Topic: JDeck's machines, models, monsters and miscellaneous.

[JDeck]

   I finished my experimental asteroid this afternoon. The final coat was made of a mixture of plaster, water and dish soap. The dish soap creates bubbles in the plaster forming the tiny craters. I then used woodland scenics watercolor to paint it. With all that I'm pleased with the overall outcome. I may not use this one for my display piece, but I know what works and what doesn't. I made a few mistakes but that's part of the experimental process. Since it cost me nothing to build I'll make some more and experiment further.

[hemble]

Awesome work mate, I especially like the small craters you have all round it.

Ron

[JDeck]

Awesome work mate, I especially like the small craters you have all round it.

Ron

    Thanks buddy.

    I added some bigger craters and constructed the Bandai TIE Fighter. Now I can play around with it and see what to do.

[JDeck]

  Alright this is what I have so far today. I wanted to get the base asteroid done today but, well it didn't happen. I did get some of the mounts mocked up. It was a tremendous pain in the rump but, its looking cool. Not nearly done yet, but its getting there.
    I'll add some small asteroids here and there, I've been using 1/8" acrylic rods to support them, its thin enough not to notice it right off, but just strong enough to support weight. I still need to adjust the supports to make them look neat, they're not invisible.

[Tamer]

Nice, very  nice. Looks even better on our front page.

[DarthSamurai]

Cool. It looks really neat.

[JDeck]

Nice, very  nice. Looks even better on our front page.

   Thank you Tamer. I'll have an update soon. Very soon. Its about done now, I might tweek some things before unveiling. Its pretty cool, I like it.

Cool. It looks really neat.

   Thanks bunches, DarthSamurai! Glad you like it. Hopefully It will be cooler when its finished.

[Clonehead]

Coming together nicely. The bubble/crater technique seems to work perfectly.

[JDeck]

Thanks clonehead I saw a guy on YouTube a couple years ago do it to make plaster lighter. I liked the way it looked, so I kept it under my hat, until now. I like the way it looks, like a once molten crust.

   My TIE fighter display is finished. I added some smaller asteroids made from melted foam, I didn't add plaster to them because I wanted them to seem weightless. I also painted them a slightly different color to contrast against the larger ones.
    This scene is non specific. It could be from The Empire Strikes Back, but I like to think its the remains of Alderaan.

[Tamer]

Daggone that looks great. I can't even see the rods you have attaching this all together that much. You have to be pretty stoked. off to share.

[JDeck]

Daggone that looks great. I can't even see the rods you have attaching this all together that much. You have to be pretty stoked. off to share.

    Thanks Tamer! I am happy with the results. Only thing is I need to up the ante for the custom TIE I'm building.

[BenAlius]

Wow! I like this so much!! Great job!

[JDeck]

Wow! I like this so much!! Great job!

  Thanks Ben, glad you like it!! It was a fun build.

       I've been looking over this Bandai Y-wing, and it is so detailed I can recognize the Tamiya parts ILM used to make the original model Bandai used as a reference. I just can't believe the detail. The last picture is a part I recognize from the Tamiya 1/35 SD.KFZ.222, and the second picture is either a Tiger tank or panther grill. If you look close you can even find a shovel from a 1/35 German tank. They must have 3D scanned the ILM model and shunk it to 1/72. It was the same way with the TIE fighter you can recognize the Sherman tank parts they used for details. I can't wait to start on it. So far this has proven to be worth every single red penny.

[JDeck]

    The Bandai kits are all written in Japanese, so I've been researching the ANH Y-wing Gold squadron, and found some very helpful info on the Y-wing variations. Thanks to Kuhn Global for this info http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=70776. So the bandai kit is modeled after Gold Leader/ Gold 1. It has all the markings down to the TIE fighter kill mark on the nose. Been struggling with the idea of building a Gold 2 Y-wing. The kit does come with an R5 droid as well as the R2. Basically the difference between G1 and G2, G2 has a white stripe on the roof, a yellow panel on the port side, no yellow stripes on the engine, no kill mark on the nose. The tubes and mechanical details are more rusty than G1, also it doesn't have some detail parts on the rear that G1 has. Figuring out which I like better is a tough choice.  Of course Red Jammer is always cool too, being the Y-wing prototype. Decisions decisions.

[JDeck]

  This is the Bandai Y-wing without paint and/or decals. I didn't take as long as I thought to build it. Just a few hours, working  off and on, all those pipes had to be individually placed. I left the engine cone on the port side off and assembled the landing gear, I want to build a Yavin maintenance/hangar display. I'm going ahead with Gold leader details, meybe next time I'll do G2 or Red Jammer. So I'll paint most of the details rather than use the decals. I'm liking these Bandai kits, I think I'll give Hasbro a rest for a while.