Neal Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 (edited) Going to have a crack at this MPC kit I was bought as a present a few years ago. It's my first model in a few years and my first GB. Here's the kit: The moulding is nice a crisp. The panel lines are a mix of raised and recessed. There aren't any paint instruction so that might be a problem. Not sure if I'm going to include the "monkey" pilots. Edited January 22, 2012 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted November 25, 2011 Share Posted November 25, 2011 Nice choice. I've always thought that this was one of the better SW kits that MPC did. The pilot figures are definitely the biggest problem, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 25, 2011 Author Share Posted November 25, 2011 (edited) Did some tidying up of the parts, cleaning the extensive mould lines and some flash. Started to paint the cockpit and some of the external engine parts. I dry fitted the upper and lower fuselage and I think that I'm going to have to paint them before jointing all together as there are some under cuts that I won't be able to paint otherwise, also it looks like there are some gaps around the back that I'll need to cover with some plasticard. I watch some of TESB to get an idea for the colour, the close ups seem to be various shades of grey that are heavily weathered whereas the airborne models appear to be white with some lighter weathering, so at the moment I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The original plan was for white over grey with some dark preshading and a medium amount of weathering and battle damage. Anyone else with an opinion? Edited November 25, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 26, 2011 Author Share Posted November 26, 2011 (edited) Bit of work on the cockpit, needs a lot of work on the joints and some weathering on the inside & seats. Painting the rear cooling fins showed up some large sink marks so they'll need filling & repainting. Edited November 27, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmonk Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Great start Neal, the snowspeeder is one of my favorite SW vehicles. Watching with interest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 I watch some of TESB to get an idea for the colour, the close ups seem to be various shades of grey that are heavily weathered whereas the airborne models appear to be white with some lighter weathering, so at the moment I'm not sure what I'm going to do. The original plan was for white over grey with some dark preshading and a medium amount of weathering and battle damage. Anyone else with an opinion? The filming miniatures are a weathered grey finish. These links should be all you need. Grey striped speeder Orange striped speeder More orange striped speeder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 The filming miniatures are a weathered grey finish.These links should be all you need. Grey striped speeder Orange striped speeder More orange striped speeder Thanks for that Paul, they're just the things I've been looking for. I think I'll aim for something like the orange one with a bit or artistic licence to fit it to my ability & paint stock. The overall colour looks almost cream to me? Looking at the weathering it's going to take some planning to get the layers right for any paint chipping and panel shading, I think I've started to scare myself thinking about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 The overall colour looks almost cream to me? Yeah, a light warm grey. Tamiya Deck Tan, with a touch of white might be a good place to start. I've seen it used for the Falcon and Slave 1. Seems to be a good SW grey. As for the weathering, that's the best bit. Have fun with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunpowder17 Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Yeah, a light warm grey.Tamiya Deck Tan, with a touch of white might be a good place to start. I've seen it used for the Falcon and Slave 1. Seems to be a good SW grey. As for the weathering, that's the best bit. Have fun with it. . Yup what he said. White with Deck tan added. Thats what i have always used. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Brilliant, thanks for the help, I'll be off to the model shop in the near future for a pot of XF55, although realistically I won't need it until Christmas at the earliest. Had a another look at the cockpit and I'm not completely happy with it at the moment, I think with a wash and some more work on the seat colour it might get somewhere near to something I'll be pleased with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 (edited) I've been mulling over the pictures of the snowspeeder In particular this one: http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-c..._orange-006.jpg I think my best chance of achieving something credible is going to be to layer the paint colours and use some latex / maskol to do the chipping through to the subsequent layers. I think there will need to be four layers in places, this is how I think it'll go around the front orange stripe as an example (from top to bottom: Orange /red Maskol White tan mix Maskol Dark grey Maskol Light grey or white or silver Body Obviously the maskol won't be complete coverage, as i'll stipple it with a brush or sponge and it will only be through one or two layers most of the time. Edited November 29, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted November 29, 2011 Author Share Posted November 29, 2011 (edited) Bit of progress on the cockpit, added some floor panelling, painted the headrest, over painted the seats & sanded back & finally added the instrument decal. The headrest is way too wide compared to the film stills but not worth the effort to make it narrower, but doesn't look quite right yet......I think it might be the colour, perhaps a bit darker? Still needs a wash & klear Comments, criticism, advice is always appreciated Edited November 30, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 (edited) The kit manufacturers seem to have gone nuts covering the surface in radiators, so some of them are going to have to come off. I've sanded the surface off on all the rear ones and a couple of the front ones, I've left a raised panel for some of them. Deep breath and take the saw and file to the LE for some battle damage. Not much visible progress this evening, mainly second coats and the first coat of paint for the body. Fixed lower airbrakes & the cannon halves together, the fit was good but there is a bit of a seam that'll need sanding A fresh eyes look at the cockpit today and it looks ok in real life