Yet another Razor Crest -- this one, with lights!

[billn53]

There have been some very nice renditions of Revell's 1/72 Razor Crest posted recently. Let me add my own attempt, which includes a fair amount of internal & external lighting, plus some aftermarket detailing items.

 

Here is the kit:

 

 

 

and, here are the aftermarket items I added:

 

Instrument & control console, by 308 Bits. This came pre-drilled for fiber-optics:

 

 

Mando and his little green companion, also from 308 Bits:

 

 

Resin and photoetch cannons, by Green Strawberry:

 

 

LED mounts for the engine, by 308 Bits:

 

 

More refined engine exhaust nozzles, from Scale Mark Models:

 

 

and, last & least, more detailed landing gear hydraulics, also from Scale Mark Models:

 

 

The 308 Bits and Scale Mark Models items are 3D-printed and available on Shapeways. The Green Strawberry cannon (plus a lot of other Razor Crest & science fiction aftermarket) were bought from their website, greenstrawberry.cz .

 

As mentioned in the title, my focus for this build was to add internal and external lighting to the Razor Crest. This was my lighting plan:

 

 

 

LEDs, photo-optics, and associated items came from Evan Designs ( https://evandesigns.com/ ) and Lighthouse LEDs ( https://lighthouseleds.com/ ).

 

This is the control console with approx. 50 fiber-optics in place:

 

 

The fiber-optics were routed under the flight deck and behind the cockpit, where I attached their LED light source:

   

 

Each engine pod has two synchronized, flashing LEDs for the red strobe (top and bottom), plus seven 5mm LEDs for the exhaust. In the center is a steady yellow LED. This is surrounded by six "flicker" type orange LEDs. The result is a nice, subtle effect suggestive of the engines being at idle, which is appropriate since my Razor Crest will be sitting on the ground.

 

 

My build approach was to treat the Razor Crest as three separate assemblies: 1) the lower fuselage, including the cockpit, 2) the upper fuselage, and 3) the engine pods. This allowed me to install the lighting and paint & weather each assembly individually. To facilitate this, I added electrical connectors to each assembly and the power button & switch (in the lower fuselage cargo bay):

 

 

 

The above is a quick overview of my build progress, for more details, see my WIP here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235113049-lighting-revells-razor-crest/

 

Enough with the preliminaries! Let me show you how she turned out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall finish is Alclad Duraluminum with a clear coat of Alclad "Light Sheen". Weathering of the main body consists of a dark gray panel line wash, plus an overall coat of Flory "grime". The engine pods also got a fairly extensive weathering with oil paints:

 

    

 

Now for some detail shots:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I modified/detailed the side cargo doors as described in Andy Moore 's most excellent build ( https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235103157-mandalorian-razor-crest/ ) :

 

 

I also added cabling to the landing gear. The arrow in the second photo points to the 3D-printed hydraulic assembly from Scale Mark Models. It is well hidden beneath the bay door and you have to search to find it!

    

 

You've probably noticed this guy in my pics! It's a 3D-printed Tusken raider, with Bantha, that I found on ETSY. Normally, it comes in 1/47 scale for Star Wars Legions. Happily, the seller (Jan Kowalski from GetOfFenris) agreed to downscale it to 1/72, and it turned out nicely after some detail painting!

   

 

Next, let me show you my lighting effects!

 

 

 

 

Cockpit and instruments/control console:

 

 

"Chin" lights and landing lights (looking up into the nose gear bay)

   

 

Engine pod strobes and exhaust nozzle:

 

 

 

 

Finally, links to a few short videos (~10 seconds) showing the lighting in action (click on photos to view videos):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all, folks!!! Thanks for viewing, and please feel free to post comments and/or to ask questions.

 

- Bill

 

 

 

 

[Uncle Monty]

Absolutely brilliant, a superb build on just about every level.

