Lt. Z0mBe

Thanks! I appreciate it. If you check out the link to the album in the post, you can see a lot of the build progress. Kenny

I appreciate the kind words! Praise from masters, indeed. @MechTech Thanks for noticing the flora’s common theme. I figured on that planet, for whatever reason, evolution followed “tubes” as a building method instead of “stems” as the driving factor. I had lots of tubes lying around. Maybe the greater surface area allows certain gases to be absorbed better while giving more strength to the plants But thanks again for noticing. Kenny

Long overdue update on this one. Here's a recap of the description: The idea for this comes from the variety of limited versions of ground vehicles produced and/or field modified for special operations troops on real battlefields. I figure in the Star Wars universe the Empire would have operators whose support vehicles were a little different than the standard fare. As such, I added extra stowage, equipment, cable cutters, spaced applique armor, antennas, sensors and slightly different weapons, much in the same vein as modern Humvees, ATV's and buggies are produced/modified to meet the needs of special operations troops. I added a bit of a dioramatic base, just for fun. The figures have been replaced with 1/48 Tamiya figures and their poses have been custom formed and sculpted. I vacuformed armor for the Scout Troopers from sheet styrene. Other accessories were sculpted from Aves and cyanoacrylate-varnished masking tape. The groundwork is made from tea grounds, sculpted Aves plants, and thermoformed drinking straws among other things. I titled the scene "'200 meters that way, Sergeant!' - AT-SOT in action on Tiolp III." The model is based on the 1/48 Bandai kit. Here's the full album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1866371406831564&type=3 I took pictures with and without the flash, as my camera seems to wash things out with its flash. I apologize that the images are not better. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

I've still got a little ways to go on this one. The wide and I have been spending a lot of time with the 1/1 scale baby human, who is way more fun to work with. Build time is therefore at a premium. The idea for this comes from the variety of limited versions of ground vehicles produced and/or field modified for special operations troops on real battlefields. I figure in the Star Wars universe the Empire would have operators whose support vehicles were a little different than the standard fare. As such, I added extra stowage, spaced applique armor, antennas, sensors and slightly different weapons, much in the same vein as modern Humvees, ATV's and buggies are produced/modified to meet the needs of special operations troops. I am also adding a bit of a dioramatic base, just for fun. The figures have been replaced with 1/48 Tamiya figures and their poses have been custom formed and sculpted. I vacuformed armor for the Scout Troopers from sheet styrene. Other accessories were sculpted from Aves and cyanoacrylate-varnished masking tape. The groundwork is made from tea grounds, hand-sculpted Aves plants, and thermoformed drinking straws among other things. The model is based on the 1/48 Bandai kit. I am going with a moderately-weathered look, having given it a decent amount of chipping and scratching thus far. But, I still have more weathering to do, having just completed basic washing. Here's a few images of the beginning of the build as well as a few snapped a few minutes ago. The full album is here: AT-SOT Album. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

My Mk I Viper - First Cylon War is FINALLY finished. I finished it at 0900 on 1 June and had it on the Wonderfest table at 1130. Needless to say, I was cutting it close. It was all worth it, as the model took a Silver! Check the album out to see all the images but here you'll see some preshading and the finished images. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

Finished all the scribing and got some primer on the Mk I Viper. There's actually only a few surface problems needing cleanup and then I can preshade and color coat. The engines will get a coat of black before Alclad. Now it's off to the races to see if I can make Wonderfest. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

It's starting to really look like a Viper now. I finished the cockpit and aircrew and closed the fuselage. Then I assembled the various subcomponents. I've also added a grill to the front intake as well as some Avesing to the fuselage-canopy joint to get a better sealed look. Since these pictures were taken, I was also able to precisely blend the fuselage joints and intake joints in order to get a much "tighter" look in those areas. I've also started on the cannon painting, giving the "accordion" detail on them an olive drab/green color instead of the red-orange seen on some shots of the MkII's cannons. I am working on some filling with Aves, Bondo, Mr. Surfacer and Gorilla rubberized CA. The wings' leading edges also need a little bit more work to tighten up that faceted look I am going for. That's all I have for now. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

