Studio Model – Ken-McConnell.com

Weathering

This is one of my favorite steps in modeling. I love making a model look like it just came out of the real world where it has lived a long and hard life. Weathering sounds like it should only be for machines that live inside an atmosphere, but all machines get worn and used, even in space. So it really refers to damage, chipping of paint, fading of paint, grease and oil leaks and sometimes dirt and grime.

All of my models have that George Lucas look of being in a well-used universe. Because my models are also built specifically for my book covers, sometimes I don’t put unit marking on them or anything too unique, so that they can be copy and pasted into many fighters for cover art. But with this particular model, I decided to get individual. Which meant I could do unit badges and make unique mods like the starboard engine nacelle being removed.

In this wide shot you see the whole model as it stands now. Decals are applied and paint chipping has occurred on the painted areas and we have some dusting with artist’s charcoal.

I applied a light wash to the stern details but I will be going back over this area with more grime and oil as it looks too clean for my tastes.

The paint chipping was achieved by – wait for it, actually chipping the paint. I used my finger nail and a hobby knife.

I think the nose art is from a WWII airplane kit. I just have a stack of decals and pick and chose from it randomly.

You can see the chipping details around the black area behind the pilot. Panels get chipped by ground crew constantly removing them and handling them with dirty fingers.

I think this engine art decal was from a Japanese F-1 kit.

I painted the blaster tips a darker gray since I had to do some gap filling on them post primer. I also made some of the raised panels different shades of gray.

Below we see a more extensive wash of black for the back details.

More wash applied to the intakes and exterior.

Oily stains on the bottom are a bit of a trademark for me.

Another look at the bottom details. Even if I don’t model landing gear, I include the landing gear doors.

And here she is, complete. I don’t have any Votainion Empire symbols on it or any of my models, actually. That’s because I don’t have the ability to make my own decals. Easier to let graphic artists apply them in post.

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This might be the last model I work on until winter releases it’s icy grip on my garage. Right now the temps are in the teens and my garage is just too cold to be in, even with an electric heater at my feet.

This Votainion starfighter has it’s roots back in the early 1980’s when it was known as the Triak. I think “Tri” referred to the middle energy thing coming out the back of the fuselage. I thought about doing that with this model but then quickly scratched it. Some of the things I liked about this fighter were the jagged lines of the fuselage and the wings. Both were retained and the twin engine design which was reproduced pretty faithfully.

I started the build with the engines. Painted green and white from over spray on other builds are 1/2″ PVC pipes run through one inch pipe. I used the engine of a 1/32 scale F-104 Starfighter jet for the gap between the one inch pipes. On the ends of the engines I put some PVC connectors for the exhausts.

Below you see I decided to cut the F-104 engine in half and stick to the one inch PVC for the covered parts of the engines. You can also see the beginnings of the cockpit, starting with an old get pilot sitting on a gas tank. Heh. I also have a paper cut out of the wing for scale.

Below I used more paper to flesh out the cockpit, fuselage and a gun idea. The cockpit is closer to what I had originally drawn. It’s been reborn for the K’nat fighter.

Here we have the two primary starfighters for the middle trilogy of the Star Saga. The Alliance Spieron on the left and the Terrox on the right. These are the Swift and KIV-3 for the middle of the war. Man the Spieron’s nose is huge. Like, Klinger large.

After cutting up some plastic and positioning the cockpit I start building the mounting bracket for the aluminum block used for the mount. I wrapped plastic around the 1/2 inch tube to center it inside the one inch tube. You can see it sticking out in the image below. The cockpit is from a Tamiya F-14 Tomcat 1/32 scale.

Here I use camera tape to hold together the plastic so I can see the angles I’m dealing with. They are quite unique.

But that’s what I like about this model, it is all kinds of unique and different. It also has some call backs to familiar starfighters from Hollywood. Such as the Y-Wing from Star Wars and the Cylon Interceptor from the original Battlestar Galactica.

Here’s a look at the tail end. I still haven’t taken glue to it yet, but you can start to see the final shape a bit clearer.

Here’s a close up of the cockpit details. I used a third party ejection seat from an F-4 Phantom in 1/32 scale. The top piece there is from the F-104 kit.

Next up we’ll start gluing things down and moving forward on the details.

Tag: Studio Model

Triak Starfighter Build, Part 5

Terrox Starfighter Build, Part 1