Started on the Big Z Sunday. Quality, fit, and finish are top notch. The sides of the super structures are separate detail panels applied to the hull. The edges are beveled resulting in excellent fit. The side trenches assemble the same way. They are also keyed so you can’t put them in the wrong place or position. For me, I’ll be building the major sub assemblies then drilling and running fiber. I’ll then assemble the sub assemblies.
My impression so far is excellent. I originally thought the Anigrand was better detailed, but with this being a plastic kit, the details are so much sharper. Given a choice between the two, I’d opt for the Zvezda.
Assembly starts with adding the detail panels to the lower super structures.
Then on to the trenches.
Comparison of the lower hull with the new lights/sound Revell snap together.
That’s a seriously nice looking ship, Robiwon! It looks as it was engineered for lighting - with the level of detail illustrated in your photos, there is certainly no comparison here to the old AMT-ERTL kit gathering dust on my stash shelf. Looking forward to seeing how you progress through this build!
Glad you finally got your hands on it. She looks real nice, i’ll be watching. I have nevr added lights to a kit before, but this almost begs out for it.
Got all the trench pieces installed. There are some “bare” spots that will need some greeblies added to them. Again, love the way this kit is going together. I need to order .5mm fiber optic this week. I’ll start on the other super structure assemblies today and then start drilling holes. Engines will need to be drilled out as well. Here are some new pics and where she sits now.
Port side trench detail.
The inside edges of the starboard side trench. You’ll have to drill thru both to run fiber.
I started mine last night, and after six hours got most of it built. I noticed the lower hull pieces fit with almost no step, while the lapped joint of the uppers needed a little scraping down to get a flush fit. Also, the superstructure sidewall inserts fit better if their backsides were sanded down. There were also a few ejector pin marks that needed to be sanded off to get the superstructure parts to fit tightly. Did your build see similar issues? I think the fit overall is great though. One pipe on one of my shield generators was broken in the box, but that’s easy to fix. I’m not lighting mine, so once the minor gaps at the beveled joints are filled, it’s full speed into the paint shop
Oh and by the way, I’ll be cockroaching your additional sidewall details, so please hurry so I can copy it! [;)]
Thanks guys! Yes, sanding results in a better fit, but so far she is building great. The engineering of this kit is on par with any Japanese kit IMO. I have more pics to load today. The garbage chute is all but done with a tiny scratched Slave 1! Stay tuned…
Got a lot done on the kit this weekend. I cut out the back of the spine and built a full garbage chute complete with space junk and a Slave 1. I also drilled out all the windows for the fiber optics. Started mods to the engines as well for lighting. Very productive weekend!
Space junk the Slave 1 will sit with.
Lots and lots of holes…
Looking pretty jimongous compared to the Revell snapper!
The fit of the parts is amazing. You need to be careful when adding the side panels of the super structures so that the corners line up. I recommend adding both adjoining panels at the same time so you can adjust where they meet at the corners for a gap free fit.
Still waiting on fiber from the Fiber Optic Store…
Took care of the hull seam, top and bottom. I used Tulip brand fabric paint. Its basically thick acrylic paint (great for light blocking small areas too!) and dries super fast. I taped so just the seam was visible. I laid down a bead of Tulip and let it set for a minute. Then I just took my finger and wiped off the excess. Doing this also ensures the paint is down in the joint. I then removed the mask and let it sit for a few more minutes. Next I took a pointed cotton swab and cleaned up the smeared excess. Until I get primer on it its hard to tell if there is any seam left, if there is its shallower than the surrounding panel lines, plus, no lost detail from putty and sanding!
Ohhhhhhhh, looking forward to the fiber optics and the big light-up!
Clever idea on the Tulip paint, I do the same thing with Mr. Surfacer but it always used to dry up on me in the bottle. I’ve been using Perfect Plastic Putty for the same recently but this fabric paint looks to have it’s uses too. Thanks!!!
