B-Wing

[danimal518]

Been a long time since I've posted on here. I just started the old AMT B-wing and figured I'd get involved in the forums again.

I taped a toothpick to the back of the cockpit for ease of handling then base coated the cockpit using a mix of Tamiya dark grey and a touch of flat black.



And the pilot


And part of the cockpit frame


After letting the paint dry for about 3 days, I gave the pilot his first coat of Vallejo bright orange. It was my first time using Vallejo paint, so I'm still getting used to how it goes through my AB.


I also started brush painting some of the details in the cockpit. I didn't follow any references, I just wanted to add a little color.



Still have a lot to do. I want to add a few more details in the cockpit. The sides of the seat are sparse, not sure if I should add details or if it'll just be lost when I glue everything together.

Hope to get some more work done next week as I'll be out of town this weekend.

 

[Hagoth]

I have one of those waiting to be built.

If it were up to me I would add cockpit details just because they are so cool. Even if they are partially hidden you still know they are there.

 

[JohnSimmons]

Love the B Wing, watching this

 

[suavetomcat]

I loved the B wing too. Great looking ship and a great start. Will be following this.

 

[Grendels]

Nice start. I too love the B-wing and I am looking forward to more.

 

[texastony1946]

I love this ship. I hope Bandai makes it in 1/72 scale. Look forwardto following this thread.

 

[nicholassagan]

Love B-Wings. Love watching them go together...looking forward to your progress!

 

[Junkie]

 

[Quaralane]

Looking forward to progress on this one.
Built one of these WAYYYY back when they were a new thing

 

[danimal518]

Love the B Wing, watching this

John this is the B-Wing I bought from you a while back ;D

OK, so my bad for not posting more frequently on here, but I have been documenting my work.

I'm not sure what this piece is, but I glued it together. You can see the seam very clearly in these pictures



Then a little bit of sanding

Some of the engraved details are off. I'm going to rescribe that later.

In the meantime, I decided to put a little background in the cockpit. I'm not very artistic in terms of drawing, so I opted to just add some decals to the background.

With a coat of Future


Having only a few models under my belt, my spares box is rather sparse. I used 2 small decals from my 1/72 Emhar Mark IV tank.


Next up is the pilot. I gave him another coat of Vallego orange


With a solid orange base on him; it was time to start picking out some details

I darkened his vest and lightened the helmet here.


Added some color on the helmet for ear pieces


Here's more of the details picked out



I also started working on the engine plate


And added some details to that as well. Most of this probably won't be seen on the finished model, but it'll give the hint of detail



I also worked on the engines. The engines were off the sprue, so I had to manage to keep the attachment points clear of glue. I opted for the lazy man's fix by just masking them, which doubled as a handle


I base coated them a dark grey with Tamiya acrylics


Here I added some scorch marks on the engines


I hope to get some more work done on the cockpit and close it up in the next few days.

 

[Go Flight]

Looks great. The B Wing is also one of my Top 5 SW ships. Looking fwd to seeing the results of your next session.

RE: the Vallejo paint. FWIW. I found this out by complete accident looking for different info. Buried in their online documentation Vallejo recommends you shoot their paint around 12psi. Many shoot at 20+. But that dries the paint. Once I lowered my compressor, my clogs have gone to near zero. HTH

 

[LrdSatyr8]

Looking great bro! Love the work done on it so far! Keep it up!

 

[JohnSimmons]

Glad to see my kit getting some love!

 

[Quaralane]

Nice update.

 

[danimal518]

I got some time late last night and tonight on the bench.

First I put the engines on the engine plate. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.



I also glued the cockpit together. There was a nasty gap, so I used some homemade liquid sprue to fill it. This was my first time using liquid sprue, and it was messier than I thought it'd be.



The nice thing about liquid sprue is that it sands down very nicely. I did, however, destroy some raised detail in the process. I don't know how to fix the seam with all of the intricate detail.


My next step is to scribe a new line (what is that supposed to be anyway?) and then sand off the rest of the raised detail. I need to get this cockpit done, so I can put it inside the body.

 

[danimal518]

Looks great. The B Wing is also one of my Top 5 SW ships. Looking fwd to seeing the results of your next session.

RE: the Vallejo paint. FWIW. I found this out by complete accident looking for different info. Buried in their online documentation Vallejo recommends you shoot their paint around 12psi. Many shoot at 20+. But that dries the paint. Once I lowered my compressor, my clogs have gone to near zero. HTH

I checked the air pressure on my AB, and I shot the Vallejo at about 15psi. I'll try dialing it down to 12 next time and see how that works. Now to find an excuse to paint something with my limited Vallejo collection.

 

[Hagoth]

Nice little bit of progress. That cockpit looks nice with the clean details.

I just became aware of homemade liquid sprue. What method did you use to make yours?

Try magnet wire (or whatever gauge you need to match the detail size) in a thin scribed groove to restore raised details.

 

[danimal518]

Nice little bit of progress. That cockpit looks nice with the clean details.

I just became aware of homemade liquid sprue. What method did you use to make yours?

Try magnet wire (or whatever gauge you need to match the detail size) in a thin scribed groove to restore raised details.

Making the liquid sprue was pretty easy. I took a jar that was half full of Plastruct Bondene and put bits of sprue in. I came back a day or two later and added more. I kept doing this until it was nice and thick. I originally made the mistake of making it in a bottle without a brush applicator. I tried using an old paintbrush to apply the liquid sprue and that was awful. I eventually cleaned it off by dipping it in another bottle of cement. I'd recommend making your liquid sprue in a bottle with a brush applicator. The neat thing about making liquid sprue is that you can make it as thin or as thick as you want. I plan on making a few more bottles of different viscosities for different needs. I'm sure with enough practice, I'll get good at applying it.

I should also note that masking off the gap helped a lot. I took the mask off too early and it left the edges a bit ragged, which was easily fixed by sanding. You don't want to let it get too dry, or it'll turn into a solid piece of plastic and you'll never get the mask off completely. You just have to figure out the right timing for removing your mask.

 

[Hagoth]

Thanks for the liquid sprue insights. I have since looked into this more and there seems to be quite a few methods for making it. I'm going to have to try yours out and play with it.

 

[arohk]

Very cool looking, I like the detail you put into the model. I am waiting to see how the cockpit looks closed up as I have the same model and want to detail it up more myself