[Hunter Rose]

Wow those lights are cracking! The lot up cockpit looks amazing, great job 👍

[neil5208]

Excellent result Bill

[billn53]

4 hours ago, Uncle Monty said:

Absolutely brilliant, a superb build on just about every level.

 

2 hours ago, Hunter Rose said:

Wow those lights are cracking! The lot up cockpit looks amazing, great job 👍

 

40 minutes ago, neil5208 said:

Excellent result Bill

Thank you, gentlemen! This was a fun build, a bit out of my usual swim lane. And, I learned a fair bit about lighting in the process. Thankfully everything turned out all right 😎

[Yg Models]

nice addons,

if you enjoy miniatures, could try mini ver.😉

 

[billn53]

1 hour ago, Yg Models said:

nice addons,

if you enjoy miniatures, could try mini ver.😉

 

I love your Flickr album! You have some great miniatures work, there… perhaps to tiny for my old eyes & hands!
- Bill

[spruecutter96]

The lighting is great. Really adds a lot to the kit.

 

Thanks for sharing with us.  

 

Chris. 

[opus999]

That is really fantastic Bill.  Great work.  You made it look so easy...

[billn53]

7 hours ago, opus999 said:

. . . You made it look so easy

The kit was actually pretty easy to build (especially because I discarded most of the interior. I believe the only putty needed was at the nose, along the top-to-bottom fuselage join. Doing the lighting required a lot of forethought, thinking ahead about how the various subassemblies would come together. I’m pretty pumped up about how well it all turned out!
 

My next project will also involve lighting & electrification, but will be an aviation subject (my usual stomping ground). Look for the start of my new WIP soon!

 

- Bill

[Serkan Sen]

Looks amazing Bill. My brother gave me a Millennium Falcon during my summer break as a gift. After seeing your build (and watching all the starwars series less than in a week) I am fully motivated to build it 😁

Serkan

[billn53]

3 hours ago, Serkan Sen said:

Looks amazing Bill. My brother gave me a Millennium Falcon during my summer break as a gift. After seeing your build (and watching all the starwars series less than in a week) I am fully motivated to build it 😁

Serkan

Go for it! Knowing you, it’ll be a masterpiece made up 95% from 3D-printed parts!

[daront]

Simply stunning. Would look fantastic on any display shelf

[45DegreesModelling]

I love the lights, great work!

[billn53]

5 minutes ago, 45DegreesModelling said:

I love the lights, great work!

 

I learned a lot about lighting, which I'll be applying in my current project (1/48 Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt). I'll also be adding a motorized propeller and engine sound package from MagicScaleModeling. You can follow that work here:

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235114655-thunderbolts-old-and-new-now-a-triple-build/

 

 

[Jeddahbill]

Superb!  I like this build in so many ways!

 

Regards,

Bill

[Bertie McBoatface]

Smart work!

[F-32]

[Unfinished project]

What an amazing build of the Razor Crest. The LEDs bring it to life. I’ve just rewatched both series for the umpteenth time and seeing your fantastic work makes me want to watch again 

[Mike]

Very nice work

[k5054nz]

Truly magnificent. I'm in awe!

 

I love the Tusken on his bantha (big bantha fan here)!

[Kallisti]

Love the engine flicker effect, its great what combinations of LEDs can do. On my Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea flying sub I used 4 different coloured flashing lights a that flash at different frequencies so that the pattern behind the "atomic reactor" is constantly changing.

 

Nice detailing on various places and the addition of the Tuskan Raider makes the whole thing stand out a bit more - seen so many of these built recently and at Telford there were about a dozen scattered around various table so to be able to make it stand out from the crowd is excellent.

[kapam]

Wow!  Great looking diorama and Razor Crest!

Are you sure you're not part of the production crew (doing model effects) for the Mandalorian? 😉

[Rumblestripe]

Fantastic work there. The engine effect is particularly good.

[SaminCam]

I don't find myself over this way very often Bill but glad I spotted this one, the lighting, model and diorama are all top notch! Heading over to the WIP for more now, cheers, Sam