PURCHASED:
080213

BEGUN:
Apollo: 080219
Starbuck: 080220

COMPLETE:
080817.13

GALLERY
SHOTS

CONSTRUCTION LOG



080213.23
I paid for two vipers from starship modeler today. I bought both at the same time as there was no way I could only get one.

Revell finally re-re-released the BSG line, excepting for the BSG itself. The Viper has gotten the most attention fromt he company. The Raider has new engine grills but seems otherwise unmodified. But the Basestar at $40??? Tough one... There are a couple minor mods that make it vastly superior and comes with a painting guide, but that kind of cash is stupid..  

While I had to get two vipers, maybe a third for Boomer is in due order. Then Jolly, Greenbean, Athena, Sheba...  I see up to five of these plus spares to hold down the line as it will be a long time before they are re-re-released again.


Viper 1 -- Apollo
080219.23
They arrived today! Didn't think I'd build at all tonight, but I pretty much did. The nose, engine body, aft grills, pilot and canopy: five parts. I will likely leave off the clear engine covers as they don't look good (and will make sweet greeblies!). This means I will have to detail the engine tubes behind the grill. This kit is basically all painting otherwise.

The CA did not get along well with this plastic. It simply would not take. I got some drips here and there. But I should be able to hide them well enough.

Not much else to say. Minimal filing. Good breaks off the sprue. Tight fit all around. The new stand is a vast improvement over the original version. It's still a good-sized kit and the original ‘Made in China, 1978’ still is printed on the bottom.I don't know if I will build Starbucks tomorrow or not...

I think I will keep it at three birds, as that was not an uncommon flight configuration, though two is more often seen. I didn't open the second box yet. I'll prime and build tomorrow night.


Viper 2 -- Starbuck
080221.22
I built this last night as I did my laundry. It went smoother and cleaner than the first one. This plastic does not like CA! It stayed wet for hours and had to be held tight for minutes. I primed both kits black this evening. I have to find the perfect gray for both.  Guess I shoulda washed the parts first.  Never had to do that for plastic before.


080312.01
They’re being built concurrently, so similar notes from here on out.

All were glued up. I forgot about engine cans! I don't think I can do anything about it now. Primder passes of black, white, silver and will do one more light white.


080313.23
I broke the nose and intakes off. I can drop engine canisters in now. I glued the nose to the intakes which is the way it should have been done.

I got a can of MMasters this afternoon and gave both a quick gray coat. They need to be lightened up a couple notches.

I watched the movie this evening and the nose (of the one Adama sits in) has a long bit of panel down the length that is not on the model. I will add one to each ship as this will help hide the ugly seam.


080322 .
I took six empty tubes of superglue and slotted them into each engine pipe. I need to come up with walls. I don't have any other tubular objects, so I may have to roll some paper -which means I could print a design on them... All painting can continue up to the decals. The seam will cover itself in this case.

Looking at the nose, I decided to do a major final work on it. The seam was quite wretched.   I gave each bottom a successful passing as well. More primer -- black, silver, white, gray --

A final utterly light white will be the factory paint. There are vinyl paint masks for this kit. If reusable than it could be worth it. They're somewhere in the $40 range.


080324.10
I've been raking my brains for engine cans and the best is coming up with rolled paper. Tonight, I thought to check the plastic wrapper of the glue tubes come in. Slicing them up turned out to be a near perfect fit! But they are not stable, therefore not adequate


080810.21
It's been quite a while, I see. 

The ships sat primed and waiting for a long time.  The engines got glue tubes to accent the interior. I still need to create black tube inserts for the engines and I never decided on lighting.  Thus I did a pro trick.

Each rear engine tube has a magnet attached to it.  The nose/shroud piece of the ship has 3 magnets attached to the backside of the engine shrouds.  Thus, I can pull apart the ship anytime I want.

I am therefore leaving super-detailing to the cockpit later. Could be lighting involved.  If so, would test the engines too.

Otherwise, I merely have to paint the canopy, throw some last minor weathering on the body and both are done.

On the base 'Factory White', (Rustoleum) I airbrushed patch works of MM Camo gray, then I filled in the patches w/ Gull gray.

From there, I added a little black and airbrushed accents across the whole body; added more black for the darkest grays.  Thus there were four base gray levels on which the decals were placed.  From there, I scraped the decals down and drybrushed some black and enough silver over both kits.

I put tons of solvaset on the decals.  It worked great.  Too great.  When I went to scratch up the decals for weathering, they were nearly fused to the hull.  I iniitally used an xacto flat, but this scraped up the plastic.  I switched to my fingernails for most of both ships.

I put down a clear matte to kill the decal shine and pull the whole, thing together. I will next have to do some last air and drybrushing some final details as everything flattened down with the matte -killing the specularity hits off the twisted metal edges.

Then I am done.

Though I may do lights or other mods down the road.

Also, I will take the soldering iron to the bodies.


080816.21
Worked the soldering iron good.  Touched up with black and silver dry brushing.  I hadn't realized how toned down the black had become by going under the clear mate.  Astounding.

Pretty happy with them.  I learned a couple good techniques on these builds.


080817.13
Done. Pix to follow


080823.13
I will paint the bases or at least cover them with green paper for a proper shoot.  They also waggle too much when moved.  

I will likely sacrifice one base, as these birds will hang, and rig a taller dowl stick to get them out of the ground shadows.  Viper 2's shots came out much deeper.  I like it.  Viper 1 was experimenting with the fstop/shutter ratios.