TimT

Thanks for the detailed info, Mike, plus bringing this one back from the vaults. Hard to believe it was almost exactly four years ago when I completed it! Still one of my favourites. Thanks for your supportive comments, everyone!

Very fun and innovative solution to presentation - and a great way to combine passions. Did you mount the plane to the stretcher on the back of the canvas? What was your medium for the painting? I'd love to see more of these.

Beautifully executed and photographed. Your decision to keep it clean makes for some lovely graphic shapes in the sunlight. This is the only biplane I'm even remotely interested in building, and this certainly inspires me, I assumed it was 1/48 when I saw the first photo.

Great build so far. Thanks for sharing all the photos and the detailed build log. Your work compliments what's clearly a great kit, and it all just adds to the temptation to get one. It's great to read and see how much you're enjoying this one.

That's something special! Lots to savour in those great photos of all that rich paintwork. You clearly relished this one.

I understand these things are tiny. Great work getting such a variety of colours and textures on such small surfaces, especially as these things seemed nearly monochrome in the film. That's impressive brushwork! Thanks for sharing.

That's really good. I echo all of the comments above - this one sets the bar high. Such a lot of variation in a monochrome scheme, and such a lot to take in in all those great photos.

Really spectacular result! I like how far you pushed the weathering on the Falcon - all those tiny chips look just right. It must look arresting in person. Epic build.

Thanks! It takes a little work in places - and quite a lot of paint - but it's worth it. Thanks, Hunter! And for your comments throughout.

There was a brief spell of real winter here in the upper midwest; my garage studio/ workbench froze solid for a couple of weeks. However, the last fortnight of spring weather has allowed me to mostly finish this project off. Once the wings are built, construction is mostly done. The wings slot onto the arms snuggly and are locked in place by the centre piece of the hub. No glue is required, allowing the wings to be removed - a really great design choice considering the size of this thing. I painted the canons non-canonical green, the colour of the bolts fired but not the same as the studio model. I wanted a contrast with the back end and felt green looked a little more evil. I had to take a few informal glamour shots before submitting a real RFI post. I'll spray the base before I try to photograph it, although I'll need to find another space to get enough distance from this beast. In the end, this was a really impressive kit, and - as has been confirmed by studio scale modeler supreme John Simmons - the most accurate injection-moulded TIE Fighter available. It has a great presence when complete, and despite some quality shortfalls in areas, seems worth the time and expense if you want a big, beautiful TIE. Thanks for following along!

Thanks, Rob! Seems like a lifetime ago now, but it remains one of my favourite builds and painting experiences. Such a great kit! I appreciate you excavating it from the vaults.

Wow - that's beautifully done! The colour modulation on the wings, the tiny chips on the fuselage - plus many other very finely executed details - all of it adds up to a great build. The decals truly look painted on, which I can tell is as much down to your skills as it is the quality of the decals themselves. I always thought this was an unlovely plane, but this inspires me to build one because of its weirdnesses.

I think you're right about maximum effort, Will; the design of the kit is good - clever in places - and the casting is generally clear, especially on the large exterior parts. They could certainly tighten up quality control on the tooling, but it doesn't ruin the experience - at least not for me. I also have Round 2/ AMT's Razor Crest, which I haven't built yet, but looks pretty good. I've made a start on the wings, each of which is larger than just about every kit I've built in recent years. Here are the parts: The panels jigsaw together and are locked in place with the arms and central hub. The teeth on one side go through the holes on the panels and into the arm on the other side, if you see what I mean. The fit of the panels is OK until you get to the last one, which is too large. I sanded the lugs on 3 of the panels until the pieces sat snugly and didn't warp the wing overall. I dry-fitted the arms continuously to make sure all the pins and holes would still align. I primed and pre-shaded the various parts before spraying them my custom TIE grey. As you can see, the detail is dense and sharp enough to take panel line washes well. The instructions would have you connect all the panels then the hub and arms on one side before going to the other. I alternated sides and gradually worked around the hub, mating male/ female arms to keep things stable. I also sprayed the panels with (most of) a rattle can of matte black, masking the areas that the arms will attach to. The pins on the arms have a decent hold on their partner on the opposite side of the wing, but I wanted to clamp the entire length while the glue dried. I tried chopsticks with elastic bands to exert pressure along the whole length of the arm, which sort of worked. If you build one of these, it's worth designating a large work area. I keep running out of space! Thanks for following along.

Thanks for the views and comments, everyone. I've begun the painting process on the hull: I'm not trying to imitate the ILM approach to painting, but indulging with some shading and panel line emphasis - definitely not faithful to the TIE studio miniature. Most of the decals have been applied at this point, which are more than I was expecting. When the ship zips around on screen, I never noticed a single one - at least not consciously. I tried to keep this visual texture going with a couple of slightly lighter or darker panels. The paint looks much darker here, which is misleading. However, you can see that - despite soft areas elsewhere on the kit - the detail on the hull is pretty sharp. Wings next. Thanks for looking.

Lovely scheme and excellent craftsmanship. I'd be proud if that were my only build of the year.