Speeder Bike & Trooper

[Andy Moore]

man, do they do other kits like this? always loved the way Clone and Stormtroopers looked

They do a Stormtrooper and Sandtrooper and there'll probably be more to follow. They also do a Phase 1 Clone as a pre-built model/action figure that I think is to the same scale as these. Have a look at Hobbylink Japan as they have the full range.

I've started to build the trooper as I want to get his position on the bike sorted before I fix things like the pedals and controls. I say build, but really these things just fall together. I began with the helmet which is made up of six parts including the tinted visor which also incorporates the mount for the mouth piece.

These just snap together around the centre section with all the joints falling on natural separation lines in the armour. If you were feeling ambitious, you could probably modify the faceplate to hinge upward then sculpt a face on the centre section (or possibly take one from a Hasbro Black series figure which are the same scale)

When it's all together it matches very well against photos of the original costume and the detailing is amazingly sharp and defined. As an example, look at the grill on the mouth piece in the photo below. The circular grill is only 1.5mm wide yet they've still managed to mould the grill pattern onto it.

I'm not sure what I'm doing colour wise with these yet. All the markings and different coloured sections are supplied as decals but I think some would be better painted. The mouth piece, apart from that round grill, is grey so I'll be painting that instead of using the supplied decal which would never conform fully over all that moulded detail. The nose piece also comes as a decal and I probably will use that, although all the decal are pretty crappy as they're printed at a low resolution and have very jagged lines and edges. I'll have to use the decal for the logo that's on the left hand cheek plate even though that too is very poor. I may try painting the vertical black lines in the forehead and back of the helmet as the moulded indentations are sharp enough to get a clean edge to the paint.

Next up is the torso. This is built up from black front and back sections that trap three vinyl joints for the arms and abdomen (this is increasingly sounding like a scene from 'From Hell')

This then forms the black body suit to which the armour sections attach

Before the armour clips on, you have to hang a couple of pouches (or possibly saddle bags) onto the pins on the chest. With these on, the armour just clips on the top

The pouches are made of a softer plastic than the other white parts and I'll be taking no chances with them as far as weathering goes. only acrylic paints/washes as I don't know how they'll react to anything stronger.

more soon

Andy

Edited August 30, 2015 by AndyRM101

[Andy Moore]

I've done the detail painting and added some decals on the helmet. I wanted to avoid using as many of the decals as possible as they're poorly printed. I managed to paint the nose grill in grey and black but it's a bit rougher than I'd like. The slots on the forehead and the back of the helmet were much easier as I just painted black strait across them, let the paint dry, then wiped the surface with thinner on a cotton bud leaving the black paint in the slots.

I used the kit decals for the little mickey mouse ears as the solid black decals are OK but I also had to use the kit markings for the logo on the side of the helmet and the dots on the face plate pivots. These are supposed to be grey but Bandai have just halftone printed them in black rather than screen print them in the correct colour. From a distance they look OK, but up close they look crap. It's not a big deal but it bugs me non the less.

Most of the Scout Troopers in the film had quite weathered armour so I'll probably satin coat the armour pieces before doing any weathering just in case there's any reaction with enamels or oils

Andy

[iwishicouldfinishmodels]

maybe you can print your own?

[Andy Moore]

maybe you can print your own?

I could do, but in this case I don't think it's worth it. I'll probably overpaint the decals with some thinned grey to cover some of the pixelation in the printing and the weathering will help hide it too.

Andy

[iwishicouldfinishmodels]

Disappointing decals, I usually findJapanesemodels to be high quality...

[Hook]

And now, rather oddly, we jump to 'B5'. I've no idea what happened to 'B4' but nothing seems to be missing from the kits so maybe Bandai think the number 4 is unlucky.

It is indeed a Japanese superstition:

Traditionally, 4 is unlucky because it is sometimes pronounced shi, which is also the word for death.

Nice review!

Cheers,

Andre

[iwishicouldfinishmodels]

things like this is why I enjoy making japanese kits, it's a whole other culture

[langy]

This is looking excellent so far Andy,

it's such a pity after the fine moulding work Bandai have done on these kits, they let themselves down with poor quality decals,

looking forward to the next update

[Andy Moore]

It is indeed a Japanese superstition:

Nice review!

Cheers,

Andre

Thanks for the info Andre, I was curious about the missing number

things like this is why I enjoy making japanese kits, it's a whole other culture

Agreed, they often have a unique approach to models that always makes them fun to build. Who else would make scale models of office furniture or vending machines.

This is looking excellent so far Andy,

it's such a pity after the fine moulding work Bandai have done on these kits, they let themselves down with poor quality decals,

looking forward to the next update

Thanks langy, it is a shame that the decals aren't up to the standards of the rest of the kit. I guess they had to cut corners somewhere as these kits are pretty cheap considering the quality of the mouldings. Funny thing is, I've just had a look at the decals that came with the earlier kits (AT-ST & Astromechs) and they are of a much higher quality and seem to have been screen printed, at least for the waterslide ones, the sticker decals are printed but even they are better than the ones with this. The ones with the Y-Wing aren't too good either.

Andy

[Andy Moore]

I've been getting some paint on the Biker Scout. I've left the white armour unpainted but I will be painting the black body suit and some of the other details. Rather than paint everything separately, I've found it easier to build up the limbs and torso as sub-assemblies, then prime everything with satin varnish. That's given me a suitable base to weather the unpainted armour and a surface that'll take paint for the other areas.

I painted the midriff and the pouches with an off-white to add a bit of contrast to the armour. All the weathering's been done with water colours and acrylic washes. I've tested some enamel washes and thinners on the sprues and there's been no reaction, so I think it'll be safe to use some of those too.

