ismaelg

Hello, And this one is DONE! First of all, I'm very happy because as of February 20th, I have finished the same number of models I did in the whole year 2022! This is my third completion of the year. This was really a fun project, not a serious one. Not sure if I may have gone a bit overboard with the weathering but in the movie it was really filthy when it was destroyed by none other than Darth Vader himself in his Tie Advance X1 (My first completion of this year). There is no such thing as an "accurate" model of a Star Wars space ship as the movies themselves relied of m

Hello, OK, I can explain. This may look like I blew up R2-D2's head and machined a new R5-series astromech head... And that is exactly what I did 🙂 Thanks, Ismael

Hello, Repeat with me: BOX STOCK... B O X S T O C K So, the laser cannon's arcs in the kit are wrong. They should be vertically oriented, not horizontally. A glaring error. But not that hard to correct. Just cut and rotate 90 degrees. In the process, I cut and added a sleeve ring just for fun. Drilled a small hole to pin them for proper alignment. Thanks, Ismael

Hello, My sister got me this for Christmas. It is the reissued MPC snap-tite Star Wars X-Wing Fighter. The kit is very basic. Almost crude. Not really suited for superdetailing. For that I have the much better but smaller scale (1/72) Bandai X-Wing kit. I also have the old MPC 1/43 X-Wing kit which is bigger, but been AMT we know it is a turd of a kit. I plan to eventually build the Bandai kit as Luke's ship: Red 5. But back to this one: This kit is even simpler than the B-Wing I did last year from the same series. Everybody builds this as Luke's Red 5 (included decals). I

Hello, While more than 90% of this was done in 2022, it was officially finished in 2023. First week of January and I am already at 1/3 of the number of last year's completions. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png Darth Vader's TIE Advanced X1 There are far better kits out there, but I had the old AMT/ERTL kit from 1997 laying around. It is supposed to be 1/36 scale. The molds date back to 1978. This kit has been released a gazillion times as MPC, AMT, ERTL, Revell, Kenner and others. In summary, this i

Hello, Wow! What an excellent build! I missed it the first time around. I found it while researching Red 1. I got a little MPC snap X-Wing reissue for Christmas and I am thinking of building it as Red 1 (Red Leader). Will come back to this one frequently for inspiration on this and other X-Wing projects. Thanks, Ismael

Hello, This one is FINISHED! Honestly, there was really not much interest in this subject in any of the forums I posted it in so I skipped the last few updates. The canopy was a whole project in itself. The cockpit rotates gyroscopically to maintain orientation regardless of the position of the ship (which makes little sense in space as there is no up or down...) Here is the snap toy from 1983. Took it out for a spin. "Locked S-Foils in Attack Position" Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! KABOOM! Hope you like it. Than

Hello, Getting closer to the finish. Lots of fun hand painting this guy: Added an escape T handle, canopy rails, targeting computer, 2 control sticks, a display screen, cabin lights... Painted and detailed the blaster guns An idea on size: Thanks, Ismael

Hello, I understand this topic is not the cup of tea of the forum but I hope you can at least pickup some ideas or get your curiosity going. Now, each one of these is lethal. But all four in a vehicle? That's carrying a punch! Thanks, Ismael

Hello, First burst of color! Two days of masking for 10 minutes of airbrushing. The flat white base is actually primer that was slightly sanded. The gray is Humbrol enamel. Love those little tin cans! The roundels are Corvette (Chevrolet) engine red. There has to be a Corvette reference somewhere! The roundels are not decals. I cut my own in Tamiya wide masking tape. I insist the scheme looks like a japanese zero from WWII, but that's what the references indicate. Started the weathering. You can see the untouched body compared to the wings in process.

Hello, Thank you warhawk121! This model has no "landing gear". Let's not forget this is an MPC snap tite model from 1983 designed to be assembled quickly to play with. So, taking a bit of an artistic license and inspired by the X-wing landing gear, I came up with this: You are looking at 2 days of work here. Aluminum, brass, plastic and lots of determination. Test fitted: Minor tweaking still needed but getting there. Just to put it in perspective: I have to say I'm happy with it so far. I then machined these 2 washer like thingie

Hello, Kit's original design vs my way. The kit calls for the wings to be assembled into the swing axle. That is a problem to work seams and make sure the wings are smooth. So I re-engineered the kit to finish the wings first, then mount on the swing axle. First, the front plate needs to be removed Kit's original instructions: My re-design: Thanks, Ismael

Hello, This part goes at the bottom of the ship. It is supposed to represent another cannon like that ones on the wings and the broken part was supposed to be a Heavy Cannon which is actually longer than the regular one. It is also missing the Precision Targeting Laser. This is getting serious! This sucker is carrying quite a heavy punch! They are out of alignment as these are not fixed in position yet. They'll be straight in the final product. Thanks, Ismael

Hello, SW7A Cannons with their respective Precision Targeting Lasers. (Not yet fixed in place so not perfectly aligned yet) Don't let the beauty fool you. This is a lethal weapons platform. Need to remove the molded ones from the other wing. I think you can tell the difference, can you? Canopy design #9, modified autoblaster Thanks, Ismael

