Skip to content

Terrox Starfighter Build, Part 3

And then there was the canopy. I wanted it to have good visibility for the pilot and let people look inside to see all that detail I included. I later would put smoked clear plastic for the glass. The canopy was carved from plastic sheet and glued together. Lots of sanding was necessary to make the seams fade away.

IMG_20151107_152318813_HDR

Modern fighters usually have the insides painted white. In WWII they used to be zinc chromate a rust inhibitor. In Russia they use a teal blue color for their insides. I wanted to make this like Russian fighters, so I mixed up a blue and white and gray bottle of paint and this is the resulting color. I like it.

IMG_20151107_162106031

More fuselage details, the white pieces are from a WWI airplane model. No idea which one. The engines now have intake cowls made from kid toys. The colors will go away after primer.

IMG_20151108_162705139

Got her up on the mount while I add more greeblies. I like when I can get the model to this point. Makes working on it easier.

IMG_20151111_214834812_HDR

Plus you can tilt it over and work on the bottom. Which is way too clean right now.

IMG_20151111_215106556_HDR

Next up are the wings. I built them up like little boxes. The inside area is detailed and painted. Panel lines are scored with my scoring knife and some raised panels added. Done.

IMG_20151114_220911646_HDR

Here we are cementing the wings onto the engine nacelles. It took some fiddling to get the wing to stand off the side a bit the way I wanted.

IMG_20151114_221132724

Here is the fish, ready for boning, er I mean detailing the bottom.

IMG_20151115_114224875_HDR

This is a good shot of the engine intakes. I’m loving the shape of the whole fighter.

IMG_20151115_163731257

Coming at you, ready for detailing on the nose and some guns.

IMG_20151118_204919329_HDR

This is about to be awesome. I usually try and find greeblies that fit the area in which they are placed. It’s more art than science, although it helps to imagine what engineering purpose the detail might have.

IMG_20151118_213910016_HDR

More landing gear parts seemed to fit around the guns. 

IMG_20151122_221223613_HDR

The bottom area has a mount point. It must be covered when I’m photographing the bottom. So I slid a panel all secretly. Can you see what changed?

IMG_20151125_114035141

This is the oldest trick in the book and when you’re making up the ship from thin air, you can do whatever you want to hide your mounts.

IMG_20151125_104111131

Next up are the details for the back side. Again, form follows function. This area is highly functional.

IMG_20151125_172528129

One last look at the top and bottom as I focus on smaller details.

IMG_20151125_172558111_HDR

The bottom reminds me of a ME-109.

IMG_20151125_172704842

Here are some engine details including an area not covered with a panel on the left. 

IMG_20151127_101621420_HDR

Back side beauty pass.

IMG_20151127_101817854

Some shielding on the back of the canopy.

IMG_20151127_110855016

It took a while to settle on the details for the area behind the canopy but I think it came out pretty good.

IMG_20151127_110827461

Here’s the finished cockpit before painting.

IMG_20151127_110924661

This is the finished model with primer. Looking sharp. Up next – weathering.

IMG_20151127_151209710_HDR