Viper MK VII

[Capt_Taggert]

All done! I got as part of SMA's Secret Santa. LED's light up the engines and cockpit.

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[YOULI]

Cool build !

Can you be more specific about your WIP ? any modification ? Any problems ? What kind of paint did you use ? Airbrush or regular brushes ?

 

[Capt_Taggert]

Sure, I used 3 3mm LED's in the engine bay, and used one 3mm for the fiber optics in the cockpit. I had bought a photoetch set, but it was my first time with such stuff and really mucked it up so I had to go back and use the kit cockpit. That's the only part i'm not happy with.
It was a first for using lights and a first for using fiber. I discovered Tamyia primers which are awesome and use on all my models! I have the fine White version and it's amazing stuff! I drilled out RCS holes and in some areas insterted brass rods to make it look a litlle cooler. It's painted with Acryl paints. I preshaded but my first coat of Intermediate Blue completly covered the preshading, so i preshaded again and lightned the Blue with a little Neutral gray to bump up the tonalty. Worked like a charm. I added a little white to the Blue and sprayed it on to lighten it up in certain areas. I drilled out a hole in the bottom for the electrical connection and put in a connector to make it easy to attach to the base. The base is a box from Radio Shack as is the switch, another first for me, making all those connections from the battery to the switch to the model.
The engines are painted with Testors Metallic line of paints. I'm not sure i'd use them again but it looks nice.
I did have to make some mods to the cockpit. I had to carve out a section of the back wall behind the seat to make room for the electrical connections, but it's hidden by the pilot and the seat, whew!
All in all a fun build and a lot of firsts for me. If I could do it over I'd be more careful with the photoetch cocklpit. I learned a lot from that debacle. Other than that I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.

 

[Grendels]

Nice!

 

[Capt_Taggert]

Thank you Grendels for your videos on electronics. I learned so much from watching those and look forward to applying what i learned to future projects.

 

[YOULI]

Thanks for the specification on your work. It sure looks terrific !

 

[Grendels]

Thank you Grendels for your videos on electronics. I learned so much from watching those and look forward to applying what i learned to future projects.

Your welcome, that is exactly why I put them up!

 

[Solander]

Great job here!
The painting is outstanding - resembles what we've seen on the screen perfectly, imho.
And from what I can see on the pics, You've done your job with lighting fairly well.

 

[Chiefpettyofficer]

Well done!