The Three-Engine Blockade Runner Project

[Studio Kitbash]

Awesomeness.

Yeah, DaveG again, here you go again inspiring us to spend way more money than we earn on things we can't afford. But this is a real beauty, so clean and geometrically flawless as to look constructed in a weight-less environment. It's a sort of "science-fiction, fictional vehicle" if you will, so really a meta-commentary on the genre, but oh-so-classic and plausible looking. Love your paint skills, and love how you've perfectly masked and then painted each "off-color" dura-steel panel as an actual panel, and not simply blasted a "rectangle around and including the dura-steel panel" with a gray or red (the way the Millennium Falcon was painted, something that always bugged me). This way it looks like the junk-yard off-color panel was actually added to the ship in a repair/maintenance session, rather than "painted on" the ship as an afterthought by a rushed film crew.

Can't wait to see how it all comes together with your weathering, and scorch marks, etc. And I had no idea what a great second life so many of those Y-Wing nurnies have been put to -- it took a few glances before I recognized some of them and said, "Hey, wait, I've seen that greeblie/subassembly before!"

Can you tell us what keywords to use if we want to search on Ebay to find a used set-up of grip equipment? Can you give us the brand names (Norms?), widths, lengths, etc, that you're using here? I want them simply to hold my Y-Wings with a 5/8" opening for posing and/or photography, so the more details the better.

 

[DaveG]

The stands are known as Century Stands or C-Stands for short. Common brands are Mole-Richardson, Matthews, Norm's and American. The most common are 3 riser stands with arm and knuckle.

 

[DaveG]

Now that the base colors are done it's time to start in on weathering. The first thing was to go back and over spray the base grey over the grey and red panels here and there to fade them a bit and make them less uniform. Then the first weathering wash. I use oil base artist's paint for my washes since they flow out nicely, have a long working time and can be removed to some extent with paint thinner (more on that in a sec). I mixed up a very thin wash of paint thinner with Mars black and a touch of burnt umber to get an oily black tone. Before applying the wash I wet down the entire model with clean paint thinner, this helps the wash to flow and lessens the "staining" effect. Then a liberal application of the wash all over the model from one end to the other. Because this model is fairly large, I probably would have been better off to work a section at a time. The wash stained a bit more than I would have liked towards the aft end of the model where it was on the longest before being wiped down.

I wiped down the entire model with a clean rag moistened with paint thinner, trying to remove as much of the wash as possible but leaving it in the nooks and crannies. I also like to brush on clean paint thinner in spots to "mop up" the wash and get a cleaner look. This was when the paint thinner ran out!

Yikes! A quick run to the local hardware store only to discover "Sorry, no more Paint thinner, it's now banned in California. But we have this stuff 'General Purpose Thinner', it's just as good". Wrong!

I got back to the shop moistened a rag with the new "just as good" GP Thinner, took one swipe on a section of the model... and the s**t cut through the wash,the base paint and the primer, all the way down to the plastic! Turns out when you read the label closely General Purpose Thinner is mostly Acetone, which will pretty much dissolve anything! Fortunately my lovely wife, who is an oil painter, had some Gamasol which is an odorless Mineral Spirits and it works pretty well for thinning the washes.

But as a result the wash is a little darker and blotchier than I would have liked, but that's okay. Weathering is an organic process and never seems to come out the same way twice. I will be going over the model with more spot washes and dry brushing so that will help to soften the look of the first wash a little.

 

[DaveG]

Special thanks to SWGeek who tipped me off to a local Home Center that still had Paint Thinner! I’m set for a few years now!

 

[DaveG]

Painting and weathering the engines! The flanged base and nozzle cone got the same base grey and wash as the rest of the ship. I wanted the center section of the engines to have a unique look, I saw it as some sort of hyperdrive reactor. I sprayed various light coats of Vallejo acrylic metallics to get a variegated metal look, then applied the same oil based wash to darken the recesses.

Once the wash was dry I went back over the engine cores with a dry brushing of oil based silver, pewter and bronze metallics. I've tried to capture it here in a photo but it looks rather flat compared to what it looks like to the eye(s). That's partially because our two eyes see slightly different reflections from the bits of metallic paint which gives it a sort of visual shimmer which a non-stereo photo just can't duplicate.

