Tag: Studio Build

Building the Renoke, Part 7

KenMcConnell

The last two areas to detail are the top of the bridge and the bridge itself. Nearly all of the parts I used for these areas are from the same model kit – the HEMTT Gun Truck 1/35 from Italeri. Beautifully molded parts and nearly all of them worthy of use on a model like the Renoke.

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The gray parts above are from the HEMTT kit.

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The old crane mount on the left is a piece of 1/2 inch PVC scrap.

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There’s only one high intensity LED light in the engine. But it turns out to be enough.

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Nicely glowing engine even in broad daylight.

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Above is the circuit I used for all the LEDs in the model. Each one wired to a resister and then the leads that carry it to the LEDs themselves. A single 9 volt battery is all I need to light them. Later, I wired a slide switch into the circuit.

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The finished bread board looked like a squid.

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The bridge is lit by a red LED and the fiber optics.

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Night time test in the garage. You can also see the two F-4 ejection seats I used.

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Here is the switch on the left. I probably should anchor the battery in there too.

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The headlights are connected to the leads with removable metal plugs. Not what I wanted to use, but what I had on hand.

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In preparing the headlight area for painting, I used Fasmask to cover up the LEDs.

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One final shot of the pretty bridge lights. Next up is painting, followed by weathering.

KIV-3 Cover Shot Build Part 3

KenMcConnell1 Comment

This time I get to finish construction of both wings and I begin to wrap up the fuselage. Both wings were built up in unblemished fashion. I’ll be adding battle damage to the top or starboard wing at a later date.

This picture shows both completed wings resting in the final position along with the tail pipe. Sometimes I like to piece things together to give some scale to the finished model. And it just looks cool.

I like this picture of the wings side by side on the workbench. Makes it look like I’ve got an assembly line. When you build something twice and you have no directions, it’s best to do them one after another or both at once so you don’t forget how you did it.

Had some fun advertising for my favorite regional genre podcast – Seattle Geekly.

Here’s our intrepid pilot, relaxing in his still half built cockpit. You can see he’s already in the process of turning black. I also started painting the other interior details shades of gray. Sometimes you have to paint the interior before you glue the outer panel onto the fuselage.

Back to the wings for a moment as I work out the details of the wingtip laser canons. This shows the plug on the back end of the cannon. Below we see the business end of the barrel.

Not sure if the above treatment will be final, as I haven’t glued things down there.

Battle damage panels are now getting applied to the fuselage. You don’t build interior details and then not show them off. This is just the start of the damage, more will follow.

This is where I left off on it this afternoon. More panels are filled in and the model is starting to have some heft to it. It’s also starting to look like a starfighter. Albeit a heavily damaged one.