Lookin' good, Lou.

Y'know, every time I see someone else showing off Richard's kit, it makes me wish I'd had at least the cash and the display space for one of those....

 

Always good to see another build up, thank you.

 

Lookin good. Can't wait to get started on mine!:thumbsup:

 

Wow, impressive. I love the Refit and Wee-NX masks I got from you, I couldn't even begin to attempt the aztecing without them.

 

what step did you do to prevent light leaks Lou? Im putting some reflective tape in the areas that I can but I cant get everything. I dont really think its possible to black the inside out but are you having any problems with light leaks?

just a concern of mine.

cant wait to see the aztec paint pattern you made!

 

Cougar,
Foil tape is my friend. that and several light coats o' paint.

The nacelles are gong to be the real test. those lights are strong in there!

 

Yep, foil tape as much of the inside of that thing as you can. The added benefit is it reflects light around better so less LED's. Your build up looks really nice, I know I said it before but it's really exciting for me to see people build the kit.

 

I think the main concern I had is this the saucer top piece. there is a ton of windows and the last piece I have to foil up. anyway my should be sealed up in 2 weeks...

 

To state the (I hope) obvious, it would be well to check and see that the lighting works properly before sealing it up. Having to re-open a nice model like that would be unfortunate.

 

thats part of the sealing up process!

 

last night's progress

Last night's update.

Started off by giving the lady a new coat. I airbrushed on what will eventually be the final lighter gray color. paying special attention to the areas between the hull sections. Because that's where the fiberglass is the thinnest, it's also the most likely place for light leaks.

I was looking around while it was drying between coats and spotted a used sheet of templates where I had plucked out the plating pieces, leaving only the surrounding vinyl and thought "hmmm...interesting..

so I peeled it up and stuck it to a cardboard frame.

I then made up a mixture of the light gray, medium gray and just a touch of chrome silver.

using the scrap of template as a stencil, I sprayed on an added layer of "faux plating" just enough to break up the surface, mind you ...

it's a little strong here, but I was always planning on a blending coat later in the process.

the first pic is the stencil and the second one is the result

Cheers, :wave:
Lou
PS... I did do a quick light check and everything still seema to be working

 

Lou those templates look fantastic!!

 

Very cool. Nice job, Lou.

 

Looking amazing lou!

 

another update

Last night I added the dark gray areas and then strted the long template removal process. there is still some clean up to do. with the three day weekend coming up, I hope to finish. Or at least get to the decal stage

Enjoy

 

anymore pics?

 

funny you should ask

yesterday I had the day off for the holiday weekend, so I was able to get some major work done on the E-E

I did the gross masking of the darker gray areas of the belly and underside of the saucer. I did the new stencil technique to it to break up the surface a bit.

when that was dry to the touch, I removed the painter's tape and started the labor intensive task of removing the tiny vinyl pieces. At this point the vinyl has been on the kit for a few DAYS and the only places where I accidentally pulled up any underpaint was where I dug too deep with the x-acto. Since I am using Enamels with this paintjob, the paint flakes off of the vinyl when I pull it up, so I have to do a lot of "dusting" with a fairly stiff bristled paintbrush to remove the residue. the specks you see on the second pic are flakes I haven't got to yet.

I'm also starting to expose the windows. these are coming out really well considering how many coats of paint they are buried in.

I'll be continuing this thruout the day, I'm sure. The next big thing for me is to join the tops and bottoms of the nacelles and button up the wiring

Cheers,
Lou

 

Let there be...well, you know

yes, it's still a bit messy and yes there are some light leaks to plug, but I thought I would go ahead and share this.

now we're getting to the exciting part!

Cheers,
Lou :wave:

 

Holey moley! That's about the coolest thing ever!

 

down to the brass tacks

and other brass parts.
I decided to stop painting for a bit and get to the last bits of construction. Namely the brass parts. I was also thinking of how I was going to acheive the look of the "stripes" on the lit part of the nacelles. I decided against paint for two very good reasons

a) the very strong light that will need to be blocked here would mean many coats

b) that's some long skinny lines there and the chances of me being able to paint them and keep them from going wavy is kinda small

so, while i was in a brassy mood, I rummaged around and found some 3/64 brass rod that I had been using for detailing on the serenity kit i built and after some careful drilling into the nacelles and a lot of measuring and bending the ends over to fit in the holes. made some strips that are not only straight, but block the lights rather nicely

I'll pull them back out and paint them black, but here's the"rough" version

Enjoy, dissect, discuss :wave:

 

Utterly stunning Lou!

The brass rods are a masterstroke.

Kudos.

Rich

 

almost there...

Have you fever hit that place in your build where you just get bored with the whole thing? and then something happens that totally re-invigorates you..?

I had really had enough of painting this beast ( cuz it seemed to be just endless) and decided to switch gears and concentrate on the stand and mounting rod. so I laid down a coat of gloss finish to protect the paint and it brought out so many of the subtle details that I had long thought got covered up. That really jazzed me to throw myself back into finishing.

And then on to the decals. I had been fearing these because my past experience with aftermarket decals has been hit-or-miss. And this kit rather heavily depends on the decals coming out well. and they are big.

I will say that I hope REL is using the same materials for his Bird of Prey decals, because these are absolutely fantastic! good and strong. no wimpy carrier film here.

The only beef I have is that I didn't find out til it was too late that he didn't back color any of the lifeboats with a white underlayer so the color is mostly washed away when applying them to a dark area of ship. Lucky for me, most of the areas are light gray already, but there are a couple places where it looks not so good. I wish there had been a note in the instructions to give me a heads up about this. but it's a small annoyance.

anyway, as the farmer's expression goes "I'm in the short rows" now and hope to have this girl finished and lit up by the end of the weekend. I'm planning on bringing it to the 'Fest.

Enjoy,
Lou

 

Y'know, you and REL aren't very nice guys, what with showing is pics of the studio model and trying to pass them off as your own work! Bad modelers!



Seriously, tho, excellent work, Lou! That's gonna be beautimous when finished, dude! Please tell me that you're bringing this to WonderFest?!?

 

Griff,
what does the last line of my post say?

you trusting that sweet new ride to those eyes?

thanks for the kind words

 

Er... I was dazzled by the purty pikshurs....