Ventsislav Gramatski Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 (edited) Hello everyone! Tepidly starting my first build log. For those of you who decide to follow it, be patient - this is an ongoing odyssey of over a decade now! To cut a long story short. Back in 2002 relatives brought me a vaunted 1/72 Fine Molds X-Wing kit from abroad. Fine Molds were just starting their line and this was the absolute gem of Star Wars scale models. Even today, it's still a great kit. Unfortunately, despite my truly best (brush) efforts, the paint mix (based on the long-extinct Bulgarian "Aerotone" paints) made a chemical reaction midway through painting and resulted in a cracked plastic along the recessed panel lines, in addition to a thick coating that covered up details. And so, the kit sat in this state for several years... Until I decided to strip the paint, disassemble it and start a new. Photos from 2014 when I started the cleanup. Notice the horribly damaged panel lines, cracked fuselage panels and softened details. Raised details on the fuselage were either lost or badly faded. I cleaned up the parts of all paint and glue, and stored them until the day I finally had an airbrush... The canopy clear parts after a lot of polishing: Lot of salvaged parts: In sum, I lost: 1 gun nacelle (finned round radiator housing of the blaster cannon), 1 engine intake, the entire rear part of the cockpit, the radiator at the fuselage top-rear end, as well as some small details around the wing roots. All of these will have to be scratch built! Edited January 7, 2023 by Ventsislav Gramatski Fixes to photos and scaling 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted September 9, 2019 Author Share Posted September 9, 2019 (edited) Backstory cleared up in the first post, actual work started with a full re-scribe of the panel lines and lots of sanding. They still look horrible in photos but in person the panel lines do look a lot cleaner. I also had to rebuild the cockpit. The main tub was salvegable, although it required extensive work, as were the pilot's seat and HUD panel. As I have two other Fine Molds kit that I bought before they were discontinued, I took measurements of the missing cockpit parts and made my own 3d models for printing using Freecad. The fitting was very difficult - I have an FDM printer and a basic one at that, and the fuselage interior was badly warped. More sanding! Yes, you'll hear a lot about sanding during this build! Some photos of the process of making the new cockpit, using the cockpit tub of one of the (as of yet) unassembled X-Wings for test fitting: Printed and assembled! Test fitting the canopy clear part. You can notice that the raised details has been completely rebuilt using thin (0.2mm, if memory server correct) plasticard strips. Finally, I sprayed the cockpit interior with Revell enamel Matt75 and panels were picked up with a fine brush using acryllic Mr. Color RLM75. Buttons and dials were first painted with a Model Master gloss acryllic white, then painted with various transluscent greens, reds and yellows. I am particularly happy how the main display turned out - this was my attempt at painting the Death Star trench as seen in the X-Wings' displays in A New Hope, and of Wedge's helmet, which was painted by hand. Yes, this will be Wedge Antilles' Red 2. Edited September 9, 2019 by Ventsislav Gramatski Typos 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Rose Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Looks to be a cool piece of restoration work! Great work so far, will be following with interest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DalekCheese Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Watching closely... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 (edited) I've started test fitting the fuselage to wing assembly. It's going to be very difficult due to the warped fuselage, esepcially towards the rear. The front and sides of the fuselage halves fit a lot better. There are still gaps but these are straight and narrow enough so they can be filled with thin styrene strips or putty. Nose cone and port side assembly. I've also started to repair the worst damaged wing. I've filled the rear end, where the pastic had cracked and formed holes, with thin styrene strips and sanded it smoothly. You can see that the left side is still broken off - luckily, I have the rest! Fuselage halves glued and left to cure. The wings are just fitted and not glued in place yet, neither is the rear hexagonal part. Starboard rear end of the fuselage was completely rebuilt and sanded (the white part). There are some fitting issues left in the lower corner where it connects to the hexagonal rear piece but I am still working on it. Unfortunately, I'm all out of Plasticard and this is not available locally, so I'm down to using discard pieces from my 3d prints. Unlike styrene, PLA doesn't like to be sanded. And I do have a lot of sanding going forward! Edited September 10, 2019 by Ventsislav Gramatski 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 For plasticard stand-in, have you tried getting some plastic For Sale signs from the local hardware store? I've heard of other modellers using them effectively as card stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted September 25, 2019 Author Share Posted September 25, 2019 Hey @Thom216 - unfortunately, I haven't seen any such here locally. I'll probably order a new sheet at some point from an online retailer but the high shipping cost and usual damage during transport are holding me back. Another small update. Busy work schedule seems to always get in the way and I can work only late in the evening. I've cleaned up the gun barrels and radiators using brushes and the last drops I had of Mr. Paint Remover. The seam lines visible on the photo were fixed after they were taken. The gun barrel at the bottom is actually a very sanded down piece from the AMT/ERTL 1:65 X-Wing! I know one of the three X-Wing in Red Group - 2, 3, or 5 - had one gun tip slightly different than the rest, so this should do. If anyone has a reference which one it was, I would be very grateful! Also, finished the 3D model for the replacement gun radiator. I need to replace my printer nozzle with a fine 0.2 one, and change the filament, so printing will wait for the weekend. Thanks to everyone for the comments! This is a very painstaking build that doesn't look very promising, I know, so posting here really keeps me motivated to finish it and salvage that wonderful kit! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted September 25, 2019 Share Posted September 25, 2019 Keep this up, end result will b worth all the effort Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted November 15, 2019 Author Share Posted November 15, 2019 (edited) Quite a hectic October and November, both at work and personally. I've been making some progress yet, sadly, haven't had enough time to properly document everything! After my last update, I started working on the two previously untouched X-Wings that I had stashed. I masked the canopies both internally and externally and sprayed the interior with the same Revell enamel Matt75 that I used for the main cockpit color. I'm using a regular painter's tape as the parts are big - saving the Tamiya masking tape for those Bf 109 canopies, ugh! Then I assembled the cockpits - I only need to add some colors to the side panels otherwise, they are done, decals set and coated with matt varnish. Meanwhile, I had to redo the model of the gun radiator several times and print prototypes until it fit perfectly - and, here is the result! You shouldn't be able to distinguish the 3d printed part from the injection moulding ones on the finished model... I hope! The main subject of the thread is slowly being assembled and I've now test fitted or attached all external parts. The canopy was attached with C-200 glue, which is water soluble and doesn't produce frosting. What is to follow is, hopefully, the last priming with Mr. Surfacer to find any imperfection to the surfaces or fitting. Finally, the Rebel crew - all pilot figures from the three Fine Molds' T-65s plus those from the Bandai T-70 kits painted, with decals applied on the seated ones. To avoid having three identical figures, I carefully cut off the helmet underneath the arm of one of them, carved up the head and created a new arm (that's supposedly held on his belt) from modelling clay. I'm still wondering who those guys should be, any suggestions? Right most figure is Poe Dameron. Seated ones are Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker and what is to be a custom New Republic navy Blue Squadron Leader. You may notice a grey fatigued pilot to the right on the seated row. With all of the spare parts I'll have left from the kits, plus the 3d print parts I've already designed, I'm thinking about printing and modifying a Z-95 Headhunter in 1/72. Maybe in 2021 with the tempo I'm going at! On that note, anyone interested in the 3d models I've made? I've been wondering if I should share them to a site like Thingyverse or similar... Edited November 15, 2019 by Ventsislav Gramatski typos 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted December 12, 2019 Author Share Posted December 12, 2019 (edited) Small update but big progress! I've cleaned up all the parts and completed priming the X-Wing. In the process I managed to break two of the guns, of course, and I had to repair them! In fact, I've assembled and primed the other two, brand new FM X-Wings. Definitely a lot cleaner assembly than what I used to do years ago! Hopefully, the old one isn't that obvious. Edited December 13, 2019 by Ventsislav Gramatski 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thom216 Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 Not from here it isn't! Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) About time for an update. I have mostly completed the T-65s. The build was accompanied by several accidental (and terribly uncoordinated) hand gestures that resulted in broken guns. I've managed to reassemble them without noticeable misalignement, except on Red 2 but it doesn't look noticeable in person. Not noticeable on the horrid photos but I drilled out each cannon with a micro drill! Decals applied to main fuselage. Red 2 still doesn't have them because I had to (mostly) paint them by hand. After this I assembled the kit, which didn't turn out okay - I bought two kits at about the time they were going out of production. Maybe the moulds were worn but the backplate didn't fit neatly so I had to do a lot of puttying, sanding and careful overspraying to make a smooth fit. After assembly, I oversprayed with a 50:50 mix of Mr. Color Flat Clear varnish and FS 36495 Light Gray. I think I faded the colors too much but I was going for a very worn look. Photos from today - I've added a gloss coat (Mr. Color Clear) before a surface wash and some weathering with oils. You probably notice the T-70 in the foreground - that's the Bandai 1/72 kit. I had the thought of opening another build thread but given that I'm trying to finish it in a couple of weekends and the lack of time to properly update this one, I decided to just lump them together. T-70 painted with 50:50 mix of Mr. Color Light Gray and White. No washes done, the panel lines were very deep and retained the black preshading well. Canopy and recessed paneling painted with Agama RLM75. Here's each one before weathering and final matt coat. New Republic Blue Squadron Leader. Decaling not completed but I decided to go for a cleaner look with lighter weathering and yellow decals to contrast the blue panels. This is still a Star Wars model, so much chipping and asymetric markings were due! Red 5. Red 3 Red 2 Sorry for the poor photos... will definitely do proper ones once these go RFI! Edited February 4, 2020 by Ventsislav Gramatski 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ventsislav Gramatski Posted March 17, 2020 Author Share Posted March 17, 2020 These are finally completed. The result quite bitter due to personal issues that happened around the build completion time but that's why we have our hobby - to help us keep going... Thank you to all who have followed this thread! I'll open an RFI one with more photos! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenBills Posted March 23, 2020 Share Posted March 23, 2020 I love the overspray! Helps give them the worn-out look. These turned out beautifully! Well done! SB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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