To the inside and back of the nozzle cones I airbrushed darker metallics to give a burnt metal look. Once everything was dry I could finally assemble the engines to the ship along with the ducting and other tube details. I'm really happy with how these came out. There will be more weathering added to tie everything together a bit more. The engine nozzles are removable so I can add LED lighting.

 

[moffeaton]

I hope I can see this in November! Fantastic!

 

[BajaTym]

This build is epic. I’m just blown away, your skills are disgusting! I can’t stop looking at this thread... over... and over... and over... lol!

Im sorry if you already answered this, but what are you using for all of the external plumbing and pipes?

 

[swgeek]

Special thanks to SWGeek who tipped me off to a local Home Center that still had Paint Thinner! I’m set for a few years now!

Hey you got some! You're welcome Dave! I'm loving this build and the paint is looking great. Hope you bring this to the next prop party.

 

[joberg]

Great tuto Dave and great results!! That model is, again, a beauty for the eyes (and the Soul)

 

[DaveG]

The saga of the paint thinner weathering continues... I got all set to do some spot washes with my new found supply of paint thinner. The normal procedure is to pre-wet the area to be weathered with a little clean thinner, then dab in a little oil paint and blend out with more thiner if needed. So I go to pre-wet an area with the new "paint thinner" and BAM! in one swipe it cuts straight through the base paint down to the plastic! WTF?! One of the great things about using acrylic base paints with oil based weathering is that the solvents for the oil paint aren't supposed to cut through the acrylic base. So I read the fine print on the can of paint thiner... CONTAINS ACETONE!

ARGH!!!

Fortunately this past week I had also ordered some Gamsol odorless mineral spirits and it worked great, and I learned to check labels more closely!

 

[swgeek]

Well dammit Dave! Sorry about that! I didn't think paint thinner would have acetone in it.

 

[DaveG]

No worries, my fault for not checking the label. I was a little suspicious they had such a lot of it in stock from quarts to five gallons pails. Glad I didn't buy a fiver!

 

[joberg]

Well, that ship needs some wear and tear and acetone will do that for you...for free Dave

 

[greeble_gremlin]

I wants it!

 

[greeble_gremlin]

I may have missed, it in the thread... but how long is this beauty?

Really nice job on the choice and placement of the greeblies and nurnies, it's easy to get that wrong , and not look believable.
but you definitely have a good eye for it!

 

[greeble_gremlin]

Sorry to hear about your woes with the Paint thinner.
California is my home state, where I grew up and i miss it ... (the climate stinks here in the Mid-Atlantic region)
but the whole"Nanny-State" business is getting out of hand!
Your a grown, adult; you should be able to decide for yourself -if you want to go down to the store and by paint thinner and keep in your house!
Last time I checked acetone isn't all that healthy for you either

I love the treatment on the engines btw!

 

[DaveG]

Thanks! The model is 32 inches long, the same length as the Millennium Falcon built for Empire. Seemed like a big enough scale to detail as I'd want, but not so big as to make display and issue.

The issue with Paint thinner is VOCs and the effect on air pollution. Having grown up in Los Angles in the 60s with the really bad air quality I can appreciate restrictions, but it's getting a bit out of hand. California has also now banned Denatured Alcohol!

 

[greeble_gremlin]

I remember the smog, ( in the 70s too) I could feel it in my lungs when playing in AYSO soccer games at Hollywood Park in Westchester.
I know the air has been a lot better since the 1980s.
Sadly, it seems, when it comes to paints, adhesives, and detergents, the more toxic it is , the better it performs

I also like the Sperry ball turret, it's a nice touch! that's not from that huge Korean(HK), 1/32 B-17 kit is it?
Its cool to spot a lot of those TIE Fighter greeblies scattered here & there.

 

[DaveG]

No, I 3D modeled the ball turret and printed it on the Form 2 3d printer.

 

[joberg]

Great stuff Dave...and you should see the pollution level in North Dakota; a little better than L.A. but not by much.