Colonial Viper 1:32 Revell/Monogram Build Album
Box was so warped I knew I was in for some moisture damage to the parts; the eBay seller warned me!
Old, water damaged decals
I created new decals by scanning the original sheet, retouching in Photoshop, and printing on a color laser printer
Added rivets to canopy
The nose required a good bit of putty and sanding
Going to light this up, so filled lots of gaps/cracks with black 5-minute epoxy
The biggest part of this project was, by far, learning how to cast transparent parts. First step was to saw off the parts I wanted to make transparent.
Bed of clay
Foam core box
Trimmed to box dimensions
Ready for pour
Flipped, removed initial clay, and added sprues
Poured top cast
Mixed resin with transparent blue, one drop of white, and injected with syringe. Notice all the rejects!
After three full tries, finally happy enough with this set. Still quite a few imperfections that I hope to fill with putty and obscure with paint.
Filled some bubbles and gaps
Applied mask to inside and outside of exhaust cones circles (not the sides)
Painted inside with light gray primer to help light reflect
Removed liquid mask
My messy soldering; still learning how to do this, but it lights up! [New add] Kids! I learned from reading about soldering to apply cold solder to hot wire, not the other way around. This would have made my joints much cleaner.
A dab of super glue and each LED sits in its exhaust cone
Rotary tool opened access via the connector to the display stand; an ideal setup for adding lighting
Now wired to stand and with coin battery container and switch
Main assembly complete and ready for paint
Loving that first coat of primer black
I like the random mottling effect
Added a little bit of Vallejo brass and Oily Steel semi-dry brushing; super happy with how the grunge camouflages imperfections in the cast parts. Kind of makes it look all beat up.
Decided to make it look like a panel had been replaced on the nose and Starbuck was out of gray paint
Also "replaced" a panel on the starboard engine
Gloss coat ready for decals
Gray decals on the engine intakes were impossible, so I masked and painted those, somewhat imperfectly and, let's face it, this whole model is an exercise in joyful imperfection. Like, "What's that hole in the fuselage? I dunno."
I used a fine wire brush on the rotary tool to give the illusion of scraped and weathered paint on raised surfaces.
Lots of icky black oil wash, mmm....
For some reason, peeling off the mask from the engines was one of the most satisfying parts
And, oh, my goodness, it lights up!
Comments
1 7 January 2020, 02:07
James WhiteAbsolutely a blast. I blew so much time and money figuring out the casting thing, but it was so much fun. And what you don't see is when my wires came loose inside after I'd glued the whole beast together. I was so depressed I walked away for several weeks, hanging my head in shame for my poor soldering skills. Only this weekend did I do some major surgery to reconnect the wires. I learned this is possible from the Batwing model I just finished. Batman Batwing (1989) | Project by JamesWhite (1:25)
7 January 2020, 03:10
Spanjaardvery nice job. i like the idea of the transparent engines for the lighting
2 April 2020, 22:36
