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Battlestar Galactica › Viper TOS - Stargazer

Fil des billets

vendredi, 25 mai 2012

Stargazer Viper - Painting, weathering and final assembly

Par olcabour le vendredi, 25 mai 2012, 23:08

This little Viper has received the same painting and weathering process as its Revell big brothers.

  • it received a coat of grey.

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  • Panels (body), strips (nose, air inlets) were then painted in same shades of grey as the Revell Vipers.
  • Orange strips are then applied (same mixture of orange and light gray)

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Then to the weathering :

  • Dark gray chips and marks are applied first

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  • Then some others in light gray, and finally filters, streaks, rusts marks, and a good black juice to end the process.

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And another Viper done !

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He frankly stands out alongside its cousins from the reimagined serie, who are finer, and whose weathering is done completely differently (with pre-shading in particular). It looks much more rustic!

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lundi, 12 septembre 2011

Stargazer Viper - Canopy

Par olcabour le lundi, 12 septembre 2011, 21:30


  • The bonding of the guns on the wings will be strengthened with a piece of brass rod.

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  • I engraved few lines of structures at the bases of the wings and drift to simulate the raised details on the original model.

This little trick allows to quickly and easily fills detailess subject. By cons, it only applies in small areas like here. Below the parts with their big sisters for comparison.

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The same trick is better viewable on the underside :

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  • The cockpit is quickly paint. Some small spots of color (yellow, white and red buttons, and a central screen in green) gives it some life.

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The pilot is then installed.

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  • The canopy is carefully cut. I let stay it in its resin mold during this operation. It is then put in place with white glue.

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I mixed my glue with a little water and gray paint, for, respectively, improve the flow, and blend it into the gray walls of the cockpit.

  • The windows are then masked

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  • The color of primer is then applied.

Xxxxxxximg

jeudi, 18 août 2011

Stargazer Viper - First steps

Par olcabour le jeudi, 18 août 2011, 22:47


  • Pilot : the folds of the suit are mostly erased (with files and x-acto) to give it a better colonial pilot looking like costume.

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The visor is sanded in order to insert the figure face taken from an 1/72 Hasegawa ground crew set.

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  • The cockpit floor is unfortunately not deep enough. You can see here that the pilot will need to lower the glass and head out the window if nothing is done !

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The floor is dug so the pilot can finally sit properly.

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  • The pilot is then painted like his two big brothers in 1/32.

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  • The instruments panel is too high, so I sanded all that exceed from the fuselage.

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  • The 3 nozzles module is set up thoroughly with a rule and several dry tests to ensure proper alignment of the ventral rails. All panels lines of the wings, engine cowlings and drifts are redone.

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  • On the fuselage, the upper strips of the kit does not convince me, I sanded them to add some better ones later.

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The fuselage is completely re-engraved, with the "heroes" studio model scheme as a template.

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  • A few bubbles, with a prominent one at the forefront of the drift, are filled with plastic rods.

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  • On the belly and top of the fuselage, the strips and the missing details (or previously sanded) are (re-)created.

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  • The triangular parts of the guns (that look like aircraft landing gears shock absorbers) are hollowed.

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Stargazer Viper - First Look

Par olcabour le jeudi, 18 août 2011, 22:32

In parallel of the assembly of the Revell Viper mk1, I also started a 1/72 Stargazer resin version of the same subject, bought recently on Starship Modeler.

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Quick review of this small kit before starting :

  • Cast in gray resin of poor quality but fortunately odorless.
  • The wings seem a bit oversize
  • The level of detail is low, the details are bulbous, and the few panel lines on the fuselage are incorrect (like freehand drawn) or disappear in the mass
  • The frame of the thermoformed canopy seem rather thick
  • The pilot is ugly too. It looks more like an Invader, in its crumpled suit and wearing a motorcycle helmet, than a colonial pilot ! I cannot imagine the result if a Cylon was included in the kit: David Vincent in a cosmonaut's chrome spacesuit with a red LED in the middle of the forehead... :)

The pros :

  • The landing gear are provided
  • The decal sheet is rather well-suplied, including interesting "Beware of Blast", "Rescue" or "Danger" marking, but out of scope here.
  • Thermoformed canopy is provided in double

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In short, you'll understand that this kit is not really exciting, and its best pro is to be the only one to exist at this scale. So, this little thing (just 10/12 cm long) will require almost as much work as its Revell big brothers !

The assembly will heavily follow my 2 Revell Vipers notes and building steps, so a prior tour here is recommmended.