Gidge

So this happened. That'll take some microsurgery to fix

After much trial and error the best way I could find to mask the top hatch short of buying a vinyl cutter (and I seriously considered it) was to use blue-tack. A pre cut set of masks would make life so much simpler

I hit the "black Rectangles with some SMS Chassis Black (satin) before masking them. Then put down the main paint coat of Light Ghost Grey

Trimming the tips off some toothpicks and jamming them in the ends makes excellent handles for mounting and holding the fuselage for painting

Just did the tips of the blaster canons now because it's easier to mask the tips then install them and paint them with the rest of the body to get a unified finish. I'm quite happy with the end result Primed in SMS Black Hit it with SMS Jet Black for a glossy finish SMS HyperChrome Cold Tone Top Coat of SMS Clear Orange

Last parts off the sprue ready for paintwork

Some overdue progress These parts are designed to stay together permanently! They are a very tight fit a very tight fit so do your clean up beforehand and be very careful with any test fitting. Really doesn't need glue though I gave it a few dabs anyway.

Construction progressing nicely. quality and engineering is very impressive. You can easily slap it together and get a 60%-70% result with minimal effort. It doesn't take a lot of extra effort to get an 80% result. Taking this to a flawless competition winning result is going to be a substantial increase in challenge due to the scale and a few other little things. Some of the sprue connection points are not easy to clean up but they're positioned where they're less likely to be noticed. Lighting the cockpit and rear engines looks to be very achievable though the blasters might be a challenge. I'm sure it's been done though. Be careful test fitting parts as some are designed NOT TO EVER COME APPART. So a little planning prior to painting is highly recommended. Work out what you want to paint as a sub assembly early. If you do paint in sub assemblies I'd highly recommend masking the connection points as the fit on some of them is very tight. To call this a true "no glue" kit is a tad ambitious. "You can get away without glue" is probably a more accurate description. Especially as in their marketing material Bandai imply they can be played with. Most of it is good enough to be a treated as a snap together kit (plenty of it won't come out without tools) but a few of the exterior details This little detail here (tank bogie?) really needs a dab of glue This back piece could use some glue but you can get away without it. it's asymmetrically keyed so you can't put it in the wrong way which is a nice touch These little tabs really should be glued

Some colour testing to find that illusive The Fighter Grey. For the uninitiated: this is a pretty deep rabbit hole and nobody REALLY knows the answer. Short version: In the original film it varies quite a bot from shot to shot due to the way they were filming it. The original studio model was quite blue but it was filmed against a blue screen so the colour distorted. Each different release of the film subtly changes the colour grading. Subsequent films changed the colour (presumably to give more contrast with the whitish Rebel ships). The Tie Interceptor is substantially bluer so if you plan to build both you can either go for a unified look or a contrasting look

Solar panels painted in SMS Advanced Obsidian thinned 1:1. It's really difficult to photograph but it gives them a subtle shimmer like the move prop and real solar panels. Just needs 24 hours to fully cure before it can be masked and the rest of the wing re-primed

Now THAT's better! Still not perfect but at least now you need to know to look for where the ejector pin marks were. The black sections of the plastic The black sections of the plastic are still slightly visible through the black primer but that will be fixed later as they'll be re primed after I paint and mask the solar panels

Painting the rear mirror thingy (cockpit display of some kind?)

Not perfect but greatly improved

Those ejector pin marks need to be taken care of

Just smashed out the cockpit last night. First Bandai kit, Primed in SMS Surfacer Black https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/primer-surfacer-black-50ml Painted the Canopy and front cluster in SMS Gunship Grey. I haven't decided if I'll use the clear or glass free canopy and hatch so I'm painting both https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/premium-gunship-grey-fs36118-30ml?_pos=2&_sid=abe991cfe&_ss=r Interior in SMS Neutral Grey https://www.scalemodeller.com.au/products/premium-neutral-grey-30ml?_pos=1&_sid=4de655062&_ss=r Painting Vader Head: SMS Jet Black Satin parts: SMS Advance Black Check switch panel thingy: SMS Advance Black with some Gunship Grey mixed in Eyes: SMS Clear Red over SMS Jet Black Belt Buckle: SMS Hyperchrome Pen Rest: SMS Surfacer Black primer SMS Interior Grey SMS Super Clear Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash Added SMS Super Clear Tamiya Panel Line Wash Photographed with better lighting than earlier pic Super Clear and Decals These decals aren't bad but they're definitely not Cartograph They're a faithful reproduction of the kit bashed original studio model so they don't quite fit the spaces and are real fiddley to work with. Starting to assemble cockpit base. Coin in the reference photos is an Australian 10c piece, this kit is TINY Detailed the back with SMS Hyperchrome pen and test fit Added some Tamiya Black Panel Line Wash for a little more contrast and gloss coated over the top. I left it glossy as limited light will get into the cockpit anyway so any extra sheen or reflection is going to make it that much more visible. The glass free piece has subtly more detail than the clear on the underside of the hatch. But with the hatch closed it'll never be seen.

The lap belts had me questioning life choices

And now onto the HGW seatbelts. These things looked huge in the pictures online and easy to work with in the YouTube videos of their WW2 sets (possibly some 32 scale versions). Of course the setup on a fighter jet's ejection seat is much more complex

So some much needed progress updates that I was too lazy to upload at the time. I tried to get the mirrors hapening but they were too small and I managed to loose one so I gave up, deciding they'd be barely visible on a closed canopy anyway.

I bought the New Ware pre cut masks set which made it considerablyquickerand easier . That has two sets of outer masks to do the yellow canopy seals instead of using the decals, then use a slightly larger set to do the black frame over the top of that. To achieve that look you need to paint the inside otherwise it'll look yellow. I figured it would also be be easier to glue mirrors to a painted surface than the very slick unpainted canopy

I know the feeling. By the the toy get any hobby time you just need to sleep

How did you go about gluing the mirrors into place?

A little heavy handed on the canopy tinting but I'm happy with that.

New Ware masks make a huge difference. It's a bit fiddley to get them properly aligned on the inside of the closed canopy parts, would be a lot easier on the segmented open canopy.