The five fuselage pieces took some work to fit right. For example, the flat end of the large aft fuselage piece was so uneven that the rear maintenance panel sat at a hard angle during dry fitting. To level things out, I used shims cut out of sheet plastic and filled in all gaps with Aves Apoxy Sculpt. The curved bars were added later and were made from thick wire. |
Filled-In Gap
New Tubing
Rod Support
New Greeblie |
One quick mod consisted of removing the molded-on tubing on the aft end of the pylons and replacing them with aluminum tubing of equal or similar size. Not a drastic improvement but it beat having to sand the mold lines on that area of the model. |
The forward end of the fuselage received a length of threaded rod to strengthen the connection between the rest of the mid-section assembly and the cockpit. Afterwards, I spray painted primer on the assembled mid-section and looked for additional air bubbles and mold lines that I may have overlooked. Oh, and the pylons received heat treatment since they were sagging just a little. |
This next tiny mod came late in the build. I wasn't digging the wheel looking greeblie in the center of the fuselage so I scratch-built a detail from one of the Y-Wings in Episode IV - A New Hope. It's just one of those little things that greatly improved the look of the model for me. |
The domed engine is, in my opinion, the focal point of the model. Unfortunately though, the strut detail on this kit suffered a bit during casting. I felt it would be easier to reconstruct this detail rather than try and clean it up. |
Surgery
Rings
Detail In Place
Before / After |
I began by cutting out the resin struts with a hobby saw. Any left over resin was carefully scraped out with my Exacto. The struts on the filming miniatures taper in but I went ahead and used straight aluminum tubing. Each piece was measured, cut and prepared for the monotonous task that lay ahead. |
The rings on each strut were individually made from very thin floral wire. I would wrap the wire around a piece of the same tubing and cut each ring out with wire cutters. The end of my Exacto knife handle worked great for flattening out the rings which were then glued in place on the struts. The process really didn't take too long but it did test my patience once or twice...those tiny rings love to get lost! |
To further simulate the look of the movie models, I installed small strips of t-stock in between the strut boxes. I didn't have any extra t-stock at the time so I made my own using sheet styrene and "The Chopper II", which really makes life easier! Anyway, the completed struts were then glued in place. There you have it! This makes this area look cleaner! |
As I prepared to work on the cockpit I realized that the bottom was too flat. I planned on modifying it but decided to scratch-build a new one instead. I chose to model mine after Bill George's Y-Wing which was used on 'Return of the Jedi'. I've never seen a Y-Wing model on the internet built to represent this ship so I was happy that mine would be unique in that regard. |
Taking Shape
Panel Lines
Underside Work
Interior
Canopy |
Surprisingly, scratch-building a new cockpit was an easy task. I took a piece of balsa wood and roughed out the shape. Once satisfied with the shape, I wrapped the cockpit with styrene stock and super glue. Aves Sculpt was then used to seal the seams. Any other imperfections were covered with spot putty. |
The panel lines were pencil drawn first and carefully scribed out. The best advice here is to work slow and use Dymo tape! The torpedo tubes were also drawn onto the hull. I drilled holes around the perimeter and used a sharp blade to cut the unwanted plastic out. A bit of Aves Sculpt was used to shape the tubes and I finished by drilling holes at the aft end of shafts. |
The simple interior was scratch-built as well. Using reference shots of the life-sized Y-Wing and Bill George's ship, it quickly took shape. Once done with that, I took the time to add all the bits and pieces of styrene detail to the hull. It's funny how these simple additions positively affect the whole project! Following that, I built new and in-scale forward cannons using aluminum tubing. |
The canopy provided is a bit too narrow and tall so I cut the sides off and angled them outward a bit to give it a slightly flatter appearance. I also felt the need to expand the aft end of the canopy by using plastic card. The barrels of the cannons on top were replaced with aluminum tubing. Several found and scratch-built bits were then used to detail the canopy and guns. |
I usually use brass rod to mount my models but I wanted something that would allow me to remove them from the base if I so desired. After looking around the hardware store I decided on using threaded rod, aluminum tubing and these little threaded mounts. One of those mounts was chopped up and the threaded section inserted into a drilled hole in the model, permanently held in place with epoxy glue. The other intact mount was attached to the base. |
Hardware
Mounting Point
Taking Shape
Further Along
Construction Done |
After screwing in the threaded rod, I placed an appropriately measured section of aluminum tubing over the rod to hide the threads. Next, I simply screwed the model onto the rod and adjusted it until it was snug and facing in the direction I wanted. Now I can remove the models to fly around the room if I...uh, yeah... |
Another thing I wanted was a detailed base instead of just a painted wooden plaque. I settled on a Death Star (DS) theme. Instead of an accurate prop, I took details I liked from some DS tile references photos and meshed them together. |
I started with a wooden plaque which was laminated with plastic 'for sale' signs. Plastic card was also used for most of the structures. Before finishing, the entire base was scribed and detailed with plastic bits, Plastruct shapes, styrene tubing and metal odd-and-end pieces. |
The entire DS base was covered with a few coats of Plasti-kote gray primer followed by a gray-white mixture as a base color. I wanted to simulate the Y-Wing bring about 800 feet off the surface so I gave it just a touch of weathering using gray pastels. Finally, a coat of Model Master Acryl Flat Clear marked the end of this build! |