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Well, I got an offer I just couldn't refuse on another forum, so what am I to do but to build one of my absolute holy grail kits, disregarding everything else on my worktable!? :woot.gif:

I had given up almost all hope of getting a good studio scale TIE short of scratching one myself with appropriate donors. Luckily my madness did not have to progress that far! I got an offer for a Nice-N TIE Fighter with filming model accurate armature, together with vintage KoolShade for the wings and a set of Jason Eatons decals.

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The armature, this isn't what would have come with the kit, but custom made for the guy I bought this kit from, getting it to fit will have me remove the alignment tabs in the kit fuselage halves and remove a tiny bit off the cockpit "baseplate", something which I now noticed I've failed to take pictures of, so I'll have that next update.

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Pilot installed, going with the movie accurate one. Cleanup to go, still debating whether to light the rear engines or not. All LEDs will be installed regardless, but the front ones will not be lit, as I actually dislike the cannon LEDs to begin with and am going with them solely for accuracy's sake. I much prefer the empty LED bracket thingies on the Interceptors.

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And here we're getting ahead of ourselves! Seeing it build up like this is making me all giddy! :nanner:

Going for the Vader wingman that does not crash into the trench wall. It's very tempting to make the one with the actually trashed wing seeing as it's legit KoolShade, but I figure I'd do that if I ever find *another* one

Very happy Fondlebottom, signing off :woot.gif: :woot.gif: :woot.gif: :woot.gif:

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Now that's a subject of some debate :D If you ask me though: The pilot is the Airfix 1/24 Harrier pilot (they sculpted a new helmet on top of that) with the Airfix 1/24 Bf 109 pilot arms, so that puts this as 1/24 in my book. Same pilot in the X-Wing.

With people size being the only thing we can really relate to since we've seen none of the stuff in Star Wars before, the pilots are the only real thing we have to go on. It was probably a conscious choice in the movie to keep all the fighter pilots and ships in scale with eachother in those dogfights. Like if I doodle something at work and want to give it scale, I put a little humanoid in there for size reference that everyone can relate to.

Edit: There's also the bottle on the left, it's Tamiya enamel thinner, same size as their glues like the extra thin. And there's a cm ruler on the cutting mat I realized as I'm typing this out :D

Edited by Sir Fondlebottom
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Now that's a subject of some debate :D/>/> LIKE EVERYTHING IN THE STAR WARS AND STAR TREK UNIVERSE HUH. :woot.gif:/>

Edit: There's also the bottle on the left, it's Tamiya enamel thinner, same size as their glues like the extra thin. And there's a cm ruler on the cutting mat I realized as I'm typing this out :D/>/>

Didn't know you'd get all technical with me. :whistle:/> yeah, I guess I shoulda looked at the picture better before asking. Thanks. This is going to be great!

Bill

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I'm jumping on small clouds as I'm building this. I have to look for new holy grails now... the only thing cooler would be something like a 1/24 or larger Albatross D.V or 1/32 EA-6B Prowler I guess :woot.gif:

I decided to light the behind after-all so here we go. I derped with the pictures as usual :rolleyes: It's a circuit of two 3V batteries putting out 6V total, going to a switch, going to a resistor, going to the first LED and then on to the second LED n' back.

I did not want any light leaks so I opted to replace the tube with brass counterpart

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Getting a push button that I thought would look classy. Like lighting from clear sky at work while eating lunch it just struck me out of nowhere that it probably wasn't a toggle switch, instead needing to be kept pressed to light the LEDs :bandhead2:

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Turns out I was right, classy push button replaced with classy flip switch.

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Batteries are replaceable by removing the buttplate. I initially tried to use the battery holder of a small LED lamp but it looked pretty shoddy and didn't feel solid enough, so I had to buy two battery holders. I shaved off the two nubs at the rear of them (towards the camera) to make it easier to get the batteries out from a flat angle once the hull is closed up.

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The switch itself only needing you to uh... put your finger in the hole :monkeydance:

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It looks a bit wonky in alignment because it's not held down by anything. When pressed together the things align symmetrically and there's an even gap between the light pieces and the center back plate on both sides. The top hatch will need some minor sanding to slide snugly into the hole, at the moment the alignment lip is a fraction of a millimeter too large.

Edited by Sir Fondlebottom
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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks guys :)

BTW, what color and paint will you be using on this?

What will the dimensions be when it's finished?

Main color will be Tamiya TS-32 Haze Gray as outlined in this excellent post, comparing directly with the paint off an original hatch.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=91735&page=2&p=1304457&viewfull=1#post1304457

I would advice againt using TS-32 on anything smaller than the studio scales though, as it already looks considerably darker than what is on the screen in most lightings. Currently the cockpit tub and the whole interior is bathed in Vallejo German Panzer Grey primer, not decided on what to use for the actual color yet. I do think it looks too dark currently, but it is damn hard to judge, especially with the main color itself being very different depending on lighting. I will probably paint a TS-32 sample and then dial it in from there and there is also the question of the other gray shade going on to certain panels and greeblies.

TS-32 itself is supposedly hard to get in the EU due to not adequate labelling for import, but that may have been changed as I found an Italian vendor on Ebay that had it. In the end it was cheaper to get it from the US though, due to shipping cost from Italy, which was decidedly weird.

I am visting my parents at the moment so exact dimensions I will have to get back on, but here is a shot of the same size original for size ref. http://s6.photobucket.com/user/starwarscollector/media/PropReplicaForum4/TIEmodels_btm.jpg.html

I was currently constructing the wing frames, I will be back with pictures of that once I am home again.

Edited by Sir Fondlebottom
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I had come across that article about the color of the studio model and found it very revealing.

A member on the RPF tested Tamiya acrylic paints as an alternative to TS-32 Haze Gray for use on a smaller model so it could easily be lightened for the scale. He used a mixture of XF-2 Flat White and XF-82 Ocean Gray 2 (RAF). Below is the link.

TS-32 Haze Gray Alternative

Thanks for posting that picture of the original for size reference.

Mike.

Edited by crowe-t
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  • 1 month later...
  • 7 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry! I had completely missed these replies, I thought I had email notification on, but apparently not! The kit build stalled waiting for parts coupled with distractions getting in the way.

I've since gotten hold of the laser cannon fittings that were missing, and am working on the last missing part. I've started constructing the wings, I'll get to photos of that this weekend hopefully! The armature is part of the wings and those sections will get painted with the rest, the armature visible inside the cockpit ball however, will be left bare. It has the same mounting points as the real armature and will be accessible through the wings via the removable center caps. Looking at an Interceptor ball, I should also have gnarly wires inside it if I'm chasing 100% accuracy :D

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