compared to the pics, so I'm going to klear and do a wash. Edited December 2, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) Disaster. I've never done a weathering wash, following what is explained on swannys models: http://www.swannysmodels.com/Weathering.html I had a go at the rear cockpit, disaster though, I just couldn't remove the wash. Repainted it all and going to start again. Any pointers or where I might have gone wrong? Edited December 3, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 3, 2011 Author Share Posted December 3, 2011 (edited) After this evenings initial disaster with the cockpit I've got on with the base coat and a few other minor jobs. Seem to be spending lots of time tweaking and fiddling but not making much progress, such is my modelling.... Finished the base coat, highlighted a few panels and gave the leading edges a coat of gun metal (just to break up the overall grey) then applied maskol using a sponge. Couldn't resist checking that it'd all work. Lower airbrakes with the maskol rubbed off, really pleasd with the test result especially the the RH one: Finished filling and dry brushing the rear hear exchanger, the moulding is really nice in this part. Just want to add a copper highlight between the fins. Just ordered a promodeller dark wash to have another stab at the cockpit. Edited December 3, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiffy Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I had a go at the rear cockpit, disaster though, I just couldn't remove the wash. Repainted it all and going to start again. Any pointers or where I might have gone wrong? Did you give it a gloss coat before doing the wash?. If you've gone straight on to matt paint, then that will soak up the wash and will be nigh on impossible to remove. Also, you want to give the gloss coat at least 24 hours to set (if using acrylic). If you are using enamels, then I'd say allow a week at minimum. It's coming along pretty well though, innit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 Did you give it a gloss coat before doing the wash?.If you've gone straight on to matt paint, then that will soak up the wash and will be nigh on impossible to remove. Also, you want to give the gloss coat at least 24 hours to set (if using acrylic). If you are using enamels, then I'd say allow a week at minimum. It's coming along pretty well though, innit. Paul, The tub was gloss coated with klear 24 hours earlier, maybe I shouldve given it a second coat or a bit longer to dry. Either way it wasn't a massive problem to remask and paint it again. It is coming a long ok although seemingly quite slowly as I'm trying to paint it all before assembly, but there are fewer & fewer parts left on the sprue. I suspect it'll all finish off really quickly once the main painting is complete. Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjhm Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Coming along very well, keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 4, 2011 Author Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Coming along very well, keep up the good work Thanks, not sure it'll be up to your standard looking at the progress of your x-wing Edited December 4, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 (edited) Looking at the maskol it's a bit heavy in places and also a bit random ie not where you'd expect to see wear. So I might redo some of it. Also I think that it's going to take a couple of coats of the "white tan" mix so I might apply some maskol after the first coat to give some varying levels of wear. I also thought about doing something with the red "squadron" markings, clearly the film shows the speeders with either red or grey banding, but presumably there were other squadrons with blue, green or yellow markings. Don't think doing that would move the build to a "what if" but more "what else". What's the consensus, good idea or star wars sacrelidge? Edited December 5, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 (edited) Not much progress; bit more dry brushing of the rear cooler with some lighter greys and black to make the finish a bit more uneven. Then a dry brush with copper between the fins and some chipping with aluminium. Pics with and without flash. It's not much in the overall build or compared to the standard of build on BM but I'm really pleased with it Removed some if the heavy maskol and glued some of the minor parts together. Edited December 10, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrvr6 Posted December 10, 2011 Share Posted December 10, 2011 fom here that looks like a lump of cast aluminium so id say its spot on fella Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 10, 2011 Author Share Posted December 10, 2011 fom here that looks like a lump of cast aluminium so id say its spot on fella Thanks, just want to find the time to get on with the rest of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 12, 2011 Author Share Posted December 12, 2011 (edited) Success! Used the promodeller wash as it worked really well (no surprise to most of the more experienced modellers here I imagine) the cockpit now looks like the hastily prepped and well used fighter, I also used it on the inside of the airbrake well. Just need to fix the instrument packs and tidy up the join and the cockpits done. I've also drilled out the ends of the cannons, retouched the maskol and taken the plunge and given the pilots a primer coat. As always, comments & advice (good bad or indifferent) are always welcome. Edited December 12, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neal Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 (edited) Few hours work this evening. Bill and Ben the monkey pilots are done, just needs a coat of klear and a bit of dry brushing and a wash, don't know whether to use the promodeller or mix a dark red/orange. Looking at this picture the red (no-one ventured an opinion on the previous post so red it is) squadron markings need to go on the underside which is something I've never noticed. http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-c..._orange-026.jpg Tidied up the cannon joint and rescribed some of the panel lines that I'd sanded off. Painted the lower airbrakes and rear or the craft. I've also found some old low viz markings for various warnings and stenciling (not the star and bar though) that I might use when it's all finished as the kit ones are a bit limited. Need to get the final colour mixed, can't really put it off much longer. Edited December 23, 2011 by Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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