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Posted

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Having missed out on the “original” release of the BanDai B-Wing kit I was really pleased when Revell announced their “re-boxing” of the kit.

 

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The kit supplies both stickers and waterslide decals however I’m planning on painting most of the markings.

 

 

Next I’ll be preparing the sprue(s) for paint.

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Posted

No way, I have the privilege of being first in the theatre,  now that is a first. No doubt someone will be along shortly to put their hand in my popcorn bucket...

 

Look forward to this, what kid of the seventies does not like Star wars. Good choice John.

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Posted
35 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

someone will be along shortly to put their hand in my popcorn bucket

:popcorn:

  • Haha 3
Posted

It's a cracker of a kit, John, and due to its original snap fix nature you can keep it in sub-assemblies for painting. I broke mine down as follows:

 

Main hull/engine pod/wing/first part of the main weapons pod

Engine bell assembly (as there's the option to light them, but I'd go with a 3rd party light rather than paying £40 for the BanDai one)

The two finned coolers beside the engines (actually parts from a Tamiya Ferrari engine on the studio model)

Main weapons assembly

Outer cover of the main weapons pod

S-foils (you'll need to keep the retainer part for their hinges separate as well)

Weapons for the S-foils

Front cockpit outer section

Canopy

Inner cockpit/nose weapons assembly

Rear section of the cockpit pod

 

I also painted most of the markings and I'd definitely recommend that to anyone else building this kit. BanDai had access to one of the filming minatures when they designed this, and the decals are accurate to the ones on that. You can read the text on the decals with a magnifier, it's quite amusing to see that a lot of the "alien" stencils are actually in English, but applied upside down and with the back of the decal facing outwards. The sheild insignia that goes on the engine pod is for the 1st Fighter Wing

 

James

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Posted

It's a dreadfully impractical design, but kinda cool.  It'll be nice to see what you get up to.  Are you going to do it "nude" in wood texture? :wicked:

  • Haha 3
Posted

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BanDai have broken down the assembly into 3 distinct parts…

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…and have moulded the parts in different coloured plastic on the same sprue, they must be using some sort of magic?

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…you can see from this sprue there is 3 different colours, grey, pale blue, cream and clear plastic! I’m sure they do this so that (younger?) modellers can build this kit without the need for paint, and as a “bonus”, for those of us who want to paint their models, this makes identifying the parts easier to identify.

 

Ordinarily I would use MrSurfacer 1500 black primer for everything however as the majority of this will be an “off white” colour I’ve used MrSurfacer 1500 black on only the parts that will be “non white”

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There were some “sub-assemblies” that could be assembled before the primer was added including the cockpit, “wing guns” and the “foot gun”…

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Next I’ll be detail painting the pilot and cockpit.

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 8
Posted
2 hours ago, Mike said:

It's a dreadfully impractical design, but kinda cool.  It'll be nice to see what you get up to.  Are you going to do it "nude" in wood texture? :wicked:

ha ha

 

that's still a sore point as Uschi van der Rosten still haven't supplied the wood decals that they took my money for back in November, neither have they acknowledged any emails I've sent!

I'm really disappointed with them especially as the only way I can "get hold" of their wood decals, which are better than any alternative(s) I've come across, is to pay £50 for a set of "mig wood effects" that contains a couple of sheets of decals and a number of "wood colour" paints 

 

sorry for the rant

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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Posted

Mate, Rant on. They deserve a scolding for this sort of thing.

I like the suggestion from  @Mike re the wood finish, but I fear there  could be splintering in hyperspace. Better to stick to the film colours.

I imagine the Revell version will be cheaper than the Bandai. I've seen that one for very silly prices on the bay.

It is a weird design, as Mike says. But, it's also different. So I'll go with that. 

Looking forward to your paint job, as always.

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Posted

That's extremely poor customer service from Uschi. We all know that there can be delays with supplies, but to take the money and then not keep the customers updated is completely wrong.

 

Coming back to the B-Wing, are you aware of how it got its name? They needed two new fighter designs for RotJ and referred to them as "fighter A" and "fighter B". The names stuck and entered cannon after adding the “-wing” suffix.

 

As for the construction of the filming models, there’s some suggestions that the main wing is from a B-36, but it might also have been a scratch-built item (although the B-36 argument could hold at least some water as they made two studio miniatures). The S-foils are F-16 wings, reoriented so the leading edge is perpendicular to the direction of travel, and the drop tank looking bulges just above the main engine section are… drop tanks from an F-4. The A-wing is mostly the intakes & fixed section in front of the wing pivot from an F-14.

 

There’s some great shots of one of the filming miniatures here.

 

James

  • Like 2
Posted
23 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Mate, Rant on. They deserve a scolding for this sort of thing.

I like the suggestion from  @Mike re the wood finish, but I fear there  could be splintering in hyperspace. Better to stick to the film colours.

I imagine the Revell version will be cheaper than the Bandai. I've seen that one for very silly prices on the bay.

It is a weird design, as Mike says. But, it's also different. So I'll go with that. 

Looking forward to your paint job, as always.

Thanks Pete

 

I managed to get this one for £30 including postage, very happy with that price!

 

3 hours ago, 81-er said:

That's extremely poor customer service from Uschi. We all know that there can be delays with supplies, but to take the money and then not keep the customers updated is completely wrong.