I feel like we're finally making some progress here. The cannons are finished. I sculpted some styrene blocks to match the contours/ledges of the ammunition feeds that already existed on the Mk II cannons. Then, I fared them in with a bit of Bondo and Gorilla rubberized CA. I also added a ejection port because I figured even caseless ammunition would need to be cleared in the event of a misfeed: The cockpit preshaded and basecoated: Aircrew basecoated: Aircrew highlighted and shaded. I also did some additional gold and green glazes until I got that First Cylon War color for the flightsuit. Sorry, but the camera flash washes that out a bit: Finally the cockpit received an oil wash, drybrushing and some light chipping to make it look a little lived in. It is curing a bit right now but it will receive a flat coat and have the MFD, DRADIS and instrumentation masks removed: That's all I have for now. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

Love the VF-4 ideas. They're one of my favorite Macross designs. Small update for today on the Mk I Viper. The engine exhausts are all trimmed up and in place. Also, the vertical stabilizer is attached and Aves'd in. I added two little F-14/VF-1-ish air brakes in the gap between the engines, trimming the piece that awkwardly jutted back past the engines. Finally, getting a good looking joint between the added exhaust nozzle detail, the kit nozzles and the engine nacelles is taking forever. It's taking Aves, Mr. Surfacer and Bondo, along with very creative and precise sanding and sculpting, to get things done and looking natural, instead of just filled. I am almost finished with them (until priming) but I think you can tell where we'll end up once that's completed. I also started work on the armament. I am using the MkII's cannons but I will be modifying the ammo feed a bit to make them fit where they'll be mounted on the Mk I. I'm also going to make some minor changes to the barrel, with the aim (no pun intended :)) being to make them look like slightly older versions of what we see on the Mk II. I figure just like the M61 is almost ubiquitous on american fighter and attack aircraft, armament at that time would probably be the same across some marks of Vipers. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Thanks for asking. Yeah, the top engine is slightly different. It was a conscious decision because I figured the (dorsal?) top engine would have a slightly different configuration, given it's further from the CoM than the other two. The opening is also "shallower" from the lip of the exhaust nozzle to the ring in the center than the other two are. Make sense? Kenny

Here's an update for today. Basically, I deleted a lot of the greeblies between the engines as well as removed the rails from the underside since they're not needed in the nu-BSG universe based on what I see in the Mk II. The exhaust nozzle detail is finished and the vertical stabilizer details are more-or-less where I want them. You can see how the exhause nozzles should look once installed. Finally, the leading edge wing beveling is complete. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

The thinking behind this build is to give the Mk. I Viper the same treatment some original designs received in the 2003 SyFy series. Specifically, I am referring to treatment given the 1977 Cylon Raider and Centurion and how they were "tweaked" a bit before appearing in Razor and Blood and Chrome. We see a Mk I in the background of the BSG miniseries in Galactica's launch bay museum, but never anything of it close enough to discern detail or see it in action. Among other things, I am adding a more realistic nu-BSG feel to the engines, aircrew, cockpit and other areas. I am also removing a LOT of greeblie detail in order to make this build look more like a predecessor to the Mk II and Mk III. This is based on the 1977 1/32 scale Monogram kit and it will not be lit. I've tweaked the wing shape/size, intake "bear claw" looking things, the aircrew, ejection seat, exhaust nozzles and simplified the panel lines, among other things. When I am done, this thing should look more like a predecessor to the Mk II and maintain that nu-BSG realism. Perhaps this was Saul Tigh's mount in the first years of the war... Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny The full album can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/thisis.forreadingstuff/media_set?set=a.1375353999266643&type=3

Thank you, Sir! You're very kind. Kenny

I'm calling this one finished. Is it perfect? No. Am I happy with it, sure. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny

Those of you following the World Championships of Decaling no doubt heard about this. But for the uninitiated, I just set a world record for number of decals applied to a 1/100 scale aerospace fighter. Next is washes and glazes and some filters before a bit of weathering. Comments and criticisms welcome. Kenny