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Mandalorian Razor Crest

Andy Moore
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The Spadgent Completely Obsessed Member

The Spadgent

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Wow! What a catch up. The paintwork in those last few shots is just phenomenal. 👏👏👏

If I may ask a few questions. Seams are a right pain and sometimes I still get ghost lines. That gun you cleaned up was perfect. And that was before paint. 😲How do you remove seam lines so completely?

Also what do you use to top coat your metallics? I use Vallejo varnish for metallics but it dries very soft. Tamiya gloss coat I’ve found dulls them slightly but your stuff always keeps it lustre. 

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice.

 

 Johnny

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Pete in Lincs Blabber Mouth

Pete in Lincs

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I just did a catch up and can go to sleep feeling very impressed! Paint and build well up to standard despite the house woes.

I wonder about that weak spot on the gear. Could the cylinder be drilled out, and have a metal pin inserted?

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Andy Moore Very Obsessed Member

Andy Moore

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10 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

If I may ask a few questions. Seams are a right pain and sometimes I still get ghost lines. That gun you cleaned up was perfect. And that was before paint. 😲How do you remove seam lines so completely?

Also what do you use to top coat your metallics? I use Vallejo varnish for metallics but it dries very soft. Tamiya gloss coat I’ve found dulls them slightly but your stuff always keeps it lustre. 

 

Thanks Johnny,

 

Yes, ghost lines can be a nightmare. I won't pretend I always manage to avoid then, but what I normally do with joints where I think ghost seams may be an issue is to glue the parts together with styrene gloop (you know, bit's of sprue dissolved in Tam extra thin), letting it squelch out and fill any gaps in the seam line. Once it's dry, I'll take the excess down with a file (which I prefer for round parts over a sanding stick), and usually the gloop will have done the trick and there won't be a seam. If there are any traces of a seam left, I just brush on another layer of gloop and repeat the filing/sanding.

 

For top coating metallics, sometimes I don't bother if I think the finish will be robust enough to take any weathing I'll be applying. In this case, the AK polished alu I used is quite fragile, and I had to re-apply it in a few spots where it had worn away from handling, and being enamel based, it tends to react badly to oil and enamel washes, so I definitely needed to seal it. I used to do that with Alcad aquaclear, but these days for clear coats (over metallics or regular finishes) I use Gunze GX UV Cut gloss and flat (they don't do a satin sadly).

The Crest had a 50/50 mix of flat and gloss to seal the surface before the weathering started and a final mist coat of flat at the end as I felt the shine was a little too high in places.

 

The GX UV cut clears don't seem to affect underlying metallic finishes much, and they're pretty much bullet proof as a sealing coat. I have noticed that they're starting to be hard to find though - hopefully that's just a temporary supply issue, and not a sign that they're being fazed out.

 

10 hours ago, M_Sinclair said:

Crest really got a lot of character from these subtle treatments. And glad to hear that things are starting to return to normal for ya.

 

Cheers Matt,

 

Yes, it's good to be getting back to normal, but I'm so far behind on various builds it's going to take me quite a while to get everything back on track.

 

7 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

I just did a catch up and can go to sleep feeling very impressed! Paint and build well up to standard despite the house woes.

I wonder about that weak spot on the gear. Could the cylinder be drilled out, and have a metal pin inserted

 

Thanks Pete,

 

Yes, I did consider that. To be honest, I didn't really realise how weak the joint was until the parts were assembled and ready for paint. I didn't really want to go back and re-work the legs at that point, so I just hoped for the best. They're holding the ships weight for now, but if they do break at some point I will have to drill and pin them. The strut wouldn't be a problem to drill, but the upright box section on the foot would be more of an issue as there isn't much meat there to drill into. It's essentially just on open-backed box that a tab on the end of the strut plugs into.

This model would definitely be a candidate for some cast metal landing gear.

 

 

I've finished the final bits of assembly now, so I can officially call the build done. The engines were glued into place, and the weathering tweaked a little to blend them in. These are an excellent fit, simply dropping into place on the ends of the stub wings. The joint is completely hidden, which makes it really easy to mount them after painting. I really wouldn't have wanted to paint and weather the whole model with the engines in place.

 

52008209573_f3e44bfc8f_b.jpg

 

The guns are a simple push fit, and stay in place without needing to be glued. They were painted the same as the rest of the ship, but the barrels got an overpaint with some thinned gunmetal to darked them, then a bit of heat staining around the muzzles with Tam clear blue.

 

52008404169_10289cee6a_b.jpg

 

So that's the Crest wrapped up. I'm really happy that Revell have produced this kit, and done it in a proper scale. I do wish they'd payed more attention to finishing the moulds as there's far too much surface texture over the main parts, and also quite a few tooling marks which seems quite sloppy. I do wonder if the priduction of the kit was rushed towards the end to beat the AMT release to market. It does seem corners were cut in mould finishing.

That being said, the model is packed with detail and does look great once finished, and it's a considerable step up from some of the other Star Wars kits Revell have released in the past.

 

I'll get some shots up in RFI later. Thanks to everyone for sticking with the build through all the delays.

 

52008674350_21fb4993ac_b.jpg

 

     Andy:cat:

 

 

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The Spadgent Completely Obsessed Member

The Spadgent

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21 hours ago, Andy Moore said:

The GX UV cut clears don't seem to affect underlying metallic finishes much, and they're pretty much bullet proof as a sealing coat. I have noticed that they're starting to be hard to find though - hopefully that's just a temporary supply issue, and not a sign that they're being fazed out.

Thanks for the info on the top coats. I’m struggling to find the “uv cut” variant too. The “Mr Color 18ml GX Super Clear III gloss” I can find. I might give that a go as it seems only to not have the uv protection . ? I don’t suppose you’ve tried that one? 
The crest looks fabulous by the way. Super impressed as always by your standard of finish. I’ll be back at the silent running build soon. 🤩

 

 Johnny

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Andy Moore Very Obsessed Member

Andy Moore

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Thanks everyone. The finished shots are up in RFI now.

 

On 18/04/2022 at 07:27, The Spadgent said:

Thanks for the info on the top coats. I’m struggling to find the “uv cut” variant too. The “Mr Color 18ml GX Super Clear III gloss” I can find. I might give that a go as it seems only to not have the uv protection . ? I don’t suppose you’ve tried that one? 

 

I've not tried that one but, yes, as far as I know it's the same minus the UV protection. I'd imagine it would work just as well over a metallic finish. I did notice that Scale Model Shop has the UV cut flat in stock, but not the gloss - they didn't have either a few weeks ago, so maybe it is just a delay in stock coming through.

 

On 18/04/2022 at 12:21, shortCummins said:

excellent build and finish, the weathering is "just right"

 

you've tempted me to buy one, I'm finding it very hard to resist

 

I'd definitely recommend it John. I did hear that Revell will be increasing their prices soon, so best get it ASAP if you can.

 

Andy:cat:

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