TIE Striker and friends

[Will Vale]

Hi all,

 

I thought it was time I tried some of these Bandai Star Wars kits I hear all the kids are going mad for... I'm not sure I'll have much to add to Andy and Adam's efforts, but I'd like to move some of the Star Wars-ey plastic from my stash to the cabinet where I can see it

 

I started by putting the little ISD together, which was a pleasant experience. There are some fiddly seams in the superstructure and I'm not delighted with the fit of the bridge tower, but with some clothes pins and thin glue it seems to have mostly closed up. I managed to get glue to squeeze out of most of the superstructure joins so I could pare it down and sand it, but I haven't tried as hard with the joins on the vertical surfaces.

 

 

I'm trying to decide whether to rip off Andy's "aztec" panelled finish or not - the movie ships are quite flat looking, after all. If I do try the panels, I might keep them to the recesses rather than the raised stuff, really not sure yet.

 

Perhaps more interestingly, I've built up the contents of the 1/144 U-Wing box. The U-wing itself is in a variety of bits as I need to paint the interior, but the TIE Striker and Occupier tanks can be pretty much fully assembled before paint:

 

 

Fit on both is the usual mix of perfection and not-quite-perfection - you can see some seams where the end-caps of the TIE Striker cabin attach, for example. I thought about running some CA into them, but I'm wary of cracking the plastic or indeed making a mess of what's currently a very sharp line. The same line appears on the 1/72 so presumably it's a legit panel line?

 

The tanks fit pretty well and the seams are such that you *could* fill them all but maybe don't have to? And the U-Wing seems great from what I can see. There's a join right through the radiator fins at the back, so I opted to assemble these around the rear plates first and clean up the join. That means I'll need to make around it to paint the rest. I'd hoped that I could cut away enough of the pins that I could join the pieces and slide them into place, but some of the interlocking stuff is visible so I gave up.

 

I'll put some more pictures up when it's in primer, as well as finish that Zoid

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Andy Moore]

Nice!

The 1/72 Striker had the same gappy fit on the end caps. 

 

I filled those with some watered down Vallejo filler, but I think you'd get away with leaving them on the little one. Once it's painted I think it would just look like shadow detail.

 

Andy

 

 

[Will Vale]

I guess I could give it a wipe with some PVA and a wet rag, but I suspect you're right and it won't make much of a difference to the end result.

 

I'm not really surprised those caps don't quite fit, it's such a complex join, must be very hard to design tolerances for that kind of thing.

 

W

[monsterpartyhat]

I've had good luck with small gaps like that just applying Tamiya extra thin to both sides and holding tight - a tiny bead of melted plastic will fill the gap. YMMV depending on whether it's possible to sand down any excess or not  

[Will Vale]

That approach has definitely been working, but that zig-zag gap needs to be a panel line so it only needs to be filled a bit, if you see what I mean? I have no faith in my ability to re-scribe on the curves.

 

I put together the contents of another box last night - the AT-ST and snow speeder. The snow speeder is all in bits as it'll be easier to paint, but I can show you the AT-ST:

 

 

The front cab plate has a seam to eliminate - on this side I was able to do it all with squeezed plastic, but the other was recalcitrant and needs a bit of filler. There are also some potential seams in the engine block, which has a lot of pieces interlocking in a tiny space. I was able to get them all to come together and then filed the back flat (losing the ridges around the openings, but preserving the doors) so it only needs the tiniest spot of filler on the top.

 

 

It's a cute little thing isn't it?

 

Will

[Will Vale]

Fixed the broken photo, Flickr didn't generate that size image for some reason. I tricked it into regenerating it by rotating the photo 90' and back again

 

W

[Will Vale]

I primed all the things! And added some missing bits to the AT-ST - a simple representation of the leaf springs on the backs of the shins/ankles, plus cables made from stretched sprue.

 

 

I also cleaned up a couple more seams on the Star Destroyer and re-primed it in black to get some shadow in all the details. The plastic is really light so it needs a bit of help I think.

 

 

Various bits also had a pre-shade with the Alclad black, it's tempting to add a top coat to the TIE Striker first as it's so simple, although I'll have to mask or more likely brush paint the solar panels, since they wings are one piece on the little version.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

 

[S5 modeller]

Nice work Will. Is it me, or do the at-st feet look a tad on the small side? 