 

Coming back to the B-Wing, are you aware of how it got its name? They needed two new fighter designs for RotJ and referred to them as "fighter A" and "fighter B". The names stuck and entered cannon after adding the “-wing” suffix.

 

As for the construction of the filming models, there’s some suggestions that the main wing is from a B-36, but it might also have been a scratch-built item (although the B-36 argument could hold at least some water as they made two studio miniatures). The S-foils are F-16 wings, reoriented so the leading edge is perpendicular to the direction of travel, and the drop tank looking bulges just above the main engine section are… drop tanks from an F-4. The A-wing is mostly the intakes & fixed section in front of the wing pivot from an F-14.

 

There’s some great shots of one of the filming miniatures here.

 

James

thanks James

 

those photos are excellent! will be really helpful reference source

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 2
Posted

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I believe that some versions of the BanDai B-Wing have a “human” pilot, my version has a Sullustan pilot, perhaps he’s Nien Nunb who appeared as Lando’s co-pilot for the Millennium Falcon?

 

To give you an idea of how small the figure is here he is next to a bottle of vallejo paint.

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Vallejo paints were used to brush paint the pilot...

...the face was given a base coat of 70.804 beige red which was highlighted with 70.928 light flesh and the eyes picked out with 70.995 German grey…

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…the overalls were given a base coat of a mix of 70.957 flat red & 70.915 deep yellow to create a “dark orange” colour…

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…the “first coat” dried a little patchy so I gave it another coat of the mix…

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…his chest piece, gloves and boots were painted with the German grey…

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…the skullcap part of the helmet was painted with a mix of 70.176 buff & 70.983 flat earth…

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…the helmet was treated to a couple of coats of 71.001 white…

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…I then tried my hand at adding some markings to the helmet…

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…the chest piece was dry-brushed with panzer aces 305 light rubber.

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Next I’ll be turning my attention to the cockpit

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 8
Posted

He may be tiny, but he's still much better detailed than an Airfix pilot

 

James

  • Haha 1
Posted
1 hour ago, 81-er said:

He may be tiny, but he's still much better detailed than an Airfix pilot

 

James

ha ha

 

that's true, the detail that BanDai produce in these Star Wars kits is quite remarkable, if they can do it why can't others?

 

1 hour ago, Hunter Rose said:

Nice work with the pilot!

thank you

 

photographing him. with a macro lens shows quite a "rough" finish, to the naked eye, even with an Optivisor, he doesn't look too bad and I'm happy with the result 👍

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 1
Posted

54303879452_1b2d734d50.jpg

 

The rear wall of the cockpit was given a couple of coats of vallejo panzer aces 305 light rubber…

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…and the same paint was used to dry-brush the instruments…

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…the seat was painted with vallejo 70.940 saddle brown…

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…and dry brushed with 70.983 flat earth…

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…the pipes were painted with 70.915 deep yellow and some lights were picked out with 71.001 white, 70.927 red and 70.841 Andrea blue…

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…other parts were picked out with 71.001 white, 70.927 red, 70.920 German uniform (green) and 70.841 Andrea blue, the “plumbing” was painted 70.995 German grey.

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Next I’ll be dealing with the rest of the "cockpit area"

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 6
Posted

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“Underneath” the cockpit there is a collection of, presumably, weapons and antenna?, I used MRP-149 gunmetal as a base for these…

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…which was then dry brushed with vallejo 71.065 steel…

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…James’ really useful link to one of the film miniatures showed that a couple of these antenna should be a brass colour so I used 70.801 brass…

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…the Sullustan pilot was then glued onto the seat…

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…the instruments module was then attached to the rear/seat panel.

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To complete the cockpit I need to paint the outer pieces.

 

 

Next I’ll be adding the “outer” parts of the cockpit module.

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 3
Posted

Nice work so far, John :) This picture of the pilot in his seat makes him look like an old man who's thin on top and has a handlebar moustache 

 

2 hours ago, shortCummins said:

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James

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Posted

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Before applying the “white” I gave the outer cockpit pieces a coat of MrSurfacer 1500 grey primer and then “marbled” with some darker grey.

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The white is really an “off white”. Previously I’ve used MRP-365 Boeing grey however as I’ve not got a lot of that left, certainly not enough to paint the entire model, I made a custom mix of Tamiya colours XF02 white, XF55 deck tan and XF83 medium sea grey with the approximate ratios 20:1:1…

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I’ll use the MRP-365 for some of the panels…

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…and MRP-167 light earth for another.

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Now that I’d done the painting, next I’ll be assembling the cockpit

until next time

as always, any suggestions, criticisms or comments will be gratefully received.

rgds

John(shortCummins)

  • Like 6
Posted

Those mismatched panels really add some character, perfect for the Star Wars universe

 

James

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Posted
3 hours ago, 81-er said:

Those mismatched panels really add some character, perfect for the Star Wars universe

 

James

thanks James

 

I've always liked the "patchwork" look of the Star Wars craft, I'll not use the "light earth" for too many panels but the Boeing grey is just "different enough" to look like it belongs, once a bit of weathering has been added hopefully that'll tie everything together?

 

rgds

John(shortCummins)

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