- Joined
- Jan 27, 2011
- Messages
- 191
Hi all, hope everyone is safe and well.
Started on this classic kit which is a nice model on it's own but I wanted to detail it a bit more and turn it into a display piece that I'd be happy with.
I started with a dry fit of most of the main parts and found only tiny issues which was surprising, the kit only lacks finer detail here and there which can be added.
I started on what I thought would be the most time consuming of the model which is the cockpit and the hollowing out of the landing gear cages, since I wont be lighting this, I wasn't too worried about detailing the cockpit interior and just glued both parts together.
I then used a tiny bit of putty to fill in the seams and sanded the areas smooth.
I did however want to detail the inner modules of the cages so I concentrated all my efforts on hollowing out the cages which presented itself as a tedious challenge because the plastic was a little too thick for my knife to easily cut through.
I ended up approaching this step using a technique which was mentioned by Youtube channel Intersteller Modeler to use a dremel to thin the backside of the cages so your blade had less thickness to cut through, it worked like a charm only after I had brute forced my earlier attempts which was my fault purely out of laziness of resourcing.
Once the cages were done I then proceeded on the next challenge which was the plumbing on the engine area, this area is lacking detail and missing a lot of piping but can be easily fixed.
I found several versions of this area on the interweb so I decided on on version I thought would be most easiest for shaping the plumbing in and around the tiny spaces.
I used a bit of styrene rod and brass wire for detailing the smaller pipes.
I used thicker styrene rod for the larger plumbing including the angled pieces on the central and outer part of the frame.
This not only filled in the empty spaces but it also made the whole engine part solid and sturdy.
Thought I'd give myself a break from the more fiddly details and go with something simpler and glued the passenger pod together which only consisted of three parts, the two side walls (roof attached) and a floor.
The sides and roof went together without problems however, the floor section seemed tapered and wider at one end which prevented it from fitting into the grooves so I had to carefully plain the sides down on the wider end whilst trying to maintain it's straight edge... nerve racking because taking too much off would make the part too small and messing up the straight edge would create unwanted gaps to fill.
Used some thin cement as seam filler.
Started on the engine baffle inserts for the engine bells, I measured four circles to a size that would fit inside the bells then marked and drilled the positions of the holes on a sheet of styrene then cut them out with a sharp scissors.
I sandwiched the cut rounded shapes between two small washers and sanded the edges to further aid in shaping their roundness but during a dry test fit, I found that the engine bells were not perfectly circular which left tiny gaps around my rounded parts and the bells.
Since I didn't have any larger styrene tube, I cut short lengths of styrene strip and used my heat gun and a drill bit to help curl the heated strip around the bit into a circular shape of the size I wanted... interesting approach but it worked.
During modifying the baffles, I also revisited the cockpit and added more detail around it's back wall by adding some piping.
Looking at it afterwards made me think if I should just cut away the whole wall and rebuild it... but since after having already added the details I thought to myself stuff it.
I used strips of angled styrene to detail the landing gear supports which also became handy to use as a guide for hollowing out the spaces between them with my hobby blade.
From there I proceeded to scratch build the angled struts of the landing gears.
And yes, it was a fiddly job especially when you don't have the sized strip you want and have to improvise.
Made some support rails for the walls and shelving of the inner modules using more angled styrene.
Working on some detailing for the inner modules of the cage using styrene and brass rod, I also found use of some spare mini rubber feet pads.
More to come.
Cheers.
Started on this classic kit which is a nice model on it's own but I wanted to detail it a bit more and turn it into a display piece that I'd be happy with.
I started with a dry fit of most of the main parts and found only tiny issues which was surprising, the kit only lacks finer detail here and there which can be added.
I started on what I thought would be the most time consuming of the model which is the cockpit and the hollowing out of the landing gear cages, since I wont be lighting this, I wasn't too worried about detailing the cockpit interior and just glued both parts together.
I then used a tiny bit of putty to fill in the seams and sanded the areas smooth.
I did however want to detail the inner modules of the cages so I concentrated all my efforts on hollowing out the cages which presented itself as a tedious challenge because the plastic was a little too thick for my knife to easily cut through.
I ended up approaching this step using a technique which was mentioned by Youtube channel Intersteller Modeler to use a dremel to thin the backside of the cages so your blade had less thickness to cut through, it worked like a charm only after I had brute forced my earlier attempts which was my fault purely out of laziness of resourcing.
Once the cages were done I then proceeded on the next challenge which was the plumbing on the engine area, this area is lacking detail and missing a lot of piping but can be easily fixed.
I found several versions of this area on the interweb so I decided on on version I thought would be most easiest for shaping the plumbing in and around the tiny spaces.
I used a bit of styrene rod and brass wire for detailing the smaller pipes.
I used thicker styrene rod for the larger plumbing including the angled pieces on the central and outer part of the frame.
This not only filled in the empty spaces but it also made the whole engine part solid and sturdy.
Thought I'd give myself a break from the more fiddly details and go with something simpler and glued the passenger pod together which only consisted of three parts, the two side walls (roof attached) and a floor.
The sides and roof went together without problems however, the floor section seemed tapered and wider at one end which prevented it from fitting into the grooves so I had to carefully plain the sides down on the wider end whilst trying to maintain it's straight edge... nerve racking because taking too much off would make the part too small and messing up the straight edge would create unwanted gaps to fill.
Used some thin cement as seam filler.
Started on the engine baffle inserts for the engine bells, I measured four circles to a size that would fit inside the bells then marked and drilled the positions of the holes on a sheet of styrene then cut them out with a sharp scissors.
I sandwiched the cut rounded shapes between two small washers and sanded the edges to further aid in shaping their roundness but during a dry test fit, I found that the engine bells were not perfectly circular which left tiny gaps around my rounded parts and the bells.
Since I didn't have any larger styrene tube, I cut short lengths of styrene strip and used my heat gun and a drill bit to help curl the heated strip around the bit into a circular shape of the size I wanted... interesting approach but it worked.
During modifying the baffles, I also revisited the cockpit and added more detail around it's back wall by adding some piping.
Looking at it afterwards made me think if I should just cut away the whole wall and rebuild it... but since after having already added the details I thought to myself stuff it.
I used strips of angled styrene to detail the landing gear supports which also became handy to use as a guide for hollowing out the spaces between them with my hobby blade.
From there I proceeded to scratch build the angled struts of the landing gears.
And yes, it was a fiddly job especially when you don't have the sized strip you want and have to improvise.
Made some support rails for the walls and shelving of the inner modules using more angled styrene.
Working on some detailing for the inner modules of the cage using styrene and brass rod, I also found use of some spare mini rubber feet pads.
More to come.
Cheers.