[Will Vale]

11 hours ago, S5 modeller said:

Nice work Will. Is it me, or do the at-st feet look a tad on the small side? 

Cheers Matt, they really do don't they. I think it's an Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi difference. This pic is supposedly of the ESB miniature:

 

https://www.therpf.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=457247&d=1427568236

(from this thread on the RPF, which goes into some differences.)

 

and it seems to have smaller feet than usual as well?

 

Last night I put some basic colours on the TIE Striker:

 

 

I pre-shaded with Alclad Black Primer over Grey Primer and used Tamiya Light Grey as the base - this is a blue-grey so seems suitable for a TIE. I added highlights to some panels and the wing clamps with the same grey mixed with Royal Light Grey and a bit of Flat White.

 

I then attempted a post-shade with Smoke, which was on the messy side! I've had a run of spattery airbrush work and I'm never that handy at the super-close-up stuff anyway. Luckily I'd kept the highlight mix so went back and cleaned up various panels with that after.

 

Last of all I sprayed heavily thinned Flat White from above, and Clear Blue from below. I think this shows up clearly on the wings but is less effective on the body, because it's hiding in/emphasising the existing curvature. It's all a bit spotty in close-up but I think it will hopefully recede a bit when the next layers go on.

 

In other news, we're off to Rocky Horror again tonight which means the space suits have come out of the cupboard for an airing. It's not going to be warm either

 

Will

[R0ver]

They're all looking so good Will. Like the extra stretched sprue bits you added to the AT-ST. They look like part of the kit. I've started on the mini AT-ST/Snowspeeder myself, so may just hijack that idea from you if you don't mind.  

[Will Vale]

Steal away I was looking at the pic I linked to above and it definitely looks like there are pipes there, but I can't swear to them being accurate!

 

The snow speeder is adorable, I just need to decide how to paint it.

 

W

[R0ver]

8 hours ago, Will Vale said:

Steal away I was looking at the pic I linked to above and it definitely looks like there are pipes there, but I can't swear to them being accurate!

 

The snow speeder is adorable, I just need to decide how to paint it.

 

W

Cheers Will. Accurate or not, it looks like they belong there. By the way, very slightly off topic but sent you a PM re. some scenes where you can see these AT-ST's during the Hoth Battle. Just thought you might be interested. 

Edited September 8, 2017 by R0ver

[Will Vale]

I did some detail painting and simple weathering/sharpening last night and today, with MIG washes, Citadel acrylics and Tamiya's black panel line wash. Most of the pin washes are MIG Cold Grey, with the black for bigger or deeper details.

 

 

I also applied the tiny double square decal to the right side, sponged on some black chips and drybrushed perhaps a little heavily with Ulthuan Grey.

 

That all went pretty well so I applied a couple of coats of Alclad Klear Kote Flat to seal it all so I could mask the wings ready to paint the panels.

 

Unfortunately I then ballsed it up in the most unlikely way possible - I was drying the Klear with air from the airbrush and it spat (it's cold here) so I thought I'd get the heat gun instead. Which dried the water and varnish nicely but unfortunately I'd clicked it up to "heat" rather than "dry". I'm sure you can see where this is going...

 

I noticed one of the gun barrels was a bit wonky and thought I'd broken it again (I dropped it, broke one and re-glued it yesterday) but no, I'd got it hot enough to sag with only a few seconds heating. So I now have some very dry varnish, wobbly barrels that look like the front limbs of a tardigrade, and one side of the TIE is very slightly caved in/dimpled.

 

It's not actually as bad as it could be, but it's also impossible to correct so I'm just going to live with one dented side. I'll need to cut the barrels off and make replacements or drill out the stubs, and dress up the dimples as battle damage.

 

Still, what a foolish thing to do... 

 

W

[Andy Moore]

I've done worse (many times). At least the barrels shouldn't be too hard to reproduce. The rest of it's looking fantastic though, and the gappy fit on the end caps blends right in, now the wash is on.

 

Andy

[Hunter Rose]

Paint job looks good so far, bugger about the heat gun, these things are sent to test us.

Sure you'll sort it, and if all else fails call it battle damage!