Hello, Can you tell the difference between the box stock and my own brass and aluminum Precision Targeting Laser? It is about 10mm long. The challenge now is to do 2 more identical ones. Also modified the GH72 Autoblaster Next: SW-7A Ion Cannons... Thanks, Ismael

Hello, So I'm doing my own canopy. This has proven to be quite a challenge at this scale. This is design/attempt # 5 or 6. Quite possibly not the final one. The tape strips are for visibility as these clear parts are INVISIBLE when dropped or when they decide to fly across the bench. The wire is part of the canopy support. I'll make something out of it like a heads up display or something to disguise it. The rear section was glued and reworked the seams. The raised details were sanded down and I re-scribed them as recessed panel lines. To disguise a very ugly

Hello, Sorry I've been away so long. Been super busy with work, family, other hobbies (old cameras restorations) and life in general. I was out of the country for a while as well. This is so out of the box you need a telescope to see the box. I am a big Star Wars fan ever since I saw the first movie in 1978 as a kid. Huge fan is an understatement. It is funny as I don't like sci-fi much. I don't even like movies. Haven't been to a movie theater in about 3 years (since Star Wars Episode 9). Anyways, as an engineer, 2 of the things I like the most are ships (vehicles i

Hello, #17: Monogram 1/48 AH-64 Apache. I believe this was my very first helicopter model! Must have been built around 1988-89 or so. Completely brush painted! I remember very well one of my worst modeling accidents was building this. I glued a part and noticed I had to remove it. Can't remember if it was for painting or if it was incorrectly glued or what. I was using a pocket knife. It slipped and went thru my right thumb like butter! Still hurts remembering it! As found: Missing both doors and a few of those little U shaped handles. For some reason this dust

Hello, #16: Your Majesty! The Queen herself! Advent Boeing 747-100 in 1/144 scale. My only model that doesn't fit the big light box. I apologized to this model for leaving her unattended for many years. I'm pretty sure I bought and built it in 1993. As found: The seam cracked in the back. I'll have to live with that. These are my scratchbuilt parts to replace the missing box stock ones. Not in the pic but the wingtips have what looks like antennas or something. One was missing so it was cloned. A landing gear door, done TWICE as I stupidly made

Hello, #15: Testors 1/48 Mig 37B Ferret E Soviet Stealth Concept. This model was released in 1987 when the Stealth concept was in full rage. Designer John Andrews also designed the controversial Testors F19 Stealth fighter model released in 1986 creating a stir of controversy and media frenzy. If I recall correctly, I bought this kit as a Christmas gift for a friend and fellow modeler. Somehow I ended up with it at a later time. Must have been late 80's or very early 90s. As found: Even then it seems I was a decal hater. Only a single red star and nothing els

Hello, #14: Testors 1/48 RF-18D I clearly remember this was one of the first times I ever used my friend Carlos' Badger 150 airbrush in his office studio. He showed me by painting one of the stabilizers or tail fins. I remember been in awe witnessing airbrushing! That must have been late '92 - early '93 or so. Not been very knowledgeable about military aircraft, I incorrectly thought if it is a photo reconnaissance aircraft, then there is no need for wing hardpoints. You just want to be as light and fast as possible. While that is true for an SR-71, that is not exactly the case

Hello again, OK, this is a fun one! #13: Testors 1/48 Gee Bee Racer. This is one of the simplest kits ever made and from what I understand the mold dates back to 1949! The short story of this aircraft is that it was intended to be the fastest land airplane in the world. Seaplanes were another category. In 1931 the most powerful engine was the WASP 9 cyl radial. So the aircraft was designed around that engine as minimalistic as possible. It remains one of the most difficult and dangerous airplanes ever to fly. Jimmy Doolittle set a speed record of almost 300MPH in 1932. I b

Hello, #12: AMT/ERTL 1/72 Kamov Hokum In October of 1990, while working on a college class project with other classmates, I clearly remember discussing this model. It had nothing to do with the project. I was still learning the basics about helicopters and was not aware of this counter rotating rotor configuration, which is actually almost as old as helicopters themselves. I was impressed with the benefits mentioned in the instructions of this model. As found: Turns out many other parts are missing in this picture but were all in the bin. Most importantly, the deli

Hello, #11: Testors 1/48 F117 Stealth Fighter. As a teenager and engineering student in the late 80's, there was nothing more badass and revolutionary than this aircraft. In my mind this was one of the most important aircraft of all time. I mean, beating radar? mind blowing! This kit was released in the early 90's. I must have built it around '92 or so. Not sure but I think it was painted with hardware store spray cans. As found: With about 30 years of dust I was able to find all parts but the broken nose pitot tubes which were replaced with wire. Cleanup prove

Hi Kurt! Long time my friend! Glad to see you! How are you? Life in general has been pretty busy and this hobby took a back seat for a few years with limited action. Plenty of on going projects in both cars and aircraft models. Just squeezing out precious minutes here and there whenever possible. This particular project was a nice surprise and has taken a life on its own. I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane. Thanks, Ismael