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Hello! This is a pretty simple build/paint. Someone over on Starship Modeler gave me the bug to build a TIE Defender. I'm a big fan of SW Squadrons, and the Defender is a playable ship in that game. The 3D model is fairly well detailed, and I bought the files from ModelWerks here. After reviewing all the parts, I was able to get things printed out pretty easily on my Elegoo Saturn, and everything fit nice and tidy on one build plate. Then I ran into a hitch. The way that this is designed, the ball is split vertically into two halves. I didn't think this would be a problem, but after printing, support removal, curing (and resulting shrinkage), the two halves didn't exactly line up. That cockpit consists of 5 pieces, and there was just too many things going on for it all to fit together well. SO! Back to the computer I went. I brought all 5 files into MeshMixer: And combined them all into one part: (MM makes the preview of the model pretty low-rez. The actual model is fine) With that, it was saved out as a new STL file and brought into ChituBox, with supports being added: This might not be the most optimal way of printing/supporting a sphere, but it printed perfectly on the first try, with just a few support marks on the back of the ball to cleanup. You can see a few layer lines in there, but I think between primer and a bit of sanding, those'll go away. It still blows me away that you can just print stuff like this. Here are some closeups of the cockpit and pilot: (and remember, this is all one part now): This will all be painted black shortly. I cleaned up the supports on the wings and the engine tri-section, and those got a layer of Tamiya fine surface primer: Here is a group shot of all the pieces together. A simple build, really. I'm going to wait for some warmer weather (maybe...) before I prime the new cockpit section and the rest of the parts. Now on to color.... I know that the close Tamiya paint for the ANH TIEs is TS-32 Haze Grey, but I think that that is a bit too blue for my liking for this build. I am going to reference the SW Squadrons image at the top of this post for paint color: more gray with a dash of blue, rather than the other way around. Anyway, that's all for now. I wasn't going to do a build thread on this one because it is such a simple build, but I thought I'd show some of the 3D stuff I did in MeshMixer in the hopes that it'll help someone else out someday. Stay tuned for more! SB

Hi guys.I got inspiration from Srike back season1 last episode. When Collinson go find and try to kill Porter, he drive a Land Rover Defender. So, I decide to build a Defender to salute the best season. Below is the defender, it's cool isn't it? I start this work in 2013, and get it done in last year.HobbyBoss' defender(No.82446) is base, I also choose TAMIYA alled vehicels accesorry set(No.35229) for upgrade. and try to built it as far as it in Strike Back. Final result is not a 100% copy, but may be 70% I think. Thanks for your viewing.