Sorry that came out in all caps, I guess that’s what happens with too many acronyms. I’m building this kit for the Star Wars GB that’s going on now and thought I’d share it here too since I got such a nice response for the Jedi Starfighter I completed a little while ago. Here’s the box art:
The detail is actually pretty good for how old it is. It has everything in just about the right spot compared to the MR replica and studio model pictures I’ve seen. The worst part about it is the raised panel lines, but I can work with it. I’m not too far, just gotten most of the head and neck done.
Oh well, it’s still a cool idea anyway. Bish, this boxing does have a movie print in it. It’s for The Empire Strikes Back. If I remember right I bought it at a department store on clearance with a couple of other Star Wars kits a few years ago.
Gamera, I was looking around for more reference pictures and came across this…
I’ve made some small progress on the AT-AT. There are a lot of gaps to fill and seams to sand, so it’s slowed me down a lot. Here’s where I am now.
The bottom looks a little sparse, so I might add some details to it. Speaking of which, the back end of this is has me in a bit of a dilemma. In Empire Strikes Back, the back side has two flaps, but for some reason AMT only molded one on there. I’m debating whether or not to try and make another flap or just leave it as it is. Here’s what I’m talking about:
And last but not least, the AT-AT needs a little “friend”
I’m not sure how small that Luke would have to be to look right, and I don’t trust my scratchbuilding skills that much. But I do have a plan for the snowspeeder.
I’ve finally finished with all the seams and gaps. After trying for a few of days trying to get a piece of sheet styrene to go the way I wanted, I decided to leave the flap in the back as is. I scoured the internet trying to find someone that did it, and every build I saw had it like this. I’m going to save my sanity. I was able to get a bit of time at the bench today and was able to prime and preshade. Hopefully sometime this week I’ll be able to get some paint sprayed. The instructions are horrible for paint callouts. They say to paint it “light gray.” That really narrows it down. I think I’m going to go with neutral gray.
I like the pre-shading. I think I’d just go by eye on the colour too. Maybe you could do a little colour modulationand paint the top a slightly lighter shade? I dunno, just throwing out ideas…
Thanks for the kind words. I’ll probably do some kind of color modulation to help break up the monotone of it. I’m also planning on using multiple shades of dark gray pastels for weathering to help with that too.
I just wasted an hour trying to spray the neutral gray. I was using Model Master acrylic, and no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to spray. Normally I use enamels and bought this bottle by mistake. I’ve only airbrushed Model Master acrylic one other time, and other than some tip drying I didn’t really have any problems. So I suppose I’ll wait for my airbrush to dry out and try again with an older bottle of neutral gray enamel I found. Hopefully I’ll get around to doing that later tonight.
Finally got some paint sprayed. It took me awhile, but I’m happy with the results. I’m going to do a light drybrushing of Light Ghost Gray over the whole walker and then do a pin wash. Once that is done I’ll put the whole thing together and get started on the snow speeder and base. I’m going to wait to do the pastel weathering until the the very end.
I dry brushed everything with MM Light Ghost Gray and then sealed it in Testors glosscote. I applied a pinwash using black acrylic hobby paint. After giving the bottom a sealer of Testors dullcote I attached the legs and here it is. Now that it’s up on its feet I’ll seal the rest in dullcote. I will also have to glue the head into position as the rubber band that came in the kit and goes through the neck is worthless for keeping it in position. I’ll continue weathering after I get the base done so I don’t have to handle it too much at that point.
So many things in life get in the way of benchtime. I stained the base, but it is taking forever to dry, so I’m hoping at some point in the coming week I’ll be able to get some celluclay down on it. In the mean time, I’ve painted up the snowspeeder that will be zipping around. I also built the flaps on the bottom side and the tow line launcher from scratch. I still have to weather it.
I don’t know if you glued the neck fixed or not. I was going to say if they still supply a rubber band to make the head positionable, don’t use the supplied rubber band in the neck, it goes bad, snaps and you have to glue the neck fixed in place. I would use a metal twist tie instead. Nice build.
Thanks Bashmonkey. Unfortunately I used the rubber band in the kit and am already pretty disappointed with how it turned out. I figure I’ll have to glue it anyway. If I build another one I’ll take your advice.
