already shown.

This was another long break, but I am confident that I will be able to finish it soon. Maybe... This is an update of the weathering of the metallic body parts. The weathering includes acrylic and oil washes, metallic drybrushing, pigments, random tiny scratches and chippings as well as handpainted "big" ones, which resembles the scratches on the movie references. This time I am using a mix of movie-references, because I haven't found a single bike that has good photos from every angle. There are also some pics from the instruments. Next time I'll show the weathered brown body parts I am working on at the moment. Engine Panel at the bottom Engine Top Bottom I will add some mud on the footrests. I am not sure which "flaps" I will be using. 2 are closed and 2 are open. Laser cannon Instruments

I have never built a model in such a big scale. Especially no figure, so this promised to be an interesting build. I started a year ago with the first parts of the bike. I painted all brown parts and the main metallic/dark parts without the handles and the footrests back then. But then I paused building models for a year and after this time I forgot how I made the metallic/dark colours, which I really like. After some tests I got pretty close for the remaining parts but I still don't know how I did it. I still had the brown colour mix, which I brightened a little bit. After the weathering it will be much darker anyway. I also did some pre and postshading at this moment, but I haven't startet any weathering on the bike. But after my break I didn't continue with the bike, but instead I built the whole figure first. I tried to use the white armor without paint, but it looked too much like cheap plastic. Ok, some may say stormtroopers look like plastic, but it didn't look right. I startet weathering the figure, but the white armor is so bright in the light that it is hard to see. I think I overdid it on the boots. I will try to tone it a little bit down. I saw some other scout trooper models with really dirty boots, but after I watched the scenes in the movie, I realised that they aren't that dirty. Well, there is still much to do. Weathering in this scale will be interesting. The joints aren't snapped in in these 2 pictures

If you use the Vallejo Clear Varnish, then I can say that I have the same problems with it. They don´t withstand these elements (thinners, terpentine, spirits) very well. I also heard otherwise but it is the same for me. I love Vallejo colours. I also like the structure of the varnishes, but only as last layer. At the moment I use the Microscale varnishes which withstand these elements much better, but they are still not perfect. Other varnishes I tried created a foggy surface so I am almost out of choices. Otherwise, great work.

I am really looking forward to this and consequently what is possible with this model in this scale. Then I will decide if I even buy and try one (somtime in the far future). Currently I am working on the Blockade Runner and that is already pretty tiny. I often ask myself why I am going through all of that when I already have a gorgeous Fantasy Flight Games "X-Wing" CR90 for a reasonable price (60€). That is a fantastically detailled model with a more than passable paint job in a presentable size. I thought I have to repaint it, but left it as it is... I never played it once in the miniature game - only a few games with the starfighters only. Sadly the painting of "Rebel transport" is terrible and sometimes I have to repaint it. The FFG "Armada" SSD also looks also very detailled but something seemes wrong with the colour/painting from the pictures and videos I saw. Aside from the expensive prize, isn´t that a option to repaint? It definitelly has more meat on it.

Thanks a lot for your kind words both of you, It´s a fantastic kit. I am convinced yours will also turn out great. Have fun with it.

Thanks a lot everyone. Thanks. I am little bit split about the design of this ship. I like it very much, but it is not among my absolute favourites. Apart from that it was the most fun Star Wars kit to build yet for me. I think this is because of the larger 1/48 scale opposed to the smaller scaled starfighters (1/72). In this scale e.g. doing scratches is fun for me, but in 1/72 it is much more weary.

I finished this model some months ago but I haven´t showed it in RFI yet. I waited for new camera equipment, but I am not sure if I am happy with it. The lighting looks a little bit off. The real colour lies between the first pictures and the 2 WIP pictures below, which I have taken before. I tried to recreate every tiny scratch and chip from the studio model. I hope you like it. Some pictures from the finished cockpit while it was in WIP:

I am desperately waiting for a 1/72 TIE Bomber. I had high hopes after the B-Wing announcement, but it goes down every new month. After that they got everything I could ask for. I would pause every other work for that one. Maybe they are making some more cruisers. A Nebulon B or Calamaris would be nice, but I am not sure if I would buy and build them. If they are a part of the vehicle-series and too small I am not interested.

Thanks. I think the red is very important on this one. This is arguably the most colourful starfighter of the original trilogy, so this had to be right. Now I can´t unsee the F-16 engine intakes. I thought it reminded me of something, but I wasn´t sure of what... I would be happy with a 1/144 version. Yes, I know. I am easy to please. 🙂

Thanks. I am not exactly sure which parts you are refering to, but I see some resemblance. That must have been some big scale F-14 because the studio model is really huge. Thanks a lot, Andy. Are you planning to do more Star Wars or other sci-fi models? I absolutely love your work.

Finally I have finished one of my favourite starfighters. Here is the WIP-thread: My goal is always to be as close as I can to the studio model, what is not always easy because this 1/72 model is so much smaller. I hope you like it. Thanks. Green Leader standing by.

I finally finished it. At first I used the cockpit glass with the separate black platic ring, but the ring looked way too thick when assembled. In the original model it is only a very fine ring. The integrated ring on the complete cockpit glass seemed much thinner so I painted this one and I think it looks much more accurate now. I am taking photos for the RFI-section. I hope to see you there soon...

On some pictures it reminds me very much of the V-Wing Airspeeder. It was not one of my favourite "legends" ships, but I definitely like this nose much more. I'm curious how it evolves.

Almost finished. I have to add the pilot and canopy and I go around the model one more time maybe with checking and adding/changing some minor details. Sorry for the picture quality.

I am no Gundam Fan but I love this work. How have you achieved those stunning tiny scratches?

Yes they are. I don´t need it for the A-Wing but I consider it for a future build. I always love to try new things...

I tested the Microscale matt varnish and there are 2 problems with it. First the whole surface (without the pencils) gets evenly a little foggy. Secondly it reacts extremely with the acrylic pencils. A black weathering created with the pencils is turning completely white. After theat I tried an Vallejo matt varnish and it doesn´t react to to the pencils. So I have to use this one with the pencils in the future. I preferred the Microscale varnish because it generates a harder protective shell after it dried. The Vallejo needs more time to dry and doesn´t turn out very hard. So have to be more careful. I ordered a new Microscale varnish. The reaction to the pencils will not go away, but the fog didn´t happen in the past. I had similar problems with other varnishes but I was happy with this one until now. Ok, thanks.