DutyCat Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 (edited) Ok,guys, the IPMS nats are over, school is becoming settled, and I have resumed work on the Shuttle Wars project.<br><br>To catch you up....<br><br>The idea was to build this two kits up side by side, evaluate them during the process, discover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and make recommendations to potential builders. These kits are not cheap and each has major pitfalls. The more info we can get out there to help builders avoid making big mistakes, the better. If done right, a 1/72 space shuttle is a beautiful thing.<br><br>To date...<br><br>The Monogram body, tank and SRBs have been assembled and are ready to paint. If you have been following the videos, you know all about the struggle with the orbiter windows. I think I am just gonna go with dark gray paint for the windows. That is the best I can do at this point to salvage the situation. Not what I would like, but I can't see chucking a $100 kit and months of work. Besides, the finished model is going to go into my school library, so good enough. I thought about doing the pre-launch covers over the windows, but I think that would just confuse my target audience, who won't have a clue what they are.<br><br>The Revell orbiter body is together, and now the question is; what to do about the tiles? Although over sized, represented by raised lines, and only suitable for Columbia and Challenger, the tiles on the Revell orbiter are kind of nice. Properly handled, they could add some richness and texture to the Revell orbiter that is missing from the Monogram orbiter, where you are forced to go with decals or take on the job of recreating the texture of the tile and thermal blankets in some way, either through scribing or thin, strip styrene laminate.<br><br>My intention was to use the existing tiles on the Revell orbiter and do either Columbia or Challenger. The only real potential show stopper was the transition between the main wing assembly and the forward lower fuselage. A seam exists there in a very visible area, and if you are going to go with the kit tile job, you better get that transition right or it will stick out like a sore thumb.<br><br>Well, last night, I attempted a rescribe of this joint to blend in the two parts, and unfortunately, I don't think it is really possible to get professional level results. No matter how careful I was, or how steady I kept my hand, it still looked like engraved, hand rescribed lines joining two areas of perfectly machined, raised lines. So, I am forced to admit defeat. Also unfortunately, the tile detail seems to be the only area, except for maybe the windows, where the Revell shuttle held a clear potential advantage over the Monogram shuttle.<br><br>Reluctantly, I am now in the process of sanding off all of the Revell tiles and will go with decals for the wing bottom and some nose sections of the orbiter. What am I going to do about the textured blanketing on top of certain parts of the wing and fuselage? Well, I am going to try something new that I haven't seen done before. We will see how that turns out. It might work well, or it might not. In either case, we will learn something from it.<br><br>Watch for Shuttle Wars update #15 soon.<br><br>r/Gil Gregg Edited September 23, 2012 by DutyCat Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 The text is a little strange here, isn't it ... I have to wonder what "<br br>" and " " are ... I hope you haven't given up too quickly on the engraved vs raised tiles Gil, and am looking forward to the new tile solution ... and I always look forward to the new videos. Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jay Chladek Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 The tile detail is a liability on the Revell kit rather than an asset since they are oversized for proper shuttle tiles. If you keep them, the only shuttle that could be represented accurately would be Enterprise, since its fake tiles were also a bit oversized compared to the flight orbiters. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DutyCat Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 The tile detail is a liability on the Revell kit rather than an asset since they are oversized for proper shuttle tiles. If you keep them, the only shuttle that could be represented accurately would be Enterprise, since its fake tiles were also a bit oversized compared to the flight orbiters. Jay, I knew they were over sized, but was going to live with them as generally representative, if I could get them looking right. They do have relief, and texture is a defining characteristic of an orbiter surface. However, that underneath seam is practically impossible to make look seamless, so I have to go in a different direction. r/Gil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
niart17 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Texture is a defining feature of the orbiters true, BUT the tile underside is virtually flat. The tiles are so closely fitted and seams filled, having anything but a thin thin thin line between tiles is overkill imho. Now the topsides, that's different. There is a LOT of different textures to keep ya busy. Bill Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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