[Will Vale]

Thanks gents! I don't think I'll try and un-deform it or fill the dimples, I haven't done anything to weather them yet but that seems like the best idea. At least with the wings down as they're seen in the film, the capsule is pretty much hidden away.

 

What I have done is finish the wings - lots of masking, Rubber Black then mists of Alclad Steel and Hotmetal Violet/Blue. I sprayed the violet around the outer edges of the front and back solar panels and used post-its to mask the middle panel, then reversed the masking and sprayed blue on the middle one. I did the undersides all blue as they won't be very visible and it fits with the shading I did on the grey.

 

The result looks vaguely iridescent although it does mean the sheen varies as the Hotmetal colours are glossy. If I'd noticed before I started cleaning the a/b I might've gone over it all with a varnish, or maybe done a violet-blue gradient vs a blue-violet one?

 

Anyway, it was very satisfying to unmask - I was a bit worried because I had to mask up to the lip of the frame and then spray dry-ish paint square on to try and keep it all tidy. And it worked - nice neat edges.

 

I'm just gluing the top on now, will take some pics in the morning. And hopefully sort out a work-around for the barrels at the same time.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Will Vale]

So here's where I'm at with the finished (?) TIE but before any repair work:

 

 

The wings really need a keylight to show the tint, it rather vanishes in the light box.

 

This is the good side, you can see a little deformation near the stand and obviously the lower turret guns:

 

 

and here's the melty one:

 

 

Again, it's hard to see with the wings down, which seems to be the normal config. You can just make out the dimples in the corners of the lowest curved end-cap panels where they meet the zig-zag seams, and obviously the rear seam has opened a little bit from the deformation.

 

Still, could've been a lot worse! I'll sort the guns out and move on to the next thing.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

[Thud4444]

 

 

[Will Vale]

 

I've cut the guns off and drilled out the end of some plastic rod replacements. I'm waiting for them to dry and so I can touch-up the paint.

 

In the meantime I've filed down the end of some clear acrylic and made a start on a base. Once again I'm doing the reverse-painted water thing to try and make a bit of Scarif beach. When all you have is a hammer, etc...

 

Here are the layers - click through for the colours used. It's all tube acrylics with a bit of matt medium for translucency in the water blues.

 

 

and then turn over for the reveal:

 

 

As usual it's quite messy and a bit too dark, but the gloss highlights off the water surface will make all the difference.

 

Cheers,

 

W

[Andy Moore]

Love the base Will.

 

Andy

[Will Vale]

6 minutes ago, AndyRM101 said:

Love the base Will.

Would you say it was... Scariffic?

[Andy Moore]

15 minutes ago, Will Vale said:

Would you say it was... Scariffic?

I would indeed 

[Will Vale]

I finished up the TIE repairs last night - new cannons made from plastic rod drilled out with a knife point, and some paint and black pigment around the "battle damage". I opted to leave the two smallest dimples alone as they're not in positions consistent with the larger ones, and could maybe be read as fasteners?

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the guns, they're chunkier than the originals but the open ends look nice.

 

I also started on the sand for the base, first with a layer of 3M filler (and some Woodland Scenics turf for the tops of the seaweed) and then with paint and MIG Beach Sand pigment. The pigment was a bit clumpy so I sieved it onto the wet paint and then stippled it gently with a stiff brush. I'll probably add a second layer, fix it with their fixer, and then clean up the water surface again. The nice thing about the PET sheet is most things scrape off it if you mess up.

 

 

The clumpier outcrop of sand/pigment might end up being rocks or coral or something like that? It's a bit high to be beach sand.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

[Will Vale]

Did a bit more on the base - some more pigment colours (Gulf War Sand and White) which have been fixed properly and then tamped a little. Once that was dry I cleaned up the water surface with a wet cotton bud and painted some little space-fish:

 

 

Once that was done I mixed some of the blue and a tiny dot of green into gloss gel to make some ripples:

 

 

Once it was half-dry I painted thinner gloss medium all over to hopefully smooth the edges a bit as the gel can be quite spiky. It looks awful now and I might've made the waves too big, but I know it shrinks a lot so hopefully it'll settle down and look better when dry.

 

Cheers,

 

Will

 

[Hunter Rose]

Really enjoying watching the base come to life Will, and the striker looks good; the replacement guns are great