1/72 TIE Defender Work in Progress

I have recently begun work on the 1/72 TIE Defender model produced by JBOT from the masters made by REL.  It's a really good kit and come with lots of extra optional parts that the original release of the kit did not.

What you get:

To get started I used my Dremel to hollow out the cockpit ball:

 This production of the kit came with a plate to add detail to the back of the cockpit:

 It also comes with a plug to fill the hole caused from drilling out the cockpit:

 This pilot was borrowed from the Revell Pocket kit TIE Interceptor:

 I sanded off the top hatch and replaced with the clear cast resin hatch included with the kit: 

 The wings needed a little work:

 The wing hubs were really the only part of the kit that bothered me. Here is how it comes:

 I decided to sand that bit off and replace it with the wing hub from the Revell Pocket TIE Interceptor. I cast a few resin copies to work with.

 Here is the new wing hub. To me this makes it seem much more a "TIE" fighter:

Still a little touch ups here and there to do, then I'm going to pull out the airbrush I got for Christmas and try it out. Thanks for looking.

Chiss Clawcraft

This model is a ship that made its first appearance in the novels that take place after the Return of the Jedi. The Nssis-class Clawcraft was a star fighter normally associated with the Chiss, but in fact was a hybrid of Chiss and Imperial TIE technology. I really like this design, and since it is a ship that never had any screen time in the movies, there is no wrong way to paint it. I decided to paint this one blue with silver highlights simply because I was a little tired of gray and white ships.  Built from the 1/72 scale Blue Moon Kit:

Front view showing TIE cockpit ball:

This is a Chiss pilot. They are described in the books as blue skinned humanoids with glowing red eyes:

Top profile showing Chiss engineered "arms", shield generators and Hyperdrvie:

Battlestar Galactica models

"...But we never answered the question, why? Why are we as a people worth saving?" - Commander William "Bill" Adama

The quote is one of the main themes of Scifi's remake of Battlestar Galactica and one of the things that both sets it apart and above many science fiction tv shows out there. I have finally had some time to finish the BSG models I have been working on.

First up the last Battlestar, Galactica. Called by some the "Grand Old Lady", by others "The Bucket", the Galactica was the last line of defense for humanity after the Cylon destruction of the 13 Colonies. This resin model is the  1/9600 Alliance models kit.

Next up is the Cylon Basestar. Basestars are biomechanical entities, with hangers to house Raiders and are capable of carrying other Cylon models as crew within them. This model is by Rpelica's Unlimited also 1/9600 scale.

Cylon Basestar next to the Galactica.

My Colonial Vipers, both are SciHi moldels, 1/72 scale

The Viper Mk II:

It's hard to read at this scale but the name plate on the side reads:

"Lt. Kara Thrace"

 "STARBUCK"

Here you can see the Galactica Phoenix on the wing as well as the Tail Number and Beware of Blast markings:

Squadron and Maintenance markings on the nose:

The thrusters and rear:

The Viper Mk VII:

Again, it's hard to read at this scale but the name plate reads:

"Captain Lee Adama"

      "APOLLO"

The Mk VII from behind:

Vipers Together:

From the back:

Lastly, the Cylon Raider. The Cylon's answer to the Colonial Viper, Raiders are living semi-sentient machines. They have an advantage over Colonial pilots as when they die, their minds download into a new Raider allowing them to learn from their mistakes and become even more deadly.

This completes all the BSG models that I currently own. I'm still debating on buying Fantastic-Plastic's 1/9600 scale Battlestar Pegasus as it is in scale with both the Galactica and Basestar, but at almost $100.00 it will be a long wait. Here is a parting shot of my collection of BSG Models:

Scratchbuilt E-Wing, refit

Here are the work-in-progress pics of my scratchbuild. I started by using MSPaint to draw out a set of images to plan all the basic shapes I would need. This was helpful in making sure I had symmetrical parts later on:

I printed my drawings out to scale and then cut out the parts. Using the paper as a guide, I traced the parts on to the styrene and then cut out what I needed.

The wings are two pieces of styrene cut in the same shape. I cut the recessed part out of the top and then glued them together in order to have one wing.

The cannons were made from the base of the Finemolds X-wing cannon and the sample loop we use for measuring blood to put on the rapid HIV kits at work( yes they were unused). I simply cut the loop off the end and glued them together.

Here are some detail shots of my progress. The two guns on the top are also made from the same sample loops as the main guns.

Which leads to the finished product. The canopy was difficult, and ended up being made from three different styrene parts that I had to cut the windows into and glue together. It doesn't show in the pictures, but there are clear plastic "windows" in place.