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The ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs


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That question should warrant 1,000 lashes with a wet noodle, if not a bunch of severe looks.

I've wanted one since the first release... I'm just trying to come up with a justification/bargaining plan for the wife.

Ouch...does she really have to be involved? you know it's easier begging for forgiveness after you bought it.... if you're lucky you'll get the silent treatment. ..That's great for a peaceful build. :)

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That question should warrant 1,000 lashes with a wet noodle, if not a bunch of severe looks.

I've wanted one since the first release... I'm just trying to come up with a justification/bargaining plan for the wife.

Probably 99.9993% of all married model builders biggest challenge:

The 'wife' hurdle w00t.gif !

Wife-"Why do you want to spend $185 for a box full of plastic?"

Us-"Uummm.........because....uh....the......." rofl.gif

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You guys should get into resin Formula 1 or sports cars. They all start at 150$ and can escalate from there since they're so low production. I can't bring myself to get them yet since I'm not there financially. I can justify a Millenium Falcon though do to the shear amount of parts and work involved.

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One of the local hobby shops claims the retail price will be $350.00 CAD, if they can get any. The last time I saw one on their shelf (two years ago) it was about $220.00 retail. I reserved one from HLJ so I hope they get enough inventory to match the pre-orders. Even with $60.00 shipping cost it is still far cheaper than the local retail price.

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Probably 99.9993% of all married model builders biggest challenge:

The 'wife' hurdle w00t.gif !

Wife-"Why do you want to spend $185 for a box full of plastic?"

Us-"Uummm.........because....uh....the......." rofl.gif

Because you won't let me play with those $8000 hooters! :thumbsup2:

Edited by Scott Smith
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  • 1 month later...

Yes that price is reasonable for this bird. Hi Jay! I stopped building my 1/144 when I couldn't match your paintjob! : ) Like you mentioned, it's just too easy to overdo the weathering and that's what happened to mine. The radial weathering streaks alone were a nightmare for me (Did you mark them with pencil before spraying on the streaks or even used a stencil/template?) My 1/72 stays in hibernation until my painting skills are up to par with yours.

Sorry if it has been awhile, it was a busy May for me. Anyway, concerning the streaks, you want to know how I did them? It wasn't some magical airbrush use or a template. Instead of airbrushing them, I used pastel chalks applied with Microbrushes (white, yellow and green ones, depending on how big a mark I was applying). The second secret is to use more than just one shade. I've got two pastel chalk sets, one of earth tones and two for gray shades. So in addition to black I also typically grind up at least three or four gray shades of various strengths and also a brown. The model paint also needs to be flat coated to something consistent. My clear flat of choice these days is Microflat.

I typically use no coarser than 320 grit to grind up my pastels as the finer the powder, the better it embeds into the paint. I typically don't apply any clearcoats over the top of my models once the pastels are down, since it can affect their appearance. Then it is just a matter of consulting the reference photos and getting on with the job of applying it. As with anything, it just takes time to do and some practice. Start with something like an X-Wing where the streaking is a bit simpler and work your way up until you get confident in the process and when it looks "just right". With the Falcon at least, it was easier somewhat to get it "just right" since I had excellent documentation of the studio model to work from. Doing it free form, it is more of a feel for when it looks "right". It can also be a good idea to start on the bottom of the model. Because if things go overboard here, you typically won't see it as much when the model is on display (unless somebody bends down to look under it).

Microbrushes work great for small models since they produce a very nice scale looking streaking that can look like airbrush work. Those big stains back by the solar collectors were done that way as one thing I positively hate on Falcon builds are paintjobs where the Falcon looks like it is diesel powered, belching out black smoke from those collectors to make them look WAY darker than they should. I used dark gray and brown tones for my stains there. On one side, I did go a bit too far, so I had to pull the airbrush out and retouch the paint back to its original basecoat coloring. But once the job was done I re-applied the pastels and got things to match my references rather nicely. And the best part, people who saw it in person thought I airbrushed it on.

Using the smallest of the Microbrush sizes, I don't see why a 1/144 Falcon paintjob can't be made to look as good as a 1/72 one. As for my Falcon, I waited maybe three years before I tackled mine. Ultimately, I decided I had better get on with it and just do it. Only way to know if I was good enough to do so was to carry on and with my financial situation at the time, I knew if I didn't start work on the model I would likely end up dumping the kit on eBay for cash. I'm glad I stuck with it personally.

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Looks like Bandai has the Star Wars license starting in January. They are making their own tooling for kits, so if you want the Fine Molds Star Wars kits, you better get them while you can.

I hope Fine Molds keep the license too? BUT Bandai stuffs is the BEST in the market if you havent looked at the new Space Battelship Yamato 2199 stuff There kits are even better than Tamiya if I may say that when it comes to fit and finish ? They snap togehter with no filling & details are superb!

Steve

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I bought one when it first came out and built right away. It was a bit pricey then and probably more so now, but worth every penny. Fine molds lives up to their name. Extremely detailed, well engineered and fun to build. If you can afford it's worth it. Great kit!

Ken

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Jay, did you use any kind of guide to get your streaks to go straight down the sides of the panels?

Maybe a piece of Tamiya tape for a couple of them to get them started. But after a couple of streaks I just got good enough to eyeball it. Most of the streaks are relatively short in 1/72 scale and the panels themselves also work well at providing guide lines.

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