Tinners

I know I have been quiet on this build, but I promise to have a major update this weekend!

I've heard that before, but not in the context of a plastic boat...

No. Just No. 3 feet long is bad enough. 3 feet wide as well? I don't think so.

Fresh after finishing the Millenium Falcon for the Sci-fi Group build I seem to have volunteered to do another bit of big plastic. I think I'm going to need a bigger house. I am using the Big Ed Photo Etch set alongside the PE in the kit. Despite the size of the model, some of this stuff is so small that it would not be out of place on a 1/72 aircraft. It's a big kit: 3 feet long, so I need to do a spectacular job of the paint since you can see everything on the 'boot. So lets get started. The suspect in question... That's an A2 cutting board and as you can see, it overhangs at both ends. DSC_0047.jpg Some of the Eduard PE in place, as well as my cack-handed placement. Anyone got a file? DSC_0048.jpg Torpedo tubes. Don't worry, that brass will get straightened when I put the deck on it. DSC_0049.jpg

Thank-you for all your praise! I put the Falcon in my display case the other day and every time I see it, I keep thinking 'Did I make that?' It is so much better than anything I have made and painted before that I still can't believe that I am responsible for it.

Now that is very cool! I'll be watching this one!

I'll give it a go. The 'headlights' are incredibly bright and totally overwhelm all of the others, so I'll try and cover them up to show off the rest of it.

Well you did do a nice job on the images! Anyway, NX-01 first mate, then the Schnellboot.

Fine Molds 1/72 Millenium Falcon. A truly incredible kit: almost no effort needed to create a real centrepiece to a collection.

The Falcon is done and just in time for me to go back to work. It's been a fun build and even more fun to paint and weather, so it was money well spent. Here are some quick piccies of the finished model: I will post the rest in the finished builds thread.

If I don't get my 1/350 PL NX-01 started for the Sci-fi build, then I will offer it up for this challenge. Otherwise, it'll be a 1/35 Schnellboot for me. Is that big enough? Edited because of epic typo's

I've had to wait a couple of days for the model to dry as I have been hand tinting individual panels with oils and it just wouldn't dry! The panel colour changes are very subtle and the photo's don't catch the differences in tone. Perhaps now may be a good time to invest in one of those Photo booth things. DSC_0027 DSC_0028 DSC_0029 Two more days should see this finished, then I can get the base sorted!

I have a couple of tricks you can use mate: I will try to get over soonish and show you. In the meantime I have the Falcon to finish and a rather large piece of plastic to get started on too...

It's not dedication: it's certifable insanity. I've seen it up close and I can say without a doubt that once it is stained and weathered, it will look the mutt's nuts. Andy mate, it's time to drill that hole and get her bolted down before she breaks her back, and considering the silly amount of work you've put into this so far, that would be a crying shame.

If it looks awesome then it didn't have anything to do with me, rather the quality of the model in the first place. For your Snowspeeder I think the light Grey colour would be the way to go: I wish I'd had the courage of my convictions when I was pondering what colour to go with for the base coat.

Update time! I have spent the last few days getting a move on with the weathering, which should take another 3 or 4 days hopefully. I am using Windsor and Newton oil paints for the weathering and using an odourless thinner so it doesn't mess up the Acrylic paint base coat. The first layer of weathering is subtle; changing the hue of the model quite significantly. You can see the clear difference if you look at both sides of the model. DSC_0020 by DaTinz, on Flickr Unfortunately, due to the lights in the Den, I didn't notice that I had been using far too much Van Dyke Brown, so it looked a bit strange when I saw it in natural light. It went way too yellow: mainly due to the base coat I blended. Note to self: next time just use a really pale grey... So out came a J-cloth and some thinners which fixed the worst of it thankfully! Stage 2: Streaking. DSC_0023 by DaTinz, on Flickr Looks awesome, and just took 30 minutes to cover the whole model!

The ramp will indeed be down. There is an LED in there to make a nice glowy light too.

Well, Christmas is upon us again and I get 2 weeks from my students, which is nice! Back to the Falcon then. This morning I primered up the hull and managed to get a couple of base coats down. DSC_0016 by DaTinz, on Flickr I used a custom mix of paints: 3 parts X-2 White, 2 parts XF-55 Deck Tan and 1 part XF-20 Medium Grey. This results in a very pale base coat that I plan on weathering using oil paints. The blotchiness of the paint is intentional: I want a variation in the base coat to show the wear and tear a bit better. After a day of realising I couldn't find the oil paint that I needed, putting the car through an MOT, sending parcels, etc, I finally got around to masking off the red bits and spraying them up. I also fitted the gun turret bays too. The base colour is a lot less yellow than you see here; the first pic gives a much better idea of the real colour. DSC_0018 by DaTinz, on Flickr Tomorrow I can get on with the weathering!

The Fibre Optics are for the tiny landing lights on the underside of the Falcon. There are twelve in total: most people use a 3mm LED, but I find that to be too harsh for my liking, so I went with the fibre instead.

That would be you.

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm getting back to the Falcon. It's been a learing experience this weekend as I have had to make the lighting kit, well, light. There are a few problems that I have had to overcome, namely, I didn't know how to solder stuff. I also realised that I really hadn't paid attention during Design Technology at school and the stuff I ignored whilst chatting up Lindsey Braithwaite in class may have actually had some sort of relevance to this electronic magic thing. Well, after a lot of swearing, cut and burned fingers and a couple of blown LED's, I am now competent in the mysterious art of soldering. I also learned to read circuit diagrams. This is really important if you don't want to wire up the whole thing wrong. I only found this out when I had put the whole thing together and then had to unsolder all the connections and start again. Anyway... It turned out good in the end. This was attempt number 2. I know it is embarrasingly basic, but at this point I really don't care. falcon1 by DaTinz, on Flickr Did it work? lets give it some juice. falcon2 by DaTinz, on Flickr Yep. All glowy. TIme to button it all up. And stick all the nurnies on the sides. falcon3 by DaTinz, on Flickr Next job is to get the cockpit and guns finished so I can paint it up and I can start work on the floaty landing platform.

Quick update: I have finished 90% of the modelling, and my lighting kit arrived late last week, so I will post updates as I install the thing.

I finished this a few days ago, but forgot to post it. Nurnies ahoy! DSC_0826 by DaTinz, on Flickr

More bits added. Now it's really starting to look like the Falcon. DSC_0685 by DaTinz, on Flickr

It's easy: it is just plastic. Models need to be built: that is their purpose. If you don't build it, then you just bought a really expensive box. The joy is in the building, and that is what I buy, not a box of bits that I am terrified of putting together because it was expensive. Go on: get one of your expensive models out of your stash and build it. You know you want to.