1/35 Scratchbuilt Lander (Star Wars GB)

[dierk]

Excellent work John - very inspiring to see a scratch-meister at work! And very rapid progress - at this rate you'll be dislodging Dupes from the build-speed throne

[John Everett]

Yellow edge lights tested. Roof panel not yet glued down. And white overhead fixtures still to be installed.



First white fixture tested. The other fixtures are yet to be cut and installed but will be painted with the rest of the interior (perhaps as early as tomorrow). The thin white plastic under the blue tape will remain unpainted to allow light to pass through.


I may primer this in black tonight if I run out of things to do on the interior.

[adt70hk]

John

Amazing work! Keep it up!

Andrew

[Leon]

Lighting look fantastic John! Going to awesome when painted.

[jpc1968]

That's not the droid I'm looking for

[jpc1968]

this is awesome. Cant wait to see more

[John Everett]

Thanks, gents for taking the time to post in comments!

Some lighting fixtures and interior paint.

Tamiya Greys over a black primer base. Feels just about, "Star Warsey" enough.


Not sure how much of the color variation will be visible once everything is enclosed and illuminated by LED.



The interior box went more quickly than I expected.

Landing gear, ramp and topside details to go.....Still no idea how the hell I'm gonna do the engines?

[kaytermarram]

Preshading looks awesome! And how it comes together SO QUICK!!

Frank

[Leon]

Pre shading and paint look great John!

[adt70hk]

John,

Words fail me at what you've achieved in such a short space of time!

Andrew

[John Everett]

With the roof lights done and the interior painted. It was time to take a deep breath and glue the interior box inside the frame. This does two things. It stiffens the whole, somewhat flimsy, framework as well provides a platform for final install of the LED strips.

Aluminum tape, sold in HVAC section of the home center, is the best I've found for securing LED strips. It also works as a 100% light block. It does conduct electricity however. So be careful to avoid electrical shorts


Messing around with resistors of various impedance to achieve desired lighting intensities. (Still too bright here.)


Badly out of focus, but also put in the downlights mounted above the exit ramp.


All the wires were brought down to this single plug which will mount in the belly between the rear landing gear.


External skin next! Compounds curves and straight plastic, should be fun!

[Leon]

Onward and upward John!Your doing really awesome.

[chris0423]

Really nice John, Really, Really nice !

Am looking forward to see the externals.

[tigrazor]

Let there be light. Looks awesome.

[dierk]

John said 'let there be light' and there was light. I turn my back for a few minutes, and it's progressed at the speed of light! I don't use the term lightly, but AWESOME!

[panzerjager2]

WOW......very very nice work

[John Everett]

Thanks for following and offering encouragement.

Straight sheets. Bendy curves. But I have a plan.

This is .5mm (.020) sheet pulled over the most rectangular section. This much was easy.


The more complex tapered end of the ship. Lots of tape and glue and clamps. But the thin sheet bends pretty easily and stays where you put it.



Not perfect. But this is the first layer. My hope is that the second, thicker layer of plastic skin will smooth out the rough spots.




It's going to be a largish finished model.


Working on getting some engines build today. And I'm also sorting through old junk parts to figure how to add the external details. 

More to come. 

I'm no sports fan. But since it's the local team: GO BRONCOS!

[Leon]

Nice work on getting the first layer on John!

[k1w1]

Looking good !

[wbill76]

Nice work on the electricals and first layer of skinning. Are you going to include a flicker/dimmer switch so you can simulate the movie's effects when no one's watching?

Starting to take shape!

[John Everett]

Feb 8, 2016 16:48:57 GMT -5 wbill76 said:

Are you going to include a flicker/dimmer switch so you can simulate the movie's effects....?

I noticed that effect in the opening scene of the film. I thought, "Wait a minute. These guys can move a ship the size of Manhattan Island faster than light. But they can't prevent flickering in their lighting systems???!!!"

Nope. These lights are either off or on. I'm going to mount a push button switch in the base so that the viewer can operate the lights. This saves battery life and adds some interactive interest for the viewers.

Second layer of thicker skin glued down. This is 1mm stock cut into flat plates and strips for the curved areas.


B.F.P.(Big Flat Plate)


Curvy curves


Rough sanded.



Also getting ready to cast-up the landing gear parts. I need 4 identical assemblies, so casting seemed the best approach.



That's it for now. They finally want me to go back to work. So the updates may go quiet for a few days.

Thanks for stopping by!

John

[Return_To_Kit_Form]

I'm impressed John. That is some very fine work there on a fine addition to the collection. I really admire your skills and I'll have to file away some techniques there for future projects.

Cheers,

Brett

[kaytermarram]

Maybe someone can do a tutorial about casting with material lists etc. I know hwo it goes, but it would be cool to have a special thread only with this theme! The kit looks very very well till know and makes me hungry to try it myself! Hell, I hope you will go on sometime with the Mars Rover!

Frank

[Leon]

WOW....Second layer of skinning looks good John!

[adt70hk]

Feb 9, 2016 13:00:11 GMT -5 kaytermarram said:

Maybe someone can do a tutorial about casting with material lists etc. I know hwo it goes, but it would be cool to have a special thread only with this theme! The kit looks very very well till know and makes me hungry to try it myself! Hell, I hope you will go on sometime with the Mars Rover!

Frank

Frank

An excellent suggestion!


John

Continuing to look very good!!

Am I seeing that final pic right?  Are you really going to use lego for the casting???

Thanks

Andrew

[kaytermarram]

Yap, have seen this often enought! Lego is perfect for work like this!!

Frank

[adt70hk]

Feb 10, 2016 11:26:46 GMT -5 kaytermarram said:

Yap, have seen this often enought! Lego is perfect for work like this!!

Frank

So I'm guessing whatever you you to make the mould, doesn't get hot enough to melt the plastic.  Interesting!!

Looks like I'll be reclaiming some of my ancient Lego from my son!! 

Thanks Frank

Andrew

[jsteinman]

Nice!

[kaytermarram]

No Problem, Andrew! And it could be wise to get the bricks from your son. Maybe he will make a deal with you, harhar! And Lego is made of hard plastic, when I remember me playing with this stuff way back in the past. But evan if you are going to buy some sets, you only need the basic shapes.

Frank

[dupes]

Looks great John! You should apply for a job with Revell...maybe we'd get some GOOD SW kits out of them that way!