At this point I've still got to paint the black bits which I'll probably do in a very dark grey to give it a bit more tone.

Andy

[crazytrain]

damn, that is sweet looking.

[Will Vale]

Top banana Andy, I love the colours.

[Andy Moore]

Thanks Guys

I've got the Biker Scout painted (in as far as it's being painted) and weathered now. He may get some more weathering before I mount him on the bike but it'll just be a mist coat of earth brown round the boots. My original intention was to fill and re-sculpt the articulated joints but, apart from the ankles, they're not as obtrusive as I thought they'd be, so I've decided to leave them as they are and treat the figure as what it is, a high quality action figure.

The body suit was painted with a dark grey/black then given a light dry brush with a mid grey. The armour's unpainted and the white fabric areas and boots had a light coat of Vallejo deck tan mixed with game colour elf flesh. The bulk of the weathering on the boots and legs was done with various AK washes.

The Imperial logo on the shoulder armour was left over from the AT-ST build. It's not strictly movie-accurate but it adds a bit of detail.

Fraternizing with the enemy

Andy

[Andy Moore]

Hey Disney, I'm building a Bandai Star Wars kit and I don't live in Japan! Why don't you come and arrest me

So, I've been working on the base for a few days. I was originally going to have the scout standing next to the speeder on a large rectangular base but I rethought it and decided to go with the bike in flight.

I picked up a 6" oval sycamore base and stuck some scraps of wood to the top, to build up some contours, before covering them with Das Proto. I pushed a bit of branch in for good measure while the clay was still wet then left it all to dry.

Once it was all set, I painted over the clay with PVA then threw a load of tea leaves (green) all over it. I'd intended to spray it all once dry so never bothered to paint the Das before adding the tea, but the colour of the tea leaves actually looked OK without further painting. Only problem was bits of the white Das were showing through here and there so, in the end, I did have to spot spray certain areas, but it looked OK in the end.

The big fern fronds are bits of bracken that I pressed in a book for a few weeks (like you're granny used to do), then painted. I drilled a few holes and just stuck them in with PVA.

The smaller fern at the front is a Greenline laser cut one, again, just painted and glued in a hole. There's a few grass tufts stuck on too, mainly to hide the hole for the support rod for the Speeder.

And a couple with the Speeder in place, so you get an idea of how it will look

I might add some more ferns yet. I'll see how it looks when it's all together.

Andy

Edited December 1, 2015 by AndyRM101

[Dermo245]

It's all about that base...that groundwork is terrific and will pinch the tea leaves idea.

As for the Scout, he looks 1/1 in some of those pics!

Dermot

[Mike]

I like the use of tea leaves for the leaf-litter Very inventive, and finally a proper use for tea leaves

[iwishicouldfinishmodels]

absolutely fantastic, I hope that one day I'll be almost as skilled as this...

[Sgt.Squarehead]

Very classy base.

[Grayson]

Superb.

[Pete in Lincs]

Fabulous.

[Andy Moore]

Thanks guys

Andy

[Andy Moore]

After four attempts, I think I'm happy with the bed roll for the back of the speeder. Well... maybe not happy, but also not swearing at it and throwing it across the room. And it's definitely, 150% the last one I'm doing.

This one was all greenstuff unlike attempt no.1, which was a mix of greenstuff and Asculpt. I didn't roll it out as thin this time, so it retained more bulk when it was rolled up. I also left it longer after rolling out before I started to form it (about 35-40 minutes). It had a bit of cloth embossed over it to give it some texture, but some of that was lost as it was shaped. Hopefully there's enough left to give it a fabric look.

And the three previous versions plus the original kit part which I also re-worked a bit

I've also detailed up the handle bars a bit by replacing the moulded cable with a length of guitar string. The cable on the prop was ribbed so it looks a bit better like this.

And the last mods for today are the steering flaps. From the box, they can either be mounted closed or fully open. I wanted to have them part open so I removed the moulded plug that attaches the flap to the rear fairing and build a simple angled mount from plasticard.

Hopefully, with the bed roll now finalised, I should be able to get most of the remaining painting done over the next few days, then it's just final assembly, a bit of extra weathering and I'll call it done.

Andy

[langy]

WOW....WOW.....WOW !!!

Andy this is brilliant, i just love the base and the weathering on the trooper,

i've bookmarked your build for guidance when i start mine,

just finished 3po and taking a break for a week before i start again,

top work indeed fella,

[FZ6]

This is looking great and will be a fantastic model when finished.

[Andy Moore]

I've got the bulk of the painting done now. Everything was primed in black, then the mechanical bits were given a coat of Vallejo black grey followed by some selective chipping with a sponge and some dry brushing. It's had a gloss coat in preparation for the weathering. The hoses were picked out with Vallejo grey green which doesn't show up that well as it's pretty close in colour to the black grey.

I made one last minute modification to the fairing before painting. The holes for the control cables need a small raised rim which isn't moulded on the kit part. I made these with two small slices of styrene tube, stuck on then lightly sanded to blend them into the surrounding bodywork.

With that done, all the bodywork got a coat of Alclad aluminium as a base for the hairspray chipping.

A couple of coats of hairspray, then the brown using Tamiya XF-79 Linoleum Deck Tan with a drop of black to darken it. I added some more black to the mix and sprayed some shading around the details then chipped it using a scouring pad for the scratches and a soft brush for the worn areas.

I've still got the switches to add along with some detail painting and a few tiny decals. This will all need sealing with a gloss coat, then I'll probably do most of the assembly before adding any more weathering.

Not much more now. I'm glad I did the base earlier, as I hate having to work on things like that when the model itself is finished.

Andy